Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. I am Kenji Kitahashi, Mayor of the City of Kitakyushu.

 

　The first guests from North America I had the pleasure of welcoming after I was appointed as Mayor of the City of Kitakyushu two years ago were members of a delegation from Seattle on a fact-finding visit. I am delighted to have this opportunity to see you again today and to fulfill a promise of two years ago to meet again next time in Seattle.

 

　In the talk I presented two years ago in Kitakyushu, I spoke about flying around the world by Boeing jet, using a Microsoft-installed laptop all the time, purchasing my favorite CDs from Amazon.com, repeatedly enjoying a film that I absolutely love, ‘Sleepless in Seattle,’ and drinking Starbucks coffee and mineral water from Mt. Rainier. None of that has changed since then.

　Products from Seattle and the surrounding areas are making our lives pleasant and richer.

 

　But, on the other hand, what might the Japanese contribution be to the people of Seattle?

　Ichiro, who is in excellent shape this season, is keeping Seattle Mariners supporters happy and Nintendo computer games are enjoyed by many children in Seattle.

　And, in addition, there is the topic I will talk about today, Kitakyushu’s environmental protection technologies and international environmental businesses that Japan can be proud of.

　I would like to introduce to you some of the efforts we are making as one of the world centers for addressing global environmental issues, and in this way I hope to encourage new environmental businesses that involve cooperation between our city and Seattle and its surrounding areas. So, please follow along with me as I cover some of the essential points.

 

 

【LOCATION】

 

First, I would like to talk about some of the geographical features of the City of Kitakyushu.

 

　As you can see here, Kitakyushu is a Japanese city that is actually quite close geographically to the other countries of East Asia such as China and South Korea, and it is located about halfway between Osaka and Seoul and between Tokyo and Shanghai. Historically also, Kitakyushu played an important role as a gateway city to East Asia from the point of view of both cultural and trade exchanges.

 

　Kitakyushu also played an important role nationally as a key junction between Honshu and Kyushu and between East Kyushu and West Kyushu. As a result, the city has flourished as a transportation and distribution center since long ago. 

 

　As more and more is expected of East Asia in terms of its role in the world economy, the importance of Kitakyushu as a gateway city to East Asia is increasing also.

 

First, I would like to talk about some of the geographical features of the City of Kitakyushu.

 

　As you can see here, Kitakyushu is a Japanese city that is actually quite close geographically to the other countries of East Asia such as China and South Korea, and it is located about halfway between Osaka and Seoul and between Tokyo and Shanghai. Historically also, Kitakyushu played an important role as a gateway city to East Asia from the point of view of both cultural and trade exchanges.

 

　Kitakyushu also played an important role nationally as a key junction between Honshu and Kyushu and between East Kyushu and West Kyushu. As a result, the city has flourished as a transportation and distribution center since long ago. 

 

　As more and more is expected of East Asia in terms of its role in the world economy, the importance of Kitakyushu as a gateway city to East Asia is increasing also.

 

【Overview】

 

　This is a central view of the City of Kitakyushu.

 

　It is a city richly endowed with nature, surrounded by beautiful mountains and water. However, Kitakyushu has also developed as an important center of heavy industries such as steel and machinery, and chemical industries as well, not to mention  sea transport facilities, thanks to its good natural port and high-quality and abundant coal. Kitakyushu has contributed to Japan’s rapid economic growth as one of the four major industrial zones.

 

【Industrial development】

 

　The Kitakyushu area began to enjoy prosperity with the opening of the first government-run steelworks in 1901 and the area continued to develop, centering on key industries such as steel, chemicals, power generation and ceramics, playing a significant role in the modernization of Japan.

 

　By 1935, a number of major Japanese corporations including TOTO and Yaskawa Electric Corporation were in operation in Kitakyushu.

 

　However, despite the smooth progress it had made as a prosperous industrial city, Kitakyushu could not escape the negative impact of the dollar-shocks and oil shocks of the 1970s and 1980s, and the city was forced to change its industrial structure and to formulate new regional policies.

 

　Equipped with basic and key technologies to create industries, such as materials production and industrial machinery, the city’s high level ‘power of production’ is today being utilized in a variety of areas, including the automobile and environmental industries. 

 

【Overcoming pollution】

 

　Now I would like to move on to talking about the City of Kitakyushu’s environmental initiatives, which is the main topic of the presentation today.

 

　These two sets of photographs show the same places within the city: the two on the left were taken in the 1960s and those on the right were taken just recently.

 

　Since the 1900s Kitakyushu has developed as one of the four major heavy industrial zones in Japan but the city had also continued to suffer from the adverse legacy of the industrial development, which was pollution problems.

　However, we have now successfully gotten pollution under control by spending 800 billion yen in a period of 20 years, during which we ensured that industry, academia, administrative agencies, and citizens all worked closely together to implement strict measures to counter pollution in our city.

　

　The city has been heralded by the national government as ‘a city with a starlit sky’ and more than 110 species are now found in the sea nearby. Nature has come back to us.

 

　

　

【EFFORTS by the  CITY GOVERNMENT】

 

　In order to get a healthy environment back as soon as possible, the administration and businesses worked together closely to get pollution under control. Given that factories were built close to residential areas, we needed to tighten regulations on the factory operation standards.

 

　The administration implemented tighter control by introducing a Pollution Control Agreement, for example, and also added improved environmental monitoring, which included putting an Environmental Pollution Control Center in place.

 

　In addition, as part of our project to improve infrastructure to address issues of water pollution, we are making improvements to the sewage system as well as streamlining the waste collection process and promoting hygienic processing.

