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Before the cluster boom, this state formulated the “Strategic Program 2000+” (1998-2003) and pursued a cluster-oriented economy and technologies. The program includes three strategic fields: technology and research development, education, and industrial location. The aims of the program are to promote business innovation and to systematically expand fields in which the state has economical and technological advantages through network-based cooperation using the “State Future Fund”. In 2005, a new strategic program called “Innovative Upper Austria 2010” (2005-2010) was started. This strategic program aims to enhance competitiveness and promote internationalization through clusters, with a particular focus on small to medium-sized businesses. The total amount expenditure of the 5-year program is 500 million euros. This is the biggest program for small to medium-sized businesses in Austria, and it aims to create 20,000 new jobs.
Currently, seven clusters—automobile/drive TECH, plastics, furniture/wood construction, eco-energy, food, health, and mechatoronics—as well as four networks—human resources, logistics, design/media, and environmental technology—have been created since 1998. While this is promoted through clusters based on cooperative projects and collective promotional activities for existing industrial fields, operations for human resources, design, environmental technologies, etc. are performed through networks based on referrals, consultations, and education. There are about 1,600 member companies. These include not only companies from within the state but also some from neighboring countries and other states in Austria.
The executive institution of the cluster policy is the Technology Marketing Association (TMG), which is funded by the state government, the Chamber of Commerce, and the local government. This organization, with its 30 staff members, has a promotional structure that enables it to continuously implement the region’s unique strategy, including not only the strategic programs and research, planning, and investment for innovation but also coordination with various industrial developmental programs in the EU.
Although affiliate organizations of TMG are mainly in charge of operational support for the clusters, the Chamber of Commerce is in charge of the food cluster while the Energy Agency (established in 1991; 25 staff members) established by the state government is in charge of eco-energy.
○ Tyrol (Austria)
The population of Tyrol State is 700,000. The population of the state capital, Innsbruck, is 130,000, and it is a university city with 23,000 students. The clusters of Tyrol were established starting with a cooperative project of the EU and the state government called “Regional Innovation and Technology Transfer Strategy (RITTS, 1998-2000)”. Since 2003, Tiroler Zukunftsstifutung(24 staff members) established by the state government in 1997 has been providing support for cluster operations. There are clusters for renewable energy, ICT, life science, wellness, and mechatronics. Although this foundation plays a similar role to TMG, it also carries out independent activities, such as hosting lectures related to energy-efficient architecture at Innsbruck University.
○ South Tyrol (Italy)
South Tyrol is the popular name for the province of Bolzano, which has a population of 480,000. The population of the state capital, Bolzano, is 100,000. The industrial sector is small in South Tyrol, where traditional industries such as food, wood, construction, and mining are the main industries. More than 90 percent of the regional businesses are small businesses with fewer than 10 employees. Moreover, this region is environmentally disadvantaged for pursuing innovation in that it is geographically difficult to build concentrations of businesses and the local technicians are not provided a wide range of training despite having the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano.
The state government is now developing a strategy based on considerations of the region’s characteristics and the idea that it is possible to have an impact on the functioning of the regional economy with intangible forces, such as human resources, knowledge and technology transfers, and business management, without changing the traditional industrial structure. The pillars of the strategy are to provide tools for close partnerships between the public and private sectors, the cooperation of labor for businesses, innovation, and quality improvement and to create clusters to promote these changes. With funding from the EU’s regional development fund, a program introducing “Cooperation and Technological Innovation to Very Small Family-Run Traditional Businesses” was introduced in 2002-2004, and four clusters, including the wood sector, have been created in this process. The cluster for the wood sector, which includes 175 member companies, has been promoting cooperative projects requiring specific investments in areas such as innovation for wooden architecture, indoor lighting, interiors, and marketing.
Based on these experiences, “TIS Innovation Park”, an institution providing functions for technology transfers, incubation, cluster operations, and technological development, was established in Bolzano in 2006. This institution utilizes the existing facilities purchased by the regional government. The present clusters include five fields: food, construction & facility management, wood/technology, sports & winter technology, and ICT. The operations of each cluster are supported by a system of subsidies from the EU, Italy, and the state government.
Innovation Park has 40 staff members with a mean age of 30 years old. Similar to other cases, only one manager is hired for each cluster, and the managers are recruited from other regions of Italy and other countries if a suitable person cannot be found in the region.
Activities to promote international networks are also conducted. A conference of managers from various countries and various regions was held in Vienna in 2007, contributing to the training of managers and the expansion of networks among clusters through the exchanging of experiences among the various clusters.
4. Implementation status of renewable energy industries
This table shows the implementation status of industries related to renewable energy in the three regions described above. In Upper Austria, the “Energy Action Plan” has been in place since 1993. In 1991, the Energy Agency was established to promote energy efficiency, the use of renewable energy resources, innovations in energy technology, the development of regional energy research, the provision of information regarding energy, and the provision of advice to households, the local government, and companies. In addition, the agency supports the operations of the eco-energy cluster established in 2000.
Table 2: Executive institutions of renewable energy policy in each region
In Tyrol, traditional clusters associated with energy-saving housing have been integrated, and Tiroler Zukunftsstifutung has been managing the renewable energy cluster since 2007. At the same time, the Renewable Energy Center was established as a part of the Foundation to provide business support in areas such as technology transfers, applications for subsidies, cooperative projects, correspondence with EU programs, participation in trade shows, and marketing for promising companies in the field (51 companies in the region). The Renewable Energy Center conducted a preliminary survey for a Solar City in 2007 in cooperation with businesses and organizations in both the region and other regions. This survey studied the optimal relationship between the use of renewable energy and the architectural materials/construction for the development projects in the central district (5.4 ha) of the tourist area (population of 10,000). In addition, the Renewable Energy Center is located within this tourist area.
In South Tyrol, the Technology Center was established in 1998 to support relatively young industrial fields, such as renewable energy, but it was integrated into the newly established TIS Innovation Park. The Renewable Energy and Technology Center was established in 2007. The activities of this institution are similar to those of the two previously discussed cases, including feasibility investigations, consultations in the field of technology and law, leadership for research and development project, and the hosting of cooperative conferences for businesses. The institution also conducts energy tours that show people around facilities related to renewable energy and energy saving in the region and also provides training for skilled specialists and conducts marketing for technologies in the region.
As shown in the table, the measures and policies for renewable energy in Tyrol and South Tyrol mainly focus on energy efficiency, the development of human resources for energy management, and industrial development.
Regional revitalization based on renewable energy relies on expanding industry and employment opportunities by producing renewable energy and promoting energy efficiency. However, research, development, and manufacturing of solar panels, biomass-associated equipment, wind-power generators, etc. in South Tyrol are mainly conducted by companies in other regions. Therefore, the main roles of the regional companies are providing technological services related to the efficient use of energy and energy-efficient architecture that responds to the regional climate, manufacturing related equipment, and producing energy-saving architecture.
A new masters program, “CasaClima”, was opened at the Free University of Bolzano in 2008 in order to develop human resources capable of “planning and coordinating projects at the municipal and industrial levels based on energy saving”, and there is a strong need for such human resources in the regional industrial arena.
5. Innovations in tourism: new trends in tourism
Both domestically and overseas, efforts for tourism related to health and wellness have been made in each region. There are two major challenges in this type of new tourism. The first challenge is how to certify the effects or quality of service when using health and wellness to attract tourists (quality certification and quality management). The second challenge is how to provide health and wellness services as a region while working together with tourism businesses, related businesses, and research and education institutions. It is necessary to work together with various fields such as environmental science, health science, sports science, and medical and pharmaceutical science in order to meet the region’s challenges. This also involves securing high-quality service staff and maintaining quality in education, the environment, and landscapes (through the creation of clusters, for example).
○ Activities of the wellness cluster
In the Alps regions, wellness clusters have been playing an active role as shown in the table.
The wellness cluster in Tyrol is operated and supported by the Tiroler Zukunftsstifutung and involves 47 businesses and institutions including tourism businesses, academic research institutions, and related companies. The themes cover a wide range of fields, from wellness-related facilities, the development of various products including cosmetics, and improvements of service quality. Looking at the annual schedule of the cluster, we can see skill practice, seminars, studies of advanced cases ,participation in trade shows,and participation in energy tours conducted by other clusters have been planned. A seminar with the theme of “contributions of the medical field in the wellness field” was organized by medical and rehabilitation experts and held in the year 2008. Although the tourism business has joined Wellness Tirol, this is a cluster that aims to provide policy support, knowledge transfers, and the development and provision of related products for the tourism businesses (such as hotels and resorts).
Welltain is a stay-over program for individuals with metabolic syndrome that is provided by both the tourism association of local ski resorts (head office) along with affiliated hotels, and it provides health checkups and provides instructions to people on how to exercise and relax based on their individual health conditions. This program was developed after the efficacy of one- to three-week stay-over programs was recognized by the Austria medium altitude study (1998 to 2000) conducted in the region.
