Create a Website Account - Manage notification subscriptions Search autocomplete is currently not responding The Ohio Department of Development recently announced that the City of Sidney/Shelby County partnership will receive the maximum allocation of $750,000 for its Program Year 23 Community Housing Impact and Preservation (CHIP) program the Sidney Department of Fire & Emergency Services responded to a call regarding a structure fire at 214 Franklin Ave. fire crews found a detached building fully engulfed in flames at the rea.. 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DUBAI: The second edition of the UAE-Japan Falconry Program concluded in Japan’s Ichihara in February continuing with the support of Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan This initiative is part of the agreement signed between the club and Japan’s INPEX-JODCO Foundation aimed at enhancing and supporting friendship programs The camp saw participation from Emirati and Japanese falconers along with students from Sheikh Zayed Private Academy for Boys and Japan’s Suwa School of Falconry the oldest and most renowned falconry school in Japan Falconry remains one of the most traditional hunting methods in Japan participants were honored and presented with certificates of appreciation by the Japanese side in recognition of their efforts in preserving authentic traditions safeguarding falconry practices and ensuring their sustainability while strengthening the foundations of shared cultural heritage Secretary-General of the Emirates Falconers Club extended his deepest gratitude to Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Executive Council of Abu Dhabi Ruler’s Representative in Al Dhafra Region and Chairman of the Emirates Falconers Club for their support for the sustainable preservation of falconry He also thanked them for their commitment to passing down this heritage to future generations and supporting the joint falconry camp with Japan He expressed his happiness over the continuity of this unique cultural exchange between two nations known for their deep-rooted falconry traditions He also extended his appreciation to the Japanese side and all participants who contributed to the success of the program’s second edition He emphasized that this cultural exchange enriches cooperation and strengthens the historic friendship between the two countries Participants visited the Mayor of Ichihara who welcomed them and praised the program’s significance They also attended a workshop on the traditional Japanese art of “Amezaiku,” or candy sculpting where they created various shapes inspired by Japanese culture They also explored Ichihara’s natural and cultural landmarks The program included workshops on the history of falconry in Japan traditional techniques and training activities focused on tracking prey training birds of prey and hunting with falcons President of the Suwa Association for the Preservation of Falconry expressed her hope that falconry would serve as a gateway to Japan’s rich cultural heritage She said that a common bond between young falconers in Japan and the UAE is their early training which allows them to gain experience before joining professional hunting expeditions one can learn noble values such as courage Otsuka also mentioned that thanks to the Emirates Falconers Club and her participation in the Abu Dhabi International Hunting and Equestrian Exhibition since its early editions she became determined to act as an ambassador for Japanese falconry sharing her expertise with the world and fostering a new generation of Japanese falconers familiar with Arab falconry traditions a participant from Sheikh Zayed Private Academy for Boys expressed his excitement about the rare opportunity to experience falconry in Japan describing it as a culturally enriching and unique journey Mohammed Ahmed bin Nawi Al Mazrouei extended his heartfelt gratitude to the UAE’s leadership for making this visit possible emphasizing the historical significance of falconry in Japan He said that he learned valuable lessons about bird handling in Japan discovering that training methods are quite similar in both countries with knowledge passed down through generations Ryutaro Ichihara first fell in love with sports on the soccer field.  “Soccer really became the core of my life,” he said my dream was to become a professional soccer player.”  where his love of the game led him to Cal State Fullerton His plan was to pursue a career in professional sports but what he didn’t account for was finding something that he loved even more than soccer — research.  “Professor of Kinesiology John Gleaves helped me to find my path and showed me the possibilities in sports and philosophy,” said the Class of 2024 kinesiology grad.  Throughout his undergraduate and graduate career at CSUF Ichihara conducted research on the authenticity of sports in Western culture and the connections between cerebral palsy and physical activity He presented his findings at multiple academic conferences and found his purpose in teaching others about sports philosophy.  For his academic and research excellence, Ichihara was named the Alumni Association’s 2024 Outstanding Graduate Student When Ichihara began working on his thesis in the master’s program which is a neurological disorder that disrupts the connection between the brain and limbs,” he explained “I learned a lot about how he engages in different activities I wanted to help people understand how people with cerebral palsy experience physical fitness.”  It’s assumed that everyone can partake in physical fitness to some extent but these spaces often don’t account for people who have different capabilities “Towards True Inclusion: Developing a Phenomenology of Physical Activity With Cerebral Palsy,” Ichihara explains that it’s common for people with cerebral palsy to experience an “otherness” in physical activity settings because their participation looks different from able-bodied individuals which can result in feelings of isolation and frustration and cause a retreat from fitness altogether “I wanted to understand my brother’s experiences and how they are different from mine,” said Ichihara who presented this research at the 50th International Association for the Philosophy of Sport Annual Conference “It’s important to challenge ableist attitudes and expectations because physical activity environments should be fit for everyone.” Ichihara gathered literature and quotes from individuals with cerebral palsy to understand their unique experiences emphasizing the importance of increased accommodations and support to make physical activity more accessible and inclusive for people of all capabilities.  For his research achievements in this area Ichihara was recognized with the university’s 2024 Giles T Brown Thesis Excellence Award and received a $500 scholarship He also won first place at CSUF’s Titan Grand Slam competition and went on to compete at the California State University Grand Slam statewide competition.  “Ryutaro exemplifies the epitome of an exceptional graduate student at Cal State Fullerton, seamlessly intertwining his studies in kinesiology with philosophy to craft a groundbreaking master’s thesis,” said Gleaves “It truly is a privilege to be part of his journey and to watch him thrive here at CSUF.” Ichihara’s first research project was centered on understanding burnout among young athletes athletes often feel excessive pressure to “make it” in the sporting industry This makes them more likely to experience sports with authenticity and happiness Ichihara had the opportunity to present this research at the 2022 International Association for the Philosophy of Sport Conference.  Ichihara has continued to let sports and physical activity guide his service working as an exercise class leader for the Employee Wellness Program and a group fitness instructor and personal trainer in the Student Recreation Center.  faculty and staff reach their fitness goals Ichihara said he’s found happiness in teaching and seeing others reach their potential he plans to pursue a career as a university professor in sports philosophy where he can further his research and support students the way his professors supported him.  “Kinesiology professors Matt Llewellyn and John Gleaves made me realize that I want to be a college professor,” said Ichihara a language company that helps Japanese people learn English “They helped me understand the challenges and joys of teaching and they really gave me a light at the end of this long tunnel after finishing my soccer career I want to be that person for my students.” Kinesiology Grad Breaks Into Sporting Industry With Tokyo Olympics, Los Angeles Angels Student Lands Athletic Training Internship With Arizona Diamondbacks Future Athletic Trainer Takes the Field With Los Angeles Rams Champions of Coaching Do you have news you’d like to share with the campus Elm Terrace Resident To Celebrate Her 100th Birthday Friday No calendar events have been scheduled for today Today's print edition Home Delivery Police are investigating a suspected murder after a 56-year-old woman was found dead early Friday morning at a hotel in the city of Ichihara She was reportedly bound at the wrists and had what appeared to be slash wounds on her neck.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); Emergency responders arrived after a 119 call reported that a woman in her 50s was “lying on the ground with her wrists tied and showing no signs of consciousness or breathing.” was found bleeding at the reception desk by the hotel’s manager upon their arrival Police said no weapon was found at the scene The incident occurred approximately 7 kilometers southeast of Anegasaki Station In a time of both misinformation and too much information quality journalism is more crucial than ever.By subscribing Your subscription plan doesn't allow commenting. To learn more see our FAQ Sponsored contents planned and edited by JT Media Enterprise Division Your browser does not support JavaScript, or it is disabled．Please check the site policy for more information Chiba Prefecture--A retired train car still accommodates people but as a guest room at the Takatakiko Glamping Resort here The KiHa 203 model was originally introduced for service by Kominato Railway Co in 1963 and ran on the city’s countryside routes for 57 years The train car was donated to GR Holdings Co. which put it on display at the glamping site in May 2023 and then decided to turn it into an accommodation facility While straps and the driver’s cab remain intact The train car-turned-guest room now sits on a section of old Kominato Railway track that runs alongside new tracks offering visitors a chance to see trains passing by up-close from the balcony “We want not only train enthusiasts but also families and couples to spend quality time here,” said Sayaka Kumazaki The railway company is struggling to attract passengers as local communities along the line are becoming depopulated “This facility has changed the flow of tourists,” Mayor Joji Koide said during an opening ceremony held July 26 referring to the glamping site that opened in 2021 “We will work together with Kominato Railway to attract even more visitors.” For reservations and inquires, visit the official website at (https://www.takatakiko-glamping.com/) Classic train cars turned into guest rooms at hotel in Oita Prefecture Osaka hotel lays track to revive business with railway diorama New Spacia X express train to connect Asakusa with Nikko Skyline train is full steam ahead in Honolulu beginning July 1 Railway-linked hotels turn to train buffs to get back on track Information on the latest cherry blossom conditions Please right click to use your browser’s translation function.) A series based on diplomatic documents declassified by Japan’s Foreign Ministry Here is a collection of first-hand accounts by “hibakusha” atomic bomb survivors chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life A series about Japanese-Americans and their memories of World War II In-house News and Messages No reproduction or republication without written permission Four lanes of road on National Route 16 in Ichihara were found to have collapsed Wednesday morning please disable the ad blocking feature and reload the page This website uses cookies to collect information about your visit for purposes such as showing you personalized ads and content By clicking “Accept all,” you will allow the use of these cookies Users accessing this site from EEA countries and UK are unable to view this site without your consent and the Chiba National Highway Office of the Ministry of Land Transport and Tourism is investigating the cause of the road collapse Our weekly ePaper presents the most noteworthy recent topics in an exciting © 2025 The Japan News - by The Yomiuri Shimbun AD ¥200 off /  Up to 2 people / For adults, students. 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The page may not be displayed properly if the JavaScript is deactivated on your browser Japanese version You do not have access to www.researchgate.net The site owner may have set restrictions that prevent you from accessing the site Making a home in Ichihara city means living with art culture – and support from the local government While the Ichihara Art x Mix festival is a must-see for residents and visitors alike the city of Ichihara itself is special for its livability With its proximity to the capital and a number of golf courses and close-knit – but by no means secluded – community it is the Chiba Prefecture town more than worthy of settling down in especially for those seeking an optimal work-life balance One feature kids of all ages are sure to love is the Ichihara Elephant Kingdom which houses the greatest population of elephants in the country and a plethora of other animals from llamas to a room teeming with fluffy cats The elephants’ paintings are displayed in various places The zoo is not dizzyingly large but is for this reason more intimate than those in Gunma or Ueno without a large barricade or single enclosure And because of this you can witness up close the relationship between the creatures and their keepers where the elephants are introduced to the audience was a protagonist in the 2005 film Shining Boy and Little Randy which details the origin story of Elephant Kingdom natural beauty only enhances the old culture is surrounded by towering and equally aged cedar trees On the grounds are around 40 cherry trees and some 1,000 hydrangeas framing the pavilions By the main hall stand hundreds of arhat statues An arhat is a saint that has attained enlightenment so the gathering signals the presence of great enlightenment or to simply walk through the complex renews the spirit and the Ichihara’s deep cultural roots and peaceful scenery makes the prospect of moving to the mountains appealing – but one may worry about the support systems available for residents Ichihara city is taking strides to accommodate a younger population The city is relatively well-off thanks to its industrial zone and government subsidies towards housing and moving expenses are available for families will be repurposed into a consultation desk with one-stop support services also available online The first thing you notice about Ichihara is the deep quiet A padded silence sweeps over the arhats at the great temple the tunnels and streams of Quad Forest and the surrounding farmland Find more about migration and settlement in Ichihara city at lifework-ichihara.com (Japanese only) a public-private partnership to accept people who wanted to move to the satoyama area while at the same time taking measures to prevent infection © Masato ChibaThe main house was a very attractive building, but due to the budget, the construction work, and the difficulty of design and construction, it was decided to use only the detached house. © Masato ChibaThe design was based on Kaitakusha's concept, "Light on Vacant Houses," and was guided by the idea of  lightening up on things like vacant houses that are unnecessary to the owners and locals, but attractive to outsiders, and connecting them to the next generation. © Masato ChibaThe soil dug for the foundation was used as the finishing for the counter top panel of the Otsu polishing by the plasterer Tokura's technique, and the bricks created in the workshop were used as the tiling for the reception counter. © Masato ChibaThe spacious one-room space is not only for young people but also for local people who are on good relationship with the Kaikyakusha You'll now receive updates based on what you follow Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors If you have done all of this and still can't find the email Metrics details The accelerating growth of seismic unrest before eruptions has been observed at many volcanoes and utilized for eruption forecasts there are still many eruptions for which no precursory unrest has been identified have been another negative example of this kind Here we present seismological evidence that the eruption preparation had been ongoing at the shallow depths beneath Shinmoe-dake for several months to a year We investigated the seismic background level (SBL) of eleven-year data recorded around the volcano including two stations about 1 km from the eruptive crater focusing on low-amplitude time windows recorded during quiet nighttime Then the spectra of daily background noise were classified by clustering analysis The SBL analysis successfully revealed very weak precursory tremors from more than several months before the eruption and residual tremors to the end of the eruptive period The precursory signals grew acceleratory in a similar way as is assumed in the material failure forecast method applied to eruption forecasts their growth was significantly slower and longer compared to other cases reported in the literature Such slow and quiet eruption preparations would not be captured by conventional seismological methods We expect that long-term SBL analyses on proximal seismic data will help detect early precursors and will also help towards judging the end of an eruptive period using only the selected silent periods of seismic data during the nighttime of each day The SBL analysis of the eleven-year record allowed us to recognize weak precursory continuous tremor that was slowly growing prior to the 2011 and 2017–2018 eruptions and whose growth accelerated toward the eruptions We expect that such long-term weak seismic precursors may exist before more apparent signals are initiated prior to other eruptions as well When we discuss temporal variation at the individual stations we do not correct for the site amplification effects in this study We see the spectral structures change with the characteristic variations of SBL Comparison between RSEM (lines) and SBL at SMN The horizontal dashed lines are put as a reference of the normal level Figure S4 shows the comparison at all the stations during the whole period The current clustering method emphasizes the similarity in overall trend of spectra rather than local features like positions and shapes of spectral peaks Below we give similar names and colors to clusters that appear in similar periods The green cluster at SMW (Gw) mainly appears in the summer when SBL values are high, and correlates with the local precipitation (Fig. 4e) Although the specific mechanism for this is not known the increased water flow may generate higher levels of noise especially at station SMW that is located near a running river the Gw cluster is also observed in 2013–2014 independently of the precipitation the green cluster (Gn) exclusively appears in the 2013–2014 period the high values of SBL in this period are regarded as unrelated to precipitation Another transient increase in SBL at SMW in September 2011 (around ④) does not include the green clusters nor correlates with precipitation We can infer that the increase is not caused by precipitation either although the stations were not fully functioning in this period it is also possible that the red clusters reflect the fact that the volcano was always active in that period with several phreatic eruptions we infer that the precursory SBL sources are shallower and more to the west than the tremors we need to investigate the SBL distribution with more stations around the sources More case studies are necessary to understand the variability and mechanisms of eruptive and non-eruptive SBL elevation The signal found in SBL are generated at shallow depth so that it might have a similar hydrothermal mechanism We expect that long-term SBL analyses on proximal seismic data will help towards the extraction of such weak and slowly evolving precursory signals at the volcanoes where conventional methods fail to recognize unrest It is also noted that the SBL monitoring is potentially useful when one needs to judge the end of an eruption period Further studies are necessary for clarifying the source locations and mechanisms of the SBL noise We also calculated the stacked and normalized SBL spectrum of each day which is referred to as \({P}_{SBL}(d,f)\) we selected time windows of which \(E(t)\) values were between 5 and 20% from the lowest in each nighttime (from 18:00 on day \(d-1\) to 6:00 on \(d\)) we averaged \({P}_{f}(t,f)\) of the selected time windows by day and normalized it by the maximum value at 1–15 Hz between \({P}_{SBL}\) of days \({d}_{m}\) and \({d}_{n}\) as Constructing event trees for volcanic crises Phillipson, G., Sobradelo, R. & Gottsmann, J. Global volcanic unrest in the 21st century: An analysis of the first decade. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res. 264, 183–196. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2013.08.004 (2013) Poland, M. P. & Anderson, K. R. Partly cloudy with a chance of lava flows: Forecasting volcanic eruptions in the twenty-first century. J. Geophys. Res. 125. