2010年5月31日 星期一

日本三党执政联盟宣告解体/ Yukio Hatoyama將繼續擔任首相

日本經濟新聞》(Nikkei)報導稱﹐日本首相鳩山由 紀夫(Yukio Hatoyama)週一在與日本民主黨幹事長小澤一郎(Ichiro Ozawa)會晤時表示﹐他將繼續擔任首相一職。

在這兩位日本執政黨民主黨的最高官員舉行會晤的前一日﹐日本社會民主黨(Social Democratic Party of Japan)決定退出執政聯盟。此前社民黨黨魁因在美國軍事基地問題上採取對立立場遭鳩山由紀夫革職。

因為鳩山由紀夫 未能信守競選承諾﹐限制美國海軍在日本南部島嶼沖繩的勢力﹐而且其政府的支持率也日益下滑﹐再加上社民黨退出執政聯盟﹐日本民主黨一些官員呼籲鳩山由紀夫 下台。

时事风云 | 2010.05.31

日本三党执政联盟宣告解体

日本执政联盟已经解体。将美军在日本南部冲绳岛的军事基地普天间转移是现任首相鸠山由纪夫2008年下院选战期间最重要的承诺之一。现在日本政府做出了仍 然将美军基地保留在原岛的决定。日本社民党不愿意共同承担这一决定,已经离开了三党组成的执政联盟。

日本首相鸠山由纪夫在下院选举过后还重申过他的这一将美军普天间基地迁移的承诺。美国政府以不切实际为由断然拒绝了迁移方案。鸠山由 纪夫最终向美方压力低头,决定虽然将美军基地留在冲绳岛,但应该将其迁至人烟相对稀少的海湾地区边野古。日本首相的权利大打折扣,柏林经济及政治研究基金 会的蒂藤(Markus Tiedten)说:"把他带入如此窘境的是他一贯作出的他'当然会履行这一承诺'的态度。一直到组成内阁后他还是这样说的。"


社民党离开执政联盟

鸠 山由纪夫早在上个星期五(5月28日)就已经解除了社民党领袖福岛瑞穗(Mizuho Fukushima)作为消费者行政担当大臣的职位,因为她不接受在冲绳岛内迁移美军基地的决定。社民党的退出是直接针对这一解职事件。党主席福岛瑞穗星 期日表示,她的政党决定退出执政联盟。社民党对此别无选择,德国汉堡全球以及地方研究所的克尔纳(Patrick Köllner)说:"社民党成员现在态度顽固,因为他们是把和平议题以及减少美国在日本的军力作为唯一执政纲领的党派。"

社 民党多年来一直要面对选票的不断减少。克尔纳认为,如果这个党在美军基地迁移这一问题上也做出让步的话,那它就会失去选民对其所保留的最后一点信任。

日 本首相鸠山由纪夫的民主党可以抛开社民党继续执政。在下院,民主党继续拥有绝对多数席位。在上院,他们和第三执政联盟党,国民新党一起能够勉强达到多数。 现在的执政联盟在没有社民党的情况下是否会失去其社会福利性的一面?蒂藤否定说:"鸠山由纪夫本身推出的政策也具有一定的吸引力,比方说提高儿童福利金, 减少社会福利保险金数额等提议。所以他自己的也有一套比较具有社会福利性的政策。"


日本首相失去本党以及选民的支持

日 本上院一半的议席,将于七月中旬举行重新选举。在民主党捐赠丑闻以及迁移美军基地问题的影响下,鸠山由纪夫在日本国民中的支持度大幅下降。日本共同通信社 星期天推出的民调结果显示,只有百分之十九的选民支持民主党。直到2009年大选前连续执政的自民党在此项民调中以微弱的优势超过民主党。百分之五十一点 二接受此项问卷调查的人认为,日本首相应该为迁移美军基地一事辞职。对于克尔纳来说,这不是没有可能。"我们现在可以观察民主党是否会在上院选举前逼迫其 退任。我可以想象民主党最后认为鸠山由纪夫是其在上院选举的一种负担。"

