International conference on TDRM in Kobe, Dec. 2-4
The Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC) and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Kobe (UNOCHA Kobe) will hold an international conference on total disaster risk management (TDRM) at Kobe Portopia Hotel December 2-4. ADRC and UNOCHA Kobe are promoting TDRM in the Asian region.A prelude to the U.N. World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction to be held in Kobe in January, 2005, the conference will bring together some 70 officials in charge of disaster reductions and others from 24 Asian countries. The participants will report on disaster risk management in their own countries and exchange views on issues related to disaster risk management.
International Silk Road symposium in Nara, Dec. 5-7
An international symposium on Silk Road will be held at the Nara Ken New Public Hall and the Nara Prefecture Culture Hall, both in Nara City, December 5-7 to globally publicize the role Nara City plays as the global center for studies of the Silk Road. It will be under the aegis of its organizing committee, comprising Nara Prefectural Government, Nara International Foundation- Commemorating the Silk Road Exposition (NIFS) and Asahi Shimbun, among others.The symposium is held every other year, inviting noted Japanese and foreign Silk Road researchers. The theme of this year's seventh symposium is 'Soaring over the Silk Road, Alexander the Great-His Dreams and Real Image and Eastward Shift of Hellenic Culture.' Participants, including Patrizio Pensabene, a professor at La Sapienza, University of Rome, will review the achievements of Alexander the Great, who greatly expanded exchanges between the East and the West, and explore the direction of international exchanges in the new era. A related seminar open to the public will be held in Tokyo on December 14.
ATR develops wireless device to prevent theft of code
The Adaptive Communications Research Laboratories of the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR) in Seika Town, Kyoto Prefecture, and Doshisha University have jointly developed a wireless communications device that prevents theft of passwords.Wireless local area networks (WLAN) currently use encryption to prevent eavesdropping. In the most secure WLAN systems, wireless users have to generate and share a secret key (password) with each other for data encryption and decryption. Under the current WLAN system, if the users transmit the key, it could be stolen by a third party during transmission.
The new system consists of a wireless WLAN access point equipped with an electronically steerable parasitic array radiator (Espar) antenna, which serves as the base unit, and a conventional WLAN terminal, which serves as the branch unit.
The Espar antenna of the base unit transmits radio waves, and the branch unit detects amplitude fading due to coherent interference among multipath radio waves. The branch unit then makes a secret key based on the fading.
Since the propagation of radio waves has reciprocity, the base unit and the branch unit can detect the same fading, which enables both units to create an identical secret key. Fading differs depending on where the device is located, and so a third party cannot make the same key. This makes eavesdropping theoretically impossible.
3rd Osaka Motor Show at Intex Osaka, Dec. 5-8
The third Osaka Motor Show will be held at Intex Osaka in Osaka City's Suminoe Ward, featuring a comprehensive range of exhibits including domestic and imported concept cars and new models, on December 5-8. The largest automobile show in Western Japan will be organized by the Osaka Motor Show Promotional Committee, made up of Osaka International Trade Fair Commission (OITFC) and Yomiuri Shimbun Osaka Headquarters, among others. Nine Japanese automakers and 12 car importers will enter the show. During the period of the motor show, the 'ITS Show 2003' and 'OSAKA PC Meets Market2003' will be simultaneously held by OITFC.
Workshop on fast breeder reactor in Tsuruga
Japan Atomic Industrial Forum, Inc. (JAIF) will hold an international workshop on fast breeder reactor (FBR) 'The International Workshop on FBR-the Role of Nuclear Energy and the Meaning of FBR from the Global Viewpoint' at Wel Sunpia Tsuruga in Tsuruga City, Fukui Prefecture, on November 27.Luis Echavarri, director general of the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and others will deliver keynote lectures and attend panel discussions.
Historic Kansai:Let's walk around Arida mikan forests at the year-end
By Junzo TanakaFor most Japanese, New Year's Eve is an occasion as pleasant as Christmas Eve is for the people of the Christian world. A typical scene of New Year's Eve in Japan is like this: all members of a family warm themselves at a kotatsu heater while eating mikan (mandarin oranges) and watching Kohaku Uta Gassen, which is a singing contest between a male and a female team of popular singers annually sponsored by NHK on New Year's Eve. Perhaps this is the happiest moment of the year for most Japanese.
Kotatsu is a peculiar Japanese heater with a low, open wooden frame covered by a futon mat and a table top with a heat source placed underneath. People put their legs into the kotatsu to warm themselves in winter. It serves as the gathering spot for the whole family.
Mikan, which is the theme of this article, is the most popular citrus fruit in Japan. As large as a baseball, it can be peeled by hand without using a knife. Loved by young and old, men and women, mikan is the most suitable fruit for a family having a pleasant time together. Lately, it has been exported to foreign countries.
Thus, it can be said that any one can enjoy the year-end mood of Japan by tasting mikan. Wakayama Prefecture is one of the best-known mikan producing districts in Japan, and Arida City produces the best quality mikan, known as Arida mikan. From November through mid-December, mikan forests in Arida are loaded with yellow fruits, presenting a splendid landscape.
