Northeast Asian Conference on Environmental Coopration in Maizuru
The eighth Northeast Asian Conference on Environmental Cooperation will be held from November 14 to 17 in the Maizuru Commerce Industry and Tourism Center in Maizuru City, Kyoto Prefecture, to discuss environmental problems in the Northeast Asian region.The meeting will take place under the auspices of the Environment Agency, Kyoto Prefectural Government, Maizuru Municipal Government and other organizations. The annual gathering was first held in 1992.
Officials in charge of environmental conservation in the central and local governments in China, South Korea, Mongolia, Russia and Japan and experts in research organizations will attend the four-day conference.
In addition, officials of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) will join the session to exchange information on environmental problems and discuss ways for environmental cooperation in the Northeast Asian region.
Following the opening ceremony on November 14, a public symposium will be held on the theme of "Local Initiatives for New Regional Cooperation and Environmental Conservation--A Message from Kyoto to the New Century."
Representatives of research organizations in the participating nations will deliver their keynote speeches from November 15 to 17. Also during that period, four subcommittees will meet to take up such issues as "Environmental Conservation Administration Measures by Local Authorities," "Practical Use of Internet in Environmental Cooperation," "Aimed at Addressing Climate Change Problems: Domestic Policy Measures and Steps of Environmental Administration Bodies Themselves as Consumer and Executor," and "Environmental Cooperation Initiatives of Local Authority." The conference is expected to adopt the chairperson's summary of the discussions on the final day of the meeting.
APRO chosen for Tokushima New Business Grand Award
The Tokushima New Business Conference (TNBC) has chosen APRO Life Science Institute as the recipient of the Tokushima New Business Grand Award for developing the technology on "determination of the primary structure of very low amounts of proteins for identification of the gene." The award aimed at uncovering outstanding entrepreneurs carries a cash prize of 5 million yen.It has been said until now that 100 pmol (a pico-mole is the unit of molecules) were needed to determine the internal sequence of proteins, but the new technology developed by APRO can resolve with certainty the sequence with less than 1 pmol.
Proteins are extremely complicated in their structure. To determine the primary structure in the order of amino acids among them, a device called an "automated N-terminal protein sequencer" is normally utilized. However, N-terminal amino acid of many of the proteins in the natural world has been modified, barring the sequencer from concluding the sequence of amino acids.
APRO, however, has succeeded in developing the technology to certainly deciding the primary structure of proteins by using internal sequence analyzing system.
It is anticipated that APRO's technology will lead to the discovery of hitherto unknown, new proteins, to resolve gene structures, to bring the cause of ailments to light and to the development of new drugs.
For inquiries, please contact TNBC (E-mail tnbc@mandala.ne.jp URL http://www.tnbc.or.jp/)
"Akogare" sailboat plans round-the-world voyage
The sail training ship "Akogare" ("The Yearning"), owned by Osaka City, will leave Osaka next April 9 to make a round-the-world voyage aimed at promoting international friendship and enhancing the international profile of Osaka. The vessel will return home on December 17 after visiting 10 countries.The ship will sail eastward from Osaka to visit such places as Hawaii, the West Coast of North America, the Panama Canal, the East Coast of North America, Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, the Suez Canal, the Indian Ocean and Singapore.
During the 253-day, 27,000-mile voyage, the vessel will participate in the "TALL SHIPS 2000," one of the world's largest-scale international sailboat races, as well as the "SAIL 2000 AMSTERDAM," a marine event to mark the 400th anniversary of the start of Japan-Dutch interchange.
The three-mast "Akogare" was completed in March 1993, measuring 52.16 meters in length and 362 deadweight tons in weight. It is capable of sailing at 8.5 knots.
ASEAN specialists conference on townscape
A two-day conference bringing together citizens, administrative officials and experts involved in building townscape in Kyoto and historical cities in seven Southeast Asian nations will open on November 6.Known as the "ASEAN specialist conference on the use of historical townscape and the creation of communities," the conference will be held November 6-7 at former Tatsuike Elementary School in Ryogaemachi, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto City, under the sponsorship of the Kyoto Townscape Management Center and the Architectural Institute of Japan.
It will take a look into the present situation on town building in each country and movements led by citizens to create towns, and explore future town building by making use of historical townscape and ways for communities to exist.
Keynote speeches will be delivered on the opening day, followed by a session titled "Use of historical townscape and rebirth of communities." Participants from Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Cambodia will give reports on cases related to the theme of the session and have discussion on them.
The themes of the meeting on the second and final day will be the "assessment of historical townscape and the movement to preserve them among citizens, specialists and administration" and "activities on rebirth of historical structures - traditional skill and problems of craftsmen." A session to summarize the conference will also be held.
