Raku-Yu

KyotoUniversityNewsletter

Greetings from Kyoto-U SPRING 2005Issue 7

Illustrated Books: "Eboshiori Soshi"Paper with illustrations in color, manuscript, 2 volumes, author and publisher unknown, 34.1 x 25.2 cm

With the Hollywood film The Last Samurai produced in 2003, the "samurai" warrior class that lived in Japan in ages past and the spirit and philos-ophy that supported them have suddenly become a focus of attention around the world. The period of Japanese history in which the samurai formed theruling class stretches over a period of 650 years until the middle of the 19th century. "Eboshiori Soshi" that appears on the cover of this issue tells thestory of an episode in at the end of the 12th century when it was the power of the warrior class rather than the nobles that predominated and a strugglefor ascendancy ensued between two powerful forces of the warrior class, the Genji clan and the Heike clan. In1159, the Heike clan defeated the Genjis, and their power and glory waxed high to the extent that they wouldsay, "if you are not of the Heike clan, you are nobody". The scene appearing in the picture shows images of asoldier of the Heike clan searching for Ushiwaka, a noble son of the Genji household who has concealedhimself. He became Minamoto Yoshitsune, popular historical figure in Japan who is known to have been anexcellent battle commander, and performed his gallant deeds and bought the Heike clan to ruin in 1185.

The dramatic turns of fortune that occurred between the Heike clan and the Genji clan continue to be afavorite story among Japanese people and have provided motifs for a broad range of artistic works. Theappearance of the soldiers of the Heike clan drawn in this illustration overflows with a sense of vigor andrough hue of the characters involved. The scene conveys the power that existed at the opening of the SamuraiEra, vividly depicting the rough and primitive origins of the samurai.

C O N T E N T S

Sympathy for the Victims of the Sumatra Earthquake and Devastating Tsunamis

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Site-specific characteristics of Kyoto University campuses andremote facilitiesKojiro Irikura, Vice-President of Kyoto University

Forefronts of Research at Kyoto UniversityJuichi Yamagiwa, Professor, Graduate School of Science

Mikio Kasahara, Professor, Graduate School of Energy Science

Koichiro Oshima, Director, Occupational Health, Safety and Environmental Management Center Attached Graduate School of Engineering

FEATURES

The Fifth Kyoto University International Symposium – "International Symposium on Regulation of Cell Fate and Cell Function"

The Ninth Kyoto University Future Forum – "Voice from the Frontline of International Society"

Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere (RISH) – Establishing New Connections Between Science and Human Society

Essay – Charles Scawthorn, Professor, Graduate School of Engineering

Interview – Richard Murdey, Guest Research Associate, Institute for Chemical Research

Activity – Ryosuke Nagano, Director, NLK Project

What's Happening in International RelationsKyoto University Study Abroad Fair 2004

Visitors from Abroad

PROMENADE

Lake Biwa Aqueduct – Sharing an Interwoven Bond of Birth and Rebirth

Editor in Chief

Junzo Munemoto

Associate Editor

Yoshitaka Ishikawa

Senior Editors

Naoyuki OsakaJyuichi ItaniKouji AsamiKazunobu NagasakiAkira AsadaYuzuru Hamada

Editorial Collaborator

TRANSWORD CO.,LTD.

Printed by

KOSAIDO CO.,LTD.

This name was taken from theassembly hall called "Raku-YuKaikan " that commemoratedthe 25th anniversary of thefounding of Kyoto University.

© The Committee of Public Relationsof Kyoto University

A Note on Order of NamesAs a general rule, names appearingin Raku-Yu are written in givenname/family name order.

Raku-Yu means to respect, treasure, and enjoyone's friendship.

The great earthquake with magnitude of 9.0 occurred off the west coast of northern Sumatra on December 26, 2004. The tsunamis generated by thisearthquake killed more than 300,000 people and injured more than 5 million in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, and other areas of Southeast Asia,South Asia, and Africa. The victims include thousands of people who were visiting the region when the earthquake happened, including Japanese as wellas Europeans and North and South Americans.

Being a seismologist as well as a vice-president of international affairs, I am deeply concerned with such natural disasters. There are many lessonsand warnings to be learned from them. We need to develop scientific studies and education to reduce such disasters. Furthermore, we need to take theinitiative and help public opinion realize the importance of monitoring geohazards and issuing alerts and warnings.

Kyoto University has a good record of education and research accomplishment in the field of disaster sciences. This is the time to contribute ourknowledge to disaster reduction both worldwide and on the national scale. The members of the Board of Kyoto University convey their most sincere con-dolences to families, communities, and governments of the more than 300,000 people that lost their lives in this catastrophic earthquake.

Kojiro Irikura, Vice-President of Kyoto University

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As a vice president, I am in charge of improving universityfacilities and promoting research and international affairs. KyotoUniversity is dedicated to the creation of knowledge at the highestlevel of excellence in a wide range of academic fields from basicsciences to advanced technologies. To keep such levels ofresearch and education, university facilities and buildings need tobe maintained in the best condition and campus amenities need tobe continuously improved. The quality of education and researchis closely connected to the university environments.

The University was incorporated as part of the govern-ment's administrative reforms in April, 2004. Taking thisopportunity, Kyoto University will reform its academicenvironment under the leadership of the president basedon the "Excellent University" concept.

Kyoto University has three campuses, Yoshida, Uji,and Katsura, all of which are located in Kyoto basin andform a triangle. Each campus has unique characteristicsinfluenced by its history and regional culture.

The main campus is located in Yoshida near the centerof the ancient capital of Kyoto. It is the center of educationand basic sciences. There are 10 undergraduate facultiesand 15 graduate schools for nurturing excellent researchersand highly cultured people. There are also seven researchinstitutes including basic sciences, life sciences, humani-ties, and social sciences. These consist of seats oftraditional learning and state of the art laboratories.

The Uji campus is south of the main campus. There are fourexcellent research institutes for chemistry, energy, sustainablehumanosphere, and disaster prevention. They promote sci-ences and technologies for preserving the environment,mitigating disasters, and developing sustainable societies.

The Katsura campus is west of the main campus. The grad-uate schools of engineering and informatics are in the process

of moving to this new campus from the main campus. Thecampus aims at merging technology and science disciplinesto form a "Techno-science hill" creating an innovative culture.

Additionally, Kyoto University has 36 remote siteslocated all over Japan for promoting site-specific studies.This demonstrates one of the unique features of theUniversity to place emphasis on field sciences. Thosesites offer many opportunities for developing education aswell as research based on fieldwork.

Furthermore, Kyoto University has set up overseas sites fordeveloping field sciences more efficiently. Presently progressiveactivities are developing in the South East Asian base to promotearea study, the Shanghai base to research present-day East Asianeconomics, the sites in the South East Asian region and theSilicon Valley to study Informatics and Energy Science, and theSouth East Asian observatories and field stations to observeglobal environment. We will establish a network of these overseasstations to function more efficiently as regional overseas bases forpromoting not only joint research but also educations.

It is my job to support improvement of research facilities,upgrading of campus amenities, and development of theacademic traditions of Kyoto University. The major issue we willbe focusing on is the designing of a safe and secure campusmaking effective use of the land under the "Excellent University"concept. This measure will bring a breath of fresh air to the tradi-tional learning of Kyoto University. We are also confident that"the contribution to harmonious coexistence in the globalsociety", which is the academic calling of Kyoto University, willbe achieved on a higher level.

Kojiro IrikuraVice-President of Kyoto University

Site-specific characteristics of Kyoto University campuses and remote facilities

Kojiro Irikura Born in Qingdao, China in 1940, Dr. Irikura graduated from Kyoto UniversityFaculty of Science in 1963. He earned his master's degree in 1966, and his D.Sci. in 1983 while atKyoto University. He was a research associate at the Disaster Prevention Research Institute from1963 and became an associate professor in 1973. From 1988, he was a professor at the institute,until he retired and became a professor emeritus in Apr. 2004. In December 2003, he wasappointed Vice-President of Kyoto University, and Director of Facilities, Research and InternationalAffairs in April 2004.

