JLGC News & Blog

September 22nd, 2011 The quality and nutritional value of Japanese cuisine has become well known throughout the world. And nobody should wonder that the inseparable companion of Japanese foos is Japanese kitchen knives. Especially in New York, Japanese knives are used by not only Japanese but also many Western chefs influenced by Japanese food culture. Japanese knives are widely adopted because of their sharpness, flexibility of use and beautiful craftsmanship. Among the many producers of knives in Japan, Sakai City is best known as the capital of Hocho (traditional kitchen knives) and Sakai’s Hocho are holding the line against others in terms of their quality and sharpness. Sakai Hocho are… Read More »Sakai Knives Penetrate East To West

In Tokyo, on the street parking for cars is prohibited and is punished by fines and towing away. Also, from April 2009, not only police officers but also private parking attendants are authorized to ticket violators, especially in Tokyo. When ordinary vehicles park illegally, the fine is 15,000 yen (about $187.50). It is necessary to pay a bigger parking fine, 18,000 yen (about $225), in a no stopping zone. So, how should one park a car in Tokyo? If you are willing to pay 300 yen (about $3.75), you can park your car for one hour at a public parking meter on the road. But, if you are in the… Read More »About Road Parking Circumstances in Tokyo

Japan is proactively dealing with two crises that portend an uncertain future for the nation. The dual crisis pertains to the country’s growing aging population and its declining birth rate. According to population statistics, three large metropolitan areas, Tokyo, Osaka and Aichi Prefecture will experience severe population declines, especially in their outlying areas where young people have moved away to secure employment in their respective urban centers. As a result of worker migration, birth declination and the rapid aging of the resident populations, Japan is encouraging its municipalities to implement progressive policies designed to slow the flow of the exodus of people from the rural areas. On December 26, 2008,… Read More »Japan’s “Autonomy Settlement Zones”

Water Supply Tank at Siem Reap, Cambodia. Photo courtesy of Kitakyushu City Several Japanese major cities and prefectures are trying to export their water / sewage technology. Currently, Tokyo Metropolitan Waterworks Bureau maintains 25,969km (16,230 mile) of water pipes that provides daily, an average of 4.3 million m3 (946 million gallon) of potable water to more than 12.6 million people. One of TMWB’s superior points is its detection and control of water leakage technology. This makes it possible to supply more water at less cost and minimum environmental effect. The leakage rate of TMWB water supply is only 3.0% in 2009, while other foreign major cities’ average is around 10%.… Read More »Japanese major cities try to export their water / sewage technology

July 27th, 2011 In April 2011, the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education issued its “Educational Curriculum for Pre-school Kids”, aiming to facilitate young kids’ physical and intellectual abilities. Nowadays, Japanese young kids are said to be lacking a basic lifestyle, self-discipline, and conformity. “First Grade Problems”, where some first grade pupils cannot follow their teachers and so the class becomes uncontrollable for the teachers, is one of the biggest issues for Japan’s primary schools. Because of these circumstances, nurseries and kindergartens are expected to raise the quality of their educational product so that kids are easily accepted at the primary schools. With this goal in mind, the Tokyo Metropolitan Board… Read More »Tokyo Metropolitan Government Teaches How to Raise a Pre-school Kid

Throughout human history, rivers have been an essential component in the successful development of a society’s trade, commerce, wealth and knowledge. We depend on rivers for transportation, to provide food and problematically to absorb and carry away our waste products. Virtually all water pollutants are hazardous to humans as well as lesser species. Some contaminants are carcinogenic. Urban river health in the United States and Japan as well as other industrialized nations has declined steadily throughout the first seventy years of the twentieth century due to the dumping of large amounts of raw sewage and industrial pollutants into rivers. Before the 1970’s there was virtually no data on water quality… Read More »Japan and the United States promoting urban river health

July 12th, 2011 Miyagi, as many people know, was badly damaged by the March 11th disaster and Tsunami. Fortunately it has been recovering with warm support from all over the world. The priority is recovering the lives of residents and land of Miyagi prefecture. Tourism, however, has suffered and so it is a high priority for Miyagi to attract visitors. One way is to sell Miyagi’s biggest historical asset- Date Masamune. So travelling around Japan, there is a group of make belief warlords, wearing heavy armor and having swords, and formed around Date Masamune who founded the Sendai clan and conquered a great part of the Tohoku region. What’s more,… Read More »Date Masamune who was one of the most famous generals in Edo period helps Miyagi come back from Natural Disasters!!