鸠 山由纪夫党内的反对派已经成为政治层面上的重要力量。在上个星期六的时候,民主党的老牌党员,渡部恒三(Kozo Watanabe)就已经提出了让鸠山由纪夫退任的要求。

作 者:Christoph Ricking / 任琛

责 编:洪沙

Securing Japan:日本大戰略與東亞的未來

日本大戰略與東亞的未來

Securing Japan: Tokyo's Grand Strategy and the Future of East Asia



内容简介

全书分三部分,共八章。第一部分追溯了日本大战略的历史,将日本如今的战略思考和政策与过去的历史进程联系起来,考察了日本国内的战略论证。第二部分关注 的是国际形势的变化如何塑造日本的战略变化,并对日本经历的四次国际催化性事件进行了分析。第三部分研究考察了日本所要面对的威胁的对策。总的来说,塞缪 尔斯对日本大战略的研究既体现了对历史和现实的准确把握,也包括了对思想流派的清晰解剖。通过这本著作,我们将全面了解日本大战略的历史过程和发展趋势, 也使我们明白影响日本大战略制定的各种国际体系、国内政治和历史传统因素。
塞缪尔斯讨论了塑造日本新的战略共识的各种因素,不仅对于日本安全政策做出了相近的描述和分析,并在此基础上对东亚的未来也做出了预测。本书作者长期从事 日本研究,作者对于日本历史、社会以及政治的观点全面而深刻,同时,书中还增加了很多作者对日本决策者的访谈以及大量第一手的资料。

作者简介

理查德·J.塞缪尔斯,现任麻省理工学院国际研究中心主任,麻省理工学院日本项目的创立者,研究领域主要为当代日本政治、东亚安全。1992年至1997 年担任麻省理工学院政治系主任,1996年以前曾经担任美国国家研究委员会日本委员会的副主席。2001年至2007年,担任日美友好委员会的主席,该机 构是支持日本研究以及政策导向研究的独立联邦捐资机构。2005年他当选为美国艺术与科学院院士。他的著作《日本大战略与东亚的未来》进入了莱昂内尔·吉 尔伯奖国际关系类最畅销书籍的决赛名单。他之前的著作包括《马基雅维利的后代:意大利与日本的领导人及其遗产》--这本书是有关意大利和日本在政治领导权 方面的政治经济史比较研究——以及《富国强兵:日本的国家安全与技术变革》等等。

目录


译者序
致谢
导 论:理解日本的大战略
第一部分 历史背景
 第一章 日本的大战略:连接意识形态点
 第二章 烘焙和平主义面包
第二部分 变动不居的世界
 第三章 为了改变而改变
 第四章 吉田路线式微了吗?

书摘插图

  第一部分 历史背景
  第一章 日本的大战略:连接意识形态点
  外交事务无论在何时何处都是国内事务。日本也不例外。在实行了250年的孤立政策之后,德川统治者们不得不在国内进行管制,并且通常是压制科学家、基督教 徒以及商人。当这种管制失败,世界对日本的将军政治(Shogunate)施加压力的时候,日本内部在如何应对西方列强的问题上就出现了根本的意见分歧 ——是努力实现民族自治,还是服从外国的统治——这些都刺激了1868年军事政变的发生,并导致了政权的瓦解。与之相似,五年之后,实用主义的寡头政治执 政者否决了西乡隆盛(Saigo Takamori)入侵朝鲜的冲动计划,结果导致了内战的发生,明治王朝也因此得到巩固。后来明治时期的领袖们反复用对外冒险以证明其统治的合法性,他们 认为日本应该像其他国家一样“正常”。事实上,日本也是这样的。后起的工业化与后起的帝国主义结合在一起,日本表现出了与西方列强的相似性。

开始的时候,日本只是小口小口地对外蚕食,后来就张开血盆大口了。但是它的国内政治中一直弥漫着在世界事务中处于脆弱地位的感觉,这种认识不仅仅出现在日 本太平洋战争惨败之后。近半个世纪以来,有关冷战的争论、与美国结盟的希望以及日本军队合法性的信念构成了日本政治中纷争的核心。保障日本的安全一直是日 本政治生活的轴心,这一点一直持续到今天。


