Presentation on earthquake countermeasures in Kobe
The Hyogo Prefectural Government will hold an international event on earthquake countermeasures in Kobe in January next year, marking the fifth anniversary of the Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake. The event is aimed at passing to future generations the experiences and lessons of the disastrous earthquake and making recommendations for the future.The event will consist of "The Presentation of Global Assessment of Earthquake Countermeasures" to take place at the International Conference Center Kobe in Chuo Ward, on January 10, 12 and 14, and "The Global Symposium on Earthquake Countermeasures in Hyogo," to be held at Hotel Okura Kobe on January 16 under the theme of "Making Effective Use of Lessons Learned and Passing Them on to the 21st Century."
At the presentation, members of the Assessment Committee will report on their assessment of earthquake countermeasures in their respective fields. The assessment was made on 11 themes including 1) reconstruction organizations, 2) disaster medical care systems, 3) industrial reconstruction, and 4) urban planning during reconstruction.
The symposium will first hear a summary of the results of the assessment of countermeasures for the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and make recommendations on what to do with earthquakes that could occur in future. It will be followed by panel discussions by Japanese officials, experts and foreign guests, including Philippe Boule, director of International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR).
New technology to correct phase distortion of laser beam
The Advanced Photon Research Center at the Kansai Research Establishment of the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) has developed new technology to correct a large phase distortion of laser beams. The research center is located in Kansai Science City in Kizu-cho, Soraku-gun, Kyoto Prefecture.Technology to obtain ultra- high focal intensity is necessary for research on the interaction of laser beams and materials. However, a strong laser beam is highly distorted because of the transformation of laser crystals by thermal effect, and the beam intensity at the focal point cannot be increased.
The research center had earlier succeeded in an experiment using a deformable mirror to rectify the distortion, but it had such drawbacks as poor accuracy of correcting the distortion, as well as being too large and too expensive.
The new technology developed by the research center uses a "phase conjugator" that is designed to cancel any laser beam phase distortion by generating opposite phase beam called a "phase conjugated wave" to correct the laser beam phase. The device is 1/10 the size of the existing mirror system. It is adaptable to high power lasers.
For inquiries, please contact Kansai Research Establishment, JAERI (E-mail www-admin @www.jaeri.go.jp URL http://www.jaeri.go.jp/)
Shiga Univ. sets up wind turbine generator on campus
The School of Engineering at the University of Shiga Prefecture in Hikone City, Shiga Prefecture, has installed a wind turbine generator for research and experiments on campus. The school has started studying its usefulness by combining it with a hybrid power system that is conjugated with a single-crystalline silicon solar cell, also kept on campus.The wind turbine generator features a power generator drum with a permanent magnet implanted in it. It also has three rotor blades fastened by bolts. The rotor blade measures 5.1 meters in diameter and 15 meters in height. It weighs 190 kilograms and its output is 5 kilowatts. It starts rotating when the wind speed reaches 3 meters per second.
When the speed of the wind exceeds 14 meters per second, the rotor axis is shifted out of the wind direction to control the rotor speed and continue generating electric power. It is designed to withstand the wind speed of 60 meters per second.
Wind turbine generators are generally set up on shorelines exposed to strong winds. The university is situated in an inland area noted for having strong winds. Thus, expectations are placed on the university for yielding results.
For inquiries, please contact School of Engineering, University of Shiga Prefecture (E-mail yamane @mech.usp.ac.jp URL http://www.mech.usp.ac.jp/)
Eco-friendly seawater purifier utilizing food-chain
A proven type plant of an environment-friendly seawater purifier utilizing a food-chain in nature has been installed in the east breakwater of the Okinosu Marine Terminal by the Third District Port Construction Bureau of the Ministry of Transport, the Division of Marine Environment Science and Engineering of the Graduate School of Engineering at the University of Tokushima, and the Tokushima Prefecture.The plant, 3.3 meters in breadth, 3.7 meters in length, 6.5 meters in height and 46 tons in weight, is composed of two types of apparatus, a dry beach type and a rocky beach type. It is a system that dissolves pollutants by bacteria and other microbes which live on the rocks and stones on the beach, and allows marine creatures such as sea slugs and lugworms to eat organic matter called sludge which is produced by the dissolution of pollutants. The new system can be installed at an additional expense of about 5 % of the total construction cost of an existing breakwater, officials say.
The proven type experiment will be continued for three years from January next year.
MITI revised "Investing in Kansai Guidebook"
In order to promote the Kansai region as an attractive area for foreign investors, the Kansai Bureau of International Trade and Industry (MITI Kansai Bureau) has published the revised Japanese and English editions of the "Investing in Kansai Guidebook," featuring support measures for direct investment by foreign-affiliated enterprises.The guidebook introduces a contact list of counseling offices, agencies and organizations for various applications for foreign companies to locate their outposts in Kansai. It also includes the actual cases of foreign companies actively operating businesses in Kansai, and Q&A for investing in Japan that gives answers to the basic questions.
For inquiries, please contact MITI Kansai Bureau (E-mail qkintt@miti.go.jp)
HISTORIC KANSAI : Higashiyama in Kyoto is the best place to greet a new millennium
By Junzo TanakaThere are a number of matters such as the advent of a new millennium and the possibility of a Y2K glitch that bother many people as they prepare to say farewell to the year 1999 and greet the New Year. Some people say the best thing for them is to remain quiet at home. However, for those who still want to experience the year-end and the New Year in Japan, I suggest that they visit Higashiyama in Kyoto.