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JB016974 (2020) Prospects for eruption prediction in near real-time Seismological aspects of the 1989–1990 eruption at Redoubt Volcano Alaska: The Materials Failure Forecast Method (FFM) with RSAM and SSAM seismic data A comparison of preeruption real-time seismic amplitude measurements for eruptions at Mount St Using volcanic tremor for eruption forecasting at White Island volcano (Whakaari) Differences of precursory seismic energy release for the 2007 effusive dome-forming and 2014 Plinian eruptions at Kelud volcano Seismic Monitoring of Volcanoes and Eruption Forecasting In Hazards and Monitoring of Volcanic Activity 2: Seismology Integrated study on forecasting volcanic hazards of Sakurajima volcano Volcano deformation and eruption forecasting Forecasting Etna eruptions by real-time observation of volcanic gas composition Himawari-8 infrared observations of the June–August 2015 Mt Raung eruption Tracking dynamics of magma migration in open-conduit systems Precursory swarms of long-period events at Redoubt Volcano (1989–1990) Alaska: Their origin and use as a forecasting tool Infrasound reveals transition to oscillatory discharge regime during lava fountaining: Implication for early warning Progress in the sixth national project for prediction of volcanic eruption Real-time and in-situ assessment of conduit permeability through diverse long-period tremors beneath Aso volcano A multi-decadal view of seismic methods for detecting precursors of magma movement and eruption A process-based model of pre-eruption seismicity patterns and its use for eruption forecasting at dormant stratovolcanoes McNutt, S. R. & Roman, D. C. Volcanic seismicity. In The Encyclopedia of Volcanoes, 2nd Ed. (ed. Sigurdsson, H.) 1011–1034 (Academic Press, 2015). https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-385938-9.00059-6 Preparatory and precursory processes leading up to the 2014 phreatic eruption of Mount Ontake Analysis of the unrest of active volcanoes using variations of the base level noise seismic spectrum Near-real time analysis of seismic data of active volcanoes: Software implementations of time sequence data analysis Towards forecasting volcanic eruptions using seismic noise Temporal change of phase velocity beneath Mt Reduction of randomness in seismic noise as a short-term precursor to a volcanic eruption Permutation entropy variations in seismic noise before and after eruptive activity at Shinmoedake volcano Contribution of monitoring data to decision making for evacuation from the 2014 and 2015 eruptions of Kuchinoerabujima Volcano The summer 2019 basaltic Vulcanian eruptions (paroxysms) of Stromboli The outline of the 2011 eruption at Shinmoe-dake (Kirishima) Shallow crystallization of eruptive magma inferred from volcanic ash microtextures: A case study of the 2018 eruption of Shinmoedake volcano Imura, R. & Kobayashi, T. Eruptions of Shinmoedake volcano, Kirishima volcano group, in the last 300 years. Bull. Volcanol. Soc. Jpn. 36, 135–148. https://doi.org/10.18940/kazan.36.2_135 (1991) Oikawa, T., Tsutsui, M., Daigaku, Y. & Itoh, J. Eruption history of Shinmoedake of Kirishima Volcanoes in Edo Period, Based on the historical documents. Bull. Volcanol. Soc. Jpn. 57, 199–218. https://doi.org/10.18940/kazan.57.4_199 (2012) Nakada, S., Ukawa, M., Newhall, C.G., McNutt, S.R., Wright, T.L., Ichihara, M. & Geshi, N. Preface, Shinmoe-dake Eruption in 2011 – An example of less-frequent magmatic activity–. Earth Planets Space 65, 473. https://doi.org/10.5047/eps.2013.06.002 (2013) Volume change of the magma reservoir relating to the 2011 Kirishima Shinmoe-dake eruption—Charging discharging and recharging process inferred from GPS measurements The 2011 eruptive activity of Shinmoedake volcano Japan—Overview of activity and volcanic alert level of the Japan Meteorological Agency Tracing volcanic activity chronology from a multiparameter dataset at Shinmoedake Volcano (Kirishima) Nishida, K., Mizutani, Y., Ichihara, M. & Aoki, Y. Time-lapse monitoring of seismic velocity associated with 2011 shinmoe-dake eruption using seismic interferometry: An extended Kalman filter approach. J. Geophys. Res. 125. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JB020180 (2020) Deep low-frequency earthquakes associated with the eruptions of shinmoe-dake in Kirishima Volcanoes Deep low-frequency earthquake activity associated with the 2018 eruptions in the Kirishima volcanic complex wavefield properties and source mechanism of volcanic tremor: A review Relative source locations of continuous tremor before and after the subplinian events at shinmoe-dake Kumagai, H. et al. Broadband seismic monitoring of active volcanoes using deterministic and stochastic approaches. J. Geophys. Res. https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JB006889 (2010) Ichihara, M. et al. Long continuous volcanic tremor indicating magma movement beneath Shinmoedake. Volcanol. Soc. Jpn. Abstr. A1–13 https://doi.org/10.18940/vsj.2018.0_14 (2018) The 2016 Kumamoto-Oita earthquake sequence: Aftershock seismicity gap and dynamic triggering in volcanic areas Hierarchical grouping to optimize an objective function Clustering algorithms in biomedical research: A review A method for prediction of volcanic eruptions Chapter 13 the failure forecast method: Review and application for the real-time detection of precursory patterns at reawakening volcanoes ‘Silent’ Dome emplacement into a wet volcano: Observations from an effusive eruption at White Island (Whakaari) Structure of the Kirishima volcanic region and its magma supply system Shallow magmatic hydrothermal eruption in April 2018 on Ebinokogen Ioyama Volcano in Kirishima Volcano Group A model to describe precursory material-failure phenomena: Applications to short-term forecasting at colima volcano Clustering and classification of infrasonic events at Mount Etna using pattern recognition techniques Park, I., Jolly, A., Lokmer, I. & Kennedy, B. Classification of long-term very long period (VLP) volcanic earthquakes at Whakaari/White Island volcano New Zealand. Earth Planets Space 72, 92. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-020-01224-z (2020) Very-small-aperture 3-D infrasonic array for volcanic jet observation at Stromboli volcano A general theory of classificatory sorting strategies: 1 hierarchical systems Note: An algorithm for hierarchical classifications Download references Carniel for valuable discussion and comments The constructive comments by two anonymous reviewers helped improve the manuscript This study was initiated by the visiting researcher program of the Earthquake Research Institute This study was funded by the Ministry of Education and Technology (MEXT) under its Observation and Research Program for Prediction of Earthquakes and Volcanic Eruptions (TO) and JSPS KAKENHI Grant No Mount Fuji Research Institute Yamanashi Prefectural Government initiated this study motivated by the discussion with K.I.K processed the data and performed the investigation All the authors input to the final manuscript The authors declare no competing interests Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-32875-z Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: a shareable link is not currently available for this article Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page 14 (Jiji Press) — Japanese police have arrested a 47-year-old man on suspicion of robbery and murder of a hotel worker in the city of Ichihara in Chiba Prefecture was apprehended Wednesday and has admitted to the charges Egawa allegedly killed 56-year-old Hitomi Saeki who was working at a hotel in Ichihara’s Nakatakane district and stole about ¥12,000 in cash from the front desk Saeki was working alone from the night of Oct and was discovered collapsed and bleeding by the hotel manager who came to work the following morning A knife believed to be the murder weapon was recovered at the scene of the crime An autopsy revealed that the likely cause of Saeki’s death was suffocation from strangulation or hemorrhagic shock from being cut at the throat and elsewhere Metrics details we show event rate per area to compare the data with our numerical results Some expanding features are noticed (dashed lines assuming 65 m s−1 and arrows) which are discussed in the “Effects of gravity waves and of particle settling” section Our aim is to constrain the physical conditions that generate the ring structure in a convective plume rather than to accurately simulate the HTHH eruption In order to constrain the physical conditions generating the ring structures we analyze the relation between turbulence production and particle accumulation (or lightning patterns and volcanic plume parameters) Our model shows that particles’ ring structures are determined by the turbulence in the eruptive column and umbrella cloud due to the interaction with the still atmosphere and the turbulent-induced particle clustering as they generate favorable conditions for charge concentration by particle collision persistence and decay of the lightning ring structures can be related to in-plume fluid dynamics parameters otherwise inaccessible through direct measurements and that they can be used as an indicator of successive explosions obscured to satellite observation by the expansion of the plume umbrella in order that lightning rates may be used to infer eruption properties the mechanisms through which turbulence in the volcanic plumes effects electrification need to be further investigated Here we want to investigate whether turbulence and associated phenomena can give rise to lightning ring structures as those observed at HTHH and other volcanic eruptions The controlling factor is the entrainment velocity which determines the rate at which non-turbulent ambient fluid is incorporated into the flow of interest MT1956 postulated that the entrainment velocity is proportional to some characteristic velocity of the flow their model incorporated a Boussinesq approximation which is valid when the density difference between the plume and the ambient fluids can be ignored except for its effect on the buoyancy force MT1956 dealt with both fixed-volume “thermals” and fixed-flux plumes They are characterized by a constant energy input rate \(\dot{Q}\) which is equivalent with a buoyancy input rate in MT1956 of a steady maintained plume in an unstratified ambient grows proportionally with its height A volcanic plume generally rises in a stably stratified environment and stops rising at its level of neutral buoyancy (LNB) The one-dimensional representation of MT1956 predicts the maximum plume height H to be proportional to \({\dot{Q}}^{1/4}\) Large volcanic eruptions display both transient and continuous features with explosions marking the onset of the eruption but also producing pulses during the sustained phase where a large fraction of erupted magma remained in the sea as pumice rafts using its thermal energy to evaporate sea water a low-density high-energy vapor plume was formed which reached large H for relatively small \(\dot{Q}\) Although they pointed out the particle clustering due to turbulence they mainly focused on the large-scale effects like the entrainment coefficient and plume shape Their simulations also included gas compressibility and demonstrated its effect on the supersonic jet region below the buoyancy region Our study follows their concept to capture the effect of turbulence without relying on subgrid models for inertial range effects at relevant scales We conducted simulations of a stably stratified flow with continuous buoyancy input from a small hot source in the lower part of the domain to generate a turbulent plume together with the integration of four sets of particles advected by the fluid The flow is assumed to be incompressible (Mach number equal to zero) the background stratification profile of the atmosphere before the eruption is linear with height (exponential decay at high altitudes is not considered) and particles use a model with linear drag that is valid for small and heavy particles (see “Methods” for all approximations and relevant parameters) Three sets of particles were placed in a thin layer at the bottom of the domain in such a way that the plume can push particles upward These sets of particles with decreasing inertia have Stokes numbers of St = 1 respectively (see “Methods” for the definition of the Stokes number) A fourth set of homogeneously distributed particles with St = 1 was placed between heights of 10 to 60 km (in the following to study whether particles already present in the atmosphere (e.g. volcanic ash particles and aerosols from preceding eruptions) can cluster as a result of interacting with the turbulence settling of particles is neglected in all cases the hot source in the bottom generates a plume of fluid moving upwards that also advects the different sets of particles This plume first overshoots the LNB at t ≈ 2 min and then spreads horizontally with the hot fluid asymptotically reaching the LNB a Three-dimensional rendering of the flow squared vorticity (in red together with three million particles in colors with St = 10−2 (species C) The color bar indicates the particles velocity in all panels Particles seen from the top with b St = 10−2 (species C) Note the ring with strong accumulation of both species for the case initially suspended homogeneously (ISP) a The squared vorticity and the density of particles of each species normalized by their respective mean values All quantities have a maximum near the center of the domain b Cross-product of the densities of particles times the square of their r.m.s Quantities are normalized by their mean values and are considered as a proxy for the number of collisions especially for the pairs of species A and C we can expect the number of collisions between different species of particles to be proportional to the product of the densities times their characteristic velocities Note that while the cloud keeps expanding in time the annular structure fluctuates around a mean radius of ≈ 40 km care must be taken when comparing the simulation parameters with the observations we believe the ring-like structures obtained by our simulations may be linked to the lightning ring observed during the HTHH eruption Below we discuss the relevance and implications of the linkage except a temporal break between 06:30 and 7:45) while lightning ring structures (and the associated annular gaps) appear and dissolve periodically in a persistently concentric region Note that strong and episodic updraft surges are however another possible source of inhomogeneities in particle distribution Our simulations also revealed that the ring-like structures reached similar radii for very different sizes (i.e. a Power spectrum of the particles' velocities for species C for the x and z components of the velocity A Kolmogorov spectrum is shown as a reference The vertical dashed line indicates the Brunt-Väissälä frequency b Density of particles (normalized by the mean density) for species A 40 min after the start of the simulation which shows the particle density with and without settling of particles while gravity makes particles in calmer regions of the umbrella cloud to settle particles in regions with strong turbulence remain suspended and cluster even more The initial expansion as ∝t may indicate that the supply rate is accelerating The buoyancy source at the bottom of the domain is stronger in two regions: in the outer region of the ascending jet and in an annular region with radius of ≈40 km These two regions of high vorticity correspond to regions of particle clustering for all particles considered Collisions between these particles could then result in strong electrification of these regions In the simulations the accumulation of particles is seen above 10 km smaller explosions might have occurred and produced rings not resolvable in the current dataset We believe our simulations capture the essential mechanism underlying the lightning ring observed in large volcanic eruptions Our minimal simulations are able to reproduce the observed radial expansion of the umbrella cloud as well as the oscillations of the lightning ring While both umbrella cloud and lightning ring initially expand together as ∝ t later on the umbrella expands as ∝ t0.7 and the lightning ring repeatedly expands and contracts around a fixed radial distance our simulation shows that expansion and contraction of the lighting ring happens even if the buoyancy flux at the source remains constant we distinguish the observed lightning ring expansions due to new explosions from those due to spontaneous fluctuations and infer the occurrence of significant explosions in several minutes around 4:51 otherwise obscured by the expanding plume and umbrella cloud from the primary explosion around 4:14 Numerical models and observations of volcanic plumes have advanced significantly in recent years and more precise and detailed volcanic lightning data are becoming available This study proposes a possible mechanism for the formation and evolution of lightning rings in volcanic plumes Incorporating this mechanism into numerical models that include more realistic conditions (e.g. the supersonic injection of hot material at the source may allow estimation of eruption parameters from observations of cloud and lightning dynamics in the future We emphasize that tracking lightning rings in volcanic plumes is particularly effective in inferring not only the opening explosive episode of a volcanic eruption but also subsequent explosive pulses during its course uncovering this sequence is essential to understanding when and how disastrous events like tsunamis The flow is described by the Boussinesq equations where u is the incompressible fluid velocity (∇ ⋅ u = 0) and \({\rho }^{{\prime} }\) is the mass density fluctuation around the background linear stratification The source s in Eq. (3) is a localized Gaussian ellipsoid of light (hot) fluid at the bottom of the domain in order to generate a turbulent plume in the stratified flow A buffer region was left below the source to have fluid at rest and prevent possible artifacts associated to the periodic boundary conditions (the simulation was also stopped before a strong large-scale circulation with the size of the domain was excited by the periodic boundary conditions) The amplitude of the source is constant in time and was set to have in the steady state typical upward velocities in the center of the plume as those in an eruption Particles in the simulations satisfy the heavy point particle approximation of the Maxey-Riley equation65 In all simulations we neglected the effect of gravity and the settling velocity except for one simulation discussed in the “Effects of gravity waves and of particle settling section” Our simulations solve a stably stratified fluid initially at rest in a periodic domain of size L × L × H = 188 × 188 × 94 km3 The spatial resolution of all simulations shown in the present study is 1024 × 1024 × 512 grid points We also performed simulations using 512 × 512 × 256 and 256 × 256 × 128 grid points (with larger values of ν and κ and smaller values of τp) to ensure the results reported here had converged and did not depend significantly on the spatial resolution and values of viscosity and diffusivity used in the simulations The buoyancy source is put at the bottom of the domain creating an upward speed of 150 m s−1 turbulent velocity in the entire domain at late times is U ≈ 26 m s−1 (note that this value is different from the r.m.s the Froude number (a dimensionless measure of the level of atmospheric stratification) results Fr = U/(LN) ≈ 0.01 The energy input rate per unit of mass is ε = 1.2 W kg−1 which results in a total energy input rate of \(\dot{E}=\varepsilon {\rho }_{0}{V}_{s}\approx 1.6\times 1{0}^{12}\) W where Vs is the volume of the Gaussian source (with a vertical dispersion of 2.8 km and a horizontal dispersion of 5.6 km) and ρ0 = 1.225 kg m−3 is the density of air at sea level This energy release rate is comparable with an eruption with a mass discharge rate of 2 × 108 kg s−1 assuming a heat capacity of 1000 J kg−1 and an excess temperature of 800 K (see a discussion of the energy budget below) Note that explicitly resolving a dissipation scale of ≈2 cm or less would require an increase by more than a factor of 5000 in the linear spatial resolution in each direction From these values we can estimate a fluid Taylor microscale \(\lambda ={u}_{{{{{{{{\rm{rms}}}}}}}}}{(15/\langle {\omega }^{2}\rangle )}^{1/2}\approx 8.2\) km and a buoyancy (or vertical stratification) length scale LB = urms/N ≈ 6.1 km The Taylor Reynolds number then is Rλ = urmsλ/ν = 1360 This Reynolds number characterizes turbulent intensity in the inertial range scales of the umbrella cloud We considered 4 sets of particles in the simulation Particles are non-interacting: they are affected by the fluid but they do not affect the fluid back and they do not interact between themselves with decreasing inertia) have as initial condition all the particles at rest homogeneously distributed in a thin layer at the bottom of the domain (labeled particles in this thin layer are advected upwards with the fluid A fourth set (with St = 1) has the particles initially distributed between z = 10 and 60 km homogeneously (labeled as “initially suspended particles” or ISP) The aim of this set is to identify whether the turbulent plume can also generate clustering of particles already present in the atmosphere before the eruption we also performed simulations of species A but considering gravity The effect of gravity on these particles is discussed in the “Effects of gravity waves and of particle settling” section We finally present the detailed derivation and estimation of the energy input rate in the numerical simulations to allow comparisons with typical parameters in volcanic eruptions The source in the Boussinesq equations is a fluid mass (or thermal) source and energy is injected as potential energy that can then be converted to kinetic energy by the system dynamics The evolution of the fluid density is given by Eq. (3). We can assume the velocity in the vicinity of the source and near the bottom boundary to be u ≈ 0, and that diffusion is negligible. Then, Eq. (3) reduces to From Eq. (7) we can then interpret s as the increase rate of density fluctuations at the source s must be a density reduction rate) to have fluid elements pushed upwards by the buoyancy force This choice corresponds to a hot source as the equivalent temperature increase rate can be estimated from the density variations as \({\partial }_{t}{\rho }^{{\prime} }=-\alpha {\rho }_{0}{\partial }_{t}\Delta T\) where α is the thermal expansion coefficient and ρ0 is the mean fluid density We want to estimate the potential energy input rate, \({\dot{E}}_{p}\). The total density of the fluid is given by Eq. (4) where we can take z0 = 0 without loss of generality If the density in the source region (at z = zs) differs from the surrounding atmosphere by Δρ the density in that region is \({\rho }_{s}={\rho }_{0}+(d\bar{\rho }/dz){z}_{s}+\Delta \rho\) it will be in equilibrium at a height zeq given by In the absence of any other atmospheric fluctuations (\({\rho }^{{\prime} }=0\) except at the source) the buoyancy force applied to a fluid element with density ρs at any given z is The potential energy per unit volume in a density variation Δρ at zs ep = Ep/Vs (where Vs is the source volume) is then equal to minus the work required to move the fluid element from zeq to zs Substituting from Eq. (10) The potential energy input rate per unit volume is Note that \(\Delta \rho ={\rho }^{{\prime} }\) at the source region. As the velocity is negligible there, \(d{\rho }^{{\prime} }/dt\approx {\partial }_{t}{\rho }^{{\prime} }\). According to Eq. (7) Integrating \({\dot{e}}_{p}\) over the source volume we finally obtain where \(\varepsilon =-g\langle {\rho }^{{\prime} }s\rangle {[{\rho }_{0}(d\bar{\rho }/dz)]}^{-1}\) is the potential energy input rate per unit of mass and the brackets denote the volume average then ε = 1.2 W kg−1 and \({\dot{E}}_{p}\approx 1.6\times 1{0}^{12}\) W This energy release rate is comparable with an eruption with a mass discharge rate of 2 × 108 kg s−1 assuming the heat capacity is 1000 J kg−1 and the excess temperature is 800 K Post-caldera volcanism reveals shallow priming of an intra-ocean arc andesitic caldera: Hunga volcano Vesiculation and quenching during Surtseyan eruptions at Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano Cronin, S. J. et al. New volcanic island unveils explosive past. 