2010年5月17日 星期一

世界第一寶座落入中國手中,日本電子部件和機床產業面臨轉折點

 筆者關心的問題並不是日本廠商為何未能開發出像iPad這樣的產品,而是iPad配備的電子部件中日本產品很少這一事實。《日本經濟新聞》的報道稱,雖然閃存、手機高頻部件及水晶振蕩器采用了日本企業的產品,但在全部部件中所占的比例卻廖廖無幾……

2010年5月16日 星期日

Uncertainty Buffets Japan’s Whaling Fleet

Uncertainty Buffets Japan’s Whaling Fleet

Shiho Fukada for The New York Times

Ayukawahama is a main port for Japan’s dwindling whaling fleet, which is supported by Tokyo.


AYUKAWAHAMA, Japan — This small harbor on Japan’s northern coast, where whaling boats sit docked with harpoon guns proudly displayed, and shops sell carvings made from the ivorylike teeth of sperm whales, might seem to be an unlikely place to find opponents of the nation’s contested Antarctic whaling.

Shiho Fukada for The New York Times

The New York Times

Ayukawahama's whaling fleet is allowed to kill 60 whales.

Yet, local residents are breaking long-held taboos to speak out against the government-run Antarctic hunts, which they say invite international criticism that threatens the much more limited coastal hunts by people in this traditional whaling town.

“The research whaling in the Antarctic is not about protecting culture,” said Ichio Ishimori, a city councilman in Ishinomaki, of which Ayukawahama is a part.

The Japanese government is facing renewed pressures at home and abroad to drastically scale back its so-called research whaling. Yet, Tokyo seems paralyzed by the same combination of nationalist passions and entrenched bureaucratic interests that have previously blocked any action to limit the three-decade-old whaling program.

“We’re entering a new period on the whaling issue, but we don’t know what it means yet,” said Shohei Yonemoto, a professor of environmental policy at the University of Tokyo.

Clearly, the pressures for change are stronger than ever. The United States and other anti-whaling countries are currently working on a deal that would close loopholes in the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling in exchange for allowing the main whaling nations — Japan, Norway and Iceland — to resume much more limited commercial hunts. They hope for an agreement during the next meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Morocco in June.

Whaling experts and environmentalists were also encouraged when the government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama took charge last year determined to eradicate exactly the sort of outdated, bureaucratic programs that whaling represents.

Tokyo seemed to hint at a compromise in March when the agriculture minister, Hirotaka Akamatsu, whose ministry oversees research whaling, said that Japan was willing to kill fewer whales. But whaling’s opponents and supporters alike in Japan say that it remains politically difficult for Tokyo to accept large reductions in its whale hunts.

While few Japanese these days actually eat whale, criticism of the whale hunts has long been resented here as a form of Western cultural imperialism. During the long tenure of the Liberal Democratic Party, whaling was one of the sacred cows of Japanese politics, embraced by a group of nationalist lawmakers within the party who saw it as a rare issue where Tokyo could appeal to conservatives by waving the flag and saying no to Washington.

The question now is whether Mr. Hatoyama’s Democratic Party of Japan, which swept aside the Liberal Democratic Party in last summer’s elections, will include whaling in its promised housecleaning of Japan’s postwar order. While there is also a group of pro-whaling lawmakers in the new governing party, it is much smaller, with just a few active members.

However, the leader of the group, Tadamasa Kodaira, said in an interview that the Democratic Party was firmly committed to research whaling. Last summer, the party’s election platform included promises to seek a resumption of commercial whaling, though it did not specifically mention the government-run research program.

In an interview, Mr. Kodaira said he recognized that Japan’s whaling industry had shrunk to just a few hundred jobs, mostly paid for by the government. However, he said that the recent aggressive actions of foreign environmental groups like the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which has clashed with Japanese whaling ships near the Antarctic, had fanned popular ire, making it impossible for Tokyo to compromise now.