Having shared seismology as their common field of research since their student days, PresidentOike and Dr. Irikura are now both engaged in the joint task of managing Kyoto University. Dr.Irikura lights up when the talk turns to research. His specialty of strong motion seismology isclosely linked to the earthquake resistance of buildings and urban infrastructure Accordingly, theresearch environment surrounding this field has advanced significantly in recent years in Japan. InNovember last year, Dr. Irikura launched the Kojiro Irikura Earthquake Motion Research Institutehomepage at http://www.kojiro-irikura.jp/. In addition to performing his numerous and exactingduties as Vice-President, Dr. Irikura's work as a researcher committed to mitigating earthquakedisasters and protecting the living environment of citizens, will continue for his lifetime.

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animal behavior by habituating themand identifying each individual. The lateprofessor Kinji Imanishi advocated a newfield of animal sociology and proposedguidelines of field research on wildanimals. He believed that, in order to clarifythe relationships between animal behaviorand their social systems, data on howthey recognize each other and on howtheir social relationships change withtime should be collected by long-termfield observations. I started my field workson Japanese macaques on YakushimaIsland and then on wild gorillas in trop-ical forests in Africa. By spending along time with gorillas in the denseforests, I have found many interestinghints for considering human evolution.

My findings on the aging cycle of gorillasocial structure suggest that the creation ofthe sociological father may have played animportant role in establishment of thehuman family. Affiliative relationshipsbetween a father and a daughter maypromote avoidance of sexual inter-

actions between them and may stimu-late female dispersal from their natalgroups. Other findings on social staringbetween gorillas suggest that their socialinteractions are not based on dominancehierarchies but rather on egalitariansociality with frequent intervention inconflicts by a third party. The early hominidsmay have developed such social featuresas exogamy, an incest taboo or cooper-ation between different families bydivision of labor.

Recently, infanticides by extra-groupmales are argued as the major reproductivetactic aimed at stimulating females toresume reproductive cycling from thesocioecological point of view. Frequentinfanticides have been reported in a popula-tion of mountain gorillas, while noinfanticide was observed in my study popu-lation of eastern lowland gorillas. Icompared social structure and individualmigrations between the two populationsand found marked differences in the groupcomposition and the patterns of female

transfer. Infanticides maypromote female transferinto multi-male groupsfor seeking the strongerprotection and associa-tion among kin-relatedmales within a group. Incontrast, the lack ofinfanticide may promoteformation of one-malegroup and associationamong females attransfer. Such social flex-ibilities may characterizethe population structureof gorillas. Similar conse-quences from violenceby males probably influ-enced human sociality inthe past.

My recent research isfocused on sympatry ofgorillas and chim-panzees. During themajor part of human evo-lutionary history, ourancestors coexisted withother hominid genera orspecies. However, we

Quest for Evolution of Human Sociality through Fieldworkon the Great Apes

Field studies on the African great apeshave greatly reduced the anecdotal gapbetween apes and humans based on thefindings of cultural behavior, self-medica-tion, elaborated hunting, prudent allianceor intervention in agonistic interactionsand extended sexual behavior in varioussocial contexts. We have learned thatmost differences in the behavioral featuresof apes and us are not qualitative butquantitative.

When I was a student of Kyoto Universityin the 1970's, the Japanese primatologistsdiscovered many behavioral features thatare common to the great apes andhumans. In the Laboratory of PhysicalAnthropology, I frequently experiencedanimated discussions on evolutionarytrends from apes to humans, such asformation of human family, incesttaboo or egalitarian sociality. I wasstrongly motivated to study humansociality by observing the great apes inthe wild. The Japanese primatologistsused anthropological methods to describe

Gorillas form a cohesive group like a human family Mountain gorillas usually form a multi-male group where a putativefather and a matured son coexist.

Pole Pole Foundation invites school children to observe wildgorillas in their natural habitats.

A mother and her infant moved between groups without infanticidein Kahuzi-Biega National Park.

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are living as a single species at present onthe earth. How did our ancestors coexistwith other hominids? Why and how didother hominids extinct? Sympatry ofgorillas and chimpanzees may providegood suggestions to answer these ques-tions. Earlier studies in the 1960'sand 1970's suggested that distinct nichedifferentiation reduced competitionbetween them. However, my researchshows that there is actually extensiveoverlap in diet and ranging betweenthem. It seems likely that they have devel-oped different foraging strategies andsociality to mitigate feeding competition,while keeping similar preference to suc-culent ripe fruits. Our ancestors may alsohave developed unique foraging strategyand sociality under sympatric conditionswith other hominids. Food sharing,co-feeding and division of labor mayhave been incorporated into the formationof human family. Continuing research onsympatric gorillas and chimpanzees willfacilitate understanding the evolutionaryhistory and ecological background onhuman sociality and mind in the nearfuture.

The great apes have been driven to thepoint of extinction in most of their habi-tats, due to increased deforestation,bush-meat trade and epidemic diseases.In view of the urgent need to protect thegreat apes, I have engaged in various con-

servation activities. I have worked as amember of SAGA (Support forAfrican/Asian Great Apes), a union ofpeople who wish to promote conserva-tion of the great apes in the wild and theirwelfare in captivity. We have organizeda symposium once per year to discussconservation measures and enrichmentof captive environments. The seventhSAGA symposium was held at KyotoUniversity Clock Tower CentennialHall and Kyoto City Zoo on November12-13, 2004. More than 200 peopleattended the symposium and discussedenvironmental education and zoo educa-tion from various fields. I have alsoworked as a member of Pole PoleFoundation(POPOF), an NGO organizedby people inhabiting the villages adjacentto the Kahuzi-Biega National Park,Democratic Republic of Congo, wheregorillas and chimpanzees live sympatri-cally. A tree nursery, a handicraft centerand a school for women and childrenwere established for community-basedconservation education. Such activitieshave played an important role in thespread of conservation knowledge and inthe reduction of poaching. I hope ourgrowing understanding of the great apebiology contributes to major improvementof their conservation status and toreconsideration of human beings astheir closest neighbors on the planet.

Juichi Yamagiwa・Born in 1952.・Specialized Research Field: Primatology, Human

Evolution Studies・Graduate of the doctoral program, Graduate

School of Science, Kyoto University ・D.Sc., Kyoto University・Professor, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto

University・URL http://jinrui.zool.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~yamagiwa/

"I believe that conserving nature starts with cre-ating bonds with each other. Gorillas, huntersand gatherers, and people from various coun-tries including Japan should be egalitarian inexpanding this bond with each other."Since the 1950s, the Japanese concept that theanimal kingdom is self-evidently connected to thehuman realm has fostered an approach to primateresearch unlike anything in North America or Europe.Professor Yamagiwa has pioneered KyotoUniversity's ongoing efforts to make this approachthe mainstream approach to the field. Havingdevoted half his life to the study of gorillas, theProfessor says that the motivation for his research isthe emotion he experienced 26 years ago, when hewas first accepted by the alpha male of a gorillagroup.Gorillas now find themselves in a very different envi-ronment from the way things were at that time,however. Civil war in the Congo and conflicts ofinterest over gorillas themselves have steadilyencroached on their habitats, experiences that led toProfessor Yamagiwa formulating his concept of con-servation as forging ties. This concept has led notonly to research, but also to such NPOs as SAGAand POPOF, which protect the great apes.The human species finds it most difficult to coexistwith other species of lives. At the same time, it pos-sesses the rare ability to forge bonds with other livingthings as well. "Having been surrounded with gorillasfor so long, I've come to like the shape of theirbodies, with their long arms and short legs," laughsthe Professor as he prepares to take another trip toAfrica, hoping all the while that gorillas will onceagain welcome humans as they once welcomed him.The way he looked as he walked away, so calm andcomposed, was every bit as impressive andcharming as that of any silverback gorilla.