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Total Lightning Statistics 2022, the Annual Lightning Report. https://www.xweather.com/annual-lightning-report (2023) Geoheritage and geodiversity aspects of catastrophic volcanic eruptions: lessons from the 15th of January 2022 Hunga Tonga - Hunga Ha’apai Eruption Lightning rings and gravity waves: Insights into the giant eruption plume from Tonga’s Hunga volcano on 15 January 2022 GPS-based mapping system reveals lightning inside storms The 29 June 2000 supercell observed during steps Large eddy simulation of gas-particle kinematic decoupling and turbulent entrainment in volcanic plumes Towards a global lightning locating system Volcanological timeline of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption in mid-January 2022 Japan Geoscience Union Meeting Abstract U09–07 (2022) Experimental generation of volcanic lightning The electrification of volcanic jets and controlling parameters: a laboratory study Charge injection into the atmosphere by explosive volcanic eruptions through triboelectrification and fragmentation charging Anak Krakatau triggers volcanic freezer in the upper troposphere Did ice-charging generate volcanic lightning during the 2016-2017 eruption of Bogoslof Volcano A review of volcanic electrification of the atmosphere and volcanic lightning Volcanic electrification: recent advances and future perspectives Charge separation from saline drops on hot surfaces Electrical effects generated by experimental volcanic explosions Charge generation due to contact of saline waters with molten lava Electrification of experimental volcanic jets with varying water content and temperature Physical properties of volcanic lightning: constraints from magnetotelluric and video observations at Sakurajima volcano Changes to the turbulent kinematics of a volcanic plume inferred from lightning data Multiparametric observation of volcanic lightning: Sakurajima volcano Acceleration of rain initiation by cloud turbulence Colliding particles in highly turbulent flows Turbulent gravitational convection from maintained and instantaneous sources Results of the eruptive column model inter-comparison study Classical plume theory: 1937–2010 and beyond A user-friendly one-dimensional model for wet volcanic plumes The fluid-dynamics and thermodynamics of eruption columns The dynamics and thermodynamics of volcanic clouds - theory and observations from the April 15 and April 21 Effects of vent overpressure on buoyant eruption columns: implications for plume stability Numerical simulations of volcanic jets: importance of vent overpressure The control of volcanic column heights by eruption energetics and dynamics Effect of wind on the rise height of volcanic plumes Uncertainty quantification and sensitivity analysis of volcanic columns models: results from the integral model plume-mom On the formation of eruption columns following explosive mixing of magma and surface-water Seawater-magma interactions sustained the high column during the 2021 phreatomagmatic eruption of Fukutoku-Oka-no-Ba equilibrium–Eulerian model for volcanic ash plumes Non-equilibrium processes in ash-laden volcanic plumes: new insights from 3d multiphase flow simulations Inter-comparison of three-dimensional models of volcanic plumes Determination of the mass eruption rate for the 2014 Mount Kelud eruption using three-dimensional numerical simulations of volcanic plumes Minimal models for precipitating turbulent convection Aerodynamic generation of electric fields in turbulence laden with charged inertial particles Theory of charge and mass transfer in ice-ice collisions Laboratory studies of the influence of the rime accretion rate on charge transfer during graupel/crystal collisions Riming electrification as a charge generation mechanism in thunderstorms The dynamics of small inertial particles in weakly stratified turbulence High-precision characterization of seismicity from the 2022 Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcanic eruption Turbulent Prandtl number and characteristic length scales in stably stratified flows: steady-state analytical solutions Equation of motion for a small rigid sphere in a nonuniform flow Settling regimes of inertial particles in isotropic turbulence A hybrid MPI–OpenMP scheme for scalable parallel pseudospectral computations for fluid turbulence Interactive desktop analysis of high resolution simulations: application to turbulent plume dynamics and current sheet formation Atmospheric and Oceanic Fluid Dynamics (Cambridge University Press Clustering in laboratory and numerical turbulent swirling flows Mininni, P. 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NCAR/VAPOR: Vapor 3.8.1. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7779648 (2023) Vapor: a visualization package tailored to analyze simulation data in earth system science Download references This research was initiated by the discussion at “Multiphase Flows in Geophysics and the Environment” program of KITP supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No The authors thank the program coordinators (Elisabeth Guazzelli and Raymond Shaw) for giving us the opportunity to attend participated in the program partly supported by JSPS KAKENHI (No JP19H00713) and proceeded the research funded by JSPS KAKENHI (No acknowledges travel funding from Oracle Inc under grant DO/2022-ORFS002-001 that enabled his visit to KITP acknowledges funding from ERC-Con Grant “VOLTA” under contract N∘ 864052 The authors thank Vaisala for providing access to the GLD360 data through their research data grant program and thank Takayuki Kaneko and Takuro Horiuchi for supporting satellite image processing Senior Editor of Communications Earth & Environment and three anonymous reviewers who helped improve the manuscript These authors contributed equally: Pablo D Instituto de Física Interdisciplinaria y Aplicada (INFINA) Interdisciplinary Programme in Climate Studies Department für Geo- und Umweltwissenschaften performed the computations and data analysis contributed theoretical ideas for this work oversaw the study from the perspective of volcanic lightning research contributed GLD360 lightning data and provided help with data analysis All authors discussed the results and contributed to the final manuscript Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-01074-z Kodai Ichihara, Shugo Imahira, Sang-hee Lee and Hideto Tanihara qualified for The Open after Sunday's final round of the Mizuno Open in Okayama, Japan. Ichihara, Imahira and Lee all shot overall scores of 10-under par and tied for second place in The Open Qualifying Series event, finishing 1 shot behind winner KT Kim. Ichihara will make his second career Open appearance after playing in 2012 at Royal Lytham & At Annes. The native of Japan fired a 68 in Sunday's final round at JFE Setonaikai Golf Club. "It's very exciting to play in The Open again this year," Ichihara said. "My first time was four years ago -- it was my first major and I didn't know what to expect. I found it hard to play my best as I was very intimidated. "This time I will know what the experience is like and I hope to be able to focus on playing my own game." Imahira, 23, will make his first appearance in a major at Royal Troon. "I am really excited to be going to Scotland to play in such a special event," he said. "In my mind I think of the links courses as being very hard and fast. ... Since it will be my first real links course and first major, it's going to be a very tough challenge but I am very much looking forward to it." Tanihara, 37, will play in The Open for the fourth time based on his world ranking of 114th. Volume 5 - 2023 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2023.1304989 This article is part of the Research TopicClimate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Policies in Local CommunitiesView all 8 articles Policies for climate change adaptation differ from those for climate change mitigation both of which share the common aim of maintaining a sustainable climate system that enables humankind to survive while enjoying wellbeing Considering the variability in regional conditions they must be diverse throughout the policymaking process with the participation of multiple stakeholders to place the livelihood of residents as the central issue these regional diversities must also be realized in a manner consistent with the global goal of climate change mitigation comprehensive and transformative adaptation measures are essential rather than responding to imminent issues on an ad-hoc basis a transdisciplinary approach involving researchers across different fields and multiple non-academic sectors can fill the gaps in transformative adaptation it has yet to be implemented because of the lack of experience of this issue we present key findings that affect the generation of synergies and tradeoffs among issues through our novel transdisciplinary approach in Kyoto via a series of Future Design workshops in agriculture in collaboration with local farmers These results provide a direction for future research to secure a methodological foundation that will facilitate the sustainability of these efforts The accelerated severity and magnitude of climate change have increased the global need for urgent adaptation measures. Climate change adaptation refers to “adjustments in ecological, social, or economic systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli and their effects” (UNFCCC, 2023a) The abovementioned requirements necessitate transdisciplinary (TD) approaches (Future Earth, 2023) that identify and generate the integrated knowledge needed for TA measures. Indeed, the TA has gradually been adopted, shifting from incremental ones (UNEP, 2023) although they are still insufficient to fulfill the requirements Several TD approaches have been adopted as municipal climate change adaptation measures (Mark, 2010; Brink et al., 2018; Owen, 2020). A recent influential study by Wamsler (2017) comprehensively examines the stakeholder involvement process and its influence on outcomes The study employed various analytical methods at each collaboration stage identifying key elements crucial for the sustained engagement of stakeholders in a sustainable and transformative process and for effectively creating synergies reflected in the outcomes one significant factor is establishing a governance structure that facilitates the ongoing participation of competent individuals Another essential aspect is ensuring the participants' sense of ownership and shared goals throughout the process Proper interlocking of these elements will ensure the proactive involvement of local stakeholders and create a holistic and decentralized governance system for TA a pathway for this process has not yet been established it is now clear that the continued participation of various stakeholders is crucial it remains quite challenging to realize this because we do not have an effective methodology especially regarding how we can ensure the participants' sense of ownership and goal sharing in the entire TD process toward the TA this study investigates a possible methodology for achieving this objective based on our ongoing case study in the Kyoto region of Japan Kyoto has been the capital of Japan for over 1,000 years and remained a significant center of Japanese culture even after Tokyo became the capital city in the nineteenth century. Agriculture has been practiced throughout present-day Kyoto Prefecture since ancient times. Rice cultivation will be dominant in the northern region which has been dominated for more than a thousand years or so (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, 2022) few centers have ancillary partnerships with research institutions The KCCAC has a unique structure in the point that the government and academia operate jointly on an equal footing Revised by Ichihara based on FD implementation materials originally created by Keiko Fumita in which the interests of the current generation are prioritized even at the expense of the benefits and peace of mind of the generations in the distant future indicating that FD has a strong potential for our objective Since FD was first proposed in 2012 (Saijo, 2020a) numerous studies have been conducted in Japan and other countries Many of these practices have focused on single-issue minor geographical themes such as comprehensive municipal planning the intergenerational burden of water rates and the management of community facilities Participants were often brought together by the same or similar attributes such as belonging to the same organization there were no particular barriers to the continued participation of the same members the social status of the members was often similar and discussions naturally took place on an equal footing KCCAC conducted interviews with various sectors in Kyoto including public high schools KCCAC selected the agriculture sector that urgently required adaptation countermeasures The sector is qualitative to represent residents affected by climate change as well as connoting many key issues in terms of the complex combination of climate change issues and local challenges Also, agriculture is a sector vulnerable to climate change. This vulnerability often stems from the negative direct impacts of climate change on harvests and its role as a social infrastructural sector. Indeed, agriculture is facing diverse challenges, including a decrease in successors, farmers' aging, and supply chain instability, and, therefore, urgently requires TA (Howden et al., 2007; UNEP, 2023) Our interviews revealed that farmers' insufficient recognition of climate impacts, with little preparation, suffered from a severe shortage of workforce and an aging problem, which is consistent with a previous survey conducted in other Japanese regions (Tamura et al., 2021) many farmers are too occupied with their daily livelihoods to consider climate change countermeasures from a long-term fundamental perspective and frequently adopt shortsighted solutions Those conditions have often led them to “future failures,” as mentioned in Section Future design: a novel method with high potential Since the stakeholders of the agricultural sector are not only farmers but also their surrounding networks in the supply chain and administration sectors TD's approach to TA must include those networks relevant methodologies cannot be found in the literature general attempts to resolve these issues will inevitably lead to conflicts of interest among the various stakeholders This is the primary rationale for the KCCAC's decision to use FD to consider adaptation measures Most previous FDs have focused on a single issue as mentioned in Section Future design: a novel method with high potential with participants often brought together by the same or similar attributes the FD at the KCCAC sought a TA that connotes cross-cutting issues to avoid maladaptation it is necessary to recruit participants from different fields an opinion forum was established after each FD workshop to review outputs a feasible vision of the future must be drawn when people from different fields work together to create a vision of the future there is a risk that the scientific and objective basis of the vision may be inadequate because participants do not share similar knowledge The forum scrutinized the feasibility and scientific implausibility of the drawn future visions to prepare a common basis for subsequent discussions the KCCAC aims to create an original vision incorporating cross-cutting issues careful care was taken to ensure that participants could engage in discussions on an equal footing Researchers tend to behave haughtily because of the social responsibility they owe to scientifically accurate and authentic academic expressions To avoid intimidating other participants with these tendencies the KCCAC asked researchers for particular awareness of an equal footing the KCCAC has conducted two FD workshops and opinion forums and 3–5 government officials participated in the project discussed the state of agriculture in Kyoto as of 2053 down to specific details in the context of noticeable climate change impacts the KCCAC held an opinion forum on the participation of all members of the FD project including those who did not participate in the workshops the generated future ideas mostly connote creativity and are comprehensive as the fruit of discussions among diverse stakeholders equally based on their expertise Examples of the generated ideas are as follows: The installation of AI technology and further development of factory farming in agriculture to avoid the adverse effects of climate impacts on harvests will simultaneously increase knowledge work in agriculture such as computing operations and data management more young people have become involved in agriculture which was not initially intended for AI installation Another idea discussed by several groups was that as the population of Japan declines and ages the social status of the agricultural sector improves because of the relative decline in international competitiveness and the need to invest in national resources to ensure food security ideas were created in which the often negatively evaluated phenomenon of population decline had two positive effects: improving the status of agriculture and ensuring food security These results demonstrate how cross-cutting solutions were found Further discussion is required to examine how such emerging results lead to TA the potential of FD as an effective method for achieving TA is evident Another result was a change in the participants' attitudes many participants became more willing to participate in subsequent practices suggesting that multiple stakeholders are now willing to transcend their positions look beyond their current interests and ties to the distant future and enjoy working together to create an ideal vision for the future with ownership which is one of the key components in achieving transformative adaptation as mentioned in Section Previous research and its limitation This is another example of how the transformative approach was used in the past This was a problematic issue to overcome in the past for TA and TD Full support from the Kyoto Prefectural Administration in ensuring participants with FD through its broad network is critical for the implementation of this project Because researchers generally have no access to farmers the KCCAC gained access to farmers with the assistance of regional and local administrative branches in the agricultural sector A crucial motivation for joining this project may be that the KCCAC including the Kyoto Prefectural Administration allows participating farmers to deliver their opinions directly to administrative organizations One of the reasons these farmers took time to participate in the workshop may be the motivation mentioned above This governance structure is another crucial component a participating farmer expressed that help from the administrative organization was indispensable for maintaining good relations with the local community and managing a self-sustaining agricultural facility the continuous participation of the administrative sector was challenging for all three stakeholder groups participating in the FD project Japanese administrative jurisdiction is defined in detail in a sectoral manner and involvement in other tasks is positioned as something that should be done only on a secondary basis and within the scope of not intervening in routine are usually transferred every 2 or 3 years although it should be appropriate for administrative staff in agricultural or forestry departments to participate in projects on the topic of climate change adaptation in agriculture some vertically segmented conflict may occur in the initiative role between other sectors The second question was how participants with FD were selected the participants are volunteers who responded to the KCCAC's call but selecting the best people from each sector in line with the themes to be discussed at the FD raising awareness of TA among participants is also crucial FD is a new method that can potentially foster transformative adaptations that can be used worldwide as described in Section A case study at Kyoto Climate Change Adaptation Center (KCCAC) and can be easily implemented in other regions modifying the FD at the KCCAC as a method for transformative adaptation to climate change as described in Section Future design: a novel method with high potential There is room for each region to examine other trials that consider regional characteristics of climate adaptation Suppose transformative adaptation using FD spreads to other regions through these efforts the problem of negative external impacts on other regions in realizing adaptation in one region which was an aspect of maladaptation in the past can also be improved through the implementation in cross-broader regions The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author The research was approved by the ethics committee of the music department at Bar-Ilan University (Approval no All participants signed informed consent forms before participating in the project The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research National and municipal expenditures of Kyoto Prefecture and Kyoto City supported this study MI was supported by KAKENHI-PROJECT-23KJ2161 We thank the KCCAC members from Kyoto Prefecture and Kyoto City for their sincere collaboration We also truly appreciate all the participants in the FD project The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher A-Plat: Climate Change Adaptation Platform (2023). 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Available online at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2008/27/contents (accessed September Google Scholar Stakeholder involvement in strategic adaptation planning: transdisciplinarity and co-production at stake Crossref Full Text | Google Scholar Global Adaptation and Resilience to Climate Change Crossref Full Text | Google Scholar Keywords: transformative climate change adaptation Japanese local climate adaptation policy in Kyoto Saijo T and Yasunari T (2024) Toward a transformative climate change adaptation from local to global perspective—A transdisciplinary challenge by Kyoto Climate Change Adaptation Center Received: 30 September 2023; Accepted: 28 December 2023; Published: 05 February 2024 Copyright © 2024 Ichihara, Nakagawa, Ishii, Saijo and Yasunari. 