For animation aficionado, it is very popular to trek to the places where episodes of famous animations were created. Young, old, Japanese and foreigners, visit these holy grounds and immerse themselves in their favorite episodes. “Anime-One” of Biglobe conducted internet research of the “the most popular destination for ‘Anime’ pilgrimage” on July 7, 2011. (www.rbbtoday.com/article/2011/07/01.78526.htm/) According to its research, the most popular destination is Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture, where Episodes of the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya are supposed to take place. (Second: Shirakawa, Gifu of “When you hear the sound of cicadas.” Third: Toyosato Elementary School, Shiga, of Keion: The Girls Band) Nagaru Kitagawa, the creator of Haruhi Suzumiya, has… Read More »What is the most popular destination for the “Anime” pilgrimage?

In Japan, we are concerned that the electricity supply may fall short of electricity demand this summer since many nuclear power plants cannot be restarted because of objections by concerned local governments. Shortfall in power may cause a massive black out, which will have a large effect on life and economic activities. New Yorkers will remember the blackout of 2004! The government, companies and people in Japan are considering various ways to reduce energy consumption to avoid such a severe situation. The issue for Japan is not “always” reducing usage but reducing usage “during peak hours”. For their part, local governments in Japan are also making efforts to save energy.… Read More »Avoiding a massive black out – Efforts to save energy by local governments in Japan

In April 2010, Chiyoda Ward in Tokyo, where the national government offices are concentrated, enacted legislation banning smoking on all streets except within the Imperial Palace. Chiyoda was the first municipality to restrict smoking on some roads, in 2002, imposing a fine of 2,000 yen ($24.90) on violators. Since the enactment of this ordinance was announced in Chiyoda, similar ordinances have been enacted in a lot of municipalities around Japan and now smoking in a lot of public places is prohibited. The fine is basically collected by the staff of Chiyoda Ward. Payment can be made either at the time, when the ticket is handed out, or later at a… Read More »Municipality in Tokyo bans smoking on the street

Immediately after the great East Japan earthquake caused havoc and tragedy, Japanese local governments responded urgently to calls for assistance from the affected areas. Immediate initiatives and manpower were dispatched to help ameliorate the damages caused by the massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami. As a representative of Hiroshima city government, I would like to tell you about how Hiroshima city officials responded. First, staff from the Fire Services Bureau and Waterworks Bureau were dispatched to the damaged areas and on the following days supplies arrived to support the relief efforts. A command center, the East Japan Earthquake headquarters was established to provide all types of support; including medical staff consisting… Read More »Earthquake Support from Hiroshima City

Since March 11th, many local governments around Japan have supported the disaster victims with relief supplies and activities. In this effort, Sakai City has attracted much attention by its unique support utilizing its local industries. Sakai City is known as “Bicycle Town” because it has so many bicycle-related manufacturers such as SHIMANO INC. After the huge earthquake hammered Kobe in 1995, Sakai City brought a large number of bicycles to the affected area. Although they certainly helped people get around after the transportation infrastructure was destroyed and gasoline was scarce, they often suffered from blowouts due to the debris lying all over. Repair crews had to spend a lot of… Read More »Sending local products to where they are needed

The National Diet of Japan has passed a law calling for a policy deliberation forum to consist of several Cabinet members and local government leaders. The cabinet members participating in the forum are the Chief Cabinet Secretary, the Minister in charge of strengthening local autonomy reform, the Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, the Minister of Finance and other ministers that may be appointed by the Prime Minister. Local government leaders are the chairpersons representing the following six organizations; The Japan National Governors Association The Japan Association of City Mayors The National Association of Towns and Villages Mayors The National Association of Chairpersons of Prefectural Assemblies The National Association of… Read More »Japan creates a statutory round table for national, prefecture and local leaders to discuss reforming government responsibilities

Japanese local governments have dispatched many firefighters to the affected area since March 11th. These response teams are registered as “Emergency Fire Response Teams” (EFRT) at the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. They are composed of firefighting teams and rescue teams as well as command response teams, special disaster teams, air squadrons etc. So far, approximately 7,500 teams of 28,500 firefighters (aggregation including replacements) have been dispatched to the affected area from all over Japan. As of May 27th, 70 firefighters of 20 teams, including 1 air squadron, are assisting the affected area fire departments. The expense of Emergency Fire Response Teams will be… Read More »Local governments are assisting emengency response of disaster affected area