Exhibition booths of NPO organizations at SAGA7 Symposium.The theme of the exhibition was protection of apes.

Prof. Yamagiwa who presented a lecture for thegeneral public as part of the SAGA symposium.

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Energy and Environment in the21st Century

It is forecast that energy consumptionwill increase dramatically in the 21stcentury because of rapid increase inpopulation and further improvement inour living standard. Energy productionand use are closely linked to local andglobal environmental problems. It isobligatory upon us to further developenvironmentally friendly energy systemsso as to keep the earth environmentbeautiful for future generations.

21st Century COE ProgramEmphatic support for forming a world-

class educational and academic basewas proposed by the Japanese Ministry ofEducation, Culture, Sports, Science andTechnology as "The 21st Century COE(Center of Excellence) Program" andwas put into practice from 2002 FY. In2002 FY, 113 programs from 50 universi-ties, including 11 programs from KyotoUniversity, were selected out of 464applications from 163 universities.

To realize an environmentally friendlysociety and guarantee energy security,it is necessary to establish sustainableenergy systems in the future. For this goal,the Graduate School of Energy Science,the Institute of Advanced Energy, andthe Research Institute for SustainableHumanosphere jointly proposed"Establishment of COE on SustainableEnergy Systems" for the 21COE program

in 2002 FY, and fortunately, our proposalwas accepted. The research and educa-tional budget allocated for the last threeyears was about 860 million yen, and thiswill be continued for another two years.

Outline of 21COE Program on"Sustainable Energy Systems"1) Research Program

Our 21COE program includes theestablishment of both a research centerand an educational center on energyand environment as shown in Figure 1.The research program consists of fourresearch tasks: (1) solar energy system,(2) hydrogen energy system, (3) bio-energy system, and (4) evaluation ofthese various energy systems so as toachieve sustainable society harmonizedwith the environment. The solar energytask group investigates various applica-tions of solar energy, consisting of threesubtasks: advanced solar cells, plasmatechnique for nuclear fusion energy, andsolar power station (SPS). The hydrogenenergy task group studies hydrogen pro-duction, transport/storage and utilizationin areas such as high-performancehydrogen engine and fuel cell systems,while the bio-energy task group studiesthe production of bio-energy from wastebiomass to substitute energy from fossilfuel. The basic method applied to the con-version of waste biomass to bio-fuel isbased on supercritical fluid technology.The evaluation task group, on the other

hand, studies the evaluation methods ofenergy systems from various points ofview such as energy efficiency, environ-mental impact, economics and socialacceptability, etc. and application of thevarious energy systems. It is based onLife Cycle Assessment (LCA). Thefinal goal of the 21 COE program onSustainable Energy Systems is illus-trated in Figure 2.

2) Educational ProgramThe new educational program will

strengthen the development of studentswho can have a broad knowledge of bothenergy and environmental issues. Undersuch a new system, Ph.D. students notonly learn technical aspects of energyscience but also acquire the skills tosolve problems under social constraintssuch as economic efficiency and socialacceptability, etc. In addition, the studentsare trained to present and communicatefluently in English and to collaboratewith colleagues, etc. so that they can playa leading role in various internationalcommunities in the future. We have pub-lished textbooks that facilitate systematiceducation of energy science. Furthermore,we are trying the systemization of cur-riculums, organizing the internationalschool of energy science and providinga public advertisement-type researchfund for doctoral students.

Introduction to the 21st Century COE Program"Establishment of COE on Sustainable Energy System"

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Figure 1Outline of 21 COE program on "Sustainable Energy System"

Figure 2Final goal of 21 COE program on "Sustainable Energy System"

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3) International Energy InformationCenter

To effectively promote and support thoseresearch and educational programs, the"International Energy Information Center"has been set up. It has a lot of roles such assurveying energy and environmental data,promoting research cooperation betweenindustries-government-universities,holding the international and nationalsymposiums, and establishing overseasoffices, etc. Detailed information of21COE program can be found on thehomepage at http://energy.coe21.kyoto-u.ac.jp/e_index.html.

The Public SeminarFormation of an energy saving-oriented

society is first of all conditional on theawareness and cooperation of each andevery citizen. In order to get as many peopleas possible involved with energy savingand environmental conservation byexplaining energy and environmentissues to citizens in simple terms, the21COE Program also includes publicseminars. Such seminars have alreadybeen staged in 35 out of the targeted 47prefectures in Japan and have played animportant part in deepening exchangewith citizens.

Mikio Kasahara・Born in 1942.・Specialized Research Field: Atmospheric Environmental

Engineering, Aerosol Science,Energy Science・Graduate of the master's program, Graduate

School of Engineering, Kyoto University・D.Eng., Kyoto University・Professor, Graduate School of Energy Science,

Kyoto University・URL http://aerosol.energy.kyoto-u.ac.jp/

"The question that we scientists must face is todecide which areas of research we should bedelving in for the 21COE project. We get a lot ofideas and courage by talking to all the citizenswho attend these public seminars."Prof. Kasahara is nothing if not a busy man. He wearsthree important hats: project leader for 21st Century COE,Dean of the Graduate School of Energy Science andhead of the Atmospheric Environmental Impacts ofAerosols in East Asia research project. And yet, hespeaks of his time spent in such research and supervi-sions with a sense of joy and relaxation, as though it werenowhere near as arduous as it really is. This feeling ofhappiness most likely derives from the fact that all of theprojects with which he is currently associated are ulti-mately aimed at achieving the same thing: offeringenvironmentally friendly lifestyles, as opposed to merelydeveloping technologies or explaining phenomena.Environmental friendliness, however, carries the implica-tion of inconvenience to humans, a condition that theProfessor believes can be significantly eased throughdeveloping new technologies, which in turn will findgreater application the more basic research is done.The Kyoto Protocol took effect at last in February. It is themission of Kyoto University, located within the city ofKyoto, the very site of the COP3, to cause people to thinkabout environmental issues. And we consider our supportof Prof. Kasahara in his myriad projects to be part andparcel of this social obligation that we bear.

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Noteworthy ResearchEnergy conversion of biomass using supercritical liquidThis research, led by Professor Shiro Saka, aims to generate energy by using supercritical liquid to instanta-neously hydrolyze biomass.

Fig.1 A variety of vegetable oils and animal fats Fig.2 Products after supercritical methanol treat-ment

Fig.3 Biodiesel production processes with super-critical methanol

Fig.4 In-situ observations for the oil/fat reactionsthrough a sapphire glass Prof. Saka providing

guidance during anexperiment with super-critical liquid.

Fig.1: These various oils and fats are suc-cessively converted into biodiesel by ourdeveloped supercritical methanol process.

Fig.2: Oil/fat feedstocks can be convertedinto biodiesel fuel and collected as oilphase by a simple phase separation. In themeantime, methanol phase including glyc-erol as a co-product can be separated.

Fig.3: One-step method (called as Saka Process) isbased on transesterification of oils/fats (triglyc-erides), whereas two-step method (called asSaka-Dadan Process) is on hydrolysis of oils/fats insubcritical water to fatty acids which are subse-quently converted to biodiesel fuel through methylesterification in supercritical methanol.

Fig.4: Although transesterification of oils/fats pro-ceeds through one-phase reaction at hightemperatures, it does heterogeneously at low tem-perature in supercritical methanol.

