A few days ago, I look through my Weibo (Chinese twitter) and found some interesting informations about tourism in Japan. Furthermore, take my own view, I find that there is an increasing number of Chinese tourist to Japan. These informations inspired me and I decided to write about tourism in Japan in my final blog reflection. Besides that, I think this is related to our second project. Therefore the topic of this blog is Tourism in Japan after the triple disasters (more specifically, the foreign tourist to Japan rather than domestic tourist).

 Ever since the triple disasters in 2011, especially the Fukushima nuclear pollution, the industry of tourism in Japan got a grievous harm. The number of tourists decreased from 8.6 million to 6.2 million in 2011. However, in 2016, in only five years, the number increased to 24 million. From this data, I think that foreign tourists still have the confidence in Japanese tourism. On the other hand, Japanese tourism has its own advantages. Firstly,  the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2017 ranked Japan at the 4th place out of 141 countrie which is most highest rank place in Asia. Besides that, the Report concluded that Japan received high scores especially in the aspects of health, safety and security, cultural resources and business travel.

 Chinese tourists are the largest contributors to the recovery of Japanese tourism. The data from Japan National Tourism Organization illustrates that in 2015 China has had the most tourists visiting Japan for the first time. In 2016, this number increased by 27%. Furthermore, a large number of Chinese tourists spent more than 100 billion RMB in Japan in 2016 within one year time period.  

 On the other hand, Japanese tourism also has some disadvantages, for example: national tourism policy, publicity for tourism and foreigner-friendly environment. In 2014, the total incoming of tourism in Japan 2027.8 billion Japanese Yen, which even less than those in Malaysia and Thailand. The total number of foreign tourists in Japan is even less than those of Hong Kong and Singapore. And the tourism industry only contributed 1.7%  to the total GDP of Japan which is far less than expected. In my perspective, I think Japanese government did not realize the importance of tourism industry. And I think they may need to come up of some tourist-friendly policies in order to attract foreign tourists.

 Generally speaking, in summer and winter, the retail stores in Japan would hold special sale events. However, foreign tourists that mainly aim for shopping are relatively less than those in other seasons. Therefore, I think the lack of publicity might be the cause to this unexpected situation. I suggest that the regulators and related officers in tourism sector in Japan may need to work more in publicity.

 Furthermore, Japan needs to build a more foreigner-friendly environment for tourists. To begin with, road signs and instructions in public transportations should be more multilingual. And then those work in tourism sectors (such as taxi drives and sales in duty-free stores) should enhance their ability of to serve foreign tourists. Taking examples from the past experience of my friend, he went to a restaurant in Kyoto, but he found a sign in the doorway said that the restaurant do not serve foreigners. I could not understand the reasons behind that. Maybe the owner of the restaurant thinks that foreigners would not be able to appreciate the cuisines. And even more deeply, the culture differences. But isn’t experiencing different culture is one of the main purposes of traveling? That is the reason I think Japan should build a more foreigner-friendly environment to attract more tourists.

 Japanese government set the target for the total number of tourists in Japan is 40 million in 2020. I think with the held of 2020 Olympic games they would be able to hit the target. But, at the same time, the industry of Japanese tourism is also required to do better to meet the challenges.

References：

2015年推計値, Japan National Tourism Organization, https://www.jnto.go.jp/jpn/statistics/data_info_listing/pdf/160420_monthly.pdf.  Retrieved Dec 2nd, 2017

Bhattacharjya, Samhati (May 17, 2016). “Japan to offer 10-year multi-entry visas for Chinese as part of tourism push”. International Business Times. Retrieved Dec 2nd, 2017.

The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2017″. World Economic Forum. April 2017.

Tourism in Japan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Japan#cite_note-10year-7

http://www.tripvivid.com/articles/3468

 In this project, our topic is Fukushima nuclear meltdown. I was taking charge for future nuclear use and implications. And I did my research online about the nuclear use in Japan after Fukushima disaster. Personally, I think Japan should quit nuclear electricity in the future like what Germany did. It worthy to mention that Fukushima accident is more like a blasting fuse for Germany to quit nuclear power in electricity production. In my perspective, the real reason for Germany to quit is their energy policy: developing renewable sources of energy. However, every country have their own specific national conditions. It is not something we can explain clearly in one article.

 Back to Japanese case. In 2010, just before the triple disaster, the nuclear power contributed 33% electricity production for this island country, and it took accounts for 10% of global nuclear electricity production. Furthermore, according to The Institute of Energy and Economics Japan, the cost of electricity production in 2012 is 30 billion us dollar more than the cost of 2010 due to the increasing importation of fossil fuel. The more fossil fuel also means a higher emission.

