Marh 26, 2010 【Gifu Press Tour: Cutting-edge Technology and Traditional Culture in Gifu Pref.】 Gifu Prefecture, located at the center of the Japanese archipelago, will host an...
(more)Marh 26, 2010 【Gifu Press Tour: Cutting-edge Technology and Traditional Culture in Gifu Pref.】 Gifu Prefecture, located at the center of the Japanese archipelago, will host an APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) SME (Small and Medium-sized Enterprise) Ministerial Meeting in autumn this year. This press tour, which covered the local traditional culture and also cutting-edge technology development by local enterprises and a university, was attended by six journalists from Germany, France, Qatar, and the EU. The party first visited Yamazaki Mazak Corporation, a major Japanese manufacturer of machine tools, to see the demonstration of laser processing machines. After that, they visited an underground factory called Yamazaki Mazak Optonics Corporation Phoenix Laboratory. In the immaculately clean factory, the company officials briefed on how to create a highly dust-proof environment, how to ventilate the factory, and how to keep the temperature constant without air-conditioning. In Mino City, which is known for washi (Japanese traditional paper) and "udatsu" houses, the participants visited the old-style streets where there are still rows of houses built in the Edo and Meiji periods. In the streets, they had a taste of the local traditional culture, seeing artistic lanterns made of Mino Washi paper and also "Suikinkutsu," a type of Japanese garden ornament. At the Gifu University's Faculty of Engineering, the party visited Kawasaki and Mouri Laboratory. Professor
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