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Due to the incorporation of national univer-sities in April 2004, Kyoto University becamesubject to the Occupational Health and SafetyLaw just like any other corporation. As aresult, the university now has obligations tosociety regarding accountability and publicdisclosure of information relating to its occu-pational environment. It is also required toperform more stringent safety management.To respond to these changes, the KyotoUniversity Graduate School of Engineeringestablished the Occupational Health, Safetyand Environmental Management Center aspart of the Graduate School of Engineering atthe Katsura Campus in April 2004. Katsuracampus was the first Kyoto Universitycampus to establish an occupational environ-ment management center. The reason whythe center setup in this way was partlybecause the Graduate School of Engineeringhas a large number of laboratories and there-fore has a great need for management forenvironmental impact and occupationalsafety. It was also because Katsura campushad been actively preparing the base for envi-ronmental management as preparation foracquiring ISO14001 ever since the stage ofcore planning.

The day-to-day activities of the centerinvolve routine inspections within the uni-versity and measurement of the workenvironment. Staff members go aroundeach building and check that the health andsafety standards are being obeyed andprovide guidance on how to make anyrequired improvements. Another main roleof the center is to improve the awareness ofthe occupational environment inside theuniversity by promoting various campaignsand safety and health education for all memberof the Graduate School of Engineering."When we first started, there were issuesthat needed addressing in every building:some people were leaving things in front ofemergency exits and the storage of con-tainers holding chemicals was unsuitablehowever, there are hardly any situationswhere we have to provide such basic guid-ance," noted Mr. Nakagawa (IndustrialHygiene Supervisor), a staff member of thecenter. When Mr. Nakagawa does hisrounds with inspection equipment in hand,he is warmly welcomed at all laboratories."Maintaining safety is an extremely impor-

tant issue and frankly, safety and healthactivities not only produce high quality aca-demic research environment, but alsomaintain researcher's health and improvethe academic research environment. Inthese cases there is much maneuvering overissues that are not clear cut and, being aresearcher myself, I really understand howdifficult decisions can be." Mr. Nakagawa,like all the other staff members of the centerhas managed to build amicable relationswith each laboratory, while at the same timedecisively and competently adhering to theinspection regime. An important point ofthis work is to understand the standpointand sentiments of the other party.

The head of the center, Prof. Oshima,explained why the center is trainingmanagers for all departments. "We areactively promoting a revolutionary changein attitudes towards the occupationalenvironment throughout all of KyotoUniversity. This is an important responsi-bility of the center." The running costsrequired for health and safety strategies canbe enormous and sometimes such expensehinder the overall research activities. "It isimportant that we devise strategiesfor occupational safety that arebeneficial to the research activitiesand so it is important to bethinking at the level of the entireuniversity." said Prof. Oshima.The new standards for an ideal andsafe research and educational envi-ronment that we are beaming outto everyone and which we call theKatsura Standards is the freshestbreezes of change from theKatsura campus.

Occupational Health, Safety andEnvironmental Management Center AttachedGraduate School of Engineering

Koichiro Oshima・Born in 1947.・D.Eng., Kyoto University・Specialized Research Field: Organic Reaction

Chemistry・Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto

University・Director, Occupational Health, Safety and

Environmental Management Center, KyotoUniversity

"We would like to establish Katsura Standardsfor the occupational environment that we canpromote to all the campuses of Kyoto University.Unfortunately attitudes and approaches towardsthe occupational environment differ acrossdepartments and campuses. Our objective ofchanging attitudes and awareness all acrossKyoto University must be achieved gradually byfirst concentrating on providing step-by-stepeducation on occupational health and safety."

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Inspection of emergency shower, amandatory facility for each laboratory. It islocated directly next to the emergency exit.

Checking enclosing hood at labo-ratory. Measurement controlvelocity of air flow.

Promoting National OccupationalHealth Week to the university. TheLED display on Katsura Monumentwas an attempt to raise awarenessof occupational health on campus.

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The Kyoto University InternationalSymposium has been held since 2000 at over-seas venues for getting the word out aboutacademic research at Kyoto University.

This symposium was designed to be sym-posium of biological science related fieldsthat would be held in Asia. It was held overthree days at the Biopolis in Singapore onJanuary 27-29, 2005 under the title of"International Symposium on Regulationof Cell Fate and Cell Function".Participants from Kyoto University includedthe 21st Century COE Program, theGraduate School of Biostudies, which takespart in COE Formation in Frontier LifeSciences by Unifying Interactions, and theInstitute for Virus Research. The symposiumwas held in collaboration with the NationalUniversity of Singapore (NUS), which isleading the Singapore Government's push tobecome a respected player in the field ofbioresearch.

At the symposium, there were 28 lectures,12 of which were held by lecturers fromKyoto University and 48 poster presenta-tions, 22 of which were presented bypostgraduate students from KyotoUniversity. There were many content-richresearch presentations and much lively dis-cussion. Initially 395 people registered for the

symposium by Internet and 367 of thoseactually attended (42 from Kyoto Universityand 325 from Singapore). Former head ofthe Institute for Virus Research, Dr.Yoshiaki Ito has established a laboratoryin Singapore and has been actively con-ducting research. His contribution to thesymposium helped make it a success.

The symposium was a success on manyfronts. Not only could the high level of biore-search being achieved at Kyoto Universitybe showcased, it gave researchers involvedin the developing bioresearch in Singaporeopportunity to exchange ideas and postgrad-uate students to meet with new people. Italso ensured that research exchangewould continue to thrive in the future.

The dedication that the SingaporeGovernment has towards bioresearch wasclearly apparent at the Symposium and it hada strong impact on the participants fromKyoto University. The ceremony attractedmany important faces such as Dr. Oike,President of Kyoto University, Dr. Shih,President of NUS, Dr. Yeo, Chairman ofSingapore's Agency for Science, Technologyand Research and Mr. Kojima, Ambassadorof Japan to Singapore. The Singapore sidewas also keen to put out the message thatcurrently, Singapore is lagging behind KyotoUniversity but is committed to catching up

and taking the lead. Biopolis, the venue itselfalso made tremendous impact, which is thenew bioresearch base that consists of sevenhigh-rise buildings.

We will finish this report with a commentmade by a postgraduate student from KyotoUniversity who participated in the sympo-sium. This comment not only illustrates thesuccessfulness of the symposium, but alsoshows how important the symposium was tofuture research. "The symposium was a valu-able experience for me in so many ways. Ihad the opportunity to listen to our lecturerson topics not limited to science, I gained firsthand experience of the charged atmospherethat exists in Singapore and it was a won-derful opportunity to make friends withpeople who are in the same field of study."

We would like to thank everyoneinvolved in the symposium.

The Fifth Kyoto University International Symposium: "International Symposium on Regulation of Cell Fate and Cell Function"

Features1

The Ninth Kyoto University FutureForum was held on December 22, 2004 inthe Centennial Hall. The theme was "Futureof International Organizations: PuttingUNESCO Activities in the Spotlight". Mr.Teiichi Sato, Ambassador, PermanentDelegation of Japan to UNESCO andAlumnus of Kyoto University Faculty ofLaw was invited as guest speaker. TheKyoto University Future Forum is a publicevent, which started in April 2004, whereKyoto University alumni of various voca-tional backgrounds are invited to give aspeech. It provides the opportunity forpeople of the community, Kyoto Universityteaching staff and students to exchangeviews. Since Kyoto is the birthplace forUNESCO citizen activities in Japan andmany cherished places of historic interest arelisted together as World Heritage under"Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto", itwas only natural for this forum to attract abroad spectrum of interest.

"This is an age of tumultuous change.As international problems multiply andaccelerate, we are racing to seek effective

solutions within shorter timeframes. This isleading to a greater number of players ininternational society." These words from Mr.Sato, were relayed with a sense of tension ofone who is working at the frontline of theinternational society. "By moving outside theframework of nationhood, international orga-nizations with a single character are formingone after the other. It is important to coordi-nate these diversified internationalorganizations and seek an integratedapproach towards an overall plan."