Table 3: Wellness clusters and their activities
○ Standards for wellness quality and certification systems
The extra-regional cluster (or network, rather) includes organizations that set quality criteria for wellness services in hotels and facility environments and conduct cooperative marketing.
Best Health Austria is a certification organization for hotels, bath facilities, rehabilitation clinics, etc. in Austria. Alpen Wellness certifies hotel resorts in the Alps regions. There are other similar wellness-related certification systems in other countries, including eight in Germany, and this may cause confusion for consumers. For this reason, a project that aims to review and introduce a quality certification system with European standards is underway.
Alpine Pearl, which was originally an EU-supported project (2003 to 2006), is a federation of tourism sites that has created entry criteria related to specific environmental protection policies and conducts cooperative marketing. This organization aims to defy the conventional wisdom that automobile accessibility is necessary for tourism sites. Participating tourism sites include 21 local governments, ranging from fully developed traditional hot spring resorts with good access via public transportation to small-scale local governments in mountain areas far from public transportation. It is an interesting challenge in terms of global warming policy. Incidentally, the EU’s eco label for tourism accommodation services was introduced in 2003. As of 2008, Italy holds the largest number of 82 eco-labeled tourism accommodation facilities.
○ Projects for cooperation among regions
In general, these projects are divided into two types of clusters. Technological clusters are closely linked with research&development and science. One of the keys to competitiveness is innovation based on research& development. On the other hand, knowledge clusters gain competitiveness (innovative force) through the value of experience in the fields of actual production and service. In this regard, the field of tourism has the characteristics of a knowledge cluster. Efforts being made by one business are easy to mimic and efforts and experiences of tourism sites are easily transferred to other regions. That is, the rate of learning is high. Many EU-supported projects in the Alps regions are trying to exchange experiences and promote knowledge transfers among regions to the fullest extent possible.
The Alpshealthcomp Project (2004-2007), which aims toward the “competitiveness and sustainability of the Alps regions as destinations for health and wellness”, has been conducted in regions in Italy, Germany, and Austria. The local governments (or tourism associations) and universities/research institutions of each region participate in pairs to establish a structure for promoting exchanges of experience and knowledge and knowledge transfers among regions, among universities, and between the fields of tourism and research. The achievements of this project have led directly to the activities of “Alpen Wellness”, one of the project members.
“Development of Sustainable Tourism focusing on Wellness (DOSTWELL)” (2005 to 2007) is a project that is more strongly characterized by knowledge transfers and involves local governments and persons affiliated with universities in countries with developed tourism industries, such as Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, as well as tourism associations in the former Balkan states currently undergoing economic recovery, and it also provides advice on specific areas of tourism development through mutual on-site inspections. Even after the project was completed, this organization continues its own activities.
○ Staff training: efforts of OJT
Acquiring the knowledge necessary for health and wellness services is essential for securing quality service. Interesting efforts being made for OJT include an educational program proposed by a research group of the Munich University of Applied Sciences(refer to Chapter 4: Alpshealthcomp). This educational program is an 8-day (60-hour) program based on two pillars: understanding the regional environment (nature, history and culture, sustainable development) and learning about Alpene health (local remedies and therapy, nature sports).
Although unique training programs and regional qualifications are implemented throughout Japan, it is hoped that a more comprehensive and convenient training system for OJT will be constructed based on these efforts in cooperation with local universities.
○ Scientific studies on the healing effects of natural resources
The development of services and products based on scientific evidence and the training of human resources result in increased competitiveness and marketing for a region aiming to become a destination for health and wellness. In the Alps regions, natural healing effects have been studied through research on the region’s water and herbs as well as the Austria medium altitude study, leading to the development of cosmetics, health foods, and therapies (refer to Chapter 4).
In Japan, there have been no surveys like the Austria medium altitude study that have scientifically studied the effects of stay-over programs. It is believed that guidelines based on scientific surveys and literature research at the national or prefectural level may contribute to regional revitalization and health promotion for the people of Japan by promoting destinations for health and wellness.
6. Conclusions
(1) Regional innovation strategies and the establishment of regional cluster policies
As in the EU, there are also various policies and systems for promoting regional innovation in Japan, including industrial cluster plans. How to shape, organize, and direct regional clusters that make active use of these policies and systems, take advantage of regional characteristics, and target specific markets are the challenges facing the communities. In order to face these challenges, there is a need to construct independent regional innovation strategies and cluster policies to promote these strategies.
From the perspective of regions in Japan, Upper Austria, which has a much smaller economy, has a clear direction and clear budget for innovation strategy programs and cluster policies, contributing to leadership for the cooperative development of companies and to marketing. As for regions with weak industrial structures, the efforts of South Tyrol, where clusters corresponding to the regional characteristics have been established, will be helpful.
These regional clusters promote collaboration and networks not only through clusters in the region but also with both domestic and overseas clusters. Industries expand beyond administrative districts. If there are no organizations for managing these clusters, they will end up providing only fragmented networks and fragmented information exchange. Organizations that limit their territories to regional industrial groups, as well as the departments and agencies of local governments that limit themselves to their own administrative districts, cannot take on this managerial role. The establishment of both operational organizations for new clusters corresponding to the conditions of each region as well as mechanisms to create cooperative projects will be required in Japan as well.
(2) Toward the development of renewable-energy industries utilizing regional characteristics
In every new field, there are aspects that are not understood by regional companies, universities, and government-related research institutions. The promotional policies of Upper Austria, the best model in Europe, are as follows:
- Set goals for reducing oil consumption in a region and create an “Energy Action Plan” and an “Energy Efficiency Strategy”
- Establish a “ Energy Agency” as an executive institution for energy policy
- Utilize construction projects of the local government for “research and development”, “technical development”, “accumulation of know-how”, and “training of regional industry”
- Promote the clusterization of renewable-energy industries in regions in order to achieve goals
Only some regions can create value chains that cover the entire renewable-energy industry. Except the regions, there are policies similar to those implemented in Tyrol and South Tyrol that promote the development of renewable-energy industries based on energy-saving architecture and energy-efficient technologies accessible to consumers.
We hope that construction/renovation projects of local governments will be utilized as R&D opportunities for related industries with considerations for the development of renewable-energy-related industries in the regions of Japan. If Japan promotes a global warming policy and the green-energy industries, we believe it is necessary to make efforts to establish Renewable Energy Centers that support regional clusters in each prefecture within a limited time frame to promote R&D in the field of renewable energy industries, which will be useful in the future, and to expand employment opportunities (refer to Chapter 3).
(3) Toward the promotion of health and wellness tourism
Tourism is a field in which it is possible to transfer various types of knowledge by exchanging experiences. Similarly, various products and services have been developed in the field of health and wellness tourism. However, such efforts will be limited to product development if not based on an understanding of the attractions of entire tourist sites, the conservation of environments, and town development based on such understanding. The natural environment and scenery, as well as the quality of townscapes, are essential conditions for establishing destinations for wellness and health tourism. That is, comprehension of the natural environment, the regional culture, sustainability, and health services will contribute to the potential competitiveness of the region. Clusters and networks for promoting cooperation with research and educational institutions, scientific research on local remedies, local production for local consumption, etc. provide the means for shaping and utilizing this competitiveness effectively to connect it the provision of wellness and health services.
The following is a summary of the challenges for promoting wellness tourism based on the above points (refer to Chapter 6):
1. True decentralization and independence of each region are important
2. Promoting interaction and cooperation among primary, secondary, and tertiary industries
3. Combining environment protection with tourism leads to regional development
4. The need to develop comprehensive products focused on town development
5. The need to establish educational institutions to improve the quality of wellness services and develop human resources
6. Maintaining support systems and networks for the development of wellness tourism clusters
Along with the “health business federation” concept of Niigata prefecture, various specific projects related to “health and wellness tourism” have been established through Japan. In terms of promoting health and wellness tourism as well as international tourism in Japan, the creation of collaborative projects between such leading regions and regions both in Japan and other countries is believed to be important for enhancing regional innovation and promoting international tourism.
In this study, we were provided invaluable advice and support from many people for the surveys conducted both in Japan and in other countries. We would like to express our thanks and our appreciation to the Research Institute for Hi-Life Foundation, who offered us an opportunity to conduct our research, as well as everyone at the head office.
Mag.Ferdinand Thaler/Amt der Tiroler Landesregierung
Mag.Robert Ranzi/Tiroler Zukunftsstiftung
Dr.Mag.Georg Gobel/Medizinische Universitat Innsbruck
Mr.Guido Sandforth/TIS innovation park
Mr. Josef Turtsher/Biosphareparkmanegement
Mr.Ducly Remo/Mayor,Comone di Chamois
Mr.Cassiano Pascal/Mayor,Comune di La Salle
Mr.Mauro Alliod/Region Autonome Vallee d’Aoste
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Chapter 4 Items seen in the survey about eating habits and reality of the families with infants or children 1) Summary-Research enforcement In this Chapter, we summarized the consciousness and reality concerning dietary lives of mothers and children subjecting 320 mothers with infants or children (the first born, under 12-years of age) that live in the metropolitan area. Result of the research is as follows,
2) Summary of the research ＊To grasp the reality of Shokuiku of families with infants or children Among 10 items of the Dietary Life Guidance set by Ministry of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, we selected 3 aspects such as "action", "nutrition", and "emotion" to follow, and we defined the reality of Shokuiku by listening to mothers with under 12-year-old children about their consciousness and the reality with both themselves and their children. ＊Selection of three aspects among 10 Dietary Life Guidelines.