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Size Copyright © ChemAnalyst - 2020 | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy Day-to-day life in the rolling countryside of Ichihara city commingles with internationally acclaimed contemporary art that describes a mountain ecosystem where the fields and wooded slopes engage within the proximity of human settlements is not only a type of landscape but also the lifestyle wherein How do people live and work in that liminal space between nature and vigorous humanity there is that area at Chiba’s edge where the dense web of factories and Disney architecture gives way to farmland a little more than an hour from Tokyo and Yokohama The city stretches from a terminus of Tokyo Bay well into the Boso Peninsula A harmony between industry and culture and the endowments of nature suffuses the whole of Ichihara It appears to be a city not built on the land but into it The Art x Mix Festival is the pinnacle of Ichihara’s spirit of artisanship The 2020 festival was postponed to this year The festival is scheduled for March 20 to May 16 though it may be postponed again depending on the ongoing new coronavirus pandemic For this event Ichihara acts not as a hollow vessel for a curator’s vision Rather its topography and history are integral to how we navigate the show Viewers take part in an “art trip,” with interactive installations scattered through the entire city The core of this journey is the Kominato Railway system Running the length of Ichihara city from the west coast of the Boso Peninsula to the town of Otaki rural stations that are tourist destinations in themselves nostalgic Kominato Railway trains are special diesel trains quite different from those sleek silver boxes we see in Tokyo proper Chugging through the flowered hills of Ichihara the open-air trolleys (in the warmer months) and the modern-made but visually authentic DB4 diesel steam locomotive transform a mere commute into a sightseeing and cultural experience the trains are designed to mutually respect the beautiful nature of the rolling hills rolling by nine locations within or adjacent to the Kominato system become interactive exhibitions with all artworks carefully curated to coexist with the environment The beginning point of this art journey is Goi Station and the Goi Engine Depot You will see at this site Chuang Chih-Wei’s light piece “Collective memory on railway.” Members of the art club of a local high school were invited to carve phrases or images of their memories onto acrylic boards These are assembled and illuminated from the inside – each marking is highly personal and also forms part of a dazzling whole Further south in the journey is Takataki Lake where the Ichihara Lakeside Museum and the lake itself engage as sights to behold In addition to the museum’s fantastic permanent collection you will see a new outdoors piece by acclaimed Russian artist Vladimir Nasedkin on a small plot next to the water Museumgoers can also enjoy prime views of Takataki Lake and a panorama of Ichihara from the observation tower the site of the former Heisan Elementary School has been revamped into an exhibition space there were only a few students per class at Heisan and a few years ago it was decided to repurpose the building into a cultural site for the community while preserving every object There are still shoe cubbies in the entryway there is some cognitive dissonance in seeing such culturally fixed environments as a school and an art gallery mix – but the result is beautiful One classroom is rearranged into statuesque composites of textbooks In “Jacob’s Ladder,” burgeoning contemporary artist Yuma Tomiyasu installed a staticky TV and an old writing desk in an upper stairwell of the building near a strange and darkened crevice with a ladder to the roof There is a similar effort to revitalize old structures near Tsukizaki Station where one vacant house becomes a venue for immersive works like Ayşe Erkmen’s “Inventory.” Quad Forest the flower fields and impressive geologic formations and as a complement to the park’s geography are festival sculptures using organic materials Art x Mix does not simply take place in Ichihara It is a way to explore the environments of the city – a guide map as much as it is an exhibition The former Heisan Elementary is tucked in quite a remote corner of the city and to gaze at the blooming cherry trees on its grounds through the windows of a vacant classroom – what is more glacial forms of Mikala Dwyer’s installation “Wishing wells” – stirs up nostalgia you experience a story that is parallel to your own travels Leonid Tishkov will set up his “Search for the Seven Moons,” a sculpture-light series simulating a space pilgrimage a weary-looking astronaut (sculpture) sits with a suitcase waiting for a “train to the moon.” The station is a relic of Ichihara city’s past with a hand-painted sign and a faded billboard looming over one of the two platforms as real passengers flit between the platforms Ichihara city is meant to be appreciated not only by professed art lovers With the curation of Art x Mix being a joint effort between Ichihara community members and industry figures the festival has reimagined what life in Japan can be – an immersion of land To find updates about Ichihara Art x Mix 2020+ please visit the official website: ichihara-artmix.jp including seeds produced by a 2000-year old lotus plant The visit was the latest manifestation of the nearly 20-year sister city relationship between Mobile and Ichihara a former Municipal Assembly member in Ichihara will be in Mobile through Friday on a cultural exchange mission to promote the sister-city relationship Tatsuro Tanaka was instrumental in the formation of the program in 1993 While some of Mobile’s other sister-city relationships exist strictly on paper the Ichihara connection is regularly revitalized by exchanges of students and adults between the two cities When Hurricane Katrina crashed down on the Gulf Coast Ichihara sent a check to help with the recovery effort After Japan suffered an earthquake and tsunami earlier this year The mayor of Ichihara personally thanked the residents of mobile for their generosity and the local newspaper in Japan wrote an article detailing the fundraising effort we hope our relationship continues to deepen,” Tatsuro Tanaka said in a translated speech “We want to continue the development with Mobile and the U.S.A. he said a plant grown from seeds found by a scientist in 1951 produced the lotus seeds which carbon dating revealed to be 2000 years old said the seeds will be taken to an expert horticulturalist at Auburn University for germination The plants will then be transferred to a handful of public gardens in the state including the Japanese Garden in Langan Park the Tanakas also brought pictures of Ichihara’s national treasures among them a sword that dates back to the fifth century The characters engraved on its blade are believed to be among the earliest surviving examples of such writing 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All rights reserved (About Us) The material on this site may not be reproduced except with the prior written permission of Advance Local Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site YouTube's privacy policy is available here and YouTube's terms of service is available here Ad Choices Monster Hunter World: Iceborne game director Daisuke Ichihara revealed during an interview with the CGWorld website on Wednesday that he has left CAPCOM and joined the ILCA 3D CG company as the director of the company's Kyoto development team Ichihara most recently worked as the director for Monster Hunter World: Iceborne the expansion for CAPCOM's Monster Hunter World game Ichihara has also previously worked as the director for Monster Hunter: Generations Image via Monster Hunter franchise's YouTube channel Source: CGWorld via Siliconera and Governance Program is a leading source of independent policy research It analyzes and seeks to improve international efforts to reduce democratic backsliding and advance pro-democratic uses of new technologies The Carnegie Rising Democracies Network is a research network of leading experts on democracy and foreign policy dedicated to examining the growing role of non-Western democracies in international democracy support and conflict issues The Rising Democracies Network is carried out in partnership with the Robert Bosch Stiftung and with additional support from the Ford Foundation and the UK Foreign Despite being Asia’s most prosperous democracy and one of the world’s largest aid providers Japan has a strikingly low profile in the field of international democracy assistance Japan directs most of its democracy-related assistance to technocratic top-down governance programming placing a low emphasis on civil society assistance The reasons behind this choice stem from Japan’s history and its views of development The devastation of the 1997 Asian financial crisis brought about a new regional focus on human security This strengthened the Japanese emphasis on economic development and poverty reduction rather than democracy or human rights and it spurred Japanese investments in social infrastructure and humanitarian aid Japan traditionally allocated foreign assistance based on requests from recipient-country governments Although this policy was officially abandoned in the 1990s Japan still provides democracy aid based on governmental requests Japan’s contacts with nongovernmental organizations in recipient countries are limited and most aid flows to nonpolitical governance reforms Japan promotes democracy support as a form of development aid rather than as an instrument for political empowerment Japan does not explicitly foster democracy abroad but instead provides aid to governments attempting to democratize or consolidate democracy as a development goal stable democracy and as one of the world’s largest aid providers (in fact for much of the 1990s Japan was by some measures the largest aid provider in the world) Japan might be expected to also be a major provider of democracy assistance Japan has been engaged in at least some form of democracy aid since the early 1990s not only in many parts of Asia but also in Africa Yet one hears strikingly little about Japan’s role in this domain Few studies exist in either Japanese or English of Japanese democracy assistance and Japan rarely figures in international policy debates over the role of external actors in democratic transitions It is therefore natural to ask what Japan’s contributions to democracy aid in Asia and more widely in the world are and thematic emphasis to the democracy support coming from Western actors And why does Japan have such a low profile in this field This paper aims to answer these questions and in so doing provide at least a start at filling the considerable research gap regarding Japanese democracy aid Japan entered the domain of democracy assistance in the early 1990s and it did so for several different reasons Japanese foreign aid had been operating for some time without clear aims or principles Individual projects were created without any larger strategic aid framework Japanese aid was sometimes used as a “souvenir” when high-ranking Japanese officials visited foreign countries The policy content of these souvenirs was created ad hoc much more to please official counterparts than to serve developmental ends And as scholars such as Yoshinori Murai and Kazuo Sumi have argued the lack of principles made Japanese foreign aid vulnerable to strong influence from Japanese corporations and foreign officials.1 Domestic criticism in Japan of the lack of a clear national policy on foreign aid grew in the 1980s this criticism sharpened further after news emerged of a corruption case in the Philippines related to Japanese foreign aid With the administration of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos suspected of corruptly amassing and embezzling aid from Japan calls in Japan increased for greater transparency in the country’s foreign aid as well as for clearer operating principles and aims critics sought a general set of operating principles but did not necessarily call for prodemocracy principles Yet as prodemocracy movements and government crackdowns increased in frequency in the region pressure increased on the Japanese government to provide foreign aid in support of prodemocracy efforts As a result of the government’s suppression of popular prodemocracy uprisings in Burma in 1988 while European donors and the United States continued withholding aid for many years Japan resumed aid to Burma in February 1989 despite the hope among Burmese opposition leaders that it would not.2 In addition Japan recognized the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC)—the military regime created by General Saw Maung after a coup d'état in Burma—before any other developed country did This act prompted international and domestic criticism that Japan was aiding a military regime and thus assisting in the suppression of a prodemocracy movement Similar criticism surfaced concerning Japan’s aid to China After the Chinese government’s brutal crackdown in Tiananmen Square the Japanese government declared its intention to continue providing aid to China in contrast to the United States and most European donors who suspended aid for some time Domestic and international critics accused Japan of attempting to return to business as usual with China too quickly and asserted that as China’s largest donor Japan had a special responsibility to make China pay at least some price for its antidemocratic actions This criticism raised awareness in Japanese official circles of the need to specify a vision and principles for dispensing foreign aid that were consonant with democratic norms Other more positive political developments in Asia also pushed Japan toward entering the field of democracy assistance The global “third wave” of democracy arrived in Asia in the mid-1980s and expanded in the 1990s Philippine military strongman President Ferdinand Marcos was overturned by a popular movement in 1986 Confronted by mass protests against his authoritarian regime South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan agreed to democratic reforms in 1987 Mongolia introduced free and fair elections in 1990 The end of civil war in 1992 enabled Cambodia to commence a nation-building effort Dissatisfied with their government’s incapacity to manage the Asian financial crisis Indonesian citizens ousted President Suharto in 1998 East Timor’s subsequent independence from Indonesia prompted an international effort to attempt to establish democracy in the country Outside powers saw opportunities to help support this wave of attempted democratic transitions in Asia and multilateral organizations began providing varied forms of prodemocratic support including significant amounts of democracy assistance seeing advantages for itself in helping foster a more democratic neighborhood and not wanting to be left behind by other donors moving with the new political tide An additional push for change in Japanese foreign assistance came from the experience of providing aid during the 1991 Gulf War between Iraq and the U.S.-led coalition that ousted Saddam Hussein’s military forces from Kuwait The lack of Western and Arab recognition of the $13 billion Japanese contribution to the multilateral force opened many Japanese eyes to the fact that “checkbook diplomacy” was not sufficient to gain the status of a major international political power Japan recognized that it should shift its foreign policy away from the traditional attitude of caring more about “how others view us” than “what we do for our own interests.” In addition to the Japanese public both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the governing Liberal Democratic Party strongly felt a “sense of defeat” in diplomacy that motivated the government to reform Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA).3 All of these political developments culminated in changes to Japan’s aid policy Opposition parties and civil society began to call more strongly for the creation of a foreign aid law that would provide concrete visions and principles for the provision of aid submitted a proposed draft International Development Cooperation Law (Kokusai kaihatsu kyoryoku kihon ho) to the House of Councillors in 1989 and again in 1993 Although these bills did not end up being enacted into law the Liberal Democratic Party and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did move to create new guidelines for ODA and International Trade and Industry as well as the Economic Planning Agency negotiated the form of these guidelines based on a draft set of ODA guidelines created in 1991 the cabinet agreed to accept this document with slight revisions as the ODA Charter This charter stated that Japan should provide foreign aid in a manner that supports democracies abroad Japan declared a specific commitment to democracy assistance in the Partnership for Democratic Development which was announced at the 1996 G7 summit in Lyon and the mass media as areas in which the Japanese government had provided and would continue to provide assistance to support democracy the ODA Charter emphasized the importance of democracy assistance and human rights protection more clearly than before the revised charter presented details regarding the areas of emphasis for Japan’s democracy assistance such as capacity- and institution-building in the legal sector The Japanese government has displayed its intention to assist democracy not only in its general foreign aid policies but also in region-specific policies Japan co-hosted a Japan-Africa summit in 1998 with the United Nations and the World Bank The Tokyo International Conference on African Development II (TICAD II) confirmed the importance of democracy assistance to the development of Africa Shinzo Abe declared in 2006 that democracy support would be central to Japanese foreign policy foreign minister in the first Abe administration launched an initiative to increase Japan’s democracy assistance by creating what he called an “Arc of Freedom and Prosperity” in the regions from Northeast Asia to Central Asia and the Caucasus and the Baltic states.4 This marked the first time that a Japanese administration openly articulated a willingness to contribute to the creation of a global system of democratic norms Japan has gradually increased the amount of foreign aid that it provides specifically for democracy support Japan contributed only $4 million toward democracy assistance in 1990 a year after the ODA Charter’s implementation when the Partnership for Democratic Development was launched The figure declined to around $100 million annually after 2003 when the revised ODA Charter was implemented It stayed relatively stable until later that decade when the amount of democracy assistance rose to between $200 and $300 million per year The number of technical assistance projects devoted to democracy support administered by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) the quasi-governmental foreign aid agency charged with providing Japan’s foreign technical assistance Whereas only one to four projects were begun annually in the democracy assistance field from 1994 to 2002 the number of new technical assistance projects increased substantially in 2003 more than ten projects have been launched annually The total number of technical assistance projects conducted every year increased from eleven in 2002 to 68 in 2006 the amount of Japan’s democracy assistance remains small compared to that of other major donors such as the United States and the United Kingdom The level of Japan’s democracy assistance ranks ninth among the 24 member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee Japan provides approximately the same amount of democracy assistance as Denmark whose total official development assistance between 1995 and 2008 was less than one-tenth that of Japan Among the top ten providers of official development assistance only Spain and France have provided (slightly) smaller amounts of democracy assistance than Japan Japan’s allocation of democracy assistance from 1990 to 2008 was only 0.7 percent of its total ODA allocation on average whereas the OECD Development Assistance Committee average was 5.8 percent Japan’s low commitment to democracy aid relative to other types of aid stands in particular contrast to Anglo-Saxon and Northern European countries which allocate approximately 10 percent or more of their ODA to democracy assistance While the largest percentage of ODA that Japan has ever allocated to democracy assistance was 2.4 percent in 2006 and the United States have occasionally allocated more than 20 percent of their ODA to democracy assistance France is the only donor among the top ten ODA providers whose percentage of ODA devoted to democracy assistance is as low as that of Japan (1.8 percent).5 Asia has usually been the top recipient of Japanese democracy assistance the East and Southeast Asia subregion received more aid than any other subregion until 2007 when it was overtaken by Sub-Saharan Africa and South and Central Asia Japanese democracy assistance to the Middle East has been increasing in recent years whereas the aid amount for Latin America has remained steady Reflecting the aid allocation among regions most of the top recipient countries of Japanese democracy assistance are Asian (see table 1) In some cases Japan is a significant source of such assistance relative to other providers for example—which was the top recipient of Japanese democracy assistance from 2003 to 2009—Japan is the third-largest source of such aid after the United States and Australia There are three major types of external democracy assistance: aiding state institutions above all elections and political party development Japan allocates more than 98 percent of its democracy assistance to the state-institutions sector Japan is the seventh-largest donor for aid to state institutions providing a total of approximately $1.8 billion to this sector between 1995 and 2008 Japan did not provide as much aid to support state institutions as the United States or the United Kingdom which provided $19.4 billion and $5.6 billion totaling more than $100 million annually to state institutions and sometimes reaching more than $300 million Japanese aid to state institutions also exceeds the contributions of some other countries known to be active democracy-assistance providers such as Sweden Japan allocates a higher percentage of its overall democracy assistance to the state-institutions sector than any other member country of the OECD Development Assistance Committee Although there is significant variance in the proportions of other donors’ contributions to the state-institutions sector eighteen of the 24 committee members allocate less than 80 percent of their democracy assistance to state institutions and eight of these countries allocate less than 50 percent to the sector Japan provides more assistance to state institutions than do much larger providers of democracy aid overall because those countries allocate smaller percentages of democracy assistance to the state-institutions sector Sweden allocates only 35 percent of its democracy assistance to this sector only Portugal and France allocate more than 90 percent of their total democracy assistance to this sector.6 most of Japan’s aid goes to three subsectors—central governmental agencies Japan considers the role of central governmental agencies essential to the overall task of improving governance in countries undergoing political transitions Japan focuses most of its assistance on efforts to strengthen such agencies in particular helping improve the capacity of government officials to engage in efficient governance Though carried out under the rubric of democracy assistance most such aid goes to economic areas of governance policies on medium-sized and small enterprises Although Japan is much less active in providing assistance to reduce corruption it has addressed issues like bolstering the capacity of auditing agencies charged with reporting abuses of