After the speech, there was a lively ques-tion and answer session held between theforum participants and Mr. Sato. At KyotoUniversity, there are many students who areaiming to build a career in an internationalorganization and there was a flurry of ques-tions each brimming with a desire to learn asmuch as they can about the situation of pro-grams in the field. A third-year law student,who has been working hard on a program tosend disused computers from Japan toCambodia for use in IT education expressedhis following concern. "When you considerthe difference in the environment ofadvanced nations and developing nations, I

wonder whether our activities are suitablytargeting the actual needs of those countries."To this new player, Mr. Sato offered the fol-lowing encouragement. "The assistance todeveloping nations is in various forms suchas through international organizations andcitizen activities. However, all these effortscombined cannot be considered as adequate.Therefore countries warmly welcome activi-ties that assist with an aspect that the countrycannot cover itself." Mr. Sato ended theforum by emphasizing again thatUNESCO's role for the current internationalsociety, which encompasses a diversifiedrange of players, is to think up frameworksthat allow players to define what kind of roleto fulfill and where such a role would fit inrespect to overall activities.

The Ninth Kyoto University Future Forum :: Voice from the Frontline of International SocietyMr. Teiichi Sato, Ambassador, Permanent Delegation of Japan to UNESCO

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Scene from the symposium venue

Mr. Sato talks enthusi-astically.

Venue for the KyotoUniversity Future Forum

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Can the human race continue tosurvive on Earth? - Ever since the prob-lems associated with the globalenvironment were placed under thespotlight at the end of the 20th Century,this question has continued to be thegreatest concern of mankind. Thus farhowever, scientific research has yet toprescribe a way to make it possible toreply yes to this question. The foundingof The Research Institute forSustainable Humanosphere (RISH) wasmotivated by dissatisfaction with thetraditional approach of scientificresearch that is based on the observa-tion of phenomenon.

In April, 2004, the Kyoto UniversityWood Research Institute and the KyotoUniversity Radio Science Center forSpace and Atmosphere merged to formRISH. The idea behind the merger oftwo apparently unrelated fields ofresearch was a scheme that would leadto a paradigm shift in the interrelation-ship between human society andscience. The keywords that elucidatethis idea are holistic and sustainable.We asked Dr. Hiroshi Matsumoto,Director of RISH about the ambitiousplans for the new research center.

The Idea of a Sustainable Humanosphere

■ What is a humanosphere?The term humanosphere is a word that

we have created. It means the area andspace that humans require to exist. Thehumanosphere includes the ground humanhabitat, the arborsphere, the atmosphereand space. I am often asked how thehumanosphere is different to the globalenvironment. As part of the concept of theglobal environment, the activities forhuman subsistence are just one variable

and the priority is not on these activities.In contrast to this, the concept ofhumanosphere clearly places priority onthe activities for human subsistence.This is the reason behind establishingRISH. We wanted to establish humanos-pheric science, which is what we callscience that focuses on the formation ofa global environment that enables thesustainable development of humansocieties. Before establishing RISH, weheld as many as 33 separate meetingsto gain consent from all members. Aspart of the process of formulating con-cepts, we actively sought opinions fromyoung researchers. It was very impor-tant to reach agreement in this way asopinions influence the motivationbehind the research.

■ How did RISH get established?In April 2004, RISH was established

through the restructuring and merging oftwo Kyoto University institutions, theWood Research Institute and the RadioScience Center for Space and Atmosphere.I bet you are wondering how can tworesearch centers with fields of researchso far apart from each other becomeone? It is a question that many peoplehave asked. The necessity behind it isclearly apparent however if we keep inmind the concept of humanosphere wediscussed earlier. In both of the researchfields, the purpose of research is how toeffectively utilize the resources thatconstitute our finite planet. Thus in thissense, the two shared very similardirections. Furthermore, it was thoughtthat by merging as one, it would bepossible to reappraise existing fields ofresearch from a more holistic approach.This was the trigger for merging theresearch centers. If for example youwere looking at things from the per-spective of recycling and utilizing solarenergy, it would be much clearer howclosely connected the research of the tworesearch centers is. At RISH, rather thanstaying within the boundaries of anexisting field of research, our scientificresearch focuses on a holistic approach.

■ What kind of regime does researchfollow at RISH?

The regime for research at RISH is toensure that research carried out for theresearch center missions takes a holistic

Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere (RISH) Establishing New Connections Between Science and Human Society――Creation of Novel Science for Humanosphere by Taking a Holistic Approach

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approach. Currently we are working withfour missions to solve present and futureproblems concerning the humanosphereand we review mission projects every sixto twelve years. Our organization isdivided into the Core Research Division,Center for Exploratory Research onHumanosphere and the Department forCollaborative Research Programs. Thedepartments we consider most importantare the Center for Exploratory Researchon Humanosphere and the Department forCollaborative Research. For each researchtheme at the Center for ExploratoryResearch on Humanosphere, researchersgather from their respective laboratoriescan carry out research on equal footings toone another regardless of the post eachmember holds. We have already begunresearch in new fields such asDendroclimatology in Tropical Regions,Timber Utilization in Space and Bio-Material Production Systems. It is thispioneering of new research that definesRISH. A particularly pleasing aspect isthe rapid response of our youngresearchers. The Department forCollaborative Research Programsassists in the expansion of collaborativeresearch. For the benefit of interna-tional collaborative research, we havemade available our facilities, equipmentand databases to overseas universitiesand research centers. Another advantageof RISH being formed from two researchcenters was that it broadened the numberof contacts throughout the world.

Humanospheric Science for Diagnosis and Remediationof the Planet

■ Please talk more about humanos-pheric science which RISH espouses.

Basically, it is about securement of sus-tainability. We as the human race mustrealize the finite nature of this planet thatwe call Earth. We need to face up to thefact that human subsistence and develop-ment of human society is confined to thecapacity of Earth. If we calculate themaximum number of people that can besustained by Earth based on currentenergy consumption rates, it works out tobe about 10 billion people. It means that ifthe current pace is maintained, we willreach this limit midway through the 21stCentury. Bearing this in mind, when faced

Illustrated image of Sustainable Humanosphere

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with the question of whether human sub-sistence is sustainable or not, the answer atthis point in time is clearly "No". So whatdo we do about it? One approach is tolower living standards on a broad scaleand suppress energy consumption levels.However that approach is definitely notthe ideal subsistence environment.Humanospheric Science tackles this veryissue. The objective of the research is tofind ways to maintain a certain level ofliving standards while at the same timemaking human subsistence and growth ofhuman societies sustainable.

■ What kinds of things are you cur-rently researching?

The precept of humanospheric scienceis based on three steps of research. Thefirst step is analysis, which involves theimpartial observation of the planet to gaininsight on the current circumstances.This is also the approach taken by thetraditional natural sciences ever sinceDescartes. The second step after this isdiagnosis of the planet, which involvesprobing for relationships and correlationsbetween the scientific knowledgeacquired from the results of analysis.This step has also traditionally beenperformed as part of the research ofvarious academic fields. The final step isremediation of the planet, which involvestaking a holistic approach to develop thescientific technology required to achievea sustainable humanosphere based onrelationships and correlations identified inthe previous step. This step has been diffi-cult to carry out within the framework ofexisting academic research. It is theremediation step that defines whathumanospheric science is about. We cur-rently have a number of research projectsrunning. In our research into creatingplastic from trees, we are creating plas-tics by compressing only cellulose. Weare creating materials with strengthsequivalent to steel, but at one-fifth theweight. The scope of use of such materialsis enormous including application in space.We are also researching solar power gen-eration in space where we are developinga system that can transmit generatedelectricity to earth via microwave. In thefield of Organic EL displays, we havedeveloped a display that can flex like asheet of paper. Half of our focus isworking to develop alternative energies

that can be developed using scientifictechnology to promote the developmentand utilization of bio-based resourcecycling systems. The other half of ourfocus is expanding the space that can beused to sustain humans, including space.In other words, humanospheric science isthe science for human survival.