＊Listening research to mothers about consciousness of reality of themselves and under12-year-old children are enforced according to each aspect as follows,
3) Subject of improving Shokuiku We arranged subjects to be solved and concluded them as follows, a) lack of knowledge for realization ex: cooking variation/how to cook/knowledge about nutrition or calories b) lack of times to learn knowledge to realize it.(too busy) ex: no times for learning or cooking c) lack of opportunity to practice (in case if having enough times) ex: no opportunity for learning, showing or giving experience to children d) reluctant and troublesome ex: troublesome to cook (easy for getting on the market) /reluctant to study
4) Tendency seen in the whole result of the research The fundamental family life consisting of well-regulated life and healthy dietary life : well-regulated dietary life. To realize well-regulated life, parents would cook 3 daily meals for their children and take three complementary actions such as shopping, cooking and cleaning up together with children. These practices would be effective in reducing wasteful eating between meals and well understanding of breakfast’s indispensability. Additionally these children would gain well-regulated living customs of going to bed early or rising early, attain such goals as "Acting in the morning" "Weighing oneself" or "Knowing foodstuff". However, inside each family, there are lots of restrictions caused by parents, which interrupt accomplishment of each goal. These obstacles are "Going to bed late (both of parents and children)", "Ignorance about how to cook", "Cannot afford cooking times", "Wishing to finish preparation quickly" or "Reluctant to shop, prepare, clean or create menus" and so on. In view of the three aspects the main subjects of our study being "action", "nutrition" and "emotion", it can be seen that "eating breakfast" gains high ratio of practice though, we focused on other subjects such as "Eating 3 regulated-meals, well-balanced nutrition and eating together with the family members". Regarding, "To cook well-balanced meals" it is necessary for parents to have knowledge about nutrition of food stuffs, to hand down well-balanced meals to children and to think of variety of menus children will eat without unbalanced-diet. However, there are such fundamental restrictions as "Cannot let children eat what they hate", "Cannot educate about nutrition to children", "Cannot understand what well-balanced foods are" or "Cannot think of menus or how to cook". These will become a big theme to solve and we have to develop a way to approach them. "Having meals with family-members" fundamental theme in "the aspect of emotion" is appropriate education in which children would learn manners and politeness, gratitude for foods, nutrition and not to leave leftovers. Therefore such education would lead children join preparation or cleaning of their meals and consequently, create appropriate inherited style of dietary life handed down from parents to children. But there are still some restrictions caused by such scattered times of each life style as "father’s late returning to home" "Children busy for some lessons or private tutoring" "Parents, staying up late for their private times after children went to bed". These issues above indicate us that we have to lead them to understand and absorb what well-balanced nutrition is, together with knowledge about cuisine or food stuffs in order to realize what they learned in their dietary lives. Then we have to suggest dietary cuisine that is matched to a change of daily lives, especially, to accepted matters throughout the year. Additionally we also consider it may be necessary for us to suggest about ways to spend their dietary lives during holidays connecting with seasonal foods, according to each unit of family’s present life-style. It is quite natural for fathers to return home late because they live in suburbs. Considering increase of percentage of employed housewives, it would be difficult for to be expected to continue housework-style as before. Therefore, we have to start realization of the family-table by each unit, offering foodstuffs and cuisines matched with meals in holidays and meals even on weekdays or Japanese events or festivals. The percentage of people eating breakfast seen in our research is increasing by the effort of each organization and it is also improving among families with infants or children though, we consider that just eating breakfast is not enough. We have to completely customize well-balanced nutrition by foodstuffs or menus and stress the importance of eating- breakfast with the family. To accomplish it, we have to suggest what parents do with their children. It is important to customize feelings of "togetherness" for example, as if children would say to their parents "It’s good, in the morning, with my family" when they drink milk or vegetable juice. And it is reasonable that a nutritionist would think about well-balanced menus though, we would also suggest additional menus which contain meanings of eating foodstuffs and pleasure of eating with the family or importance of customization. By the way, recently there are some negative opinions that children eat custom made foods by catering or delicatessens though, which cannot be denied because of some merits as saving time or supplemental aid for the lack of knowledge of menus or nutritious balance of foods. And when you buy these cooked foods at stores you could suggest to children that they take variety kinds of foods like "the healthy method of eating 30 items" and reduce their leftover items and then you would improve Shokuiku education as much as the education in schools.
Chapter 5: Shokuiku approach for the families with infants or children
Organizational structure of the research Planning and promotion Fumio Hasegawa, Professor of Meiji University, School of Global Japanese Studies Research and promotion Kazuo Midorikawa, CEO of Digital-Image Tadakazu Fukutomi, PROFESSOR, Senshu University Hirohiko Koyamada, CEO of Think Communications, Inc Akio Kunii, Chief researcher of InfoCom Research, Inc. Research partners Kazuhiro Niinuma, Counselor of Office of the President, Wellness Department, Namco Bandai Games, Inc. Yujiro Ono, Chief researcher, Research Laboratory of Human Amusement, AM Specialized Machine Development Department, Namco Bandai Games, Inc. Hisakazu Hirabayashi, CEO of INTERact Shuzo Ueda, Director of Kyoto International Manga Museum Chapter 1: Purpose of the Research 1-1. Background So-called “Content”, which includes manga, anime, and video game, has been consumed mainly for the purposes of entertainment and leisure-time amusement. However, Content has started to garner attention in areas other than entertainment due to its friendliness and its eye-catching characteristics. It has started to be used for the purposes of improving everyday convenience in particular. For example, manga is now very familiar because it even appears in various instruction manuals and community pamphlets. In addition, manga and anime have started to be used for educational purposes to promote understanding regarding luxury grocery items or cuisines, such as wine. Additionally, the game console Wii, which was released last year by Nintendo, can function as a sport simulator and serves as a lifestyle-oriented device in various areas, such as health management. This trend will be accelerated with the development of our information-driven network society. In this research, we will investigate the relationship between Content and everyday life by researching current conditions and trends. 1-2. Purpose of the research With the above background in mind, the purpose of this research is as follows. (1) To study the potential usage of Content (manga, anime, video games, etc.) in areas other than entertainment. (2) To analyze how Content creators view the relationship between Content and everyday life. (3) To identify and pni-che Niredict how Content will be involved in our everyday lives. 1-3. Details of the research We will conduct research in the following specific areas.
]]> Chapter 2: Lifestyles Created by Content 2-1. Recent trends related to Content (1) What is Content? In common usage, the term "hardware" refers to physical components while "software" refers to intangibles, such as information and know-how. With the arrival of computer technology, those intangibles have started to be recognized as tangibles. This idea began spreading among the general public when computer software was first distributed through physical media, such as floppy disks and CD-ROM. Traditionally, an automobile was viewed as a mere physical object; however, it started to be considered as an assembly composed of software. Automobile manufacturers not only assemble various parts but also regulate and adjust every part so that they can produce high-quality, trouble-free cars. People started to recognize that these kinds of effort are the basis for industrial competitiveness in Japan. Such concepts of software as know-how are difficult to verbalize and cannot be considered by treating the concepts separately. Thinking in this way, we realize that the concept of "software" has expanded. We all know that the essence of software cannot be seen with our eyes, but from the perspective of software developers, software forms an actual substance called a computer program that is written in a clear, strict language. However, software such as the "Toyota way" cannot necessarily be seen in the same ways because they constitute "tacit knowledge." Separately from the expanded concept of software, the term Content is now widely used. Content is also a form of information and can be transferred, copied, and distributed. In this aspect, Content is a type of software and not hardware. In addition, like the example of the automobile industry, it incorporates tacit know-how. So, why bother using the term "Content"? Content refers to items like video games, manga, anime, and novels, which will be discussed later. Obviously, these are not hardware but software; however, they are different from computer programs. Also, in terms of usefulness, they are not "noise" but "information"; however, they have different aspects compared to information such as news. One distinguishing characteristic of Content is that it is not a means to accomplish something else; rather, the Content itself is the end. In other words, Content is eventually consumed. For example, a computer program is a form of software, but the software itself is not consumed. The usefulness of a program exists in its ability to perform a specific task on the computer. As for news, although there are some types of news that are purely for entertainment purposes, the main purpose of news is to understand and investigate economic and social trends so that people can determine their own courses of action by referring to the information. Content is information that is worth being seen, heard, and operated. That is to say, Content is itself an object of human desire, like the desire to eat. We started this research from the perspective that Content has characteristics that satisfy fundamental human desires, which are an essential part of human existence. This is the reason why Content can be a powerful tool when applied to different fields. Moreover, the know-how involved in Content production should provide a common basis that can be used in various different fields. (2) Recent trends related to Content Traditionally, Content has been consumed for amusement or entertainment purposes. This has meant that the purpose of Content has had a rather negative association. People have spent most of their time working to live and learning to survive. In such a society, which is precisely the kind of society we currently live in, things like "leisure", "entertainment", and "amusement" are unnecessary and therefore unappreciated. However, a fundamental change in values is now emerging. Although the importance of Content has started to be recognized, the consumption of Content has been rather poor. Sales of game software, which constitutes the biggest portion of Content consumption in Japan, hit a record of 1.3 trillion yen in 2006; however, past data show that after it reached 1.23 trillion yen in 1997, it continued to drop and stayed at around 1 trillion yen for several years since 2000. As shown in Diagram 2-2, after the highest record of 580 billion yen in 1997, sales of software for home-use game consoles in particular dropped by almost a half to 309 billion yen in 2003 and have not yet returned to the peak number. As for manga magazines, "Shonen Jump" itself boasted a circulation of more than 6 million copies at one time; however the number has been dropping and is below 3 million now. As for anime, sales have been better since the DVD market opened up compared to when distribution relied heavily on TV; however, sales seem to have stopped growing lately. As far as music is concerned, there used to be more than 20 million-seller albums each year between 1995 and 2001; however, there were only 6 such albums in 2006 and 3 in 2007. Although online distribution businesses have been growing, these account for only 5% of overall sales and are not enough to compensate for other losses.
