Award winners decided at Osaka concept contest
The winners of the Awards of Excellence of the International Concept Competition for the Northern Osaka Station Area were recently decided by the International Concept Competition Committee, comprising the Urban Development Corp., the Osaka Prefectural Government, the Osaka Municipal Government, the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Japan Railway Construction Public Corporation and the Kansai Economic Federation.The Awards of Excellence went to a team represented by Argentine architect Mario Roberto Alvarez, titled 'Regeneration-Composing-Balancing-Harmonizing-Integration,' Naoki Hayashi's team, 'Metropolitan Compost-Urban Vision of Heisei Era,' and Junji Shirai's team, 'Aqua-polis of Creation and Entertainment-Renaissance of Naniwa Kaleidoscope.' They will receive a cash prize of five million yen. Five teams were awarded medals of honor and each will receive prize money of one million yen.
Alvarez's team proposes a symbolic new gateway for Osaka through the open sequence between the skyscrapers in both ends and a central plaza, and the perspective toward Yodogawa River. The Hayashi team proposes a rebirth of an aqua-polis, welfare lifestyle, life management-related businesses, new type of business such as robot industry, and a cultural revival, while the Shirai team proposes harmonization of historic water network and modern skyscrapers for a combined urban revitalization and aqua-polis rebirth.
There were 966 entries, of which 363 (about 38%) came from foreign countries, underlining keen international interest in the competition.
Kishimoto of Osaka Univ. receives Koch Gold Medal
The Robert Koch Foundation of Germany announced that Tadamitsu Kishimoto, president of Osaka University, has been awarded the 2003 Robert Koch Gold Medal for his contributions in the medical field.The Robert Koch Gold Medal, established in memory of German physiologist Robert Koch, who received the 1905 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of tubercle bacillus, is awarded to scientists who have made great contributions to basic research in infectious diseases and various other matters in the medical field.
Kishimoto has gained international recognition for his discovery of Interleukin 6 (IL-6), an element which directs the making of antibody in B Lymphocyte, and achievements in various other medical fields including infectious diseases. The awarding ceremony is to be held in Berlin on October 27.
KIPPO issues Vol.12 of 'Kansai a la carte'
The Kansai International Public Relations Promotions Office (KIPPO) has published Vol.12 of its 'Kansai a la carte' bilingual booklet.The latest volume, titled 'Intercultural Exchange Multicultural Kansai,' features the characteristics of the Kansai region which has historically played the role of a major base of intercultural exchange.
Written in Japanese and English, the 42-page booklet in A-4 size describes the records of intercultural exchange that has taken place in various parts of the region and a new wave of international exchanges resulting from Japan's co-hosting of the FIFA World Cup with South Korea last year.
KIPPO will present the booklet to 100 persons. Those who are interested in obtaining a copy are requested to send postcards with their address, name and age to KIPPO (11th floor, Osaka International Convention Center, 5-3-51, Nakanoshima, Kita Ward, Osaka City: Zip Code 530-0005), writing that they wish to obtain a copy of Vol.12 of 'Kansai a la carte.' The postcards must be postmarked by April 30. If the number of respondents exceeds 100, KIPPO will hold a drawing to determine the winners. Those who receive the booklets will be the winners.
For inquiries, please contact the Kansai International Public Relations Promotion Office (Tel: 06-4803-5551)
Powerful semiconductor blue-violet laser developed
Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd., with its head office in Moriguchi City of Osaka Prefecture, has developed the world's most powerful semiconductor blue-violet laser. The power input of the new laser, based on Sanyo's proprietary technology, reaches 100mW in impulse. The stable beam structure makes low noise compatible with high input and makes it most suitable for next-generation dual-layer disc. Low noise is essential for the light source of optical disc systems.The field of optical disc systems has seen the development of next-generation large-capacity optical systems like advanced DVDs that can record longer than two hours of digital high-definition images. The blue-violet laser diode made of GaN (gallium-nitride) that is used as a light source for reading signals was the key to developing these systems. Demand for the laser diode is expected to rise sharply as larger-capacity next-generation optical disc systems become available and become more widely used.
Sanyo this year developed a large-capacity element with a pulse optical power of 50mW and with continuous optical power of 35mW. With the latest development, Sanyo substantially enhanced pulse optical power, which is essential for dual-layer disc recording, realized the world's most powerful blue-ray semiconductor laser, with pulse optical power of 100mW and with continuous optical power of 50mW, and achieved dual-layer recording for next-generation optical disc systems.
JAIF's annual conference in Fukui April 14-17
The Japan Atomic Industrial Forum (JAIF: Chairman Junichi Nishizawa) will hold its 36th annual conference in Tsuruga City and Fukui City, both Fukui Prefecture, April 14-17. The JAIF Annual Conference has been held since 1968 with more than 1,000 participants to provide a platform where specialists from all over the world exchange views and ideas on issues related to atomic energy and energy in general. This year's conference will consist of a technical tour on April 14, the Tsuruga sessions at the Tsuruga Citizen Culture Center on April 15, and the Fukui sessions at the Fukui City Phoenix Plaza on April 16 and 17.The Tsuruga sessions will hear special lectures by Victor M. Mourogov, deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Min-Shen Ouyang, president of Taiwan's Chung-Hwa Nuclear Society. The plenary session will discuss strategies for peaceful use of plutonium. The Fukui sessions will hear lectures by Akira Amari, a member of the House of Representatives from the Liberal Democratic Party, and Honglin Ma, general secretary of the China Atomic Energy Authority (CAEA). Panel discussions, among others, will also take place.