Research that can only be at Kyoto University

■ Can you elaborate on the holisticapproach you have mentioned?

What we mean by holistic approach ishaving the consciousness and awarenessrequired to comprehend sustainability.This comprehension must includeappreciation of spatial, temporal andphysical factors. It also requires anawareness of Earth as one part of con-tinual space. Rather than reaping thebenefits in the short-term, it is consid-eration of the impact over a span of onethousand years. It is working for thesurvival of human kind while not beingconfined to specific methodology,materials or field of study. If a sciencecan satisfy all these conditions, thenit can be called science for the sus-ta inability. In this respect, KyotoUniversity offers the conditions neces-sary to further the growth of science forthe sustainability. Because it hasresearchers from a vast array of fields,it already has the research base forscience that is holistic in both a spatialand physical sense. All that is requiredto reach the level of submitting aremedial approach is to achieve anaggregation of scientific intelligence.The establishment of RISH and itsactivities aim to serve as the detonatingagent for this to occur. Lastly, Kyoto isalso known as the 1000 year-old city,and so there is a tradition of seeingthings in terms of 1000 years. Also,since Kyoto is the home of the KyotoProtocol, I personally feel KyotoUniversity has a responsibility to take aholistic approach and research the sci-entific technology necessary to achievea sustainable society.

Prof. Hiroshi Matsumoto, Director of RISH

Prof. Matsumoto's belief that "academic research is for thebenefit of humanity" is perhaps bolstered from living in anextended family household of four generations, which is quiteunusual in Japan today. In such an environment he is con-stantly reminded of the sense of urgency for humans toachieve sustainable growth when he wonders how Earth andhumanity will be faring when the grandchildren are elderly.On the wall of the Matsumoto Lab is a collage of photos ofvisitors to the lab. By the way Prof. Matsumoto puts muchemphasis on the importance of the links people form witheach other, one gets a sense there is a strong love ofhumanity behind his serious ambitions for RISH, which hetalks about in such a stirring and humorous way.

MU radar, located at Shigaraki, Japan, is known as the mostcapable atmospheric radar in the world.

Wood specimen in the xylarium which is world renown for its vastcollection.

Tree ring of a Yakusugi cedar measuring 180cm in diameter ondisplay in the xylarium. The year of felling is estimated to be 1935based on dendrochronological methods. The tree rings can betrace back to 1192 A.D.

Anechoic Radio WaveChamber at MicrowaveEnergy TransmissionLaboratory

Solar PowerStation/SatelliteLaboratory.

ESSAY

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In recent months Japan has endured anumber of typhoons and a powerful earth-quake in Niigata. These events, and disastersin other countries such as flooding in thePhilippines, the earthquake in Bam (Iran), arepowerful reminders that Nature, which is thesource of our existence and well being, isalso a force to which humankind must con-stantly make adjustments. Society's ability tobuild high-rise buildings, highways, high-speed railroads and other infrastructure isusually thought of as a very recent develop-ment. While this development has broughtgreat wealth and prosperity, it has alsobrought great risks. To understand why this isso, it is useful to compare the relative devel-opment of our technology with that of ourknowledge of natural disasters.

In a sense, humankind has been buildingroads, water supply systems and other infra-structure for thousands of years. Similarly,humankind has experienced and suffered fromtropical cyclones, floods, volcanic eruptions,earthquakes and other natural disasters, for aslong as we have existed. Yet, in a sense, wehaven't kept up. That is, our infrastructure,most of which has all been built during aboutthe last 100 years, was built well before weunderstood disasters - most railroads in theworld were built by about1950 (even theShinkansen structures mostly dates from the1960s and 70s); most highways were built byabout 1980; most urban water systems werebuilt by the mid-20th century, and so on. Yet,in contrast, our understanding of earthquakes ismuch more recent - the theory of plate tec-tonics, which underpins our understanding ofthe root cause of earthquakes, only emerged inthe 1960s. Liquefaction was only discovered asa physical effect of earthquakes in 1964 (theyear the Shinkansen began running betweenTokyo and Osaka). While the first strong motionrecording was made in 1933, the San Fernandoearthquake in 1971 doubled the total number ofsuch recordings in the world, from 100 to 200.In fact, we went to the Moon before we had 100recordings of strong earthquake groundmotion. It is only since the 1980s that we havegathered and been able to analyze a reasonablysized set of strong ground motion data.

So, humankind now finds itself in acurious situation, in which most of our'modern' infrastructure predates our modernknowledge of earthquakes and how theydamage buildings and infrastructure. Theresult is that in most of the world, includingJapan, we are surprisingly at risk from naturaldisasters - much more so than our 'modern'steel and glass skyscrapers, shiny bullettrains and tiny new digital camera-phoneswould suggest. Much of our built environ-ment is actually 'obsolete', from a seismicand/or other natural disaster perspective.

About 120 years ago, Kyoto built a visionarywater supply system that brought abundant freshwater from Lake Biwako at the same time pro-viding a transportation link and generatingelectricity (in fact, the Keage project was thesecond hydro-electric generation plant in theworld). Today, many researchers at KyotoUniversity and its Disaster Prevention ResearchInstitute work towards improving our under-standing of natural disasters and how to mitigatetheir impacts. Yet, this work will be for naught,and catastrophes will grow greater and greater,unless major programs are put in place toupgrade the infrastructure built decades beforewe fully understood the effects of earthquakesand other natural disasters. Getting this messageto leaders and society is vitally important.

Scientific Efforts for a Sustainable Global Village - Kyoto University

Charles Scawthorn・Born in New York, U.S., in 1944.・Specialized Research Field: Lifeline Engineering,

Earthquake Disaster Prevention Systems・Graduate of The Cooper Union (New York) and

Lehigh University・D. Eng., Kyoto University・Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto

University・URL http://quake2.kuciv.kyoto-u.ac.jp/

Prof. Scawthorn has extensive experience working indisaster-prone regions such as California, Japan,Mexico and Turkey, as a structural engineer and riskanalyst. It is therefore by no means coincidental that heacquired his doctorate at Kyoto University in Japan, acountry that regularly suffers natural disasters, and hecurrently pursues research and teaching here. Directlyafter the Second World War, Kyoto University estab-lished joint research involving various academic fields toachieve rapid reductions in the amount of damage thatdisasters cause, and therefore it has accumulated anabundance of data related to natural disasters. Thedecisive factor that motivated Dr. Scawthorn to return toJapan occurred by chance in 1995 when the HanshinEarthquake struck. Dr. Scawthorn happened to be inOsaka at the time of the earthquake, close to where thedisaster struck. Consequently his intended stay of oneweek extended into two years. Now Dr. Scawthorn hasreturned to his old school. He smiled as he confidedthat he enjoys a stimulatimg research environmentwhile working in his laboratory, which holds a traditionalJapanese charm.

Prof. Scawthorn enjoys a stimulating researchenvironment supported by friendly staff and asunny office.

Charles Scawthorn

Courtyard of Memorial Hall of Civil Engineering. BehindProf. Scawthorn is a Himalayan cedar, which wasplanted by the late Dr. Sakuro Tanabe as part of a com-memoration. As a fellow civil engineer, Prof. Scawthornhas high regard for the feats of Dr. Tanabe, whoplanned and supervised the construction of the LakeBiwa Aqueduct in the Meiji era. Coincidently, Dr.Scawthorn currently lives in an apartment building builtwhere the late Dr. Tanabe's residence once stood.