power and rights violations by administrative bodies Japan has been increasing its assistance for rule-of-law development since the 1990s primarily in the form of assistance it provides with drafting laws and strengthening police forces Starting with some rule-of-law assistance to Vietnam in the mid-1990s Japan has expanded such work to include Cambodia There is a perceived need for market-oriented reforms in most parts of Asia and most of Japan’s rule-of-law assistance aims to address it The major areas of Japanese law-related assistance include reform work on civil law generally as well as civil procedure providing technical assistance with the drafting of antitrust These efforts support not only market-oriented economic reforms but also the development of trade and investment Reflecting its philosophy of using aid to support locally generated initiatives Japan limits its law-reform aid to a supporting role that involves commenting on draft laws initiated by recipient countries The only exception in this regard has been its assistance to Cambodia in the drafting of civil and civil procedure laws Japan’s rule-of-law assistance in the criminal law domain goes primarily for enhancing law enforcement within aid-receiving countries Japanese assistance for foreign police forces has a relatively long history Japan’s International Investigation Training Institute (Kokusai sosa kenshu jo) was established under the auspices of the Japanese National Police Academy in 1985 Now known as the Research and Training Center for International Criminal Investigation and Police Cooperation this institution has provided training for overseas police officers in many countries Like other areas of Japan’s aid for strengthening state institutions Japan’s police assistance tends to be only indirectly related to democratization and democratic consolidation it does not directly target democracy issues such as public accountability the hope is that technical assistance to improve police functions like criminal investigations and traffic management will contribute to a general improvement in police capabilities that will help further democratic consolidation The same idea holds for training seminars aimed at introducing ideas about community policing and police organizational reform generally There are only two cases where Japan provided police assistance specifically for the purpose of building democracy—in Pakistan starting in 1996 and in Indonesia starting in 2002 Japanese aid aimed at strengthening state institutions also goes to local government assistance This emphasis reflects the decentralization that is occurring in many developing countries and the increased recognition of decentralization as a factor that promotes good governance the Philippines established the Local Government Act in 1991 under the Aquino administration Indonesia established two laws concerning decentralization in 1999 Thailand strengthened the functions of local governmental organizations based on the 1997 Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Decentralization Law of 1999 Cambodia has engaged in decentralization to strengthen local governments There is an increasing need to develop the capacities of local governments to improve the provision of public services and local development the Japanese Ministry of Home Affairs created the Guidelines Concerning the Establishment of a Charter on the Promotion of International Cooperation between Local Governments (Jichitai kokusai kyoryoku suishin taiko no sakutei ni kansuru shishin) and the Subsidy for Organizations Promoting Overseas Technical Cooperation (Kaigai gijutsu kyoryoku suishin dantai hojokin) in 1995 JICA has provided training courses in various countries on topics such as the duties of local provinces and municipalities civil society relations with local governments Japan conducts its local government assistance primarily through technology transfers to government agencies of recipient countries seeking to increase the capacities of the government agencies and their human resources Projects not only target central and local government agencies but also create partnerships with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and local citizens to increase the impact of the assistance Across the domain of its state-institutions assistance Japan tends to employ officers from Japanese governmental ministries and agencies as implementation partners to help improve the capabilities of their counterparts in recipient countries The National Tax Agency functions as the implementation partner on tax practices and Japan Customs implements projects related to customs duties This approach reflects the Japanese belief that giving recipient country agencies the benefit of the practical experience of Japanese governmental agencies is a more effective form of technical assistance than the more common approach by other countries of using consultants Japanese aid providers believe that because Japan developed its economy relatively recently its governmental agencies possess a comparative advantage in assisting recipient countries in matters of economic development and governance strengthening Despite the significant increase in Japanese democracy assistance over the past twenty years the international policy community pays little attention to this assistance democracy aid receives considerable attention in international circles—including negative attention in some countries That is understandable given the overall size of U.S commitments in this area and the frequent association of this assistance with U.S Yet even the democracy aid of much smaller actors such as that of various European countries attracts significant attention in both policy debates and scholarly circles The protracted debates in Europe over the creation of the European Endowment for Democracy are one example Japanese democracy aid appears to operate almost entirely below the radar screen of the international policy community The main reasons for this appear to be the comparatively small proportion of Japan’s democracy assistance relative to its overall aid Despite its increased commitment to democracy aid over time Japan remains a minor contributor of democracy assistance compared with most other developed democracies Its concentration on more technocratic areas of aid and its avoidance of more high-profile areas such as elections work and political party development contribute to its low profile as well the relevant Japanese policy frameworks reveal some uncertainty about Japan’s commitment to supporting democracy abroad The 1992 ODA Charter was created as a guideline rather than a law and thus was not legally binding for Japanese foreign aid practice the charter failed to mention any direct foreign aid approaches that Japan should adopt to engage in democratic institution building abroad which was created based on the agenda declared in the 1998 joint Japan-Africa TICAD II summit to foster democracy in the region did not include any concrete plan for progress The only plan for democracy assistance to Africa mentioned in this program was a monetary contribution to the Africa Governance Forum of the United Nations Development Programme Taro Aso’s Arc of Freedom and Prosperity required new mechanisms specifically designed for its purpose ambassador to Burma) noted in an analysis of the initiative it used only existing resources and ended up simply mentioning certain means of democracy assistance rather than establishing clear requirements for democracy programming.7 Japan’s low profile on democracy aid also results from the emphasis in Japanese democracy programming on supporting governments rather than undertaking more politically challenging efforts to support actors pushing for democracy in contexts where it is blocked or moving backward over the years Japan has directed nearly all of its democracy assistance to capacity building for government employees of aid-receiving countries or to simply providing governance advice The revised ODA Charter emphasizes the importance of ownership on the part of the countries that receive Japanese assistance It explains that Japan prefers to provide democracy aid to recipients that are actively engaged in democratization Yet many of the largest recipients of Japanese democracy assistance are governments whose commitment to democracy is questionable which gives this overall approach a very soft Japan created the Partnership for Democratic Development with the caveat that it would provide democracy assistance only with the consent of the recipient countries and in partnership with them But the caveat did not specify which actors must be seeking democratization and whose consent Japan required it is unclear whether Japan would heed a request by citizens of a recipient country for help with democratization or whether it would require efforts on the part of state actors If state efforts at democratization are the prerequisite for Japan’s assistance it seems apparent that Japan will not assist citizens of authoritarian countries who seek democratization The low level of Japan’s civil society assistance compared with that of other major donors illustrates the softness of Japan’s approach and its disinclination to back democracy activists challenging their governments While seven Development Assistance Committee member countries each spent a total of between $1 billion and $5 billion on civil society assistance between 1995 and 2008 Japan’s total contribution to civil society in aid-receiving countries was only 0.4 percent of that of the United States Whereas most committee members allocate more than 40 percent of their democracy assistance to the civil society sector on average (seven allocate more than 50 percent and seventeen allocate more than 20 percent) Japan allocates only 1.1 percent on average although Japan is one of the largest foreign aid donors it spends approximately the same amount on civil society assistance as do small donors such as Greece and Luxembourg.8 Japan’s minor role in civil society assistance is striking given that Japan formally includes prodemocratic norms in its stated foreign policy goals is the portion of aid that Japan devotes to democracy so small compared with that of most other major developed democracies Answering this question requires an explanation of the significant weight Japan generally places on other foreign aid priorities compared to democracy support Japan was not a foreign aid donor but a recipient Japan received $1.8 billion in aid from the United States between 1946 and 1951 and $862.9 million in loans from the World Bank from 1953 to 1966 Japan began providing foreign aid in addition to receiving it Because providing foreign aid was a significant financial burden for Japan it planned to provide aid in a way that would promote its own trade and economy The Compensation Special Procurement Office (Baisho tokuju shitsu) was created within the Ministry of International Trade and Industry to combine foreign aid with broader efforts to further Japanese economic expansion Private Japanese corporations provided advice to the governments of recipient countries regarding the types of foreign aid projects they should request from the Japanese government The corporations also maintained close relationships with the Japanese government officials who administered foreign aid and procurement necessary for the implementation of the foreign aid projects that the recipient governments requested from Japan (based on the advice of these corporations) Japanese ODA came to focus on economic infrastructure assistance the Japanese government somewhat reduced its emphasis on foreign aid that benefited Japanese business for several reasons Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka’s visits to Southeast Asian countries in those years provoked large anti-Japan riots Students in those countries denounced the entry of Japanese corporations into their nations’ markets as Japanese imperialism and they regarded Japanese foreign aid as a means to further this entry Japanese media began to report some of the negative consequences of Japanese foreign aid projects such as environmental degradation and the forced relocation of local inhabitants which increased domestic criticism of Japan’s policy of focusing aid on economic infrastructure development Japan’s growing trade surplus with the United States provoked U.S This led to the convening of a U.S.-Japanese summit in 1977 to address the issue of Japanese foreign aid being strictly tied to Japanese private companies as a cause of the trade imbalance in 1978 the Japanese government announced that it would decouple Japanese corporations and ODA The government increased the rate of untied loans from 28.3 percent in 1972 to 85.6 percent of total bilateral aid by 1990.9 Although Japan somewhat moderated its pro-Japanese business approach to foreign aid in the 1970s it nevertheless continued to focus primarily on aid directed at strengthening the economic infrastructure of recipient countries Even when Japan began to devote some of its aid to democracy support in the early 1990s the democracy perspective was relatively minor compared to the still-dominant economic focus When a real paradigm shift in Japanese aid did eventually occur in the late 1990s which devastated a number of Asian countries that were important markets for Japanese exports caused some significant rethinking of Japanese foreign aid Keenly aware of the need to provide aid to the affected countries to improve the stability of individual lives and the region as a whole Japan began to focus its foreign aid policy on the idea of human security The concept came to the fore in international development circles in the 1990s after the establishment of the annual publication of the pathbreaking United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Report This report argued that human security consists of two components—freedom from fear and freedom from want Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi proclaimed in May 1998 that Japan would provide foreign aid to the vulnerable citizens of Asian countries affected by the financial crisis to improve their human security By providing this rubric for Japanese efforts the Japanese government was attempting to impress upon its Asian partners and the international community generally that it was making a substantial effort to help its neighbors recover from the financial crisis.10 Since that time human security has remained the primary purpose of Japanese foreign aid Because democracy assistance is intended to help foster freedom from fear human security assistance can be understood as naturally subsuming democracy assistance when he was secretary general of the United Nations stated that human security includes such issues as human rights and good governance.11 Emphasizing that the primary aim of human security should be the prevention of conflicts and wars understand human security primarily in terms of freedom from fear and protection from threats to human rights in countries that face military conflicts.12 A central means of these countries to protect human security is humanitarian intervention although the means are not necessarily military Democracy assistance is a part of these efforts the Japanese understanding of human security focuses more on economic development than on democracy or human rights Japan adopted the argument of the Development Assistance Committee’s 1996 “New Development Strategy,” which emphasizes the goals of human-centered development The ODA Mid-Term Policy of 2005 noted the following factors as threats to human security—conflict Japan defines four priorities: 1) poverty reduction Although human rights issues are not excluded from the Japanese understanding of human security Japan’s approach is development-based and emphasizes freedom from want as opposed to the rights-based approach of Canada and some European donors The approach excludes democracy assistance from the methods Japan pursues to promote human security Two factors inclined Japan to follow a development-based approach focused on freedom from want One was Asia’s difficult economic condition in the late 1990s The Asian financial crisis posed a serious threat to the economies of Asian countries Although Japan was not directly affected by the financial crisis the perceived danger to the Japanese economy was great Because it was created under such circumstances the Japanese interpretation of human security naturally focused on those areas that were threatened by the Asian financial crisis limits on the use of military force defined in the Constitution of Japan constrained the state’s role in humanitarian intervention Seeking a practical way to contribute to human security but unable to intervene militarily Japan adopted a development-based approach that did not require the use of force The predominant focus of Japanese aid on assistance for economic infrastructure and human security are key reasons the share of democracy assistance in Japan’s overall foreign aid remains small Figure 1 shows the share of democracy aid compared with other types of aid The figure categorizes foreign aid provided for social infrastructure and development food aid/food security assistance as human security aid and shows that economic infrastructure aid has declined slightly since the early 1990s which covers all production-related sectors aid in areas such as social infrastructure and humanitarian assistance which is categorized as “human security” in this figure The share of this type of human security aid began climbing in the early 1970s as the international aid community’s concern for basic human needs increased the share of democracy assistance has been and continues to be small Although the share of democracy assistance began increasing in the early 2000s it remains far below the level of human security assistance Why has Japan emphasized the state institutions sector within its democracy assistance This question is significant because civil society assistance an important additional area of democracy aid is considered by many aid practitioners and observers to be an effective method of democracy promotion This is true particularly since the democratization of the Central and Eastern European countries where civil society groups played a leading prodemocratic role The growing enthusiasm for funding civil society groups stems from the fact that sustained pressure for improving governance tends to be exerted by citizens rather than by governmental actors themselves are often the leading forces for democratization China has witnessed citizen protests involving demands for democratization The same pattern can be observed in various North African and Middle Eastern countries such as Egypt it is the citizens who push for democratic change while the governments have been responsible including detaining and killing protesters has opted to emphasize the state-institutions sector over the civil society sector within its democracy assistance It determines the adequacy and necessity of assistance to other countries based on requests or the lack thereof from recipient-country governments following what is known in Japan as a request-based aid policy Japan has followed this policy from the outset of Japanese ODA provision in the mid-1950s when it began providing foreign aid as war reparations Because Japan provided aid as a means to apologize to its Asian neighbors the recipients were given the role of determining the content of aid projects and formulating specific aid requests The war-reparations aspect of Japanese foreign aid diminished over time and the international aid community started criticizing the lack of quality control in Japanese aid in the late 1980s and the 1990s This criticism increased when multiple instances of corruption related to Japanese ODA provision came to light These corruption cases revealed a lack of transparency and quality control in the use of aid money and indicated that Japan afforded its aid recipients too much power in determining aid content Although the request-based policy was officially removed from Japan’s foreign aid policy in 1997 in response to the corruption scandals Japan provides aid based on requests from recipients both in keeping with the legacy of its request-based approach and to ensure the political autonomy of the recipient countries JICA states that the agency considers it important for developing countries to adopt proactive and spontaneous actions with regard to aid.13 The question then becomes which actors does the Japanese government consider qualified to adopt such proactive and spontaneous actions regarding democratization the agency considers “the proactive and spontaneous improvement of governance and the consolidation of democracy undertaken by governments of developing countries” to be important.14 Here the action is taken by recipient governments and the statement does not mention the necessity or sufficiency of such actions by ,em>citizens The same understanding also appears in other JICA publications on democracy assistance The agency believes that providing citizens with increased opportunities to express their opinions should be conducted at the recipient government’s discretion JICA aims to strengthen the role played by citizens by assisting their governments.15 Japanese democracy assistance is generally provided based on requests from the governments of recipient countries While most projects are conducted based on requests from recipient governments certain projects are conducted according to requests from individuals—but ones who are past participants in democracy assistance projects and employees of public administrations in recipient countries Japanese legal assistance to Vietnam was initiated on the basis of a request from Vietnam’s minister of justice for assistance with drafting the civil law in 1993 This request resulted in the expansion of such requests from other countries Chem Sgnoun asked the Japanese government (through Akio Morishima a prominent figure in the Japanese legal field)16 for assistance revising Cambodia’s civil procedure and drafting its civil law This resulted in the start of Japan’s legal assistance program in Cambodia in March 1999 governmental actors made the democracy assistance requests to Japan Not all requests come to Japan spontaneously Officials will occasionally conduct preliminary research on foreign aid needs in recipient countries and exchange ideas with actors in those countries many of whom go on to make official requests to Japan Japan’s police assistance for Pakistan began at Japan’s initiative Japan sent a preliminary research unit to Pakistan in 1996 Japan proposed the establishment of a national public safety commission to the Pakistani government ODA task forces in Japanese embassies in recipient countries in addition to preliminary research teams dispatched from JICA headquarters function as the main sources of information on the aid needs of recipient countries The task forces are expected to gather opinions from and exchange ideas with local societal actors regarding aid needs members of the ODA task forces meet very few NGO representatives especially when compared to the number of government officials with whom they have contact a