Diagram 2-1: Trends in sales in the Japanese Content industry
Diagram 2-2: Trends in the sales of game software
Note: Numbers are cited from each year's "CESA Games White Paper" (for game software for home-use) and "Digital Content White Paper" (for online games and cell-phone games).
Diagram Created by Kazuo Midorikawa
After this downturn, a dramatic change occurred in the gaming industry. It all started when a handheld game console called Nintendo DS was released. Nintendo DS (hereafter referred to as "DS") was first released in December 2004, and the total unit sales in Japan have exceeded 23 million as of October 2008 (reported by Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo, at the Nintendo Fall Conference 2008). This number continued to grow after its newest model, called DSi, was released. The growth rate is incredible considering that it took Sony 2 years and 9 months to sell 20 millions units of its Playstation 2 (See Diagram 2-3)
Diagram 2-3: Comparison of sales growth rates of DS and PS2
Excerpt from materials presented at the 2008 Nintendo DS Fall Conference
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/conference2008fall/presen/index.html
In addition, there is the astounding fact that about half of DS users were women while more than 90% of PS2 users were men, according to Nintendo research team. The majority of PS2 users were predominantly males aged between 18 and 20. On the other hand, DS has two major user groups, which are users aged between 10 and 12 and users aged between 30 and 32. In addition, the distribution of the user groups is much less clustered. Game consoles used to be limited primarily to young males, but now, the user base has dramatically broadened.
Diagram 2-4: Sex and age distribution of DS users (Nintendo research)
Excerpt from materials presented at the 2008 Nintendo DS Fall Conference
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/conference2008fall/presen/index.html
Research shows that DS users enjoy playing games with their family members. Based on Nintendo's research as of July 2008, the number of users for one game console is 1.8 for PSP, 2.8 for DS, and 3.4 for Wii, which is a stationary game console. Moreover, when it comes to the number of DS consoles owned per family, for families that already own at least one DS, the number is 1.8. This means that multiple DS consoles are likely to be owned by a single family.
Chart 2-1: Number of DS users in one household and number of DS consoles owned per household
Excerpt from materials presented at the 2008 Nintendo DS Fall Conference
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/conference2008fall/presen/index.html
This phenomenon can be described as a revolution, or a Content Revolution, in the gaming industry.
DS is a handheld game console. The distinguishing features are its dual screens and intuitive interface that includes a stylus. However, these characteristics alone cannot explain its rapid success.
(3) How DS is used
The significant characteristic of Nintendo DS is that it is used as a communication tool among family members, particularly children and their mothers as indicated by the fact that the two main user groups are users around 10 years old and users in their early 30s. There is also a peak around the age of 30 among males, so we can infer that fathers may be using the DS to communicate with their children as well. DS is a game machine that can be enjoyed by everybody, with anyone, everyday because it allows users to play games with two or more players by connecting multiple units with cables.
There is a DS game software that has been a huge hit . It is called "Animal Crossing: Wild World". As with "Brain Age", it has sold a total of 4 million copies within Japan and 10 million copies around the world. It has become a mega-hit.
In this game, there is a community maintained by animals. The life in the village is a strange mixture of primitive and modern lifestyles; for example, users have to apply for a mortgage when they join the village, but they are not forced to work to pay it off. Users can go to the forest to gather fruits to sell them at a supermarket. Users can also earn some money by helping postal workers. With the money earned, users can buy a fishing rod so that they can fish in the river or a TV. The users work to get along with the other villagers, and so on. The story continues in this way in an endless manner.
"Animal Crossing" was criticized by software creators for lacking the conventional elements of game play, and it has been said that it would have never entered the market if it had been developed by a conventional game company.
In the past, typical game users would line up in front of a game store to get the newest game on the release date and then play the game all the way to the end all night long before selling it off at a second-hand store. On the other hand, for "Animal Crossing", young women often play the game everyday for 20 to 30 minutes before going to bed.
Obviously, something has changed. The virtual and real worlds are being bound together and brought into daily life.
Another characteristic of DS is that educational software is making explosive sales. These kinds of software had previously not been recognized as games, but "Brain Age: Train Your Brain in a Minute a Day", which was released in May 2005 under the editorship of Dr. Kawashima of Tohoku University, boasts sales of 3.7 million copies. In addition to this, other educational software making a big hit including "English Training: Have Fun Improving Your Skills" (2 million copies), "Imasara Hito ni wa Kikenai Otona no Jōshikiryoku Training DS (Common Sense Training)" (1.5 million copies), and "Shaberu! DS Oryōri Navi (It talks! DS Cooking Navigator)" (0.9 million copies). One noteworthy fact is the sales of such practical software are not temporary; instead, these games have been in high demand for a long time since they were first released.
(4) Why is Nintendo DS so well accepted?
We asked the developers about their intentions. At the 2005 Nintendo DS Fall Conference held on October 5, 2005, Satoru Iwata, the president of Nintendo, stated: "We developed this product with the intention that every user, regardless of age, sex, or gaming experience, could enjoy video games from the same starting point. In order to accomplish this, we incorporated various features into the device, such as the dual-screen, the touch-screen, microphone input, and wireless communication."
For conventional game consoles, including Nintendo Famicon and Sony Playstation, game controllers have been developed to allow players to perform delicate operations. For example, the Nintendo's patented cross-shaped gamepad allows players to maneuver a character in a game in up/down and right/left directions. Pushing the upper and right keys at the same time in the correct way makes the character jump to the upper right so that it can leap over an obstacle or the like. This means that the more a user practices, the higher their scores become. As motivation is one of the most important factors of a game, this works out favorably. Players are motivated to practice more to accomplish their goals. However, once the player finishes one game, they tend to ask for more difficult games. Therefore, the next version of the game must require higher levels of techniques. In this way, the level of difficulty of a game begins spiraling upward to a point where a novice player can no longer play. As a result, it became difficult for new users to join in while existing users got older and became more fanatical over the years.
This is how the game industry ended up suffering drops in sales in the area of home-use game software. Based on the lessons from this situation, Nintendo developed a new game console with a new concept that "every user, regardless of age, sex, or gaming experience, could enjoy video games from the same starting point."
As for hardware, the most noticeable characteristic is the dual-screen or double-screen. In fact, the name "DS" stands for “Double Screen”. The screens can be used in various ways. For example, the upper screen can be used to display the general situation while the lower screen is used to display the details. Moreover, the lower screen can be used as a touch-panel input screen to compensate for space limitations. It is a revolutionary idea.
However, improvements in hardware alone would never create such a big hit. To create a game revolution, software would perform a vital role. Although Nintendo does not make any statements regarding software, one of the biggest factors is that they were able to start selling various software, including software that was not considered marketable, by implementing a policy of “Entertaining All Customers” and doing away with severe screening processes on the marketability of various types of software.
In addition, as the technology of game consoles continued to improve since PS2 was released, the hardware started to provide high-definition graphics and became capable of handling advanced image processing, causing software development costs to skyrocket from several hundreds of millions of yen to several billions of yen. To reduce the risk of irrecoverable costs, most companies ended up rehashing popular software through so-called version upgrades. Diagram 2-6 shows the percentage of game software among the top 30 and top 100 sellers that are a part of a series. In 2003, the majority of games were "version upgrades", which accounted for 93% of the top 30 and 86% of the top 100.