DISASTERS AND INFRASTRUCTURE

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Richard Murdey studied at HokkaidoUniversity, Japan for a year and a half, and thenmoved to the University of British Columbia,Canada where he acquired a doctorate. He thentook up a postdoctoral position at theUniversity of Linköping, Sweden for two yearsand after that relocated back to Japan. He is aresearch chemist who has experience invarious different countries and regions. Histheme of research has often changed to suit theresearch environment of his host. Currently heis with the Kyoto University Institute forChemical Research and is now in his sixthweek of his first project involving research intomolecular aggregation analysis. Dr. Murdeycannot conceal his pleasure that at SatoLaboratory where he works, he has the freedomto choose his own approach to obtaininganswers of a theme, allowing him to develophis own methodology.

■You have gained your research experiencethrough working in a variety of countries,what led you to choose Kyoto University?

I decided Kyoto University after meeting Prof.Naoki Sato. After I decided to come to Japan, Iwas considering four research laboratoriesincluding Kyoto University, but after talking withProf. Sato, I knew that this was the place. I wasable to fully embrace his method of research. Ihave had research experience in both Canada andEurope but this was my first encounter with aresearcher whose approach was so close to mine.

■Tell us about your current research.We already know that the way organic moleculespack together, or arrange into groups, changesthe way the material conducts electricity. Ourlaboratory is looking for new molecules, whichpack together in an interesting or unusual way.When we find them, we check if there is a strongand direct link between structural and electronicchanges. If there is, we investigate these mole-cules in more detail. Our vision is to utilize thedifferent aggregation structures of organic mate-rials to design useful electronic devices. The aimis to better understand how the molecule-to-molecule interaction affects the way chargemoves in the material, in other words, the mech-anism by which it conducts electricity. Of course,we also hope to discover new and exciting elec-

tronic components for application in microelec-tronics.

■What kind of research do you envisagein the future?

In Linköping, our research into organic lightemitting materials tended to be driven by indus-trial interest. The primary goal was to improve theperformance of electronic devices that would beused in the personal computers, electronic prod-ucts and mobile phones of the near future. It wasvery interesting seeing how useful our researchwas to people's daily lives. However, the down-side was that because results were always thepriority, restrictions were sometimes placed onwhat we could do as researchers. Currently, I feelI am engaged in core research. Our laboratoryprovides the environment and atmosphere toallow us to focus determinedly on our ownmethodologies. As the experimental results ofthis core research accumulates, I hope to createnew materials and devices that take advantage ofmolecules in ways never seen before.

■I have heard your wife is Japanese and youhave a daughter.

My daughter was born in Sweden and is now18 months. During the week I am busy at thelaboratory so I try to spend as much time withmy family on weekends as possible. We takewalks to a nearby park and take walks in themountains. On the West Coast of Canada, it iseither summer or winter and you don't reallysense the subtle changes of spring and autumn.Kyoto, however, clearly exhibits four distinctseasons. The seasons have a certain impact onpeoples' behavior and it is a lifestyle I person-ally enjoy, so I am very happy here.

■You seem to have adapted very easily tolife in Japan.

Yes, I really feel at ease when I am in Japan.When I returned to Japan after being away forabout seven years, in addition to feeling astrong sense of nostalgia, I also felt that I hadreturned to a place where I should be. In Kyotoespecially, wherever I am, it is never tedious.Be it gazing upon the roadside statues of Jizo,a guardian deity of children, stopping atancient buildings brimming with a sense ofhistory, or just everything I encounter in my

daily life, I feel a real sense of enjoyment

■I would be interested to hear about yourplans for future post-doctoral work in thenext two years.

My current feelings are that I would like stay inJapan as a researcher long into the future.However, I do realize that when thinking long-term, it will not be easy as a foreigner to secureemployment. Language is a definite hurdle.Even if I am able to converse in Japanese, I cansee many difficulties in relation to work if I amunable to write it. Despite this, I don't think it isimpossible and I am already hard at worklearning my kanji, Chinese characters.

（Date reported: November 24, 2004）

A process that looks for answers is more importantthan sticking to the theme

Richard Murdey・Born in England, in 1972.・Ph. D., the University of British Columbia・Guest Research Associate, Institute for Chemical

Research, Kyoto University・URL http://www.kuicr.kyoto-u.ac.jp/labos/is2/scope.html

In the laboratory. Dr Murdey and his colleagues handle theequipment with care.

Richard Murdey

ACTIVITY

The NLK Nishiyama Festival 2004 was held atthe Kyoto University Katsura Campus onNovember 27 and 28, 2004, with the theme"science x art @ Kyoto". This was the firststudent-organized event that included the entireKatsura Campus since the Katsura Campusopened in October 2003. Nishiyama is the namegiven to the hillside on the west side of Kyoto.This area is home to a number of cutting-edgescientific research institutions, including theKyoto University Katsura Campus. The adjoiningregion is home to research centers and collegesspecializing in the humanities, such as the KyotoCity University of the Arts, and the InternationalResearch Center for Japanese Studies.

One of the objectives of this event was to givea voice to the rich cultural expression that thisunique environment can offer. The organizers ofthe event were Kyodai Gomi-Bu (KyotoUniversity Garbage Department), Katsura EcoModel Project. These student groups regularlyvoice suggestions on issues concerning man-agement of the environment inside KyotoUniversity campuses. One of the organizers, Mr.Ryosuke Nagano, currently doing a doctoralcourse in engineering, explained to us howrecent student activities such as this event take abottom-up approach.

"To me, this is the most relaxing place of allthe Katsura Campus." Commented Mr. Naganoat the open ground in front of the front entranceto A Cluster, which was where he nominated tohave the interview. Mr. Nagano was involved inthe planning of the cafeteria and bakery shopsurrounding the open ground, as part of theKatsura Eco Model Project set up in January2003. "Not all of my design was adopted in thefinal spaces, but I injected considerable effort ingetting the design concept off the ground. Forthat reason, I have attachment to this place." Mr.Nagano said that his driving force at that timewas the willingness to be proactively involved inthe birth process of a new campus from thestandpoint of a student who is going to use thefacilities. As an aspiring architect working at thelocation of his first work experience, what was atthe forefront of his mind was a desire to providethe place for people to meet people. He remainsactive on Katsura Campus and is currentlyworking with the university and related busi-nesses as part of a campaign to look after theenvironment by reducing the littering of con-tainers and packaging through projects such as

the "My Cup Trial". Mr. Nagano and his col-leagues have been putting forward practicalsuggestions by creating investigation reportsand road maps for goal achievement. Thisapproach originated from the activities of theKyodai Gomi-Bu (Kyoto University GarbageDepartment) which was established to buildenvironmental management systems at YoshidaCampus in 1999. As these activities becamemore popular, they created opportunities forpeople to meet people and this is how the "NLKNishiyama Festival 2004" was conceived.

NLK (New Letters from Kyoto) is a project thatgives both Kyoto culture and the untapped talentsof the people who gather here an outlet of expres-sion that can be heard by the world through thecreation of new letters. The Nishiyama Festival wasblessed with clear weather and each event, exhibi-tion and food service was bustling with people. Mr.Nagano was in charge of the production of a videoletter that was screened during the festival finale,and had continued to perform the editing work onit right up until the time of screening. He said hewas very encouraged by the response he receivedfrom the people who appeared in the video.

"In all honesty, I never thought that our ideaswould ever be embraced like this. It is a greatfeeling when you successfully convey your ownideas. It's a tremendous boost to my confidence,which is particularly important to me as I am aboutto begin my career as an architect where I canpresent my own concepts and ideas to the world."

Mr. Nagano will soon have to pass the batonto his junior colleagues for them to continue withNishiyama Festival. However he acknowledgesthat it is better for the new wave of people to findtheir own style of doing things that suits their cir-cumstances. This acknowledgement is no doubtbased on his belief that people will understandyou if your convictions are strong enough.