“We can’t change now because it would look like giving in,” said Mr. Kodaira, a lawmaker from the northern island of Hokkaido. “Will we have to give up tuna next?”

So far, the Democratic Party has left the program untouched. In November, Japan’s whaling fleet left for the Antarctic as scheduled, returning this month with a catch of 507 minke and fin whales, well below the planned take of up to 985 whales, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The ministry blamed the shortfall on the Sea Shepherd society’s obstructions.

Officials said that one reason the program remained hard to cut was that its budget was so small: only $86 million, of which only $17 million is paid for by the government in cash or zero-interest loans, according to a freelance journalist, Junko Sakuma, who has written extensively about whaling. The rest comes from the sale of whale meat, mostly that of the nonendangered minke whales.

That means anyone trying to cut the program would risk a huge political outcry from nationalists for only marginal budget savings, all of which creates a huge incentive to do nothing.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, one of the most secretive ministries in Japan’s powerful central bureaucracy, has also fiercely resisted any efforts to shrink the program. Among its crucial weapons have been Japanese journalists, who enjoy close ties with the ministry and have tended to dutifully report its claims that research whaling defends Japan’s traditional culture.

Whaling experts say the real reason the ministry wants to keep the program alive is to secure cushy retirement jobs for ministry officials, a common practice that is widely criticized. A study last year by the Democratic Party showed that the Institute of Cetacean Research, a ministry-controlled agency that oversees the research whaling program, reserves jobs for at least five former ministry officials, including one earning an annual salary of more than $130,000. Kyodo Senpaku, a government-owned company that operates the whaling fleet, hires another one.

“Research whaling claims to be protecting science and culture, but it is really just protecting bureaucratic self-interest,” said Atsushi Ishii, a professor of environmental politics at Tohoku University in Sendai. The ministry declined repeated interview requests.

Even its proponents concede that the only real purpose of research whaling is to sustain the shrinking whaling industry, even though much of the meat piles up uneaten in freezers and the last private company dropped out of the Antarctic hunt four years ago. That, in turn, has led to a new round of criticism over the program’s failure to fulfill its own goals of preserving Japan’s whaling industry and traditional whaling culture.

Japan’s coastal whaling is based in four small ports where whale has long been a traditional food item, unlike much of the rest of Japan, where it was added to the menu only after World War II. One of the four is Ayukawahama, in Miyagi Prefecture, a sleepy port of some 4,600 mostly graying residents.

On a recent morning, crews prepared the two identical blue-and-white whaling ships for an annual monthlong hunt in nearby waters, where they are allowed to kill 60 whales, mainly minke. Local residents said Tokyo should negotiate with the International Whaling Commission to allow them to double the size of the coastal hunt, even if it meant giving up the Antarctic program.

“Antarctic whaling does nothing to help this town,” said Yukitaka Chijimatsu, 82, who owns a small shop along the docks where he sells brooches and cellphone straps made from the teeth of sperm whales.

Other local residents said that with fewer people eating whale, the days were numbered for all kinds of whaling and that the government should just let it naturally disappear.

“Japan doesn’t like being told what to do,” said Isao Kondo, 83, who retired near here after a career as a manager at the Japan Whaling Company, now defunct. “But like it or not, whaling is dying.”

2010年5月13日 星期四

Japan’s Suicides Top 30,000 for 12th Year,

Bloomberg

Japan’s Suicides Top 30,000 for 12th Year, Police Agency Says

May 13, 2010, 6:52 AM EDT

By Eijiro Ueno

May 13 (Bloomberg) -- More than 30,000 Japanese took their own lives in 2009, the 12th consecutive year the nation’s total has topped that mark, the National Police Agency said.

Suicides increased 1.8 percent to 32,845, with the number attributed to economic hardship up 13 percent to 8,377, the agency said in a release on its website. Real gross domestic product dropped 5.2 percent last year, the biggest decline since Japan began tracking the statistic in 1955.