Diagram 2-6: Percentage of game software that is part of a series (Top 100)
Note: Data taken from "Shukan Famitsu" and aggregated by Kazuo Midorikawa
On the other hand, because DS was developed as a handheld game console, the production cost was low at several tens of millions of yen. That is a big factor for its success because Nintendo was able to easily take risks of losses at this level. As evidenced by Diagram 2-6, the number of newly released software increased in 2005, which is when the production of DS software moved into high gear.
The main reason behind the success of DS is not exactly because they intentionally tried to develop marketable software. Instead, their success was largely a result of the circumstances in which they had more opportunities to produce various types of software that met user needs.
Nintendo discovered the needs for such software and expanded the genres covered. At the abovementioned conference, President Iwata made the following comment. This comment itself is clear evidence that they are taking this direction. "According to our research, overall, customers are satisfied with ‘Brain Age’. However, the biggest request we’ve received from our users is that they want to try more different types of training. So, we responded to this need and produced ‘Brain Age 2’".
Now we understand that they intended to provide hardware that "everyone can enjoy", but one question still remains: how did "non-game" software, which had once been considered "unmarketable", become so popular?
(5) Why makes Content interesting?
As stated in the first chapter, Content itself is an object of human desire. This means that the act of consuming Content provokes positive human feelings, such as interest. Now, why do people find Content interesting? Understanding the answer is important in order to utilize Content in everyday life. Content becomes useful when its methodology is applied to various fields, not when its actual form of representation, such as manga or games, is directly transferred to other fields.
We will now examine two different types of Content. The first is story-type Content, such as novels, movies, anime, and manga. The second is interactive game Content that changes based on the operations of a user.
Among the story-type Contents, advanced analysis has been conducted on hits in the movie business, where huge investments are required and around 100 years of experience has been accumulated. Such analyses are most advanced in Hollywood and are not simply film critiques based on little evidence; rather, almost like a proven theory, it gets to the point where certain factors always lead to big hits and the absence of certain factors always lead to failure ).
The following are some of the findings that have been accumulated in Hollywood. We have summarized the knowledge at our own discretion based on our own subjective views.
]]> Why hospitality is now important: assumptions and challenges 1. Definition of the concept of hospitality First, we would like to define the concept of hospitality according to our understanding. The original meaning of the word "hospitality" is "hospitable treatment". Therefore, when we try to determine the meaning of hospitality, the question begins from a situation in which "I" welcome and entertain "you". Furthermore, the relationship between "I" and "you" created in this situation and the roles of "I" and "you" that are redefined through this situation become the core questions. In other words, the essence of the question of the meaning of hospitality is to clarify the nature and characteristics human relationships as seen in the situation of "hospitable treatment" as well as to clarify individual roles that can be seen in this relationship in detail. Human relationships typically established in the social reality in which we live entails elements or characteristics involving private interests or private gain, or "those in control and those being controlled" and "taking advantage of others to achieve one’s own goals". We will call relationships that entail such elements or characteristics "exchange relationships" as the concept of a "market" comes to mind as a typical example of such relationships. That is, we live in a "market" where individuals sell and buy (exchange) goods (products) to seek profits. An "exchange relationship" can be seen as a typical example of the relationships between individuals in the "market". On the other hand, this "exchange relationship" includes element of "power relationships" because it involves the control and use of others. This "power relationship" will finally converge with the relationships between those in control and those being controlled in our "nation". Human relationships in the social reality in which we live are basically composed of "exchange/power relationships" that converge with the "market" and the "nation". How do human relationships work in a situation of "hospitable treatment"? Establishing genuine "hospitable treatment" has simply been difficult in our society because the conditions for establishing "hospitable treatment" are fundamentally different from those for establishing an "exchange/power relationship", which describes most relationships in our society. The most important precondition for truly establishing "hospitable treatment" is an attitude of "thinking and acting by putting yourself in another’s shoes", or in other words, treating others based on the concept of "generous treatment". That is to say, the essence of "hospitable treatment" is the simple intention to bestow something regardless of economic interests. Thoughts of private interests or private gains are not involved, and if such elements are involved, bestowal will not occur and the concept of "hospitable treatment" will be lost. Of course, the control and use of others are not involved. The basis of "hospitable treatment" is to have an exchange of feelings of happiness, or an "exchange of wishes", obtained through simple bestowals that will be realized when people act by placing themselves in others’ shoes. With this "exchange of wishes", a pure relationship that does not involve any elements of domination or exploitation will be established. Interactive will power and efforts work to establish such relationships. A relationship involving such will power and efforts is a relationship of "cooperativity" that simultaneously includes the meanings of "existing together" (cooperativity) and "working together" (collaboration). We would like to define the realization of such a relationship of cooperativity in a situation of "hospitable treatment" that aims toward an exchange of wishes and is principally different from an "exchange/power relationship" as the essence of hospitality. We would like to roughly translate hospitality, for which we can hardly find an appropriate word in Japanese, as "cooperativity with an exchange of wishes" for now. The relationship between "I" and "you" is not established based on a relationship between two people basing their identities on their egos and thinking only of private gains, nor is it a forced relationship of domination imposed from an authority of a higher rank. A relationship with an "exchange of wishes" means that "I" and "you" establish a relationship while realizing simple harmony and communication from the deepest parts of "I" and "you". This is what it means to share "happiness", or to "please" others. The way such a relationship functions is the way a relationship of "cooperativity" based on "doing something together to create something" functions. The conditions for simultaneously realizing the disappearing concepts of "autonomy" and "coexistence" in a society where "exchange/power relationships" are dominant become apparent in a meaningful way for the first time through such relationships based on "cooperativity with an exchange of wishes" (conditions for structuring social relationship in which self-fulfillment can simultaneously be the fulfillment of others). This is the basic focal point of our hospitality study. Hospitality is nothing but the practice of "cooperativity with an exchange of wishes". Here, we will clarify the following points: why hospitality is now being focused on, and what we are aiming toward and trying to seek through the concept of hospitality. 2. Goals of hospitality It is easy to describe the aims and goals of hospitality verbally because the goal of hospitality is to "realize pleasure". "Pleasure" as used here refers to when people can be truly relaxed while their body and mind are released from various pressures or stresses and they can live and work in such a relaxed condition. "Realizing pleasure" is the only aim of hospitality. It is not easy to clarify the conditions for realizing pleasure experienced with a totally relaxed mind and body, or the conditions for us to live and work based on such "pleasure", and the reasons why this realization of "pleasure" should be consciously pursued in the first place. The difficulty of the challenge of hospitality actually lies in these points. Here, the challenges of hospitality lead to basic questions regarding our existence and demand changes in our thinking. 3. Nature itself is the internal substance of life"Pleasure" as referred to previously?that is, the core challenge of hospitality that includes the realization of conditions in which the body and mind are completely relaxed?is deeply related to the nature of life, which is the basis of our existence. The word "pleasure" fundamentally refers to a condition with signs of our healthy life. Our lives are rooted in nature. More specifically, our life is one of the organic elements of nature. Nature in this context refers not only to the external material environment but also to the fact that the basis of nature is rooted in the extremely long history of the Earth, which was born several billion years ago and where the phenomenon of life was created when various factors came together, and that it has promoted the phenomenon of life through the processes toward high development. Therefore, nature in this context refers to the overall global environment, which allows for and supports the phenomenon of life that has been created over the long history of the Earth. Along with the fundamental elements, such as water, air, land, and energy, it includes the entirety of the great ecological linkages from the level of DNA, which promotes reproduction and the development of life while organically connecting these elements together, to the level of metabolism, sustention, and prosperity of individual organisms, types, and classes of life. The entirety of life on Earth, including human beings, has been part of the creation and various developments of history while being supported by such nature. This suggests that nature is the true internal substance of life. 4. Acquiring intelligence and creating sociocultural environments It is clear that human beings are at the apex of the history of the various developments of life, and in the process of developing life activities, human beings have acquired the ability to think and make decisions, called "intelligence", that cannot be found in any other species through the explosive advanced development of the brain (especially the frontal lobe), most likely due to the impact of the fact that human beings no longer lived in the trees and started walking upright on the ground. The intelligence that human acquired separated from the organic chain of the eco-system known as nature where human beings belonged and could be used consciously. The first step was the invention of tools, followed by the use of language. With these inventions, human beings have created sociocultural environments as man-made secondary biological environments that are distinguished from the primary biological environment of nature. For the first time, the primary nature became an outside element for human beings. Human history has achieved rapid developments in the sociocultural environments that we may refer to as the second nature. In several million years, which is extremely short in the context of the entire history of the Earth, and only 100 thousand years since the birth of Homo sapiens, modern humans that are directly linked to us, human beings have established systems that could completely use the entirety of nature that the Earth had created over several billion years as resources for the development of sociocultural environments. It is clear that the advanced development of "tools (technology)" and "language (communication)" as vehicles for employing intellectual functions in dealing with nature were the bases of these systems. The history of industrial civilization as a system of complete organization and efficiency in using nature was born as part of this development. 