February 2011 Vol. 4 No. 10 Sustainable Cities Rethinking Japan’s Community Spaces CONTENTS COVER STORY 4 Sustainable Cities Rethinking Japan’s Community Spaces Across Japan, businesses and local communities are working to MASATOSHI SAKAMOTO MASATOSHI reduce their CO2 emissions, drawing on renewable energy supplies, Front cover: Six hundred lanterns illustrated by celebrities and schoolchildren for example, or introducing “smart” systems for energy conservation. lit up the night sky in Tokyo's Wadakura Fountain Park last December. The display In doing so they continue to improve people’s lives and maintain was part of the Kouto Tokyo • LIGHTOPIA light festival, which is held annually in the industrial development. Tokyo Station area. For details, see page 7. 6 Electric Unazuki 12 Living Off the Grid The hot spring resort of Unazuki in Toyama R o k k a s h o - m u r a i n Prefecture is positioning itself as a low-carbon Aomori Prefecture is sightseeing area. the location for a pio- MASATOSHI SAKAMOTO MASATOSHI neering experiment in 7 Kouto Tokyo • “smart house” living. LIGHTOPIA 14 Feeling the Co-benefits LED light displays brought a festive sparkle with a conservationist theme to the Tokyo Station area “Co-benefits” projects led by Japan are helping to last December. reduce CO2 emissions in developing countries while also helping to conserve the local environment. 8 Factory Floors of the Future 16 Ecozzeria Ushers in “Eco Offices” Leading manufacturers are revamping their pro- duction processes both to reduce CO2 emissions Ecozzeria in central Tokyo serves both as a provid- and boost their competitiveness. er of information about environmental issues and as a model of an environment-friendly workspace. 10 Eco-Products 2010 18 The Future City Introducing some of the inter- Concept esting technologies on display at the latest Eco-Products en- An interview with Dr. Shuzo Murakami, chief exec- vironmental fair held in Tokyo utive of the Building Research Institute and head of in December. an expert review panel on the Future City Concept, WATARU MUKAI WATARU a new Government policy. Highlighting Japan FEBRUARY 2011 Highlighting Japan FEBRUARY 2011 2 3 EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY THE CABINET OFFICE, GOVERNMENT OF JAPAN The views expressed in this magazine by the interviewees or contributors do not necessarily represent the views of the Cabinet Office or the government. No article or any part thereof may be reproduced without the express permission of the Cabinet Office. Copyright inquiries should be made through a form available at www.gov-online.go.jp/eng/mailform/inquiry.html 20 TOPICS 28 TOPICS A Fresh Start for Forests, Ship for World Youth, 2011 A Fresh Start for Biodiversity Some 265 young people from thirteen countries Reviewing events held to coincide with the end of set sail from Yokohama in January on a six-week the International Year of Biodiversity and the start tour of the South Pacific. of the International Year of Forests. 30 MONODZUKURI 23 PRIME MINISTER’S DIARY Breakthroughs in Bakery Second Kan Cabinet Reshuffle Pan Akimoto in Tochigi Prefecture has developed On January 14 Prime Minister Naoto Kan an- a long-life and life-saving bread for disaster victims nounced the second reshuffle of his Cabinet. around the world. 24 PRIME MINISTER’S DIARY 32 NEW TOURISM Opening Japan and Snow Country Reinventing KIZUNA We visit two unusual tourist re- Prime Minister Naoto sorts in northern Japan whose AIZAWA TADASHI K a n d e l i v e r e d a chief attractions are centered on snow and ice. s p e e c h , “ O p e n i n g Japan and Reinventing INFORMATION CABINET PUBLIC OFFICE RELATIONS KIZUNA,” at the World Prime Minister Naoto Kan shares his thoughts on Economic Forum in Davos, January 29. issues of the day on “Prime Minister KAN’s BLOG”: http://kansblog.kantei.go.jp/ 26 TOPICS Good Design Award Subscribe to our e-mail notification service for Profiling some of the winners of Japan's Good news of the latest updates: http://www.mmz.kantei.go.jp/foreign/blog/ Design Award for 2010. Highlighting Japan FEBRUARY 2011 Highlighting Japan FEBRUARY 2011 2 3 COVER STORY Sustainable Cities Rethinking Japan’s Community Spaces Solar panels line the roof and walls of a building, gleaming black. On November 4, 2010, the solar Spanels were installed on the building of Kawasaki City Nishimaruko Elementary School in Kanagawa Prefecture. The panel has a maximum output of 100 kilowatts, equivalent to the school’s greatest power demand. This school is one of twenty-five in the city to receive the panels from the municipal govern- ment, under a subsidy provided by the School New Deal initiative of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, which aims to rap- idly improve Japan’s educational environment. Solar panels line a wall and the Surrounded by the Tamagawa river, which forms eaves of