Health issues prompted 15,867 people to kill themselves, almost half the total and an increase of 4.7 percent from 2008. The suicide rates for those in their 20s and 30s reached record highs at 24.1 and 26.2 per 100,000 respectively.

“Young people are having difficulties in finding the meaning of life,” said Yasuyuki Shimizu, a representative for LifeLink, a nonprofit organization focused on preventing suicides, in Tokyo.

Annual suicides exceeded 30,000 for the first time in 1998, after the failures of Yamaichi Securities Co. and Hokkaido Takushoku Bank, and peaked in 2003 at 34,427.

--With translation by Go Onomitsu in Tokyo. Editors: Jim McDonald, Russell Ward

To contact the reporter on this story: Eijiro Ueno in Tokyo at e.ueno@bloomberg.net

To contact the translator of this story: Go Onomitsu in Tokyo at gonomitsu@bloomberg.net

2010年5月11日 星期二

展覽興趣

長谷川等伯 Hasegawa Tōhaku

【聯合報╱林水福】

是興趣也是工作,來日本之後經常看展覽。

到目前為止印象較深刻的有銀座松屋的古流展、東京都美術館的國風盆栽展、東京國立博物館的長谷川等伯展,這幾個展場地點好,參觀的人都相當多。

銀座松屋的古流展,是插花展。出地下鐵車站直通松屋百貨公司,不須走出地面,可避免雨天的不便。展場設在百貨公司內,是較少有的吧!東京都美術館的盆栽 展,我參觀的那天記得是雨天,本以為應該沒什麼人,哪知到了附近沿途都是看展覽的人群,有的到都美術館,有的到博物館。每天到上野公園的人群,有多少人是 專程去看展覽,或者兼看展覽的?

光是上野公園,除了上述兩個展場之外,還有國立科學博物館、國立西洋美術館、東京藝術大學美術館、森美術館、東京文化會館。任何一個館的規模都不小,每天 七個館加起來的參觀人數有多少?

展場擺設、動線規畫、展品說明等,我覺得有可參考之處。就展場空間與展品數量和參觀的人數而言,是有點擁擠,但是日本人充分運用他們擅長的空間規畫,與事 事皆排隊的習慣,使得可能出現的混亂情形不見。國內有名的展覽,常見抱怨多多,不知日本的做法,有無可借鏡之處?

長谷川等伯(1539-1601)歷經安土桃山時代到江戶時代,自1590年狩野永德逝世之後成為當時最重要的水墨畫家。作品中,有舊祥雲寺金碧障壁畫 (現藏於京都智積院)與〈松林圖〉(現藏於東京都國立博物館)兩件國寶,和二十九件重要文化財。由於一般人對長谷川等伯並不熟悉,所以這次展覽在宣傳方面 相當用心。除了報紙廣告,專文介紹,還製作一般性藝文介紹與由演員演出長谷川生平事蹟的兩個電視節目,這種宣傳方式最大優點是一網打盡,除非你不接觸媒 體。依統計該展覽的參觀人數一天平均11,701人。

《每日新聞》專門委員西川惠提到依英國美術專門雜誌Art Newspaper四月號的報導,2009年個別展覽會參觀人數,一天的平均人數日本獨占前四名,第一名是東京國立博物館的「國寶阿修羅展」(一天平均 15,960人),第二名奈良國立博物館的「正倉院展」(14,965人),第三名東京國立博物館的「皇室的名寶物展」(9,473人),第四名國立西洋 美術館的「羅浮宮美術館展」(9,267人)。日本的美術(博物)館平均一天的參觀人數超過巴黎、紐約、倫敦的世界知名美術館,該雜誌說:「從日本人愛看 展覽的熱度完全看不出經濟不景氣。」對於平均一天的參觀人數獨占前四名,西川認為這表示「成熟的日本」有這樣的潛在「需要」。

不過,如果就博物館的魅力而言,羅浮宮一年的參觀人數約850萬人,東京都國立博物館220萬人。再者,依森美術館針對世界五個都市所作的調查(2007 年),東京都民一年之間參觀展覽的次數平均1.9次,最低;倫敦3.9次最高。從這項數據,西川先生認為,日本的「競爭力還不夠」!