former member of the ODA task force in Bangladesh lists 71 agents of the Japanese government who met with the ODA task force in Bangladesh from 2003 to 2006 he lists 34 international organization staff members thirteen representatives from other donor-country governments and eleven Bangladeshi governmental officials only eight NGO representatives—some Bangladeshi and some Japanese—are mentioned as having attended meetings with the ODA task force.17 Although NGOs are not structurally excluded from such dialogues they tend to be a minor source of information for Japan the Ministry of Foreign Affairs published an ODA white paper to make explicit the Japanese government’s intention to transform its foreign aid approach from a request-based policy to the more common program approach foreign aid targets will be determined through policy dialogues with developing countries The apparent hope is that by establishing an overall framework for foreign aid programs before determining specific aid projects within that framework the program approach will avoid the problem of inconsistencies among specific projects which is characteristic of the request-based approach even under the new program approach Japanese aid officials choose programs through dialogue with governmental actors in developing countries rather than with civil society actors.18 This means that whether the Japanese government adopts the request-based or the program approach the voices of recipient governments are likely to be dominant in foreign aid projects and the voices of civil society are less likely to be heard The inadequate information collection on foreign aid needs by civil society actors is a striking difference between Japanese aid and the approach of more active providers of democracy assistance who often obtain significant amounts of information from a wide range of sources the Rockefeller Brothers Fund created a team of Americans and Hungarians to travel across Hungary at the beginning of the country’s democratization process after 1989 The team drafted a number of reports regarding the factors that were necessary for democratic consolidation in the country and shared the results with other private funders and U.S Agency for International Development (USAID) regularly consult with NGO partners operating in recipient countries to collect information on aid needs Face-to-face interactions between USAID and U.S State Department staff members on the one hand and NGO actors on the other occur daily and the participants exchange information regarding the state of democracy in developing countries and possible aid responses the staff of the Swedish International Development Agency telephones NGOs daily to obtain information regarding recipient countries There is a high level of trust and interaction between civil society and governmental actors and current profile of Japanese democracy assistance—including why Japan provides relatively little of it and why it emphasizes aid to state institutions within the larger range of possible types of democracy aid This concluding section attempts to consolidate the above analysis into a single overarching conclusion: Japan provides democracy assistance as a form of development assistance In other words its democracy aid is not a form of political engagement aimed primarily at political goals but rather a development activity strongly oriented toward socioeconomic effects and goals Japan has provided democracy assistance in harmony with a trend that took root in the international aid community starting in the late 1980s of viewing good governance as a critical factor facilitating socioeconomic development JICA’s position as the leading agency in charge of Japanese democracy assistance reflects the Japanese developmental perspective on the topic This approach is different from that of the United States where the State Department and the National Endowment for Democracy play significant roles in the country’s democracy aid alongside and sometimes even primary to the role of USAID As a JICA publication on democracy assistance states “A characteristic of Japanese assistance is that Japan does not aim at the expansion of democratic government itself Japan provides assistance to protect the democratic progress of developing countries as a part of developmental aid through the protection of basic liberties and the promotion of human rights.”19 This statement indicates why the necessity of assisting democracy abroad has been primarily included in policy frameworks on development aid in Japan such as the ODA Charter and the Partnership for Democratic Development it illustrates why Japan regards proactive requests from recipient governments as a prerequisite for its democracy assistance Japan considers providing such aid only when a recipient government aims to democratize or to consolidate democracy as a development goal The development plans of some of the countries to which Japan provides aid help to determine the areas that receive the assistance Japan provides foreign countries with democracy aid in a manner that fits the development plans of the recipient governments An examination of the national development plans of the top ten recipients of Japanese democracy assistance from 2003 to 2009 reveals that nearly every country lists improvement of democracy or governance among its aims The national development plans of Indonesia and Ghana include the promotion of democracy and Pakistan cite the improvement of governance as an aim Most of these nations also incorporate more specific elements of democracy or governance improvement in their development plans The rule of law appears in the planning aims of Afghanistan Eliminating corruption is declared a goal in the plans of Afghanistan Public administration reform is part of the plans of Cambodia Political participation is an aim in Jordan The Philippines establishes decentralization as one of its development aims and Afghanistan includes human rights protection among its aims which establishes industrialization and economic growth as its aims but does not include the improvement of democracy or governance in its national plan reflects that country’s commitment to the consolidation of democracy and includes a wide range of areas from elections to public administration two countries that include the rule of law and public administration reform as aims in their development plans Japan’s assistance focuses on these two areas Japan’s assistance to Vietnam is primarily focused on market-oriented economic reform in areas such as law and public administration Thomas Carothers contrasted two core approaches to democracy aid among major democracy supporters—the developmental approach and the political approach democracy support has elements of both approaches European work in this domain tends to follow the developmental approach democracy support more frequently aligns with the political approach.20 Carothers notes that the methods of democracy assistance tend to be different between countries that adopt the political approach and those that adopt the developmental approach Countries that adopt the political approach tend to regard democratization as a political struggle in which democratic forces seek to defeat nondemocratic actors This perspective naturally results in democracy assistance being directed to elections countries that adopt the developmental approach to democracy assistance tend to emphasize transparency and responsibility in economic development They primarily provide aid to political institutions and to support capacity building for government officials.21 It seems clear that Japan has a strong tendency to follow the developmental approach The pronounced Japanese emphasis on directing democracy assistance to the state-institutions sector particularly reflects this fact It is possible that Japan will change its democracy assistance to reflect greater use of a political approach the Liberal Democratic Party achieved an overwhelming victory in Japan’s 2012 House of Representatives election and Abe has returned to the post of prime minister Given that it was Abe who established Japan’s first and only political framework for democracy assistance (the Arc of Freedom and Prosperity) he may attempt to reintroduce this strategy The future of Japanese democracy assistance might therefore be a combination of political and developmental approaches although it is not yet clear whether this will occur and what it might mean in practice Examining Japanese ODA (Japanese) (Tokyo: Gakuyo Shobo 1992); Yoshinori Murai and ODA Chosa Kenkyu Kai Japan as an Irresponsible Great ODA Power (Japanese) (Tokyo: JICC Shuppankyoku ODA: Reality of Foreign Aid (Japanese) (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten 2 Japan suspended non-humanitarian and non-urgent foreign aid to Burma in 2003 Political Economy of the ODA Charter: Implementation and Aid Principle (Japanese) 4 Taro Aso, “Arc of Freedom and Prosperity: Japan’s Expanding Diplomatic Horizons,” speech at the Japan Institute of International Affairs Seminar, November 30, 2006, www.mofa.go.jp/announce/fm/aso/speech0611.html 5 OECD, “Creditor Reporting System,” http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DatasetCode=CRSNEW This statement does not include South Korea because South Korea joined the Deveopment Assistance Committee in 2008 The data cited here are for the period up to 2008 “Expectations and Questions for the New Axis of Japanese Foreign Policy” (Japanese) 9 “Figures and Tables 8 Change of Tying Status of Japanese ODA” (Japanese) in MOFA Japan's Official Development Assistance Volume 1 (Japanese) (Tokyo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan Rethinking Human Security: Responding to Emerging Threats (Japanese) (Tokyo: Chikura Shobo 11 Kofi Annan, “Secretary-General Salutes International Workshop on Human Security in Mongolia,” United Nations Press Release SG/SM/7382, May 8, 2000, www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2000/20000508.sgsm7382.doc.html. 12 Commission on Global Governance, Our Global Neighbourhood: The Report of the Commission on Global Governance (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995). 13 “JICA’s Approach: Governance Assistance Which Emphasizes Proactive and Spontaneous Process” (Japanese), Monthly JICA (July 2007): 18. 15 JICA, Governance Assistance at JICA: Creation of Democratic Institutions, Improvement of Administrative Functions and Legal Assistance (Japanese) (Tokyo: Japanese International Cooperation Agency, 2004), 20. 16 Kozo Kagawa and Yuka Kaneko, Legal Assistance Studies: Introduction to International Cooperation for Institution Building (Japanese) (Kyoto: Minerva Shobo, 2007), 39, 92–93; Akio Morishima, “Engaging in the Drafting Assistance of the Cambodian Civil Law” (Japanese), ICD News, vol. 11 (September 2003), 6; Akio Morishima, “On Legal Assistance to the Kingdom of Cambodia and Cambodia Civil Law Drafting” (Japanese), ICD News, vol. 7 (January 2003), 28. 17 Masahiko Kiya, “For the Promotion of ODA Hands-On Function: State and Lessons From the ODA Taskforce in Bangladesh” (Japanese), GRIPS Development Forum Discussion Paper, vol. 17 (December 2007): 1–58. 18 MOFA, Japan’s ODA White Paper 2010 (Japanese) (Tokyo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, 2010), 24–25. 19 JICA, Governance Assistance at JICA, 2004, 4. 20 Thomas Carothers, “Democracy Assistance: Political vs. Developmental?” Journal of Democracy, vol. 20, no. 1 (2009): 5–19. Former Visiting Scholar , Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program Full Textprogram Democracy, Conflict, and GovernanceThe Democracy Our program examines emerging global challenges to democracy and produces policy-relevant research on international support to advance democracy and demographics are a useful framing for opportunities to drive Japan’s economic dynamism and develop its startup ecosystem beyond the Ishiba administration As the United States steps back from diplomacy and aid aimed at supporting democracy abroad new analytical tools are needed to assess how the new U.S administration will impact democracy globally In a global political landscape marked by twenty years of widespread democratic backsliding some good news exists: in a handful of countries where leaders significantly undercut democratic norms and institutions elections have brought to power new leadership with a strong declared commitment to restoring democracy The Trump administration’s effort to reshape the global trading system and reset overseas security commitments is creating an historic inflection point Less clear is how far China will be able to capitalize on these dynamics it must closely examine several core tenets of its engagement-based approach toward Burma After many years of engagement with Burma’s military regime Japan began to play a significant role in supporting the country’s shift toward political reform in 2011–2012 Burma was a case that seemed to suggest Japan’s increasing commitment to supporting democracy as Burma’s reform process has faltered during the past year Japan has been unwilling to challenge the obstacles to reform with the result that its commitment to Burmese democracy now appears weaker If Japan is to contribute positively to maintaining Burmese progress in political reform Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest in November 2010 the ban on former political prisoners standing in elections was lifted The Political Parties Registration Law was revised to allow Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) to participate in national elections the NLD won the national by-elections by a landslide and obtained 43 parliamentary seats The regime released more than 1,500 political prisoners between 2011 and 2013 including pro-democracy activists Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi.1 Exiled pro-democracy activists were also granted permission to visit Burma Media and Internet censorship has been relaxed and domestic newspapers are now allowed to print photos of Aung San Suu Kyi Private television stations have been established The government has committed itself to reaching ceasefire agreements with Burma’s various ethnic minority groups and has reportedly agreed to establish a federal system in Burma—although many analysts doubt its sincerity on these questions.2 Although these reforms are positive signs of liberalization The country’s 2008 constitution remains problematic Though it was ostensibly part of Burma’s road map to democracy the constitution has consolidated military-backed rule in the country It stipulates that a president must be experienced in military affairs the parliament is likely to elect a military officer to be president and border affairs ministers are appointed by the commander-in-chief of the armed forces rather than by the president the president can transfer executive and judicial powers and duties to the commander-in-chief A quarter of parliamentary seats are allotted to military personnel; elections are held only for the remaining seats The constitution stipulates that the president’s spouse or children may not be citizens of a foreign country; this prevents Aung San Suu Kyi whose late husband and two children are British Revising the constitution requires an amendment approved by more than 75 percent of the members of Parliament Because 25 percent of the parliamentary seats are held by military personnel the military effectively has a veto over constitutional reform Despite President Thein Sein’s promise to free all political prisoners by the end of 2013 the number of arrests for political crimes actually increased in 2014 The government has also arrested journalists on political charges such as defamation of the state and violation of Burma’s State Secrets Act Released political activists are routinely rearrested for participating in peaceful protests Exiled pro-democracy activists have been arrested upon entering Burma if they have a criminal record for their past participation in pro-democracy movements the number of political prisoners increased from approximately 30 at the beginning of 2014 to 70 by July 2014.3 The country’s human rights record remains poor The Rohingyas—Burma’s Muslim minority—continue to suffer discrimination They have been denied citizenship and are barred from political participation They also experience constant abuse and violent attacks Burma’s liberalization seems to have been curtailed so as to preserve military-backed rule The prospects for genuine democratization are at best uncertain Japan follows a different tack than Western powers: it has taken an engagement-based approach based on reward-oriented and indirect measures Japan diluted sanctions and focused on diplomatic dialogue with the regime While other donors were reducing their aid to Burma Japan provided $857 million of grant aid and $360 million of technical assistance between 1989 and 2011.4 Japan was Burma’s largest donor during the period of military rule The Japanese government suspended new official development assistance (ODA) projects after Aung San Suu Kyi’s third house arrest in 2003 Japan continued to support projects designed to assist members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) or Indochina as a whole which included Burma as an aid recipient.5 As incentives for the Burmese government to remain on the course of liberalization Japan has offered positive economic rewards It quickly resumed providing foreign aid after the 2011 opening Japan also agreed to cancel $3 billion and to refinance $2 billion of Burma’s debt to Japan it provided $900 million in bridging loans that would enable Burma to repay the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank and thus be eligible for additional credit Although some domestic critics suggest that it is too early to reward the regime Japan insists that such rewards encourage Burma to remain on the path to democratization.6 In fact Japanese officials have called for more generous reward measures by Western countries Japan has adopted the engagement approach for several reasons One is a judgment that it would be too risky to adopt strict sanctions toward Burma due to geostrategic concerns In addition to being geographically close to Japan combined with a friendly public opinion toward Japan encourages the Japanese government to treat Burma cautiously and with an eye to favorable future economic and political bilateral relations Japan is not alone in hesitating to apply strict sanctions against neighboring countries in which its stake is high Australia and ASEAN have also followed an engagement approach toward Burma Governmental officials and intellectuals in Japan are skeptical of the effectiveness of sanctions Katsumi Uchida of the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund of Japan (now the Japan International Cooperation Agency or JICA) criticized the sanctions approach in 1996 arguing that an anti-government stance toward Burma could foster political instability and poverty.7 Japan has cultivated relationships with prominent figures in Burma in a way that has sought to use dialogue and engagement in pro-democratic fashion who announced the seven-point road map to democracy in August 2003 was a major diplomatic interlocutor for Japan until he was placed under house arrest in October 2004 the Japanese government has provided Human Resource Development scholarships to Burmese students which enable them to study at Japanese universities including Ko Ko Oo (minister of science and technology) and Mya Aye (former minister of education) Many legal experts and mid-level managers in Burmese government offices also studied at Japanese universities and several NLD parliamentary members have Japanese educational backgrounds.91 Aung San Suu Kyi herself was affiliated with Kyoto University as a visiting researcher in 1985–1986 and received funding from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.10 Japan’s capacity-building assistance to governmental officials of ASEAN and Indochina countries has also been a valuable tool to expand the human network among Japanese and Burmese officials These human connections have created a network between the two countries the Japanese government has organized an alumni association of Burmese officials who received capacity-building trainings in Japan.11 However Japan has not used such networks as tools of political persuasion as effectively as it might have Nor does its bilateral cooperation leverage these links politically most of its support is directed at technical issues Since the Japanese government resumed ODA provision to Burma a number of projects have been implemented in the country Japan’s rule-of-law assistance projects are particularly related to supporting Burma’s democratization Burma is a priority country for Japan’s rule-of-law assistance.12 Human resources in the legal field are limited in Burma because universities have operated only intermittently and the role of the courts has been limited under military rule Japan has worked to enhance staff capacity at the attorney general’s office and the Supreme Court and provided seminars on legal systems related to public companies and the privatization of state-owned enterprises established the Myanmar–Japan Legal Research Center at the University of Yangon to provide reference materials related to Japanese laws.13 the capacity-building program at the Supreme Court and the attorney general’s office is intended to help strengthen the judiciary vis-à-vis the executive the Supreme Court consists of military officials helping build capacity at the Supreme Court in its present form could ultimately help stabilize military-backed rule Supporting the executive for better governance standards does not necessarily help democratization either Japan is also implementing a number of capacity-building projects for Burmese governmental officials in the economic realm Although several of these projects have been implemented with the intention of enabling Burma to reap the benefits of reforms this approach could strengthen the executive and this most of Japan’s rule-of-law support is conducted in the economic rather than political realm This tack also seems to reflect Japan’s indirect approach to democracy support Governmental and nongovernmental actors in Japan occasionally argue that such assistance constitutes democracy support because economic development could facilitate democratization.14 Such a belief seems to be buttressed by the pattern that democratization exhibited in other Asian countries such as South Korea Japan’s rule-of-law assistance is quite frequently provided in links with the economic sector to support economic development and stabilization will lead the country toward democratization in the long run Although not much information had been disclosed at the time of writing Japan’s $700,000 support package for Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV) aims to support impartial broadcasting decrease the information gap among the members of the public and support the country’s democratization.15 MRTV is a government-operated broadcasting station and the aid package aims to change MRTV’s authoritarian mindset In addition to material and financial support some academics and staff members from a Japanese