the Kawasaki City the boundary between the Tokyo Metropolitan area Nishimaruko Elementary School. and Kanagawa Prefecture and by Todoroki Green Park, the school is ideally suited to installation of solar panels in terms of solar irradiation conditions. “In winter, solar irradiation is poorer than in summer, but the output has so far reached a maximum of 80 kilowatts,” says school principal Masahiro Watanabe. As the solar power generation meets the power demands of the school, it ultimately cuts carbon di- BOTH PHOTOS TADASHI AIZAWA TADASHI PHOTOS BOTH Pupils at Nishimaruko Elementary examine the solar oxide emissions by up to 35 metric tons per year. panels on the roof of their school. This is roughly equivalent to planting ninety trees Highlighting Japan FEBRUARY 2011 Highlighting Japan FEBRUARY 2011 4 5 with a height of 10 meters. pected to serve as an emergency power source. In the new Environmental Study Room, a high- The solar panels also help with learning. performance power storage system with lithium ion Sae Ogasawara, a fifth grader, says, “Now I feel that batteries has been installed. The system was devel- I understand environmental problems better than I oped by Eliiy Power Co., a business venture set up did before, I study them with greater interest.” by professors of Keio University, when Kawasaki City This issue’s cover story focuses on activities in dif- invited them to take part in waterfront areas. The ferent parts of the country which seek to change the system stores electricity generated by solar panels. nature of cities in consideration of the environment Given that the school is designated as an evacuation while continuing to improve people’s lives and main- center in the event of disaster, the system is ex- taining industrial development. Highlighting Japan FEBRUARY 2011 Highlighting Japan FEBRUARY 2011 4 5 COVER STORY Electric Unazuki An electric car glides through the hot spring resort of Unazuki ciple on driving gasoline-powered vehicles. They started with a car rental service of three electric cars and twenty electrically assisted bicycles for sight- seeing in the hot spring town and its surroundings. The electric cars can travel about 100 kilometers, which is enough for a leisurely day of sightseeing in Unazuki hot spring is located in the city of Kurobe, the surrounding tourist areas. In December, the town Toyama Prefecture, at the foot of the Northern Alps. started a demonstration trial of a small generating fa- UThe Kurobe Gorge is a famous sightseeing spot cility that uses the water for fire prevention that flows where viewing the natural scenery from the Torokko through the town to charge the electric cars. train traveling the length of the gorge is a particularly Satoshi Ohashi, director of the executive commit- popular attraction. Toyama Bay is also not far away tee for the Denki Unazuki Project, comments, “We so in terms of the palate, it is possible to enjoy both have arranged for convertible electric cars with cute seafood and mountain vegetables. designs that make many visitors feel that they want Aiming to become a low-carbon sightseeing area, to try them. Recently, there has been an increase in Unazuki hot spring launched the Denki Unazuki visitors who come because they want to drive the Project in April 2010. (“Denki” is the Japanese for electric cars.” The initiative already seems to be pio- “electricity.”) Modeled on Zermatt, the world famous mountain resort at the foot of the Matterhorn in Map of Unazuki and Kurobe Switzerland, the concept is to turn environmentally Sea of Japan friendly urban planning into a spark that ignites inter- Unazuki est among visitors. Local tourism operators and build- Toyama Kurobe Gorge Railway ing contractors got together to start up the project, (Torokko Electric Railway) Kurobe Gorge Keyakidaira inspired by a proposal made by Professor Hiroyuki Uesaka at Toyama University of International Studies, World Heritage Site Gokayama who has researched the advanced initiatives to protect Access to Unazuki from Tokyo Shirakawa-go 3h 20 min via Echigo-Yuzawa Station (JR Jo’etsu the environment at Zermatt, including the ban in prin- Shinkansen Line) to Toyama Station by JR Hokuriku Line. 1h from Dentetsu Toyama to Unazuki-onsen Station by Toyama Chitetsu Line. Highlighting Japan FEBRUARY 2011 Highlighting Japan FEBRUARY 2011 6 7 neering new visitors. hotels. Recently, there has also been an increase in There is a typically Japanese hydraulic power station visitors from Asia including China and Taiwan. We in the upper reaches of the Kurobe-gawa river, which want to continue to work hard to attract visitors from flows through Unazuki hot spring, and the high level all parts of the world to enjoy the natural surround- of interest in green energy among local people has ings and tourism through green energy.” also provided backing for the project.