2010年5月8日 星期六

Old vs. New in Japan Tourist Push

Old vs. New in Japan Tourist Push

Hiro Komae for The New York Times

Japan draws in relatively few tourists with sites like Gion, a geisha district in Kyoto. The nation is torn about how to attract more.


KYOTO — A dolphin pool, a penguin park and a giant wave pool could soon join the imperial-era townhouses and ancient Buddhist temples in Kyoto, the former imperial capital of Japan.

Hiro Komae for The New York Times

“Kyoto should not be building concrete boxes,” said Shinsho Kajita, head priest at the Honen-in Buddhist temple in Kyoto and leader of a local protest movement against plans to build the 19,000-square-foot aquarium.

As early as June, work will begin on a mammoth aquarium complex in central Kyoto, in leafy Umekoji Park at the center of the city. Developers say the project, a brainchild of Orix Real Estate, will breathe life into Kyoto’s tourism industry by attracting more than two million visitors a year.

But to opponents, the proposed aquarium, set to open in 2012, is misguided and threatens to destroy the city’s historic ambience. Adding to the disgrace, they say, is Orix’s plan to showcase dolphins in a 1,765-square-meter, or 19,000-square-foot, pool at a time when the country is under fire for hunting thousands of dolphins and porpoises each year.

“Kyoto should not be building concrete boxes,” said Shinsho Kajita, head priest at the Honen-in Buddhist temple in Kyoto and leader of a local protest movement against Orix’s plans.

“Kyoto’s residents and its visitors care more about preserving old neighborhoods,” he said. “We have the wrong idea of economic development, and it is destroying our city.”

Whether or not Kyoto gets the 11,000-square-meter aquarium, experts say that Japan needs to review its approach to tourism, a $944 billion industry worldwide — bigger than automobiles or steel.

Japan drew just 8.4 million foreign visitors in 2008, despite attractive destinations like ancient Kyoto, cutting-edge Tokyo and a selection of beach and ski resorts. In comparison, France had 79 million visitors; the United States, 58 million; and China, 53 million, according to the World Tourism Organization. In 2009, the number of foreign visitors to Japan dropped 18.7 percent, to 6.79 million, amid the global recession, according to the Japanese government.

The country generated just $10.8 billion from foreign tourism in 2008, a tenth of the $110 billion the United States earned from overseas tourists that year. Ukraine and Macao each attract more foreign tourists a year than Japan.

“Japan has the potential to be a tourism superpower,” said Hiroshi Mizohata, who took over as commissioner of the Japan Tourism Agency in January.

Mr. Mizohata, former president of a popular local soccer team, has set a goal of increasing the number of foreign visitors to Japan to more than 10 million in two years and to 20 million by 2016. “With new ideas and initiatives, I believe we can meet these targets,” he said.

Government officials attribute the low tourist numbers to the lack of options for budget travel in Japan as well as the high costs.

But critics of the country’s tourism strategy point out that until now, the tourism market has been geared almost exclusively to domestic travelers, which means that much of the tourist infrastructure does not meet the expectations of foreign tourists.

Japan’s tourism strategy has also focused on investment in engineering projects and theme parks rather the protection of the country’s natural and cultural riches, an oversight that some experts say has cost the country tourism dollars.

Nowhere are the country’s weakness in tourism more evident than in Kyoto, said Alex Kerr, a longtime resident and the founder of Iori, a company that since 2004 has restored 10 old townhouses, or machiya, in the city to rent out to visitors.

In the postwar period, Kyoto has shown little concern for preserving the traditional neighborhoods that would most appeal to foreign tourists, he said. The pace of destruction gathered speed in the 1990s, when more than 40,000 old wooden homes disappeared from central Kyoto, according to the International Society to Save Kyoto.