Arida mikan was already famous across Japan 400 years ago. Various wild citrus species were produced in various districts and sold as souvenirs for tourists. In the late 16th century, Magoemon Ito, an Arida trader, brought back tangerine seedlings from Kumamoto Prefecture (then called Higo) in Kyushu, and transplanted them to local tangerine trees and successfully improved their quality. This is the origin of Arida mikan.
The Unshu species, which has no seeds, is the tastiest Arida mikan. Unshu mikan was once considered to have originated in China (Unshu is the name of a Chinese city). But a Japanese botanist who conducted a survey of citrus fruits in China reported that no similar fruits were discovered there. The origin of Arida mikan thus still remains unclear.
The warm climate of Arida and protection offered by the Kishu Clan, which administered the Kansai region in feudal days, successfully produced a huge amount of Arida mikan, many of which were shipped to the capital of Edo (presently Tokyo), which was a large consumption center, and praised as the best mikan in the country.
We can hardly talk about the history of mikan without mentioning the name of Bunzaemon Kinokuniya, a 17th century trader. Bunzaemon braved rough seas of the Pacific and transported Arida mikan to Edo and built a fortune. Bunzaemon has gone down in history as a brave success. Exports of Arida mikan to North America and China started in the 19th century. In order to win competition with foreign citrus fruits, Arida mikan growers strived to improve its quality and exporters developed new shipping methods, which keep oranges fresh during a long sea voyage.
Arida mikan itself is the condensation of Japanese history. Historians say studies of products makes it easier to understand a country or a people. When you enter Wakayama Prefecture from Osaka, Kobe or Kyoto via National Highways 42 and 480, you will notice a strain of mikan forests, a scene reminiscent of grape fields in southern France. Local people will show you the way to places where you can view mikan forests on both sides of your car, to mikan farms for tourists and the Arida Mikan Museum.
I will be happy if mikan would enhance your interest in Japan.
Kansai in Focus: French int'l coordinator has fallen in love with Wakayama
Four representatives of French local governments visited Wakayama Prefecture on July 15 as part of an exchange program of local government officials between Japan and France after attending a seminar in Tokyo on the program. The weather that day was perfect with blue skies , though it was still the rainy season. Serving as their interpreter and guide was Robin Godfroy, a 32-year-old French coordinator for international relations (CIR) at Wakayama Prefectural Government.'We walked together along the ancient pilgrimage routes in Kumano lined with tall cedar trees on our way to the Mt. Koya temples and other holy places in the mountains of the Kii Peninsula. The Wakayama Prefectural Government and other organizations plan to register the old Kumano roads and holy places on the UNESCO World Heritage List. In ancient times, young and old, men and women visited the holy places via the Kumano pilgrimage roads. The old cedar trees impressed us greatly. They healed our mind,' said Godfroy in fluent Japanese.
Godfroy's native place is a small village 40 kilometers south of Paris and located near Eurodisneyland. He came to Wakayama in August last year to take up the post of a CIR at the prefectural government after passing the CIR examination sponsored by the Japanese Government. What attracted him to Japan was Japanese motion pictures. 'I saw Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurais when I was 23 and was greatly impressed. This was my first encounter with a Japanese film. I watched the works by Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasujiro Ozu and Keisuke Kinoshita one after another,' Godfroy explained.
He entered University of Paris 7 at the age of 26 and majored in Japanese history. When he was a sophomore, he came to Kansai on a group tour and visited Tokyo just by himself the next year. He picked up Japanese during the tours. Upon graduation, he applied for a CIR examination, which 70 foreign nationals entered. He was among eight successful applicants and assigned to Wakayama Prefecture, though he didn't mention where he wanted to be posted.
Wakayama Prefecture has exchange agreements with various regions of various countries. One of such regions is France's Pyrenees-Orientales Prefecture on the foot of the Pyrenees mountains bordering Spain and overlooking the Mediterranean Ocean. It is a tourist resort that boasts a wide variety of commodities such as wine, fruits and marine products. Its geographical features resemble Wakayama's.
Wakayama's various exchange programs keep Godfroy busy. Besides translation and interpretation work, he teaches the French language to local citizens once a week. He has two classes, one in the afternoon and the other in the evening. In addition, he makes the rounds of elementary, middle and high schools in Wakayama City once a month to teach French culture, history and cooking.
Godfroy has fallen in love with Wakayama. 'Wakayama has beautiful nature and a long history. It keeps a cultural legacy accumulated over a long period,' he said. Only a year after he came to Wakayama, Godfroy is already an expert on Wakayama.
Wakayama has produced a large number of historical figures who had an enterprising spirit, such as Yoshimune Tokugawa, the 18-th century Shogun who carried out a sweeping reform program, Seishu Hanaoka, a 19th century surgeon who conducted the first surgery on a breast cancer patient under general anesthetic for the first time in the world, and Konosuke Matsushita, the founder of the Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Group, who is touted as the 'God of Business.' Wakayama has deep-rooted cultural power and is full of interesting episodes. How lucky Godfroy is to have international exchange jobs in such a place.
Asked what he does after work and at weekends, Godfroy replied that he used to be a member of the town's Tug-of-War Club but the club has been disbanded and so his pastime now is reading and cinemas. 'I am happy that way,' he said with a smile. (H)