broadcasting station have been dispatched to Burma to train media staffers on independent broadcasting methods.16 Although this program could represent significant support for Burma’s move toward additional reforms the limitation is that such support is being provided only to a government-operated station Capacity-building support for independent media is also necessary An additional noteworthy aspect of Japan’s foreign aid to Burma is support for minorities The Japanese government pledged approximately $100 million of financial assistance in January 2014 for capacity and regional institution building and agriculture to ethnic minorities in Rakhine and other states.17 The Nippon Foundation is the implementing partner for most of the funded projects has been working in the border areas between Burma and Thailand to organize peace talks between minority groups and the Burmese government a Japanese nonprofit organization operating in Burma (as well as in Thailand) has helped minority groups conduct ceasefire negotiations with the government worked to integrate different minority groups for collective ceasefire negotiations with the government which led to the establishment of the United Nationalities Federal Council a coalition of ethnic minority armed forces.18 Japan’s support for minority issues does not directly help Burma progress toward democratization this support could facilitate democratization in two ways Burma must fully incorporate the voice of its ethnic minorities who constitute 30–40 percent of the population Although the Thein Sein administration has reached ceasefire agreements with most Burmese minority groups especially between the government and the Kachin Independence Army The termination of conflict is fundamental to the country’s democratization supporting Burma’s minorities could affect Aung San Suu Kyi’s influence The country’s liberalization has been led by cooperation between Thein Sein and Aung San Suu Kyi and has therefore been more an individual effort than an institutional one criticism of Aung San Suu Kyi’s unwillingness to speak out forcefully on minority issues has increased among pro-democracy activists Tackling conflicts between minority groups and the Burmese government could help restore trust and support for Aung San Suu Kyi among pro-democracy activists Geopolitical competition with China is both a driver and an inhibitor of Japan’s democracy support Japan was certainly motivated by the post–2011 window of opportunity to encourage democracy in Burma But the most distinctive impetus for Japan’s democracy support for Burma is its ongoing power struggle with China Japan competes with China for influence in Burma After Japan and Western countries suspended a substantial amount of ODA to Burma in 1988 China increased its presence as a major investor in Burma Japan exerted the greatest influence in Burma; this position has since been assumed by China Burma’s appeal to China is its abundant natural resources such as oil Since the regional power shift began in the mid-2000s as China surpassed Japan in both military budget and GDP the geopolitical power struggle between the two countries has intensified Japan has sought to create a coalition of democracies in the region.19 Japan saw Burma’s reform process as an opportunity to strengthen its relationship with the country and weaken China’s influence Burma’s geographic proximity to China increased Burma’s strategic value It was through this geopolitical prism that democracy support for Burma became a top priority of the Abe administration’s foreign policy.20 this prioritization also means that Japan is unwilling to risk losing influence by pressing hard for reforms when the Burmese regime resists change to maintain influence over Burma without driving the country closer to China Japan has offered inducements rather than sanctions Despite the Burmese government’s negative steps in the political domain over the past year Japan has been hesitant to interfere in Burma’s domestic political affairs In a report submitted to the Burmese parliament in October 2014 the country’s Constitutional Review Joint Committee which is composed primarily of the parliament’s military members did not propose any fundamental constitutional amendments such as abolishing the military’s parliamentary veto or removing the article that prevents Aung San Suu Kyi from running for president which were scheduled to be held at the end of 2014 though many analysts suspect that the government was fearful that the NLD would once again emerge victorious A fall 2014 draft of the government’s plan for addressing the Rohingya issue refuses to acknowledge Rohingyas as such and instead considers them Bengalis seemingly suggesting that they have a country to which they can be deported does not mention these moves against reform in any of its official statements The only concern mentioned relates to the intensified conflict among residents in Rakhine and Mandalay.21 Because of its inaction in response to the loss of momentum in Burmese reforms Japan has provided no external stimulus toward democratization during this recent difficult period Japan’s uncritical engagement with the Burmese military government occasionally draws criticism in Japan that its approach hinders democratization.22 Nonetheless Japan has continued to actively support Burma’s reform process in its own way despite the limitations of its approach the amount of foreign aid allocated for such support is significant compared with Japan’s democracy support for other countries Reflecting their belief in the engagement approach many Japanese government officials and intellectuals argue that Japanese foreign aid prevented Burma’s complete isolation and assisted the country’s progress toward liberalization the ways in which Japan’s engagement facilitated liberalization in Burma have been neither explained nor verified Japan has done little to remove obstacles to democratic liberalization To the extent that the Burmese government adopted liberalization measures so that Western sanctions would be lifted Japan’s less stringent policy may not have been the most influential driver of reform As long as the Burmese government does in fact wish to advance with political reforms Japan’s approach may support the democratization efforts the Thein Sein administration includes conservative actors in addition to moderate members If the conservative actors gain influence over political decisions Japan’s engagement-based approach may militate against democratization True democratization has not yet begun in Burma The key to democratization is the need for a revised constitution the pro-democracy side must find pro-democracy supporters among the parliament’s military members Japan (and Western powers) should adopt more direct measures to promote democratization in a manner that supports constitutional revision Japan’s contribution to the reform that is under way in Burma has so far been reactive rather than preemptive If Japan believes in rewarding Burma’s liberalization efforts it should adopt firmer measures against the current backlash in the country a policy based on positive rewards will exert no influence Burma’s political situations before and after the general election of fall 2015 are likely to provide a stern test for Japan’s democracy support policies Maiko Ichihara is an assistant professor at Kansai Gaidai University in Japan.  and Keiichiro Nakazawa for their helpful comments The Carnegie Endowment gratefully acknowledges support from the Robert Bosch Stiftung and the UK Department for International Development that helped make this publication possible The opinions expressed in this article are the responsibility of the author 1 Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) 2011); Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) 2012); Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) 2 Myo Zaw Ko, Thiha Tun, and Thin Thiri, “Myanmar Government Agrees to Federal System in Cease-Fire Talks,” trans. Khet Mar and Di-Hoa Le, Radio Free Asia, August 15, 2014, www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/ceasefire-08152014182134.html “Burma Breaks Pledge to Free Jailed Activists,” Times (London) 4 “Country Regional Policy and Information ODA Track Record Search” [in Japanese], Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, accessed January 20, 2015, http://www3.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/gaiko/oda/shiryo/jisseki/kuni/index.php 5 Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Japan’s Official Development Assistance White Paper 2005  2005, www.mofa.go.jp/policy/oda/white/2005/ODA2005/html/honpen/hp202040300.htm 6 Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, “The Growth of Southeast Asia and the Role of Japan,” in Japan’s Official Development Assistance White Paper 2013, 17, www.mofa.go.jp/policy/oda/white/2013/pdfs/0102.pdf “Fourteen Years with Myanmar: Japan and Myanmar” [in Japanese] 8 “Visit From Abroad” [in Japanese], Osaka University, www.osaka-u.ac.jp/ja/international/news/visits. Center for Asian Legal Exchange, CALE News, Nagoya University, December 25, 2013, 1, http://cale.law.nagoya-u.ac.jp/_userdata/extra.pdf “Overcoming Bottlenecks: Japan-Led Support for Myanmar’s Transition,” Kyoto Sangyo Daigaku Sekai Mondai Kenkyujo Kiyo 29 (March 2014): 67–68 10 Noriko Otsu, “Myanmar’s Democratization and Aung San Suu Kyi” [in Japanese], lecture for the Japanese Association of University Women, May 30, 2013, www.jauw.org/aboutjauw/shibu/kyoto/koenyoshi09.htm 11 Author conversation with an official from the Japan International Cooperation Agency 12 “Basic Guidelines With Respect to Giving Technical Legal Assistance: Revised Version” [in Japanese], Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, May 2013, www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/gaiko/oda/bunya/governance/hoshin_1305.html 13 “Prior Evaluation Sheet: The Project for Capacity Development of Legal, Judicial and Relevant Sectors in Myanmar” [in Japanese], Japan International Cooperation Agency, 1–3, http://www2.jica.go.jp/ja/evaluation/pdf/2013_1203127_1_s.pdf “Democratization in Myanmar and Japan: The International Society Missed Chances for ‘Democracy Promotion in Myanmar’ Twice,” [in Japanese] “Japan’s Myanmar Policy: Four Principles,” Gaiko Forum 1 15 “Signing of E/N Concerning Cultural Grant Aid to Myanmar” [in Japanese], Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, October 25, 2013, www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/gaiko/oda/data/zyoukyou/h25/ipbm_131025_1.html 16 Author conversation with an official from the Japan International Cooperation Agency 17 “Support by the Government of Japan for National Reconciliation With Ethnic Minorities in the Republic of the Union of Myanmar,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, January 6, 2014, www.mofa.go.jp/s_sa/sea1/mm/page4e_000055.html Zero Fighter of Burma [in Japanese] (Fukuoka: Shukosha 19 Maiko Ichihara, “Japan’s Strategic Approach to Democracy Support,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, March 7, 2014, http://carnegieendowment.org/2014/03/07/japan-s-strategic-approach-to-democracy-support/hd6c 21 “Japan-Myanmar Foreign Ministers’ Meeting,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, August 9, 2014, www.mofa.go.jp/s_sa/sea1/mm/page3e_000219.html. 22 For example, Kei Nemoto, “Myanmar: Military Regime Continues to Contain Democratization—Japan’s “Friendly” Aid Attitude Should Be Questioned,” [in Japanese] Sekai Shuho 73, no. 9 (March 5, 1992): 151. Former editor-in-chief of Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine Takenori Ichihara announced on Twitter on Friday that he has resigned from Shogakukan Ichihara stated he will instead write manga (as an original author Ichihara stepped down as the editor-in-chief of Weekly Shonen Sunday in October, after being in the position for six years and three months. He became editor-in-chief in 2015 Kazunori Ohshima is the current editor-in-chief Ichihara had the second longest tenure out of all of the magazine's editors-in-chief. Kazuki Tanaka holds the magazine's record for longest tenure as editor-in-chief Ichihara personally made decisions on manga content from debut one-shots from new talents to new series from veteran writers he said he would take full responsibility for the fate of the magazine Ichihara considered fostering the talent of new manga artists the magazine's biggest priority His vision for the magazine included experienced writers for a mix of new and old Ichihara stated he was primarily a Shonen Sunday fan as a kid The magazine has serialized such manga as Detective Conan, Inuyasha, Major, and Komi Can't Communicate Image via Comic Natalie Sources: Takenori Ichihara's Twitter account, Oricon (Tokyo: 4183; President & CEO: HASHIMOTO Osamu) announced that it has decided to close the phenol plant at its Ichihara Works by no later than fiscal 2026 The Mitsui Chemicals Group’s Basic & Green Materials Business Sector is aiming to redefine itself as a sustainable green chemicals business centered around competitive derivatives As the Group works toward an optimized production setup at our crackers line with demand it will need to ensure that its derivatives are competitive – a need which prompted the Group to begin restructuring its Basic & Green Materials Business Sector shortly after the 2008 global financial crisis The Group is now further accelerating its efforts toward this end as part of a second phase of restructuring which will include the newly announced plant closure Mitsui Chemicals currently produces phenol at three locations: Ichihara in Chiba Following the launch of phenol production at the Ichihara Works in 1970 Mitsui Chemicals’ phenol business continued to grow driven by rising demand for key derivatives bisphenol A and phenolic resin a range of factors have made the business environment more difficult – including falling domestic demand as well as a drastic oversupply on account of new production facilities launched in China and other parts of Asia Mitsui Chemicals has responded with a range of rationalization efforts in order to sustain the business but has now decided that it is no longer feasible to secure the profitability needed to maintain phenol production at its Ichihara Works an impairment loss on fixed assets of this business was recorded as other operating expenses *This impairment loss has been incorporated in the financial forecast for FY2023 (April 1 While the phenol plant at the Ichihara Works will cease operations Mitsui Chemicals intends to maintain a steady supply of products to its customers by building a phenol chain with high capital efficiency and stable profitability Search Companies editorial@fibre2fashion.com Mobile Photo Studio by Ma Leonn is decorated with a mishmash of ukiyo-e and prewar kamishibai art Visitors can pose for a photo on the "stage" in the middle two-tone Kominato Railway train arrives at Tsukizaki station at dusk an unmanned station on the Kominato Railway The strings of lights provide festive illumination at night the cafeteria at the former Satomi Elementary School serves simple but hearty fare inspired by school lunches of years past part of volunteer activities associated with the Kominato Railway The former gym at Satomi Elementary School (the building to the right of the cafeteria in the photo above) houses Artists Breath Playback an attractively designed abridgement of a recent show at the Ichihara Lakeside Museum Elmo Vermijs's installation Mirror of Soil excavated from a rice field outside Tsukizaki Village an installation by Ayse Erkmen that occupies a vacated residence in Tsukizaki Village a different video playing in each room shows project staffers removing items from the same spot This monitor sits in a tokonoma alcove that used to contain a scroll and several vases Two of Sou Fujimoto's series of delightfully weird station toilets: Toilet in Nature at Irabu (left) and Satoyama Toilet at Kazusa-Ushiku (right) This astronaut greets passengers at Kazusa-Murakami station on their way to and from the festival area contemporary society is still suffering from wars fought across the globe the Chairperson and Executive Director of Theater Commons said: “As a gesture of continuing to open the doors of imagination in a chaotic and increasingly uncertain world I would like to invite you to immerse yourself in the five different worlds of five different artists.” One of the program’s highlights is Dialogue with the Sun (VR) the first interactive VR performance work by Thai independent filmmaker and artist Apichatpong Weerasethakul The visual poetry transcending any language the particles of light floating in the air and the ripples created by Ryuichi Sakamoto’s music invite the visitor into an entirely new space-time and novelist Q / Satoko Ichihara will present her latest play which premiered at Theater der Welt in Germany last year The play is a contemporary Buranku play in which puppets embody human karma taking the audience on a journey beyond good and evil The program also features a solo performance by Nastaran Razawi Khorasani Ticket reservations are available on the official website Schedule: February 29 - March 12, 2024Venues: Multiple venues in TokyoOrganized by: Theater Commons Tokyo Executive CommitteeTicket purchase: https://theatercommons.tokyo/en/ticket/Official website: https://theatercommons.tokyo/en/ This robot is supposed to sound like a loved one now imagine the same robot having a 3D-printed mask of their face You will be able to stay with that robot for 49 days which is the period of mourning after the funeral in Japan That is the concept of Digital Shaman project Users will have an interview with the artist while they’re alive Their physical characteristics and messages will be recorded then the bereaved ones will be able to install the program into the robot The robot can imitate hand and head movements the person was making during the interview Digital shaman was on display in Tokyo together with its creator Ichihara says she developed the concept after her grandmother’s death “I clearly remember a few things from the funeral Makeup was applied on my dead grandmother’s face,” Etsuko Ichihara continued our family picked the bones out of her ashes As she felt her grandmother becoming more and more distant Ichihara realized how Buddhist funerals help the bereaved ones accept their loved one’s death The declining number of children and the changing lifestyles of the Japanese are creating alternative ways to mourn People may be embracing different ways to mourn and to be mourned in the future the family can spend 49 days with the digital shaman until they are able to accept their beloved’s passing Users can record whatever message they want to at the interview,” stated Ichihara the artist is planning to sell digital shaman to the public in the future People may wonder if the creator is planning to allow the deceased to live forever through the program “I think it will seriously hinder those left behind to move on,” continued Ichihara And now a robot has brought together “IT technology” and “Death” Will the unique robot create a new way to mourn Report a typo Prolific screen actress and voice actress Etsuko Ichihara passed away just after 1:30 p.m January 12 in a Tokyo hospital due to heart failure She had been battling autoimmune myelitis ever since she was diagnosed with the neurological disorder two years ago A service will be held in Tokyo on January 18 She joined the Haiyuza Theatre Company in 1957 and showed her acclaimed acting skills primarily in stage productions and films but gained popularity by starring as the titular character in the live-action television series Kaseifu wa Mita She then won the Japan Academy Prize for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Black Rain, a 1989 film adapting a novel about the fallout from the Hiroshima bombing. She played the titular warlord character's mother in NHK's live-action historical television series Hideyoshi in 1996 and also starred in other live-action television series such as Bengoshi Takamizawa Kyōko (Attorney Kyōko Takamizawa) from 1998 to 2014 More recently, she played Hitoha Miyamizu, the grandmother of the heroine Mitsuha, in Makoto Shinkai's critically and financially successful anime film your name. Source: NHK A daikon radish that emits sensual moans when touched a robot wearing a mask printed with the 3D image of a human face a mikoshi portable shrine adorned with blinking LED lights — all are just a few examples of media artist Etsuko Ichihara’s work Pointed messages lurk inside their impact and humor Ichihara won the excellence award in the entertainment division of the Cultural Affairs Agency’s Japan Media Art Festival in 2017 she won the honorary award in the Interactive Art+ division at Ars Electronica magazine as one of 100 people expected to change Japan Ichihara was born in 1988 in Aichi Prefecture “I always managed to make friends by drawing pictures of Pikachu during breaks Being good at drawing was a useful skill that gave her a quick way to introduce herself and build relationships she went to Waseda University’s School of Culture Media and Society instead of going to an art college She thought she would be able to study a little about creative art in the school as well but it turned out the course barely offered any class teaching artistic skills she thought she would never become a creator she would be doomed to stay as an art observer for the rest of her life To relieve the enormous stress she was under at the time such as sneaking into a computer programming class studying how to use design software by herself traveling alone and joining a series of student circles if they looked relevant to the creative arts She vented her frustration in 2009 by creating “Sekuhara Interface” (Sexual harassment interface) a work of interactive art featuring daikon radishes that make erotic noises when caressed The work was inspired by her becoming interested in visiting shrines with phallic worship and so-called hihokan adult museums across the country She went on to write her thesis on the work “Artworks I made during my university days were full of insecurity and the whims of youth,” she said so she began working as a designer at an information technology company after graduating Surrounded by competent people at the workplace she soon started feeling her limits as a designer she started winning prizes at art competitions She quietly and diligently created the award-winning works in her spare time she quit the company and went independent upon the suggestion of a fortune-teller The fortune-teller told her: “If you continue to work there Your guardian spirit hates to see you work in an organization.” A month later she slipped on a staircase and actually broke her leg Perhaps her reasons for leaving the company were fitting for an artist who takes on traditions faiths and rituals as the subjects of her work engaging quality and approachability of Ichihara’s works which are produced using digital technology There is a clear awareness of the connection between society and art “Sekuhara Interface” implies feminism and gender issues “Digital Shaman Project,” which is about making mock conversations with the dead through a humanoid robot prompts viewers to think about how they should prepare for their death and how to ceremoniously bury the dead which leads to questions regarding the meaning of mortality today “Server Mikoshi,” in which one can deposit the virtual currency bitcoin indicates the arrival of a cashless age and sheds light on the original meaning of rituals by applying contemporary interpretations to traditional festivals and rites Ichihara has been noted for her activities beyond creating artwork as well She was appointed as the creator to design the basic concept for the Japan pavilion at the 2025 Osaka-Kansai world expo; she has taken on the challenge of acting as a TV news show commentator; and she created a buzz on social media after posting about her strange hobby of cooking in-flight meals at home She started the hobby during the stay-home days last year out of frustration over being unable to travel She is not bound by convention when it comes to her activities “Artists are just a type of occupation in society “It’s more free and fun than behaving like someone with privilege and becoming an emperor with no clothes on,” she said with a laugh Ichihara is taking part in the group exhibition “traNslatioNs — Understanding Misunderstanding” at the 21_21 Design Sight She contributed a video installation titled “Ritual Prayer Robot (Jomon ver.).” In the work humanoid robots wearing masks with a human face on them say Shinto prayers and offer a ritual dance around a 3D-printed replica of a distinctive earthenware pot with a rim shaped like flames known as the epitome of pottery during the Jomon period in Japan (ca 10,000 B.C.