  Thereby, in April 2014, the Liberal Democratic Party cabinet passed Japan’s new energy plan, in which nuclear power was called “ the most important power source”. This plan declared the basic principles of Japan’s energy policy as “safety”, “energy security”, “improving economic efficiency,” and “environment suitability” (Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, 2014). Furthermore, the government decided to reopen the nuclear plants for “a realistic and balanced energy structure” (The Japan Times, 2014). In June of 2015, the New Nuclear Regulatory Agency approved 24 units (of 54 pre-Fukushima units) to restart. In my opinion, Japanese government had to restart the nuclear plants due to the conditions of the nation although the public as well as working group in energy sector have the fear about the nuclear power.

  What is more I want to share is my personal experience. The high school that I attended in China is a foreign languages high school. Generally speaking, the general high school in China only teach English as foreign language. But in my high school, you can choose one of English, German, French or Japanese as the foreign language to study. Some of my mates choose Japanese and they intended to study in Japan for higher education. But after the triple disaster, most of them gave up their plan to Japan due to the nuclear disaster and nuclear pollution. And most of them are studying in English-speaking countries now. Based on this, I think Japan lost a series of incoming due to the triple disaster, like: education industry, tourism, foreign investment etc… Most importantly, I think the slow and inappropriate response to nuclear disaster also humiliate the imagine of Japan in global stage. Thereby, there are a series of industry of Japan need to rebuild and recover.

 Public and media all around the world criticize the sluggish and unconscionable response of Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company in this disaster. Therefore, I suggest a quick response protocol be implemented. The communication between electricity companies and government, as well as communication between local and central government should be more efficient and direct. In addition, investment should be made in preventing natural disasters and their effects.

 Moreover, Japan may need to change the structure of its energy for a sustainable future. But after this significant disaster, Japanese government need to consider safer and more diverse energy sources. Hydro and wind are generally regarded as a clean and safe method to produce electricity. However, the hydro resources in Japan is not enough to produce as much electricity as nuclear can. Furthermore, in currently stage, the technology of wind-electricity is not advanced as expected. There is still a long way for Japanese to go in the road of new energy exploring.

Sources:

Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, (2014). Cabinet Decision on the New

Strategic Energy Plan. Retrieved November 26th, 2017 from

http://www.meti.go.jp/english/press/2014/0411_02.html

The Japan Times, (2014). Reflect on Fukui nuclear ruling. Retrieved November 26th,

2017 from https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2014/05/23/commentary/reflecton-

fukui-nuclear-ruling/#.WhudE7Q-djc

Huenteler, J. Schmidt, T. S. Kanie, N. (2012). Japan’s post- Fukushima challenge –

implications from the German experience on renewable energy policy. Energy

Policy 45 (2012) 6-11.

eneken.ieej.or.jp/en/genre_general.php

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_Japan

 In the Oct 24th’s lecture, we talked  about the post war cities. I found that Koban (the policebox) is a very interesting thing to talk about. While we do not have such authority in Canada. In this blog reflection, I will talk about something I knew about Koban.

(Oficial symbol for Koban used in Japanese map, source: www.gsi.go.jp/KIDS/map-sign-tizukigou-h05-01-11kouban.htm)

 Koban is known as policebox, also is the smallest organization of Japanese police system. This system is unique to Japan, and the network of Koban can be found in almost every neighborhood throughout the whole country. There are more than 1200 Koban in Tokyo area alone. They usually locate near train station in the main commercial district as well as the entrance of neighborhoods.

(Sugabashi Koban police box, Taito ward, Tokyo, source: www.japanvisitor.com/japanese-culture/koban)

 As for the history of Koban. The contemporary Japanese police system established in 1874 when Meiji government needed a centralized European-style police to replace the samurai police force (Edo period 1603-1867) in order to reinforce its authority through the country.

 One year ago, I have taken a course which main topic is about Japanese society and culture. Koban was mentioned in the lecture. The instructor described that the Koban has functions as following:

 Firstly, Koban can provide services such as direction and translation. Due to the complex postal system in Japan. It is hard for people from other places to find the exact location of the destination. Thereby, the police in Koban can provide map and give direction to people that are unfamiliar to local streets layout. Furthermore, if you are a tourist from foreign country who cannot speak Japanese but you need some urgent help. Generally speaking, you can find  police officers in Koban, and they may help you in English or they may have other documents available in English as well.

