UN disaster reduction conference in Kobe Jan. '05
The second United Nations World Conference on Disaster Reduction will be held in Kobe January 18-22, 2005. The Japanese central government at a Cabinet session in July endorsed the Hyogo Prefectural Government's plan to host the conference in January 2005 that marks the 10th anniversary of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and asked the United Nations to approve the plan. The UN General Assembly recently unanimously voted for a resolution, cosponsored by some 140 countries, including the United States, Switzerland and Australia, calling for the holding of the conference in Kobe.UN member countries, UN agencies, non-government organizations of the world and others are expected to participate in the conference, the main theme of which is the formulation of a new disaster reduction guideline for the 21st century based on a review of the Yokohama Strategy and the action plan adopted at the first World Conference on Disaster Reduction held in Yokohama in 1994. The conference will also study a specific action program for reducing disasters.
Hyogo Governor Toshizo Ido said, 'The holding of the UN conference in disaster-stricken Hyogo Prefecture 10 years after the great earthquake will serve as a new starting point for our creative restoration work, because the 10th anniversary is a time for us to look back on what we have done so far in restoring our prefecture.'
Kansai business confidence continues to improve, BOJ
Business confidence in six prefectures in the Kansai region (Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, Shiga, Nara and Wakayama) continued to improve in December, according to the quarterly 'tankan' report released by the Osaka branch of the Bank of Japan (BOJ).The diffusion index-the ratio of those responding in the positive to those responding in the negative-was minus 9 for manufacturers, up 9 points from September, and minus 21 for non-manufacturers, up 5 points. The DI for all industries was minus 16, up 5 points. The DI for manufacturers improved for the third consecutive quarter, while that for non-manufacturers improved for the fifth consecutive quarter. The DI for all industries improved for the seventh consecutive quarter.
Among manufacturers, nonferrous metal improved 44 points, lumber and lumber products 40 points and metal products 20 points. Among non-manufacturers, realty improved 8 points, transportation 7 points and services (including lease) 7 points.
Matsushita develops high-power switch IC using GaN
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. has developed a high-power switch IC after successfully integrating gallium nitride (GaN) transistor for the first time in the world. The switch IC boosted permeable electric capability by 10 times from 4W to 40W, which was the limit of the conventional GaAs switch ICs, and reduced the transistor size by 40 percent. It is expected that reduction of electricity loss would enable communication devices to operate for long hours, raise their reception levels and reduce their size.The technological feat was achieved by 1) the realization of breakdown voltage higher than 100 volts with an extremely narrow gate, 2) halving of low-on-state resistance with original silicon doping technique, 3) more than halving of the chip size by reduction of the stages from five in the case of the 20-volt GaAs transistor to one due to high breakdown voltage, and 4) the integration of transistors and resistance elements into one chip through MMIC (monolithic microwave integrated circuit) technology.
Finnish exhibition underway at Lake Biwa Museum
The Shiga Prefectural Lake Biwa Museum in Kusatsu City, Shiga Prefecture, is currently holding an exhibition of Finnish illustrated books, school textbooks and toys as well as pictures drawn by Finnish children.Throughout December, the exhibition, called 'Children of the World: Finland,' displays a Christmas tree and a costume Finnish children wear when they accompany Santa Claus as his assistants 'tonttu.'
New Arida mikan species developed in Wakayama
The Arida Agricultural Extension Center of the Wakayama Prefectural Government has developed a new species of Arida mikan, a famous Satsuma mandarin produced in the prefecture.Introducing a new cultivation technology called 'multi-drip,' the center succeeded in growing a new type of Arida mikan, with the brand name of 'Kinokuni Arida Maru-dori (multi-drip) Mikan,' which is less affected by weather conditions and has a better balance of sugar and acid.
The center has already established a market for the new Arida mikan in Tokyo through promotional activities including the use of brand containers.
Historic Kansai: Ask for Onshi's advicer to enjoy visit to Ise
By Junzo TanakaMost people must have visited the Ise Grand Shrines. The Ise Shrines are a Shinto mausoleum of the Imperial Family in Ise City, Mie Prefecture, according to the definition of Kojien, the most widely used Japanese language dictionary. Since ancient days, the Ise Shrines have been popular among Japanese people and widely known even abroad. German architect Bruno Taut, who visited Japan in the 1930s, praised the Ise Shrines as the essence of the Japanese beauty of simplicity.
A large number of worshippers will visit the shrines during the coming New Year holidays as in the past. There are various interesting spots to see both in the compound of the shrines and in the town of Ise. Those who have already visited Ise tourists spots many times are advised to ask 'onshi,' Shinto priests who serve as town guides, what to see and where to visit in Ise. In the real sense of the word, 'Onshi' means Shinto priests belonging to shrines who preach teachings and tell stories about backgrounds of the teachings in order to propagate them. Long ago, there were a large number of Ise 'onshi' who traveled all over the country to spread the divine grace of the Ise Shrines. They were like the Christian missionaries who preached in the early days of Christianity. Indeed, the Ise onshi had a strong sense of mission like Christian missionaries. But, characteristically the onshi were more or less common people and in a casual way tried to motivate people to visit Ise rather than preaching noble Shinto doctrines.