5. Realization and awareness of the substance and conditions of life Before we discuss industrial civilization, we would like to return to the basic foundation for considering the issues of human life. Human beings have certainly created sociocultural environments that were distinguished from the primary biological environment with their intellectual powers. However, this does not mean that human beings are completely separated as a life form from the primary biological environment, namely the foundation of nature. Even if the brain functions are enhanced and the intellectual level becomes higher, nature is what supports the basis of the existence of humans as a life form. This is an example based on senses and impressions, but let us think about a situation in which you are in bed because you have caught a cold and have a fever. In this situation, we often experience that the normal surrounding environment appears different. For example, objects may appear blurred and we may overreact to noises and lose sense of our vertical and horizontal orientation. This phenomenon occurs when the framework of the sociocultural environment that we maintain on a routine basis becomes unclear due to the illness. More specifically, the boundary between yourself and the outside environment, which you can clearly distinguish in "normal" conditions, becomes unclear because the level of consciousness that supports our intellectual functions is decreased due to symptoms such as fever or chill. In other words, the distinction between the primary biological environment and our sociocultural environment that is supported by the functioning of our intellectual consciousness becomes unclear, and we are therefore pulled toward the primary biological environment. That is, we are brought closer to the level of more natural life forms. This situation is certainly caused by the illness. In other words, we believe, as part of our common sense, that such imbalances should not occur in "normal" conditions. However, is this really true? I emphasize the word "normal" because I have some doubts in our common-sense understanding that the normal condition is one in which the primary biological environment and sociocultural environment are completely separated and that if you cannot completely distinguish them, you are simply affected by illness or are in an abnormal condition. Even if we are not sick, our five senses react to various signs or stimuli that we usually do not notice in our daily lives. In these moments, we are feeling the rhythms of life in our body that are at the bottom of our consciousness and that we hardly notice. That is, we are feeling the rhythms of life inside us that are created by several elements, such as breathing and inner circulation as well as cutaneous and visceral sensations. It may be appropriate to refer to this as our "inner nature". There is the word "awareness" in English, which means "feeling" or "self-awareness" according to the dictionary, but this is substantially different from "consciousness". The word "aware" originally refers to realization. The derivative word, awareness, literally means "to realize". This "realization" is not the level of superficial awareness that the word "consciousness" represents, but it indicates a deeper level of "realization" of our "inner nature", or a self-awareness resulting from such "realization". Various elements of our brain functions that were previously unknown to us have become apparent with recent remarkable developments in neuroscience. The wide range of activities and the diversity of the brain, like the universe itself, that go beyond the intellectual mechanisms based on the frontal lobe suggest that our brain is also a part of nature that should be compared with an ecosystem that has organic collectiveness and integration. To be more accurate, it suggests that the brain is an element of the organic collectiveness of our inner nature that our body and mind create. At the same time, it also suggests that functions such as programming, classification, divisibility, and adjustment that provide analogies for the logistic thinking process controlled by the brain are integrated with the nature of life, namely the functions of homeostasis (homeostatic function) of the base sequences of DNA or cell composition and the autonomic nervous system, the immune system, and the endocrine system at the basis of our life activities, as our inner nature and create an organic unity that cannot be understood with dualistic concepts such as "nature as outside environment" vs. "life forms", "materials" vs. "spirit", or "body" vs. "mind", or a unity of our outer and inner natures as an autonomous and holistic inner environment. To further clarify this point, the way our life works is supported by an "organic unity" that is created by a balance between nature as a primary biological environment and our sociocultural environment as the second nature. That is, this unity is created when these two natures separate from each other while simultaneously interacting with and penetrating each other, and it is therefore supported by overall harmony. It certainly exists in the deeper parts of our consciousness in our daily lives, and we are rarely clearly aware of it. However, self-defense reactions to outside threats, indicated by phenomena such as pain and fever, are definitely the manifestation of life functions for recovering harmony or balance in this inner nature, and this balance is the basic condition of existence of humans as a life form. 6. Forgetting our "natural balance" and "life of inner nature" The reason why we have discussed these issues, which may seem to be unrelated to hospitality, in such detail is that understanding the substance and conditions of life will provide the necessary assumptions for considering the challenges of hospitality. We have already mentioned that human beings have created sociocultural environments, known collectively as industrial civilization, through their intellectual abilities. What happened next? Described simply, over the course of development in the history of industrial civilization, human beings forgot about the balance with nature as the primary biological environment that defines the conditions of human existence. This also means that they forgot the rhythms of life as inner nature. For human beings, being at the apex in the history of development of life forms, it was necessary that only areas of the brain related to the intellect underwent remarkable development. In fact, they created an extremely highly developed man-made second nature that only human beings could create referred to as the sociocultural environment. One of the consequences of this development was the condition of industrial civilization created based on the modern city environment. However, this resulted in strengthening the extremely unnatural aspects of human beings at the same time. Because the various challenges that human beings normally had to take on while directly dealing with the primary nature were taken on and replaced by technical measures that were created in the man-made sociocultural environment, human beings drastically decreased the number of opportunities in which they could become aware of the way they should live through interactions with the primary nature. That is, in the industrial civilized sociocultural environment, human beings slowly started to forget about opportunities to arouse their inner nature. Forgetting their inner nature meant a decline in the fundamental functions of life. More specifically, it resulted in a weakening of the awareness created in the organic unity between outer and inner nature. The ability to perceive the various trends of outer nature through the five senses, the ability to feel tiny signs of changes in our life environment through touch or cutaneous sensations, and the ability to quickly sense threats or dangers to life caused by imbalances have diminished to an extreme degree. The extremely stunning SF animation drama titled the "Ghost in the Shell" series created by Mamoru Oshii, one of Japan’s most well-known anime creators, presents a vision of a future in which human beings have android bodies and freely exchange brain functions, especially knowledge or memory, as information using computer terminals. This means that the nature of human beings is completely absorbed into the artificial side, resulting in the entire bodies of the human beings, except the intellectual part of the brain, being replaced with man-made technology. Oshii’s world may be just a fantastic story, but the allegoric situation depicted in the story is not simply a fairy tale and requires serious consideration. When we look at the situation around us, the number of people who cannot perform very simple actions or make decisions has been drastically increasing, especially in the younger generation. There are many people around us who have not acquired the very basic manners of the body and mind involving not only natural communication with and compassion, consideration, concern for others and the handling of sensations and life events but also natural expressions of emotion, such as crying to express sadness or shouting for joy during periods of happiness, and having a sense of sympathy and solidarity with others. These are the results of forgetting to realize that such manners are necessary, or forgetting about awareness. This situation is created as our inner nature, a condition for such realization, continues to be replaced by man-made measures. We can probably describe it as a condition in which one is dozing off in an artificial world where there is no direct connection to nature, like a pupae in a cocoon. This is the image of human beings after pursuing unnatural aspects. I think the world of "Ghost in the Shell" created by Oshii is an allegory for this situation. Of course, this situation involves an aspect we can call evolution because it is the result of the development of technical measures that decrease our various toils and the pursuit of usefulness and efficiency. On the other hand, we cannot forget that such unnatural aspects, or forgetting our inner nature, creates horrible consequences. Excessive dependency on drugs or the Internet especially in younger generation is currently a problem in the advanced societies of the developed industrial world. It can be said that this was caused when people became unable to feel that they were alive and find evidence of own existence from within their own inner natures because the functions of nature and life were replaced by man-made technical measures. Needless to say, the forgetting of realization and awareness is the basis of this problem. When this situation becomes more serious, it leads to situations in which people view their inner nature or their lives as unnecessary and tend to become aggressive. Phenomena of self-inflicted damage that have been drastically increasing among the younger generation, including social withdrawal, the desire to "reset", anorexia or bulimia caused by excessive dieting, attention-deficit and panic disorders, depression, the slitting of one’s own wrists, OD (taking excessive amounts of painkillers or tranquilizers at once), are all specific signs of suicidal urges. In such conditions, people attack their own inner natures and their own lives with the will to end up in the critical situation of death. It is a situation where human beings as a life form are "breaking apart", to use a word commonly used among young people. Another aspect of these phenomena may be that they are warnings from our inner natures and our lives. Female hysteria, which was defined by Freud, was very common in the advanced society of 19th-century England, and it was caused by inner nature when it opposed the excessive oppression of the body in an explosive way due to man-made rules imposed by industrial civilization. Similarly, the above syndromes may constitute a rebellion against the inner natural oppression that has extended to the entire body and mind by the man-made environments of industrial civilization. Such oppressions of inner nature and the resulting deterioration and weakening of awareness coupled with the urge to attack oneself have been fundamentally threatening the environment for our existence because while the urge to attack one’s own inner nature may merely be an attack on one’s own self, it may easily change to attacks on others. In reality, there are many cases in the world in which people seek violence or bloodshed. Almost everyday, the mass media reports that there have been inexplicable murder cases that can only be described as indiscriminant and unprovoked. Although it still remains a limited social phenomenon, there are serious lessons to learn and the phenomenon has been spreading and becoming more serious. What we now have to fear the most is the expectation that the environment for human existence will be destroyed from its base if this situation continues. Increases in the number of unemployed young people known as NEET cannot always be attributed to economic reasons. The crucial point is that the environment for our existence has been collapsing like a sand castle. Rats try to escape from a sinking ship as quickly as possible, and just as their escape is a warning of looming danger, the existence of NEET who try to drop out from society can be considered a warning to adults who are not yet sufficiently aware of our critical social situation. 