#11Urban Planning for The Next Generation

Coexistence of Economics with Ecology

With the underlying theme of the co-existence of economics with ecology, Huis Ten Bosch located in Sasebo City of Nagasaki Prefecture is a practical experiment in community planning that harmonizes man with nature.(Read More...)

#10 Universal Design: Opening the Future of The Manufacturing Industry

Different Industries Join in Manufacturing

Over the past several years we have seen many examples of universal design in community building and manufacturing concepts. Universal design refers to the development of shared components. (Read More...)

#09 Efficient Use of Energy For 1000 Years: Tokoname-yaki Pottery

From a City of Drainpipes to a City of Tiles

Production of earthenware pottery in our nation is said to have begun in the 5th century. After five hundred years, bowls and plates with glazes on the surface were being made. In Japan, there are six ancient kiln sites in towns now famous for their pottery, which has become synonymous with the location. They are Seto, Shigaraki, Echizen, Tanba, Bizen and Tokoname. (Read More...)

#08 Data Recording Materials Made from Insect Wax: CERA RICA NODA

Insect Wax Finds Wide Application from Drugs to Packaging Material

Beeswax is the wax secreted by honeybees for hive-building and has a wide variety of commercial applications. Beeswax is a chemical compound of complex structure with a high melting point. It has a smooth high quality feel and sheen, and is used in processing building materials, cosmetics, wax, shoe polish, crayons and carbon paper. (Read More...)

#07 Wetland Preservation Protects Ecosystems and Cleanses Our Oceans: Yatsu-higata Wetlands: Sanbanse

Wetlands Are the Best Home for Marine Life

The dramatic protest at sea mounted in January 2001 by the commercial fishermen of the four prefectures comprising the Ariake Sea coastal region against the Isahaya Bay reclamation project rallied 1,500 fishing vessels with banners reading "Give Us Back the Treasures of the Sea!" in a graphic and powerful expression of the criticality of the situation and the anger of the fishermen. (Read More...)

#06 Agriculture and Food Recycling Support The Community

Heat Thrown off by Incinerators Warms Greenhouses

Mie Central Development of Ueno City in Mie Prefecture is a managed final disposal site run by Daiei Internature Systems, which is the largest waste management business in the western region of Japan. The Mie General Recycling Center operated there is the largest scale industrial waste disposal and recycling facilities in the Kansai area. Its crushing and sorting equipment handles 800 tons of industrial waste a day for disposal or recycling. (Read More...)

#05 Okinawan Awamori Looks One Hundred Years To the Future

Distillation Method Brought to Ryukyu Kingdom in the 15th Century

Okinawa is visited by many tourists and diving enthusiasts. I have visited Okinawa many times myself, first the main islands and then the outlying islands too, entranced by the fish in its beautiful seas. But there is something else that entrances me about Okinawa. And that is "kuusu,'' the specially aged awamori liquor. Awamori is a type of shochu, or locally distilled Japanese white liquor, made with long-grained Indica rice from Thailand fermented with black aspergillus yeast using unique Okinawan brewing and distilling methods.(Read More...)

#04 Recycling Waste That Washes Up Against Dams: Kanden L-Farm: Co-Existence, Co-Growth

Community-Oriented Environmentally Friendly Recycling System

In January 2000 a waste management company called Kanden L-Farm (Kansai Electric) came to life in Toyama Prefecture with hopes of facilitating the natural wood resource cycle by recycling the logs and plant matter that drift in dam waters and wash up against their walls into agricultural materials. (Read More...)

#03 The Japanese Honeybee In Step with Farming: The Beekeeping Families of Inadani

Traditional Beekeeping Was Closely Tied to Farming Cycles

A community of beekeepers still practice traditional beekeeping at Inadani in the Shinshu region, keeping alive methods of cultivating the Japanese honeybee (apis cerana japonica) that have been in use since ancient times in Japan. The bees gather nectar from the fruits and flowers of broad-leafed trees like the horse chestnut (tochi), false acacia or honey locust (nise-akashia), and dogwood until it comes time to build a hive and reproduce. (Read More...)

#02 Wacoal Art Center Exhibit: Rendezvous of Art and Industry

A Car That Can Wag Its Tail

The ground floor garden gallery of the Spiral all & entertainment complex on Tokyo's Omote-Sando boulevard is the scene of a unique product design exhibition called Rendezvous. The exhibit is attracting over 1,000 people a day and gathers together in one spot of original prototypes created by some of today's most prominent artists. (Read More...)

#01 Marutama-ya Fireworks Still Breathing Life into Edo Period Technology

Zero Emissions Products Using Discarded Materials

The invention of the black gunpowder used in fireworks goes all the way back to China's Western Han period (206 BC to 8 AD). The Japanese were formally introduced to gunpowder in the late 13th century when China attacked Japan. It is recorded subsequently that in 1543 when firearms were first brought to Tanegashima Island, Lord Tokitaka ordered two of his retainers to learn the methods of making firearms and gunpowder. But it is possible that the technique for making gunpowder was already in Japan by the 12th century, and was possibly used by ninja for noroshi signal flares and land mine type explosives. (Read More...)