The Ise onshi made great contributions to enhancing the popularity of Ise among people. In the Edo Period, people all over the country hoping to visit the Ise Shrine at least once in their lifetime formed fraternities, called 'Ise Ko.' Members of the Ise Ko accumulated funds for Ise visits, offered prayers and went to Ise on group tours at their convenience. Some folklorists say that the 'Ise Ko' fraternities were instrumental in building roads and lodging facilities along the routes leading to Ise and made Japan one of the leading tourist countries in the world in those days.
There are still a lot of people in Ise doing the work of 'onshi.' The Ise Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Ise Tourist Association, the Ise Hotel Association and the Ise Shinto Priest Association as well as individuals formed the 'Ise Ko Fraternity Association' several years ago in an effort to make Ise as popular as it was in the Edo Period. The association asked local residents well versed in things about Ise to do volunteer work such as tour guide, just as 'onshi' of the Edo Period did. As one of its activities to propagate Ise, the association is asking the owner of old shops making herb medicine, swords, netsuke, traditional lanterns, rattan products, 'miso' bean curd, and traditional rowing boats, among others, to open their shops and workshops to the public as 'town museums.'
Recently, this writer visited town museums exhibiting 'ukiyoe' prints and ceramics and were shown valuable collections while warming in a traditional 'kotatsu' heater, and fully enjoyed the traditional atmosphere of Ise. Since the museum staff serve as guides for visitors as side work while handling their daily chores, visitors wishing their guide services had better make appointments in advance. All visitors to Ise would be exposed to the traditional Japanese spirit.
Incidentally, the Ise Shrines, normally closed at night, are open to visitors day and night from December 31 through the morning of January 7. A bonfire is built from the New Year Eve through the morning of New Year Day, while sacred music and dancing are played.
(Announcements)
The next issue will be dated on January 14, 2004.We wish all of you a Happy New Year.
Kansai in Focus: Ukrainian woman promoting Kyoto's international exchanges
At the close of a year, the concourse of the Kyoto Station Building was swarmed with masses of people. I thrust my way through the throng and took an elevator to the ninth floor. There, I found a quiet, relaxed office, an entirely different world from the bustling concourse. That is the Kyoto Prefectural International Center (KPIC).I was greeted by two foreign receptionists. They showed me inside. One of them was Sigal Olena from Ukraine. Olena, 27, looks intelligent and one of the typical beauties of East European countries like Ukraine and Poland. As a staff member of the KPlC, Olena handles various types of creative work, not limited to such linguistic work like interpretation for visiting foreign VIPs and translation of official documents.
She is responsible for an international culture school for foreigners, called 'Kyoto Kokusai Juku,' where Japanese classic arts are taught. In a class of 'Noh,' a form of musical dance-drama, a Noh specialist gives a lecture on the basics of 'tsudzumi' (small drum), 'fue' (traditional flute), Noh costumes and Noh languages, on the first day. Next day, students go to a Noh theater of the Kongo school to see a performance of Noh plays at first hand.
Recently a class of 70 students attended a performance which consisted of a chorus, a Noh play, a Kyogen play ( a comic interlude played between Noh plays) and again a Noh play. Kokusai Juku also holds a class on 'wagashi (traditional Japanese pastries),' 'sake (Japanese wine)' and 'osechi (a special kind of cooking for New Year)' and lets participants taste them.
Olena added that the KPIC last year inaugurated a new program, called 'Pioneer Kyoto 21,' aimed at having foreigners see state-of-the-art technologies based on Kyoto's traditional artisanship. Kyoto boasts traditional industries that have lasted for hundreds of years, based on which state-of-the-art technologies have developed. There is no lack of world-famous companies, like Kyocera Corp. and Nintendo Co., that have developed on the basis of Kyoto's traditional artisanship.
The first event of the program, conducted last year, was a visit to Kyoto-based Shimadzu Corp., to which Koichi Tanaka, the winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2002, belongs. Olena plays a leading role in supporting the program, including preparations, publicity, making posters in English and Japanese, and recruiting participants. Her presence is indispensable in implementing the program.
Olena hails from the Ukrainian capital of Kiev. Ukraine has had little connection with Japan, and in her young days she hadn't met even a single Japanese. But her father's collection of Japanese literary works inspired her interest in Japan. 'My father was a keen reader and his bookshelves were lined with Russian translations of The Tale of Genji as well as the works of such modern writers as Ryunosuke Akutagawa and Yasunari Kawabata, all of I have read. I am impressed by the Japanese sense of beauty and particularly fond of Noh plays which explores the innermost of the human mind' Olena says.
After graduating from the Kiev State Linguistic University where she majored in the Japanese language, Olena worked at the Japanese Embassy in Kiev for two years and came to Japan in July 2000 to take up the post of a staff member of the Kyoto Prefectural International Center. Having a deep interest in Japanese culture, she learned tea ceremony of Urasenke School and Japanese dancing of Wakayagi School. She once danced on the stage of a theater in the town's Gion amusement district to the tune of kouta, a Japanese ballad-type song. She even learned kendo (Japanese fencing). Also, she has mastered the dressing of Japanese kimonos and can wear kimonos for herself.
Proficient in languages, she can speak Ukrainian, Russian, Japanese, English and German. She is really a talented woman. Hoping to become a specialist in Japanese literature in the future, she is studying hard preparing to advance to a graduate school to pursue her Japanese studies. (H)