7. Departing from a society of manualized services This situation is deeply connected to the fact that the entire society has been manualized as a result of the excessive development of industrial civilization. In other words, society has turned into a "manualized-service society". The provision of services based on manuals aims at optimizing convenience and efficiency by replacing inner nature with man-made (i.e., unnatural) technical measures. The oppression and forgetting of all natural aspects are the goals of the manualized-service society. Nature is nothing more than a disincentive for convenience and efficiency. One of the truly symbolic aspects of this process is the way such manualized services began spreading from hamburger franchises providing convenience based on mass standardized production as their selling point, because it means that spaces related to eating, a basic aspect of human life and a basis of the inner nature of human beings, becomes part of a manualized service. The same can be said for convenience stores open for 24 hours, which does not match the natural rhythms of time of the human body. We should say that the entire world has now become like these hamburger franchises and convenience stores. The method of providing manualized services that oppress awareness and lead to forgetting is now dominant around the world. A serious problem for our entire society is that the inner nature and life, as I have previously mentioned, have already begun rebelling as a result of manualized services being promoted without consideration of the consequences. This is leading to the complete destruction of the sociocultural environment and finally to the destruction of nature and life itself. This also applies to Japanese society, which has tried to become a rich and highly developed industrial society based on high economic growth after the end of the Second World War in 1945. It cannot be denied that Japan’s pursuit of convenience and efficiency for realizing a society with manualized services has made the entire society rich. However, in current Japanese society, where the number of part-time workers and NEET has reached several millions, over 30,000 people commit suicide each year, and the cries for help from people facing various desperate situations is related to the excessive advancement of manualized services in which only convenience and efficiency is pursued. I think our society has now reached a point where we must move beyond short-term economic interests and losses and seriously deal with these challenges to fundamentally reconsider the way our manualized-service society functions. That is one of the major reasons why we began dealing with the issue of hospitality. More than anything, hospitality calls for the recovery of the inner nature and life of human beings that have been destroyed and aims toward creating realization and an awakening. In order to do so, there is a need to fundamentally change the structure of industrial civilization, especially the lifestyles and values of manualized-service society. Hospitality is nothing more than a principle to realize the sustainability of human beings and their sociocultural environments in a life-centered way through changes that we can refer to as "revolutionary". The crux of the issue is to reconsider the meaning of "pleasure", which is the goal of hospitality, as the release of the inner nature and life of human beings, who have been oppressed and damaged in the structure of industrial civilization, and to clarify how the design principles for our sociocultural environment should be set based on this concept of "pleasure". As mentioned above, the departure from the manualized-service society is an important turning point in this process. This is not to say that manualization is simply bad or that service is without merit. The problem lies in the ideas of convenience and efficiency that are concentrated in manualized services, as well as the underlying unnatural aspects. Although this may be an extremely simple concept in one sense, it is important to realize at this point that the environment of manualized services is "anything but comfortable". This feeling can be a vehicle to realize our own inner nature and life. In other words, it is important to work toward realizing and becoming aware of things that are truly comfortable and pleasurable (things related to life at a basic level). Hospitality can make this possible. Do you really enjoy eating a hamburger? Can’t you live without a mobile phone? Have you ever felt the soil with your own two feet? Have you ever paid attention to the pulses or rhythms of your inner body? Have you…? 8. Basic challenges of hospitality Hospitality is a condition and a method that enables the realization and awareness of such pleasure by changing the nature of the design principles, specific manners, structures, and performance of our overall life environment. That is, hospitality is a principle based on this pleasure that aims to completely restructure aspects such as food, clothing, shelter, career, and interpersonal relationships. At the same time, it also means to release and visualize uncharted areas or forms of power and energy that are hidden in our inner nature and life. The development of the organic and self-sustaining unity and collectiveness of a life environment that goes beyond the confrontation between nature and man-made nature, as well as clarifying methods that can utilize these elements to create new civilizations for human beings, are the basic challenges of hospitality. Our study begins with verifying the meaning of these challenges of hospitality. Recognition and awareness of the basic challenges of hospitality have begun in various ways even in Japanese society. Attempts to look at the meaning of "agriculture" as a point for creating ecology-oriented organic environments have been made in various regions in Japan by viewing agriculture not simply as the production of crops but connecting it with challenges such as the interaction of the natural environment with the human environment (for example, reviewing "mountainous areas" or promoting a recycling-oriented waste disposal act), the nature of our lifestyles based on food (for example, proposing "local production for local consumption" or "farm-fresh" products), and methods to lay out goals and values for life that provide the foundation for these issues (so called "slow life" or "eco life"). Such attempts have meaning for revitalizing sustainability-oriented lifestyles that were cast aside by industrial civilization, and they also include the will to effectively use new technologies and industry rather than blindly excluding them in order to realize such sustainability. "Ima, Yamagata kara... (Now, from Yamagata…)", a monthly information magazine issued by Yamagata prefecture, contains very interesting features every month, and the October 2006 issue included features on several strongholds of "green tourism" in that region. For example, in the town of Kaneyama in the Sugisawa area near the prefecture’s border with Akita, Mr. Kazunori Kuriyama looked at the challenges of symbiosis with nature through "agriculture" before anybody else and established the "Kurashi Kobo" with Mr. Takashi Uchiyama, a unique philosopher and professor of Rikkyo University who walked around villages in Japan by himself, creating it as a facility for extended-stay green tourism where people from urban areas can experience the richness of village life. In the Murayama area, where the town of Takahata is located with its long history of life and culture from the Jomon era, Mr. Kiichi Yamakawa established the "Zao Mountain Farm" and has been conducting green tourism including educational activities such as "life education" and "dietary education" for over 20 years. These practices have been conducted throughout Japan. We should not understand these with simplistic terms like "iyashi (healing)", which is currently a popular word. We need to lead these efforts toward a basic reorganization of our sociocultural environment, or the entire global biological environment that includes it, through hospitality. "Mizu ni nezashita kurashi (Water-based life)" in the Harie district of Shin Asahi by Lake Biwa as well as "Funaya no kurashi (Life in Funaya)" in the town of Ine in the Okutango region, which are the case studies of this essay, or even life in Okinawa, especially in the Sakishima islands, where people base their lives on the fundamental rhythms of life as symbolized in the phrase "Nuchi dou takara (life is a treasure)", teach us the importance of such challenges. 9. Conclusion: Focusing on the fields of life science and neuroscience On the other hand, other methods for approaching this challenge that we have started focusing on include new achievements in the fields of neuroscience and life science and theories of immunity. Findings regarding the way the human brain functions or the ways our bodies and conscious minds function as life environments that include such functions that defy our common wisdom have been confirmed. The dynamic collectiveness and mobility of life and the brain, which cannot be described with traditional dualistic concepts such as systems vs. elements or program vs. data (the root of this dualism involves the separation of the consciousness and the body as described by Descartes, or more specifically, the distinction between the consciousness and the body as evidence of the characteristic properties of life and human beings as physical phenomena), have become apparent. Such new theories tell us that the activities of life forms and the brain are processes of uninterrupted motion that relate to the genetic or cellular level to the collectiveness of life forms and involve the continuity of changes created as a result of the motional process of such activities. It also tells us that the various elements of this process of uninterrupted motion and activities are connected to and interact with one other. In other words, rather than each element existing in a different form in the activities of a life form or the brain, there is first a dynamic collectiveness from which the interrelation of elements emerges as a process of motion or change, and each element is then taken away from the collectiveness in a separate form. For example, it has been confirmed that the immune system is improved drastically when we feel "pleasure", and we can say that this is evidence of one of the locations of the cross-correlated collectiveness of our minds and bodies. The important thing is that seeking the foundation of the activities of life and the brain in the context of collectiveness and applying it to our future scientific technologies or principles of social design may lead to a situation where the atomistic and elemental models that serve as the traditional frameworks (paradigms) for understanding the world has and have been the basis of our modern industrial society (and also, at the same time, the basis for understanding the physical and mechanistic world) may be fundamentally broken down. This type of "theoretical revolution", which is taking place in the most advanced fields of science, will have a greater impact that will overshadow the impact of previous debates over AI (Artificial Intelligence) because it can serve as a theoretical vehicle for realizing an extremely dynamic and cooperative sociocultural environment (including technology) that can fundamentally reflect the kinetic dynamism of life. These also serve as important points when considering hospitality. ]]>
Minutes of lectures “Seven proposals to change Japan from its regions”: Purposes and contents of the book Lecturer: Mr. Ikuo Sugimoto (President of NPO Citizens Environment Foundation) (Representative of the National Eco-City Contest Network) http://www.kankyoshimin.org/ Profile of the lecturer: Ikuo Sugimoto Graduate of the Faculty of Agriculture of Kyoto University. Established the Citizens Environment Foundation with various people and experts engaged in environmental issues in 1992. Published “Green Consumer: Tips for Shopping for the Earth’s Ecology”, “Visiting the World’s Eco-cities” (co-author), Iwanami Junior Shinsho (2002) , and many others.