Kansai's exports mark 11th month y-o-y rise
Exports by six prefectures in the Kansai region (Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, Shiga, Nara and Wakayama) in February jumped 11.3% from the previous year to 868.64 billion yen for the 11th consecutive month of year-on-year increase and imports rose slightly to 599.73 billion yen for the fourth consecutive month of y-o-y increase, according to preliminary monthly trade statistics released by Osaka Customs.Exports to the U.S. sagged for the third consecutive month (down 12.2% y-o-y), while those to the EU and to Asia climbed for the ninth consecutive month (up 8.1% y-o-y) and for the 12th consecutive month (up 27.5% y-o-y), respectively. Imports from the U.S. shrank for the 22nd consecutive month (down 13.2% y-o-y), those from the EU jumped for the eighth consecutive month (up 8.8% y-o-y) and those from Asia dipped first in sixth months (down 6.7% y-o-y).
Kansai business confidence continues to improve
Business confidence in six prefectures in the Kansai region (Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, Shiga, Nara and Wakayama) in the first quarter of 2003 (January 1-March 31) improved for the fourth consecutive quarter, according to the quarterly 'tankan' report released by the Osaka branch of the Bank of Japan.The diffusion index (DI)-the ratio of those responding in the positive to those responding in the negative-was minus 25 for manufacturers, the same as in December, and minus 31 for non-manufacturers, up one point. The DI for all industries was minus 28, up one point. The DI for non-manufacturers improved for the second consecutive quarter, while that for all industries improved for the fourth consecutive quarter.
Kansai in Focus: Businesses, local governments in Kansai stepping up use of woody biomass for energy
Businesses, academic circles and local governments in the Kansai region are stepping up the use of woody biomass such as wood chips and wood wastes. Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd., in conjunction with foreign venture companies, has launched the development of high-efficiency electric power generation technology using woody biomass. An academic-industrial complex in Kyoto has embarked on a study to produce automobile fuel from woody biomass. Various local governments are showing interest in the use of woody biomass, which would promote environmental protection and reactivate the struggling forest industry.Trees have evolved over the centuries to become efficient converters of sunlight into wood using the process of photosynthesis. The cells of woody material are formed from a range of complex chemicals such as lignin and cellulose. The chemicals that make up wood also consist mainly of hydrogen and carbon, but in wood, oxygen atoms are also present. To turn wood into useful forms of energy, a number of alternative conversion process are available.
One of the main challenge facing researchers worldwide at present is to develop a reliable large-scale wood gasification system. The woody biomass is turned into hydrogen, carbon monoxide and other gases that can then be used to generate electricity by powering efficient gas turbines.
Kawasaki Heavy Industries' biomass power generation project calls for wood chips to be baked and turned into synthetic gas, which would be used as fuel for powering an engine to generate electric power. Kawasaki plans to combine its plant control technology with gasification technology to be introduced from a South African company and high-efficiency gas engine technology to be introduced from a German company.
Kawasaki's woody biomass electric power generation plant will be set up in Hikami Town, Hyogo Prefecture, in January 2004 and start test operations using wood chips produced in the town. Kawasaki is expected to urge other local governments to introduce the plant, if the test operations were successful.
In Kyoto City, Yanmar Co., Ltd., Horiba, Ltd. and Kyoto University are developing a facility to transform woody biomass into ethanol using supercritical water and produce automobile fuel.
A cooperative association made up of 31 lumber mill operators in Osaka City plans to generate electric power using woody biomass produced in four lumber mill complexes in Osaka Prefecture. The plant will have a capacity of 10,000 kilowatts, the association said. The Osaka Prefectural Forest Owners'Cooperative Association has been producing since last summer woody pellets produced from lumber obtained in deforestation and use them as fuels for hot spring boilers and stoves.
An increasing number of local governments plan to use woody biomass for power generation and other purposes. Ichinomiya Town in Hyogo Prefecture's Shiso County, which had been conducting biomass power generation experiments, started trial operations of a woody biomass power plant. Forestry is Ichinomiya Town's main industry. In Shiga Prefecture, electric power generation projects with citizens'involvement are under way. Nara and Wakayama prefectures have set aside in their fiscal 2003 budgets expenses for conducting research on effective use of woody biomass.
Woody biomass now can be practically applied in technical terms. If the use of woody biomass expands, deforestation will accelerates and the growth of forests will be promoted, which in turn will help prevent global warming through the absorption of carbon dioxide.
However, the problem is that woody biomass is more costly than petroleum and coal. The building of systems for collecting and transporting at low costs holds the key for the spread of the use of woody biomass. (R)