 Secondly, Koban also has the function to do the crime reports. Koban are located in the communities through the country (which means each community has one Koban generally). Therefore, when crime happens, Koban can get the report quickly so on they can despatch the police force faster.

 Thirdly, Koban also helps to maintain the social order in the community. In that lecture, the instructor told me that there are three forces in local community to maintain the social order: Police (Koban), Yakuza (Japanese mafia) and community committee. Usually, the police officers in the Koban of local community would get familiar to each resident of the community. And when people that they are not familiar trying to enter the community, the police will be more careful and watch out for those people. The instructor of the course regarded it as an application of the ideology of Uchi (inside) and Soto (outside). Uchi (inside) is refer to home or community, and the Soto is outside world. They think Uchi is clean and safe while Soto is dirty and dangerous. In this case, I think it also can relate to the social exclusion that we talked about in this course.

(The ideology of Uchi/Soto, source: chubeny.weebly.com/life-in-japan.html)

 Fourthly, Koban can served as a lost and found location. When you lost something around the community, you can try to find some help in the local Koban. Or when you pick up something, you can send them to the nearest Koban. It can be very convient to local people who live in the community.

 But Koban is also face many challenges nowadays. With the more up-to-dated technology, people may use more digital map and translation application in their mobile phone rather than finding a Koban and talking to a police officer. Furthermore, the aging society would lead to a shortage of labor. It may affect the work of Koban      

References:

Joy Hendry (2013). Understanding Japanese Society. ISBN 0-415-67914-1

Jones, Trevor; Tim Newburn (2006). Plural policing. Routledge. pp. 232–33. ISBN 0-415-35510-9.

http://www.japanvisitor.com/japanese-culture/koban

https://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/basic-info/emergency-info/police-box-koban-system.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%8Dban

Menglong Shi

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 In this project, our main topic is the New National Stadium which will be used as the main stadium of 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. The group divided the work as five main parts: The material used in the stadium, environmental impact of the stadium, economic impact of the stadium, green space of the stadium and the link to Canada. As for my part, my main focus is the link to Canada. I try to find some connection to the perspective of Canada. If they used some woods that produced in Canada or they used some technology from Canada? But I cannot find any specific information related to such aspect. I got stuck in the work. And thanks to Vancouver, who held the Winter Olympic Games in 2010. Therefore, I try to make a comparison between the New National Stadium in Tokyo and BC Place in Vancouver. Both of them are used as the main stadium of the games. I will do some more analysis and comparison in the following.

New National Stadium, （Source: www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/03/04/national/review-team-works-weigh-location-2020-olympics-cauldron-new-tokyo-stadium/#.WfFpdJOnFjc)

 The 2010 Vancouver Winter Games just used a ready-made stadium after some simple renovations, but Japanese built the New National Stadium on the site of old National Stadium. The Capacity of BC Place is 55,000 while the New National Stadium in Tokyo is 68,000. Surely, the New National Stadium looks more fancy and up-to-date. But the construction cost is also more “fancy” than BC Place. The budget cost of the New National Stadium is 1.26 billion in US dollars, while the construction cost of BC Place is 830 million in 2016 dollars including the original construction cost 126.1 million dollars (equals to 279 million in 2016 dollars) and the cost of renovation during 2009 to 2011 (551 million in 2016 dollars).

 As for the part of environmental impact, I cannot find any useful information about the EIA of BC Place. I hope this process can be more transparent and get more public participation. While we find both positive and negative impacts of the new stadium in Tokyo that will bring. For the positive part, the New National Stadium can served as a green space in the central area of Tokyo. I think it is a great legacy that 2020 Olympic games can leave to the overpopulated Tokyo. Meanwhile, in the Emma’s part, some NGOs said that the large amount wood were used in the New National Stadium may cause deforestation in the rainforest area.

BC Place in 2010 (Source:www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdTsdaZc_d8)

 For the material used in the stadium. BC Place used the traditional material. It is worthy to say that BC Place replaced the original air-supported roof with a cable-support retractable roof system. But this happened a few month after the Winter Olympics in 2010. So, the Winter Games in 2010 had no chance to enjoy this new roof system. As for the New National Stadium, my group member Hugo introduced to me that large amount of timber were used. As forestry resource is a kind of reusable material. It helps to the goal of sustainable development.