-ca 300 B.C.) Tying the ancient past and the future together is the theme of the work “I had a vision about a futuristic scene no one has ever seen while also receiving the faith the Jomon people might have embraced,” Ichihara commented Upvote if you think more people should see this post it was revealed that actor Ichihara Hayato (27) and his wife model Mukouyama Shiho (29) welcomed their 1st child into the world The agencies of both sides confirmed the reports Mukouyama gave birth to a healthy baby girl They have already been released from the hospital and the model plans to raise their child while continuing to work.� Ichihara and Mukouyama met through a mutual acquaintance in summer of 2011 Their relationship was first reported in April of 2012 The couple submitted their marriage registration papers on September 21 of this year and released a comment stating "We want to build a cheerful family that never stops smiling." Source: Oricon Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors.Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker on our website are studying options for consolidating 50-50 joint venture Chiba Chemicals Manufacturing LLP’s (CCM) dual-site ethylene production operations located at the parent companies’ separate manufacturing complexes in Ichihara Still in preliminary development and contingent upon a formal feasibility study the proposed consolidation currently would occur during fiscal-year 2027 and involve closing a 370,000-tonne/year (tpy) ethylene unit housed at Idemitsu Kosan’s integrated 190,000-b/d integrated refining and petrochemicals complex The companies said they would continue to jointly operate the 550,000-tpy ethylene production unit at Mitsui Chemicals’ Ichihara manufacturing site under the existing CCM partnership or some other yet-to-be-identified arrangement The partners’ decision to evaluate the proposed rationalization program comes amid increased pressure from startup of larger and newer petrochemical complexes—mainly in China—that is forcing Japanese ethylene complexes to run at lower rates as well as Japan’s diminishing domestic demand for ethylene Powerful calls for operators to step up efforts to build next-generation industrial complexes aimed at reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and promoting circular resources in line with the global push to achieve carbon-neutral societies also have factored into the proposed rationalization plan The companies said any future strategy by the partnership would include works to increase sustainability and grow opportunities for supporting circular use of resources in line with the net-zero 2050 target “For a feedstock in the consolidated ethylene facility we will consider shifting away from conventional fossil-derived naphtha to bio-naphtha generated as a byproduct of our sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) business as well as naphtha derived from chemical recycling of used plastic at a facility scheduled to begin operation in [fiscal-year] 2025,” said Shunichi Kito Idemitsu Kosan’s president and chief executive officer (CEO) we aim to build a new green-chemicals supply chain that also encompasses bio-ethylene produced from bio-ethanol—which is used as a feedstock for SAF—and synthetic chemicals made from e-methanol,” Kito said The proposed CCM consolidation also would go “beyond simply bolstering competitiveness via the optimization of production at [Mitsui Chemicals’] Chiba ethylene complex,” said Osamu Hashimoto the company’s president and chief executive officer.  “Further regional cooperation and the expansion of partnerships with other companies will make it a crucial step toward industrial complex transformation based on the twin-pronged approach of enhanced competitiveness and a shift to green chemicals,” Hashimoto said Mitsui Chemicals would use the opportunity to expand “development of a competitive and sustainable green chemicals business by creating added value via the shift to green chemicals and unremitting efforts to increase capital efficiency.” While the partners confirmed a final decision on and definitive timing of the CCM consolidation project would occur following completion of the feasibility study the companies did not reveal a more specific timeframe for when that would occur Idemitsu Kosan took final investment decision (FID) in April 2023 to build the proposed plant for recycling oil-based chemicals—which will process 20,000 tpy of used plastics—on a site adjacent to the operator’s Chiba complex To be operated by Chemical Recycle Japan Co Ltd.—a JV of Idemitsu Kosan and Kankyo Energy Co Ltd.—the plant will use its own novel technology to process the used plastics into a feedstock oil that Idemitsu can subsequently process in its existing Chiba refining and chemical units as a replacement for conventional crude feedstock to produce renewable chemicals as raw materials for plastics manufacturers Idemitsu Kosan said the plastics recycling plant comes as part of its net-zero 2050 journey to help reduce CO2 emissions from more than 4 million tpy of Japan’s difficult-to-recycle used plastics that are incinerated via thermal recycling Idemitsu Kosan said it plans to install similar plants at the company’s other Japanese refineries as well as develop a larger-scale business targeting similar recycling of hard-to-recycle plastics nationwide Robert Brelsford joined Oil & Gas Journal in October 2013 as downstream technology editor after 8 years as a crude oil price and news reporter on spot crude transactions at the US Gulf Coast He holds a BA (2000) in English from Rice University and an MS (2003) in education and social policy from Northwestern University struggling to provide water for its animals amid a prolonged power outage due to a typhoon earlier this week encouraged by a wave of moral and material support from the public had been closed since the storm triggered a massive blackout on the Boso Peninsula zookeepers were forced to cut back on water provisions to elephants and other animals as an in-house power generator has been the only way to pump water up from a well The zoo prioritized supplying water to breast-feeding mother elephants in the facility that keeps a total of 13 elephants along with other animals When the zoo called for help through Facebook on Thursday due to the power generator working poorly many people offered assistance and more than 10 power generators "We feel really grateful," said Sayuri Sakamoto "I hope that people will be all right," the 69-year-old added referring to local residents who are coping with the ongoing blackout after the storm a husband and wife came to the zoo from Niigata Prefecture Tochigi Prefecture was also one of such people providing help delivered apples and vegetables to the zoo by car on Friday "We were helped out when the Great East Japan Earthquake struck (in March 2011) I was relieved to find that the elephants were fine," he said Parts of Chiba Prefecture remain without power five days after the typhoon despite Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s efforts to restore electricity to the area Typhoon-hit Chiba asks for volunteers' help amid prolonged power cut To have the latest news and stories delivered to your inbox Simply enter your email address below and an email will be sent through which to complete your subscription Please check your inbox for a confirmation email Thank you for reaching out to us.We will get back to you as soon as possible The work is labeled as "analog," and entails drawing backgrounds for a fantasy story The manga inspired a television anime series in 2009. Ichijinsha also published the one-volume side-story manga 07-Ghost Children in 2010 The authors then launched the Battle Rabbits (Bato Rabbits) manga (seen right) in Monthly Comic Zero-Sum in September 2014, and ended it in 2016 with four volumes. Seven Seas Entertainment published the manga in English Source: Days Neo Mobile officials scrambled to learn the extent of the damage in Ichihara and assess how they should respond "We have discussed some ideas," said Ann Rambeau manager of the city’s Neighborhood and Community Services Department "But we are going to be doing something." whose office oversees Mobile’s sister relationships with 16 foreign cities said that schoolchildren from Ichihara collected money following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and presented the city with a check a native of Japan who has lived in Mobile since 1989 said she has been in contact with people in Ichihara She is president of the Mobile-Ichihara Sister City Association She shared an e-mail she received from an Ichihara city employee who works in human resources and international affairs The employee described the terror that she and her co-workers felt when the quake began shaking their office on the 10th floor of City Hall "The initial earthquake was so strong that I thought that the City Hall will collapse," she wrote according to a translation Jordan provided "The crack ran on the wall and the floor in each floor the earthquake sparked a large fire at the Cosmo Oil refinery The employee wrote that firefighters have managed to mostly extinguish the blaze She added that the city’s shelters were closed and that aftershocks were continuing She also expressed gratitude to the people of Mobile: "It is really heartwarming to know people from the other side of the world are concerned about us." Jordan said that an Ichihara International Association member posted a message on Facebook saying that residents of the city are experiencing electricity outages for several hours a day "Everyone gets a little bit panicky and rush to stores to stock up food batteries and gas right now," the message stated The message also said that Ichihara residents feel fortunate compared to many others in Japan who were hit by the tsunami The Facebook posting urged people to donate money to reputable aid groups Jordan said her group will turn a previously planned Children's Day Celebration scheduled for Sunday into a fundraising effort at Wallace Auditorium at Springhill Medical Center traditional Japanese games and other activities our members are working on how to raise money at the Sunday party," Jordan said we will be able to raise money for the people if Ichihara." Ichihara is a highly industrial city that shares a number of similarities with Mobile it has a number of chemical plants and shipbuilding companies Rambeau said some of Mobile’s sister-city relationships exist mainly on paper "It’s probably our most active sister city that we have," she said Former Mobile Mayor Mike Dow said Ichihara put out a call for a sister city in the U.S in 1993 and chose Mobile from among several suitors The relationship partly sprang from a Mitsubishi Polysilicon plant that located in Mobile Dow said he toured a companion plant in Ichihara Dow recalled hosting the mayor of Ichihara during Mardi Gras and watching as his counterpart rode to a Mardi Gras ball on top of a white stallion And when a Mobile delegation visited Ichihara he found himself on top of an elephant during a parade celebrating that city’s major festival and Dow said he was concerned that it might bolt I’m fixing to go running through a Japanese city on an elephant,’" he said with delegations of government leaders and citizens making regular visits back and forth The cities also have a youth exchange program Jordan said there is a strong possibility that a planned trip to the United States will be postponed until October Prime Minister Kishida Fumio won his bid for leadership of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party last fall in part by appealing to the LDP’s rightwing conservatives with a pledge to pursue a more outspoken and robust brand of human rights diplomacy—the assumption of the conservatives being that China will be the main target of such a policy How is this commitment likely to play out given Kishida’s own diplomatic leanings What are the government’s best options for positioning Japan as a credible and effective advocate for human rights worldwide Liberal democratic values have come under escalating attack over the past 15 years as governments around the world move to curtail freedom of speech This rejection of liberal values has swept the globe spreading from country to country and region to region which remains a pillar of Japanese foreign policy The emphasis on values represented a historic shift in orientation for postwar Japanese diplomacy it led to stronger partnerships with countries that share a commitment to democracy It has also helped strengthen the norms and narratives of liberal values worldwide these new initiatives did not significantly alter the way Tokyo helps defend human rights and democracy in other countries This is what Kishida has promised to change after he announced his candidacy for LDP president Kishida called for a more forceful brand of human rights diplomacy and expressed support for national legislation to facilitate government action against violators overseas he stressed an active commitment to such universal values as freedom and democracy as the mainstay of his “new-era realism diplomacy.” Kishida has taken a number of steps to create policy frameworks for the new human rights diplomacy. He began by appointing Japan’s first human rights czar, tapping former Minister of Defense Nakatani Gen to serve as his special advisor. Nakatani has co-chaired the Nonpartisan Parliamentary Association for Reconsidering Human Rights Diplomacy that has worked to draft a Japanese version of the so-called Magnitsky Act legislation designed to facilitate sanctions on human rights abusers abroad Nakatani has rushed to install new schemes He has established an inter-ministerial committee charged with drafting guidelines for corporate “due diligence” to prevent human rights abuses in the supply chain The hurdle for working on this issue was relatively low as the Japanese government had already been holding a number of advisory group meetings toward the establishment of such guidelines since 2018 as part of its efforts to promote the Sustainable Development Goals Nakatani has also set up a cross-agency project team to discuss human rights issues in Japan and overseas Responding to the Export Controls and Human Rights Initiative unveiled by Australia Norway and the United States at the Summit for Democracy the Kishida cabinet revealed that it was considering measures to restrict exports of surveillance technology that could be used to violate human rights it indicated that government officials would absent themselves from the February 2022 Beijing Olympics in protest against human rights abuses the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced plans to establish a new senior post to coordinate the ministry’s monitoring and handling of global human rights abuses Further developments are likely in the months ahead To get a better handle on the thrust of Kishida’s human rights diplomacy we need to understand the forces driving his policy shift One important factor was Washington’s new policy orientation under US President Joe Biden who has moved to shore up democratic norms and institutions that were weakened by the administration of Donald Trump Biden has placed support for democracy and human rights high on the international agenda He used the December 2021 Summit for Democracy to extract commitments from the participants The administration has also promoted a joint international response to human rights violations as seen in the coordinated sanctions Western countries imposed on Chinese officials over rights abuses against the Uighur minority A second factor behind the shift was probably Kishida’s realization that he needed to distance himself from the previous two LDP cabinets in certain respects in order to boost his own cabinet’s public support and restore confidence in the ruling party Both Abe and his successor Suga Yoshihide struggled with public approval ratings The COVID-19 response was a major reason for this disaffection but another was the perception that the newly augmented powers of the prime minister’s office were being used to evade transparency and accountability while curtailing civil liberties (a perception fueled by the Moritomo Gakuen a vigorous commitment to liberal democratic norms is key to differentiating his LDP cabinet from those of his predecessors Kishida’s options for acting on that commitment are limited by powerful conservative forces within the LDP and this leads to the third major reason behind his decision to make human rights diplomacy a pillar of his foreign policy Kishida represents the liberal wing of a party increasingly dominated by right-wing conservatives there is mounting support for human rights diplomacy in the specific context of a “get tough on China policy.” At the same time the conservatives are very mistrustful of moves to expand civil liberties and human rights protections within Japan To secure the support of this powerful bloc Kishida has little choice but to limit the scope of his human rights crusade to foreign policy Kishida has no particular desire to antagonize Beijing in the name of human rights He is much more comfortable with the idea of Japan as a bridge between the United States and China he has put the brakes on efforts to enact a Japanese Magnitsky Act which he had previously endorsed—and also why his cabinet took so long to join with the United States and several European countries in announcing a de facto diplomatic boycott of the February 2022 Beijing Olympics much of the momentum behind Kishida’s human rights diplomacy comes from LDP forces eager to “get tough on China.” However if the aim is to defend human rights worldwide this selective approach is likely to be counterproductive such targeting is bound to fuel criticism that Tokyo is using human rights as a strategic tool a thin pretext for dividing the world into two camps Such criticism can only undermine confidence in Tokyo’s foreign policy and its commitment to liberal values we need to adopt a set of objective human rights standards which we can use to explain our diplomatic decisions in terms of universal values Enactment of a Japanese Magnitsky Act would help serve this purpose by establishing an autonomous system for sanctions in the event of serious human rights violations Another way for the government to defend human rights even-handedly without sacrificing international credibility is to provide financial support for the human rights activities of respected international organizations and local non-state actors Herein lies the significance of the government’s pledge at the Summit for Democracy to provide some $14 million to the United Nations Development Program to help eliminate human rights abuses an organization like the UNDP has serious limitations It can offer support to governments that welcome outside assistance in improving their governance capacities but it cannot help citizens subject to government repression and abuse The fact is that Japan has no framework for offering human rights assistance to non-state actors overseas Japan has yet to play a role in defending civilians in response to raids and repressions by Myanmar’s armed forces since the February 2021 military coup It provides no aid to independent news media dedicated to exposing and fighting human rights abuses which are essential to the free flow of information and government transparency Japan’s entire international aid apparatus is built around government-to-government assistance The best way to overcome the issue of state sovereignty would be to create an independent and autonomous body and to have it work for the purpose of assisting nongovernmental organizations and other non-state actors overseas Another option would be to mobilize other countries and create a multilateral framework for the entire region Japan could help reverse the deterioration of human rights in Asia by spearheading the creation of a regional framework for the support of civil society groups Such an initiative would do much to enhance Japan’s standing as a global actor in the promotion and defense of liberal democratic norms for Japan to play a more meaningful and influential role in the effort to uphold liberal democratic norms it must address flaws in its own systems and practices using the same standards it applies to other countries Japan’s democratic institutions have taken a serious hit over the past decade Kishida needs to take steps to address these weaknesses if he hopes to become Japan’s first human rights prime minister Banner photo: Prime Minister Kishida Fumio joins other leaders online for the US-sponsored Summit for Democracy on December 10 UD Retail Co has opened a Mega Don Quijote Uny store in Ichihara UD Retail is 60-per-cent owned by FamilyMart Uny Holdings the Ichihara store offers a wide selection of products including daily consumables The are products drawn from the Mega Don Quijote and Apita retail brands The first floor of the Mega Don Quijote Uny Ichihara store offers fresh products daily necessities such as daily consumables The second floor is divided into three zones While the trend fashion zone offers apparel and cosmetics the sport concept zone features a wide range of sport and fitness equipment The kids amusing zone provides an area for kids and families to enjoy entertainment after a shopping trip “With a flexible product lineup that meets the needs of customers and a store that is full of entertainment we aim to create a store that will be favoured by local residents forever,” the company said in a statement By continuing, you agree to Octomedia Terms And Conditions and Privacy Policy.