Kankeiren business delegation to U.S.,Mexico
The Kansai Economic Federation (Kankeiren) will dispatch a 19-member "Kankeiren Business Delegation to the United States and Mexico" to San Jose, San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles on the U.S. West Coast and Tijuana, Mexico City and Cancun in Mexico from November 14 through 24.The aim of the delegation is to study trends of high-tech corporations in the Silicon Valley and activities of corporations centering on the Maquiladora export industrial district that became the driving force of Mexico's 7 percent economic growth in 1997. The delegation members will also have talks with local government and business leaders and try to boost exchanges between Kansai and the places they visit.
The delegation's schedule includes a visit to the head office of Hewlett Packard on November 15, calls on the mayor of San Diego and the city office's director of the Regional Development Bureau on November 16, a meeting with the Baja California State Public Economic Promotion Corporation and a meeting to be held under the auspices of the state government on November 17, calls on the Mexican president and commerce and industry minister and attend a meeting given by Concejo Mexicano de Comercio Exterior (COMCE) on November 19.
"Information Service Day" to foreigners on Nov. 7
The "Information Service Day" for foreigners will be held on November 7 at the International House, Osaka in Tennoji Ward, Osaka City, where lawyers, doctors and others professional people will answer questions from foreign residents of the city who want to obtain a variety of information or consult specialists on problems in their daily life.Language volunteers will assist foreign residents in nine languages--English, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, Thai, Indonesia, Tagalog and Vietnamese.
The specialists, including lawyers and physicians, will respond to questions on problems in 13 areas such as the law, labor, immigration, employment, education, medical care, taxation and municipal administration. It will be the seventh service for foreigners since it started in October 1995.
The specialists responded to the consultations from 170 people from 27 countries at the previous "Information Service Day" in May this year.
Kansai in Focus: PREX achieving results in international contribution
"This is my first visit to Japan and it perfectly fits the image of Japan I had before, including buildings and the people," says Ms Natalia Khlioustova, who has a graceful and elegant demeanor and her manner of speaking is reserved, a type of woman seen in bygone days Japan but has almost disappeared of from around us.Ms Natalia Khlioustova, 24, who is studying bookkeeping and accounting from October to November at the Pacific Resource Exchange Center (PREX), a non-profit organization on the 24th floor of Nakanoshima Center Bldg. in Nakanoshima, Kita Ward in Osaka City.
Although a Russian-language interpreter was present in our interview with her, Ms Khlioustova appeared to have understood almost all of our questions in Japanese. "I studied Japanese literature at a Russian university of humanities," she said. "Kobo Abe is my favorite Japanese novelist."
Normally, Europeans and Americans look into the eyes of those on the other end and speak in a loud voice in their attempt to make a so-called eye contact. Ms Khlioustova is not. She slowly looks at the eyes and turns to the second button of the interviewer and quietly opens her mouth.
Ms Khlioustova is a member of the staff at the "Japan Education Center for Business Management,MIRBIS" in Moscow run by the "Cooperation Committee," which is an auxiliary organization of the Japanese Foreign Ministry. She arranges Japanese language classes and seminars on the Japanese economy.
She came to Japan this time to take a short course on bookkeeping and accounting in a fiscal 1999 program in Japan to train Russian corporate managers. The Cooperation Committee commissioned PREX to conduct the program. The visiting group comprises 21 young corporate people. Ms Khlioustova said, "I would like to go home after learning world famous Japanese double-entry bookkeeping. At the same time, I want to study how to set up and manage such events as seminars and lectures."
Russian visitors stay in RIHGA Royal Hotel in Kita Ward, Osaka City. They have a busy schedule in their study in Japan because, in addition to the lectures at PREX, they are slated to visit corporations in Tokyo and Osaka, Wakayama, Shiga and Kyoto prefectures. Their lodging in Tokyo is the Shinagawa Prince Hotel.
Speaking on the training program for the Russians, a PREX official said, "This is part of our international contribution. If they get a favorable impression of Japan, there will surely achieve good results."
PREX was established in April 1990 by six autonomies in Kansai (governments of Osaka Prefecture, Osaka City, Hyogo Prefecture, Kobe City, Kyoto Prefecture and Kyoto City), 95 private companies and other organizations. The center initially carried out its undertaking to foster human resources of developing countries, mainly in the Asia-Pacific region. However, it has since expanded the scope of its program to include those from Russia, South Korea and Singapore, among others.
A PREX executive said his organization sends officials overseas on many occasions to give lectures. He said, "Alumni groups have been established at many places in the world by those who had completed studies at PREX. They are deepening ties among themselves."
Is Ms Khlioustova going to join a similar alumni group in Russia? International contribution and exchanges between Japan and overseas are in steady progress in areas out of our sight. (H)