BC Place in 2017 (Source: www.bcplace.com/)

As for the sustainable use, BC Place is  served as home stadium for BC Lion and White Cap after the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. And we could say BC Place is a landmark for Vancouver. The sustainable usage of the New National Stadium in Tokyo after the 2020 Olympic Games could be a problem to solve in the upcoming future. If they will invite a J-League team or a NPB team to the new national stadium as a long term tenant? We will wait to see.

References:

Statistics Canada, (2017), Consumer Price Index, by Province (monthly). Retrieved October 25, 2017, from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/cpis01a-eng.htm

 I remember that when we talked about Fuji Mountain in the lecture. Dr Dierkes told us that Fuji Mountain is important and divine to Japanese people, and it often  appeared in the Japanese artworks. The first thing came to my mind is the picture of “Kanagawa Oki Nami Ura” or “The Great Wave off Kanagawa”.

 I can not describe how much I love this painting. I set this as the desktop imagine of my laptop, that means I can see this superb painting everyday. More commonly, I always can see this painting on the wall of Japanese restaurant, even though the restaurant may be operated by Korean or Chinese. Behind this, Kanagawa Oki Nami Ura is the symbol of Japanese culture, admittedly.

 In this blog, I will do a basic introduction to this world-famous painting and talk about my personal feelings about Kanagawa Oki Nami Ura. In the following, I will simply call it The Wave.

 The Wave was painted by ukiyo-e artist  Hokusai around 1830-1832 (Metropolitan Museum of Arts, 2010) from Hokusai’s series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji. And The Wave is the first one of  the series. It depicts the huge wave raised near the coast of Kanagawa. Three boats were drawn into the tremendous wave while there are fishermen on the deck of the boats. And the Fuji Mountain can be seen in the faraway place (British Museum, 2013).

 In the upper left is the title of this painting and the signature of author. And there are three main elements in the picture: boats (including the people on the boat), huge wave and Fuji Mountain. I will analyze them respectively in the following.

Boats

 Kabayashi and Harbison believes that the boats were used to fish catching and transportation (Kabayashi & Harbison, 1997). There were eight rowers take charge of quants per boat.And two more passenger we can see on the front part of the boat. From this picture, we can see all the people on boat is very stiff and seems like crawled on the deck of boats. I assume that they were terrified by the huge wave and just pray their kami to bless them. And this picture formed a vivid comparison to the wave. While the waves are full of vatality and fury. I think that at that moment, Japanese hold in awe and veneration to the nature.

The Waves

 The waves are vivid. It rolled close to the sky. The very front just like numberless tentacles of sea monster. And they were just rush at the boats. The water drop from the front of waves fall down. just seems like snowfall to the Fuji Mountain. I like this view, it is full of orientally poetic and marvellous. Some people regarded the huge waves as tsunami, but Cartwright and Nakamura denied this hypothesis in their article What kind of a wave is Hokusai’s Great wave off Kanagawa (Cartwright & Nakamura, 2009). The Waves just huge waves rather than tsunami.

The Fuji Mountain

 We can see the Fuji mountain is in the centre of the whole painting. And the peak of the Fuji Mountain is covered by snow. The color of the mountain is indigo, it full of tranquility. The artist paints the Fuji quite small compared to the huge waves (Chiba City Museum of Arts, 2013). It demonstrate the awe and hugeness of the waves. This is a bold and innovative painting technique at that age.

 This is just a very brief introduction to the Kanagawa Oki Nami Ura. And because of this painting, I learn more about Ukiyo-e, this kind of art.  

References:

• Cartwright, Julyan H. E; Nakamura, Hisami (2009). What kind of a wave is Hokusai’s Great wave off Kanagawa?  Notes and Records of the Royal Society. DOI: 10.1098/rsnr.2007.0039.

• The Great Wave off Kanagawa. (2017, Sep 13). In Wikipedia. Retrieved October 1, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa

• Kanagawa-oki nami-ura 神奈川沖浪裏 (Under the Wave off Kanagawa). (2014, December 14). In British Museum. Retrieved October 1, 2017, from http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3097579&partId=1

• Kanagawa Oki Nami Ura. (2013, Febury 05). In Chiba City Museum of Arts. Retrieved October 1, 2017, from http://www.ccma-net.jp/collection_img/collection_02-06_hokusai.html

• Katsushika Hokusai: The Great Wave at Kanagawa. (2010, June 14). In Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved October 1, 2017, from http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/JP1847/

• Kobayashi, Tadashi; Harbison, Mark (1997). Ukiyo-e: an introduction to Japanese woodblock prints. Kodansha International. ISBN 978-4-7700-2182-3.

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