The word "Kyoto" was a common noun meaning a capital, but it became a proper noun since the capital called "Heiankyo" was established in the place bearing the name "Kyoto" in 794. (Kyoto was the Japanese capital until it was transferred to Tokyo in 1868.)
Since Kyoto is an ancient capital, it gives an auspicious atmosphere at year-end and New Year. Particularly, a stretch of Higashiyama is a popular area for devout worshipers who pray for safety in a transition from the departing year to the beginning of the year.
My suggestion is Heian Shrine, which is in a section of Higashiyama. It is one of Kyoto's "newer shrines" built in 1895 on the occasion of the 1,100th anniversary of the establishment of Heiankyo. The shrine is a reconstruction to 5/8 scale of Daigoku-den Hall that was the core building for politics in ancient Japan. The shrine is a precious structure. The sprawling white sand ground and vermilion-lacquered shrine offer a pretty contrast, and are said to be as beautiful as "Ryugujo" (the Sea God's Palace), an imaginary seabed palace that appears in a Japanese folktale.
The hanging lanterns are lit in the shrine's long corridor on the New Year's Eve, conspicuously displaying the entire structure. Known as "Manto" (literally 10,000 lights), this event is designed to pray for the safety and health of people by lighting countless numbers of lanterns.
At the stroke of midnight, temples throughout Japan strike bells and their sound echoes far and wide to drive away the spirits that torment people. Time-honored temples that line the Higashiyama area also release the sound of bells all at once to embrace Heian Shrine. It would be a blessing if this solemnity leads us to forget our many worries.
Kansai in Focus: Traditional and venture healthy food industry is vibrant in Kinan
The healthy food industry is vibrant in Tanabe City and Minabegawa Village, among others, in the Kinan region in Wakayama Prefecture. A fast growth venture making of frozen "tofu" (bean curd) and a traditional Japanese producer of "ume-boshi" (pickled plums) in Kinan have started shipping the traditional Japanese healthy foodstuffs to the rest of the world. Tendre Corporation in Tanabe City has shattered the common belief that frozen tofu is difficult to make.Since it was brought from China about 1,000 years ago, tofu has taken hold as a quintessential Japanese dish for ordinary people. Tofu also is a representative healthy food item, since it is rich in quality ingredients such as high protein, lecithin and saponin. It had been said, however, that the scope of its utilization and food sanitation and management is severely limited because it decays easily, falls apart and is difficult to freeze.
Tendre President Hiroaki Iwamoto, who gave up working as a salary earner to manufacture tofu, took on the task of challenging the barrier that had prevented tofu makers from turning out "frozen tofu." Noting that tofu makers have to work from early morning and cannot even take days off, Iwamoto said, "In order to improve such working condition, there is no way but to produce quality frozen tofu capable of preserving flavor and lasting longer." He started performing an experiment on frozen tofu around 1987. After undergoing trials and errors since then, he succeeded in producing fine frozen tofu by mixing natural materials (classified corporate confidential) with soybean milk in the process of making bean curd. Frozen tofu retains its protein makeup, stays virtually the same and remains tasty just as any other normal tofu when it is defrosted.
Iwamoto set up his company for the development and manufacturing of frozen tofu in 1990, obtained a patent in 1995, and changed the company's name to "Tendre" (a happy nation in Latin) in 1996. Tendre received an award from the Medium and Small Business Research Institute in 1998. Tendre has also completed the technology to produce frozen tofu that guaranteed best-before dates for at least one year, and instantaneously frozen diced tofu so as to be handy for cooking, transporting, preserving like other frozen foodstuffs, and open to food sanitation inspections. The City of Sakai, the scene of a stir over food poisoning by the bacteria "O-157," has started using frozen tofu for lunch programs in public schools on the grounds that the bean curd can easily be checked in food sanitation inspections. Demand for frozen tofu from hospitals and businesses also is rising rapidly.
Tendre has grown as a corporation with its annual sales amounting to about 700 million yen while its yearly output of frozen tofu totals about 2,500 tons. Iwamoto said it is technically possible to produce "hiyayakko" raw and water cooled tofu, but has not yet introduced it to the market. Frozen tofu has been shipped to the United States through trading firms from a year ago. Also, in a tie-up arrangement with a U.S. group interested in studying healthy foods, Tendre's frozen tofu is due to be put on sale throughout the United States as early as the end of this year.
Minabegawa Village adjacent to Tanabe City is Japan's No. 1 "ume" plum producing region. The village office is the only one in the country that has a "ume" section. The number of ume farms has been declining slightly in the past several years throughout the nation but is on the rise in Minabegawa Village. Nanki Pickled Ume Plum Co., a long established company that has been in operation since 1928, is increasing the production of pickled ume plums by expanding its factory facilities. It exports its products to about 15 countries centering chiefly on the West Coast of the United States. It also imports some ume from China.
Company President Susumu Hosokawa said, "Ume has been revaluated as a healthy food as we strived for low salt contained in ume. Also, ume and processed ume products such as ume paste are being sold at convenient stores in the wake of a sharp increase in the sale of 'onigiri' rice balls and 'bento' lunch boxes. We will continue our efforts to improve ume species and further develop the methods of making pickled ume and its taste." With the world's food life in the 2000s in view, Kinan appears set to continue a challenge of spreading its traditional taste of foods and working out new technology. (J)