It has been two years since Mr. Naganostarted getting involved in the Katsura Campusproject. He says he would like to work as anarchitect and increase the dis-tribution of the NLK. It is hisdream to provide an arenawhere people of differingfields of study can exchangeideas.

new letters from Kyoto- Unleashing the Potential of Bonds Between People

Ryosuke Nagano ・Director, NLK Project・Presently in the third year of a doctoral program at

the Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University

Ryosuke Nagano

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"The comic class with Dr. High Moon and the RobotChroino" was a very popular event for children.(Nishiyama Festival)

As part of the My Cup Trial,President Oike was invited to theplanning and discussion meetingfor the NLK Nishiyama Festival.

The open ground in the front entrance to ACluster transformed into the venue forinternational stalls full of internationalcuisines.(Nishiyama Festival)

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Kyoto University receives official visitsyear-round, whether from universitieswith which the university has academicexchange memorandums, foreignresearch laboratories, or through thevarious embassies in Japan. Visitorsspoke with the President, the Vice-President, and professors, engagingmainly in lively discussions regardingpromoting academic exchanges betweentheir own organizations and KyotoUniversity. The list right covers the mostnotable visitors.

Visitors from Abroad

"There is a strong interest amongstKyoto University students to studyabroad. If this university provides studentswith information that caters to thisinterest, many students will happily par-ticipate, many of those will end upabroad, which contributes to the interna-tionalization of Kyoto Universitystudents." The belief and enthusiasm asexpressed in this statement by a youngstaff of Foreign Student Division madepossible this large event filled with asmany as 900 participants.

The Kyoto University Study AbroadFair 2004 was held on November 2, 2004and took up roughly the entire floor spaceof the Clock Tower Centennial Hall. Itsprimary theme was " "I'm glad I went!"which was represented by a groovyyellow poster. The fair presented a varietyof options, covering short-term study forlanguage learning, student exchangeprogram, overseas internship, and univer-sity postgraduate program. Following a

general orientation aimed at everyone,theme-based seminars were held. Theseconsisted of presentations by internationalorganizations and organizations of variouscountries, with a presence in Japan con-cerning options for study abroad. Studentconsultation booths were also set up toallow participants to ask questionsdirectly to exhibiting organizations. Theparticipating students were able to searcharound for opportunities that grabbed theirpersonal interest.

"Although in this age, it is easy to lookup on the Internet or read in a publicationabout studying abroad, it is hearing thefirst hand experience of senior studentswho have actually studied abroad and lis-tening to the advice of specialistcounselors which lead to a strong motiva-tion to go overseas " said KenichiShiraishi of the Foreign StudentsDivision, who was responsible for theconception and planning of this fair. Hewas surprised by the better than expected

Kyoto University Study Abroad Fair 2004

turnout and it reinforced his belief thatthere was an underlying desire in studentsof Kyoto University to study abroad.

The holding of this fair may have setthe ball rolling for a Kyoto Universitystudent to decide to come to your countryto study. If they do, please give them awarm welcome.

Visitor List■ Dr. Chang Horng-jinh / President, Tamkang University (Taiwan) / April 2004■ H.E. Mr. Eli-Eliahu Cohen / Ambassador, Embassy of Israel /April 2004■ Prof. Richard Gonzalez / Chair of Department of Psychology, the University of Michigan (U.S.A) / April 2004■ Prof. Ouyang Kang / Assistant President, Huazhong University of Science & Technology (China, P.R.) / May 2004■ Mr. Philip Yeo / Chairman, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (Singapore) / May 2004■ Prof. Lawrence B. Coleman /Vice Provost for Research, the University of California (U.S.A.) / June 2004■ Prof. Kim Dae-Sik / Dean of the Graduate School, Chung-Ang University (Korea, R) / July 2004■ Dr. Lawrence Loh / Associate President, National University of Singapore, APRU Secretary General (Singapore) / August 2004■ Prof. Shi Jianjun / Executive Vice-President, Nanjing University (China, P.R.) / October 2004■ Prof. Loyiso Nongxa / Vice-Chancellor, the University of Witwatersrand (South Africa) / November 2004■ H.E. Mr. Miguel Ruiz-Cabanas Izquierdo / Ambassador, Embassy of Mexico / November 2004■ Prof. Ekhard Salje / President of Clare Hall College, the University of Cambridge (U.K.) / November 2004■ Mr. François d'Aubert / Vice-minister for Research (France) / November 2004■ Prof. Cheng Jinpei / Vice Minister, Ministry of Science and Technology (China, P.R.) / November 2004■ Prof. Ricardo De Ungria / Chancellor, the University of Philippine in Mindanao (Philippines) / November 2004■ Prof. Jung-Woong Ra / President, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (Korea, R) / December 2004■ Mr. Qiu Guohong / Consul General, Consulate-General of the People's Republic of China in Osaka / December 2004■ H.E. Mr. Mario Bova / Ambassador, Embassy of Italy / December 2004

Poster for the Study Abroad Fair 2004

Booths from various countries offeringadvice for studying abroad

Students eagerly seek advice from specialist staff. The venue for general orientation wasfilled to capacity.

Dr. Lawrence Loh, Secretary General,Association of Pacific Rim Universitiesvisits Kyoto University's HistoricalExhibition Room.

Prof. Coleman, Vice Provost for Research from theUniversity of California holding talks with President Oike.

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Lake Biwa Aqueduct Sharing an interwoven bond of birth and rebirthThe stunning water surface of the Lake Biwa Aqueduct is one of the most charming aspect of the city of Kyoto in eastern part. The Lake Biwa

Aqueduct and Kyoto University share strong historical connections.The first historical connection dates back to the founding of Kyoto University about 100 years ago. Around that time there was a mood of

despondency in Kyoto as the Meiji Restoration removed the capital, which had been in Kyoto for over 1000 years, to Tokyo. This led to adesire for Kyoto to be given a new identity as a city of education and culture and there was an active focus on bringing greater prosperity tothe region. Part of this push was the initiative to establish Kyoto Imperial University, and another was the commencement of construction of acanal, which aimed to bring water from Lake Biwa, which is adjacent to the Higashiyama mountain range and revive the industry andeconomy of Kyoto. The person behind the design and construction of this remarkable feat was a 21 year-old freshly graduated engineerSakuro Tanabe, who became a professor at Kyoto Imperial University. The project was carried out in 1885, and canals were completed in1912. The canal played an important role in the rebirth of the modern Kyoto. "My grandfather loved large scale civil engineering projects.Even after he became professor at the Kyoto Imperial University, he gladly traveled anywhere in Japan whenever he was invited to assist inlarge scale civil engineering projects." said grandson Mr. Yoichi Tanabe, who is a graduate of the Kyoto University and has become a civilengineer like his grandfather.

The second bond Kyoto University has with the Lake Biwa Aqueduct occurred after the Second World War. In 1949, Kyoto ImperialUniversity restarted as Kyoto University and the nuclear physics laboratory, which had been closed by the Allied Forces, was also reopened atroughly the same time. In 1952, Kyoto University proposed to rebuild a cyclotron and the place chosen for its construction was Keage hydro-electric power plant, which used the water of the Lake Biwa Aqueduct. From 1955 until 1968, the heritage of canal construction assisted thegrowth of Kyoto University's nuclear physics research.

Kyoto University, Lake Biwa Aqueduct and the city of Kyoto, share in common both birth and rebirth. The various bonds that are formedbetween these three parties will surely continue to form an interwoven history.

Due to a difference of elevation,boats were moved by canal inclinenear Keage. The restored boats,rail cart and tracks give a historicflavor to the area.

P R O M E N A D E

Junction point of the First Canal and the Second Canal at theOkazaki Region. The canal water flows west through the city ofKyoto from this point.

The former KeagePower Plant, which isthe first hydroelectricpower plant in Japan.(It is currently closed tothe public.)

Yoichi Tanabe standing infront of the storehouse whichhis grandfather, Dr. SakuroTanabe used as a study.