Though the city still has ancient temples and gardens, they are overwhelmed by a sprawling mass of gray buildings and neon signs — the product of ineffective zoning policies in the city, Mr. Kerr said.

Visitors to Kyoto are greeted by the peculiar, needle-shaped, red-and-white Kyoto Tower, as well as the Kyoto Hotel Okura, a 16-floor granite building in the heart of the city that had to seek a waiver from local height restrictions when it was rebuilt in 1994. Three years later, Kyoto Station — a structure nearly 800 meters, or half a mile, long, with a glaring glass facade in its latest incarnation — opened in the city center.

Besides the aquarium, local politicians are pushing for more big projects in Kyoto’s city center, including a new 30,000-square-meter railroad museum built by the West Japan Railway, scheduled to open in 2014. The deals are expected to bring the city more rental income.

All the modern construction can obscure the city’s charms, especially for foreign visitors.

“This all looks the same as Tokyo,” said Delaina Hutchinson, a tourist from Australia, after a hike up the Kyoto Tower in February. She, her husband and two young daughters planned to spend just a day in Kyoto before returning to their Tokyo hotel that evening. “I wish we could get away to somewhere quieter,” she said.

According to Mr. Kerr, the government has long neglected investment in tourism, which it sees as an industry that supports only menial, low-paid jobs. Officials overlook the economic activity generated by architects, landscape architects and other high-value professions, he said.

“Making things has been a Japanese obsession, something that advanced economies do, while tourism was for poor countries,” Mr. Kerr said. “Now the importance has flipped: in today’s economy, it’s software over hardware. But they have been asleep in Tokyo.”

Kyoto officials say that tourism can coexist with modern development.

“Of course, we care about Kyoto’s scenery and will work to preserve it,” Keiji Yamada, governor of Kyoto Prefecture, told a group of foreign reporters this year. “But we must also compete with the world.”

Local officials say that the aquarium will be especially good for attracting tourists from China, more of whom have come in recent years. The Chinese have many ancient temples of their own, noted Miyako Murozaki, a tourism official at Kyoto’s chamber of commerce. “They like new things,” she said.

Orix says the aquarium will be an “interactive and educational space” that will showcase local and exotic marine life. “We have been holding many meetings with local residents, and we intend to consider their views,” said Tetsuya Nagai, a company spokesman.

Local residents were clearly angry at a recent protest meeting.

“I want them to leave Umekoji Park as it is,” said Yasuko Hirano, a 60-year-old homemaker.

“As a little child, I remember playing in the garden of a local temple, but now it’s turned into a car park,” she added. “What’s being destroyed and what’s being built — they are both tragedies.”

Japan's controversial nuclear reactor reaches criticality

Japan's controversial nuclear reactor reaches criticality

TOKYO — Japan's controversial "fast-breeder" nuclear reactor reached criticality -- the point when a nuclear chain reaction becomes self-sustaining -- on Saturday following 14 years of suspension.

The Monju Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor, located in a coastal town 350 kilometres (220 miles) west of Tokyo, cleared the first hurdle of its test operations on the road to generating power at full capacity in 2013.

"It has reached criticality with no problems," said Katsuya Kinjo, a spokesman for the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, which runs the reactor.

On Thursday, the Monju was reactivated for the first time since the plant was shut down in 1995 following a fire and a subsequent cover-up that sparked public anger.

Unlike regular light-water reactors that run on uranium, fast-breeders use a mix of plutonium and uranium, including waste from conventional reactors, and generate or "breed" more plutonium than they consume.

Major industrialised nations initially rushed to develop the "dream reactors", but technical problems and fears over the proliferation of weapons-grade plutonium have led many to withdraw from the projects.

The United States, Britain and Germany have suspended fast-breeder projects and France shut down its last such reactor last year. The United States and France continue research and development of the technology.

Japan, an energy resource-poor nation with plans to expand its nuclear power sector, gave the green light for the Monju relaunch earlier this year, with a target of commercialising fast-breeders by 2050.

Monju Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor uses a mix of plutonium and uranium, including waste from conventional reactors

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