]]> Unsustainable society and development
We held the Eco-City contest with the hope of realizing sustainability in our society and development as early as possible in the 21st century.
Although sustainable society and development have become the hottest key words today, we unfortunately have no other choice but to acknowledge that our current society is unsustainable. If our society were not unsustainable, there would be no need for us to even mention such a thing.
Our society has been unsustainable mainly in terms of the environment, but I believe that aspects such as the environment, resources, food, water, population, poverty, conflict, and economics are all affected. Unfortunately, all of these aspects mentioned above have been moving in the wrong direction.
If there were movement in the right direction in even just one of these aspects, it might be possible to resolve the situation, but unfortunately, this is not the case.
In addition, all of these phenomena are caused by actions taken by us humans. We have no choice but to consider that these are in no way natural phenomena and that we humans are the ones making our own societies unsustainable.
Sustainable development refers to “fulfilling the needs of the current generation without diminishing the needs of future generations”.
It can also be described based on three circles (refer to Figure). When considering the environment, the economy, and society, if we look at the phenomenon of “global warming” that affects the “environment”, the term “global warming” appears on TV and in commercials throughout Japan everyday and it seems that Japan is one of the leading country that have expressed interest in preventing global warming. Although awareness and public information have been increasing, unfortunately, this has not meant that the amount of greenhouse gases has decreased; rather, it has actually been increasing. In terms of the “economy”, the collapse of financial capitalism in 2008 has led to a worldwide economic crisis, and we have entered the worst economic situation in history.
In addition, I have translated one item as “social justice”, but this is a concept that includes welfare, human rights, social security, and regional identities in English. Although Japanese society has also tried to improve these aspects after the war, we are now entering another period of collapse. Moreover, looking at the world, the conflicts between the North and South have been intense and the disparity in wealth has become wider.
Our society is based not on sustainable development, where all three aspects of environment, economy, and society overlap, but on a situation in which these circles have become disengaged.
I believe our society will not survive long in this situation. I believe now is the time to change and create change as stated by President Obama.
Agenda 21
When thinking of where we need to change first, I think there is one major point that we should consider, and that is the document “Agenda 21”, which was established at the so-called Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992. This “Agenda 21”, which lists challenges for the 21st century, is the most important document from the Earth Summit. Chapter 28 states that many of the various issues and solutions proposed in “Agenda 21”are rooted in local activities, and therefore, the participation and cooperation of local public authorities is a decisive element for achieving its goals. That is, this U.N. document states that whether or not we can create sustainable societies for our world depends on local governments throughout the world. I believe that while governments and businesses certainly play important roles, we must not overlook the role of local governments. In Japan, I feel that this is not acknowledged very much, but change in Japan will in fact start from the regions. We believe that the regions are truly the basis of not only the environment but also for building a livable, economically stable, and equitable society.
Changes in government policies start from the regions
This can be explained starting from the various points, but I want you to remember one thing: changes in government policies are essential for building a sustainable society, but they never occur easily at the national level. I am certain that it is possible that change will occur first in the regions.
Regarding the environment, there has been pollution, such as the four major industrial pollutions and road-related pollution, and great damage in the past. The local governments in each region started to get involved spontaneously in order to stop the damage from spreading. They did so because they had to and because they had no choice but to get involved because there were no laws deal with the situation. The efforts made by the local governments generated significant results while also receiving supports from local citizens, with the Basic Act for Environmental Pollution Control and 14 applicable laws and regulations enacted in the Diet in November 1970. This has led to the establishment of the Environment Agency. I believe that changes in major government policy start from the regions. I also believe that the next session of the Diet should focus not only on measures for controlling environmental pollution but also on creating a sustainable society. However, I believe that the Japanese government is not quite moving toward that direction. Even in this respect, we must continuously raise our regional voices.
Yasunori Nakata, Director, Research Institute for High-Life
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Norihisa Yokouchi
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Rinio Bruttomesso
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Panel discussion:
Host: Tetsuya Muroyama (Executive Commentator, NHK)
(1) Professor Norihisa Yokouchi
(2) Rinio Bruttomesso
(3) Professor Hidenobu Jinnai
(4) Maako Kido (Artist)
Based on images of actual case examples of lifestyles in waterfronts in major cities around the world, panelists provide visions for the future of living in Tokyo’s waterfronts, using conceptual drawings of the future of Ariake prepared by Professor Yokouchi and his research students as an example.
Part1 Case examples: London and Barcelona Part2 Case example: Singapore Part3 Visions for the future of living in Tokyo’s waterfronts Part4 How waterfronts can be harnessed in our daily lives 
Professor Norihisa Yokouchi
College of Science and Technology, Nihon University
After obtaining a master’s degree from Nihon University Graduate School, Professor Yokouchi obtained a doctorate in engineering. His specializations include waterfront planning, landscape engineering, and environmental planning. Based on his view that waterfront planning refers to urban development focusing on “water” and should aim to integrate the vast urban spaces behind waterfronts with the spaces around waterfronts, he is engaged in studies on how to realize this vision. He is Japan’s leading authority on waterfront research.
Rinio Bruttomesso
Director, International Centre Cities on Water, Venice; Professor of Urban Design, Department of Urban Planning and Design, University Iuav of Venice, Italy
Born in 1948, Mr. Bruttomesso is the Director of the International Centre Cities on Water, Venice and a Professor of Urban Design at the Department of Urban Planning and Design of the University Iuav of Venice. He is a specialist on “redeveloping Italy’s waterfront cities”, redeveloping urban waterfronts, and urban design for floating cities, and is well-versed on international case examples. He recently served as a professor at the University Iuav of Venice and now devotes his time to working as the Director of the International Centre Cities on Water, Venice. An international authority in the field of waterfronts, he produced the Cities on Water Themed Plaza at Expo Zaragoza 2008.
Tetsuya Muroyama
Executive Commentator at NHK (Japan Broadcasting Cooperation)
Muroyama joined NHK in Showa 51 (1976) and took a role as a producer for scientific programs such as "Ultra Eye", "Close-up Gendai" and "NHK Special" before working as a leading commentator for NHK. He provides comments mainly on issues ranging from science and technology, life and neuroscience, the environment, and space engineering, and has been committed to science education in his capacity as headmaster for a science program for children, "Kagaku Daisuki Doyo Jyuku" (Educational TV). Muroyama has received a number of awards, including the Monte-Carlo Television Festival Golden Lion, the Silver Lion, and the Rainier III awards, the Hoso Bunka Foundation Award, the Shanghai International Film Festival Filming Award, the Science and Technology Film/Video Festival Science and Technology Agency Director-General Award, and the Sugako Hashida Award. He is a board member of the Japanese Association of Science & Technology Journalists, the Planetary Society of Japan, and the Young Astronauts Club.
Professor Hidenobu Jinnai
Faculty of Engineering, Hosei University
Born in 1947 in Fukuoka prefecture, Professor Jinnai studied abroad at University Iuav of Venice from 1973 to 1975 with a scholarship from the Italian government, and in the following year, he studied at UNESCO’s International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM). After returning to Japan, he obtained a doctorate from the School of Engineering of the University of Tokyo in 1983. Subsequently, after serving as an assistant at the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Tokyo and as assistant professor of architecture at the Faculty of Engineering at Hosei University, he is now a professor of architecture at the Faculty of Engineering at Hosei University.
He is engaged in urban studies and surveys in the Mediterranean world, particularly Italy. He also won the Suntory Prize for Social Sciences and Humanities for his book “Tokyo: A Spatial Anthropology”, in which, based on comparisons with Venice, he argued that Edo (present-day Tokyo) was a city of water. His commentaries are frequently published in magazines related to the arts and architecture, and he also appeared in NHK Ningen Koza’s “Lifestyles in Mediterranean Cities” (June-July 2001) as a lecturer. In 2003, he was awarded a prize of the Architectural Institute of Japan (Research Theses Division).
Maako Kido
Ms. Kido graduated from the Department of Painting of Musashino Art University in 1987. In 1998, she competed in the VOCA exhibition. She has also created many works of public art, including a giant mural for a coffee shop in Kanbocho and a mural for the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line’s Umihotaru island.
She is President of the Gakken Kido Maako Art School. She is also engaged in a wide variety of activities, such as serving as a consultant for Central Japan International Airport Co., Ltd. and as a member of the advisory board of the Central Nippon Expressway Company.
She has released a book, “Honwaka kaigo - watashi kara haha he arigatou enikki (Warm Nursing Care: A Picture Diary of Gratitude for my Mother)”, from Shueisha Inc.
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