 

　Our efforts to improve the sewage system are almost complete, having reached a diffusion rate for public sewage of 99.8% at the end of FY2005.

 

　

 

【EFFORTS by  COMPANIES】

 

　A number of corporations installed equipment for dust collecting and

 de-sulphurization/de-nitration and facilities such as effluent treatment facilities, aiming at meeting the new emission standards.

 

　During the 1970s, corporations had to streamline production processes to respond to rising prices for energy and resources. This has led to the development of Cleaner Production technologies through which production efficiency is improved by utilizing raw materials and fuels without waste while also reducing the generation of contaminants.

 

　Installation of equipment for disposal processes such as exhaust-gas treatment would require additional costs, but Cleaner Production technologies provide a win-win approach by which a good balance can be struck between increasing corporate profit and reducing industrial pollution and waste.

 

　As you can see, innovative technologies have been developed to allow corporations not only to install pollution control facilities but also to keep a good balance between pollution control and energy- and resource-saving, leading to many corporations developing world-class systems.

 

【TECHNOLOGY TRAINING】

 

　Since the 1980s the City of Kitakyushu has dispatched teams of experts to and accepted trainees from developing countries to use the technologies we have developed through our history of pollution control to improve the environment in the developing countries.

 

　Today, we welcome 250 trainees a year, and some of the training courses provided are unique to Kitakyushu. One example is a course on the creation of a society with an environmentally-sound materials cycle, as represented by our Eco-Town project, which I would like to talk further about later. In order to better respond to the needs of developing countries, we are also working on a number of new training courses on the topics of energy-saving, for example.

 

　Since FY2006, the city is working towards becoming a center for the development of environmental industry human resources in Asia, and we hope to achieve the training of 400 trainees a year (2,000 trainees in total) over the next 5 years.

 

 

【INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION with OTHER ASIAN COUNTRIES】

 

　We are trying to use our experience and technologies obtained through our history of pollution control not only to develop human resources but also to improve the environment in developing countries which are facing similar issues and challenges. We are actively engaged in many international environmental projects overseas in cooperation with other Asian countries.

　

　One of our first projects was to work with the people of Dalian, China, one of Kitakyushu’s friendship cities, in the areas of environmental administration, environmental monitoring, sewage disposal systems, and cleaner production in factories.

　This project highlighted the effectiveness and importance of international cooperation at a regional level, which allowed greater attention to details and closer cooperation between project participants and local residents.

 

　Our international environmental efforts in Asia are expanding to include Eco-Town project cooperation, aiming to create a society with an environmentally-sound materials cycle in cooperation with the Chinese cities of Qingdao and Tianjin.

 

　Our other work includes projects in the Philippines and Indonesia, and we actively promote a range of cooperation with various Asian cities as one of the world capitals of environmental efforts.

 

【KITAKYUSHU ECO-TOWN】

 

　The City of Kitakyushu is actively engaged in the promotion of international environmental businesses to create business opportunities out of environmental issues.

 

　Development of a society with an environmentally-sound materials cycle has begun using the technologies we have developed through our history of pollution control. ‘Environmentalization of industries,’ making use of ideas such as Cleaner Production concepts, is now developing into ‘industrialization of environmental issues’ through which we aim to create new recycling industries.

　

　Against this backdrop, in 1997 the Eco-Town project was launched in the City of Kitakyushu, which was the first of its kind in Japan. In order to push forward environmental industries in an integrated  manner, this project is now divided into three sectors to allow strategic  management of the overall efforts: (1) education and basic research; (2) technology  and practical research; (3) commercialization.

　Basic research aims to develop world-class technology such as thin-film solar cell technology and lithium recovery technology, whereas practical research aims to validate methods of dioxin and PCB detoxification. The commercialization sector operates automobile and home appliance recycling plants with a recycling rate of over 90%.

 

 

 

 

【Case Study：An Automobile Recycling Project】

　A colleague of mine will talk later in more detail about our Eco-Town
project and efforts to promote international environmental businesses, so I
would like to talk just briefly about two of our representative enterprises here.
　First, this is our automobile recycling plant.
　Using sophisticated technologies for destruction, separation and
selection, a system for ‘shredderless’ dismantling and recycling of automobiles, which is unique in Japan, is now underway.
　End-of life vehicles are collected from the city’s suburbs and used parts
and high-quality iron scraps, etc. are recovered and sold. The plant's
processing capacity is as high as 18,000 vehicles a year.

【Case Study： A PCB Waste Treatment Project】

 

　Another good example of our environmental enterprises is this PCB processing plant.

 

　PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl) was used widely in the past as insulating oil for electrical equipment such as transformers and condensers, in carbonless copying paper and as a heat medium because of its nonflammable and insulation properties. However, PCB production was discontinued once its toxicity became apparent.

 

　Because an appropriate processing system was not put in place soon enough, PCB pollution became a serious global issue, urgently requiring the establishment of proper treatment processes.

 

　Such a situation had driven the Japanese government to request the City of Kitakyushu to  locate large-scale PCB processing facilities in the city, given the city’s knowledge, experience, and human resources gained through its pollution control endeavors, as well as its continual efforts to address environmental issues (e.g. the Eco-Town project).

 

　We held more than one hundred meetings with the city residents to communicate information about risks of the facilities, and the processing plant came into operation in 2004 to promote appropriate processing of PCBs in western Japan.

 

　

 

 

【A New-generation Energy Park】　

 

　Next, I would like to talk about our New-generation Energy Park.

 

　The New-generation Energy Park aims to promote public understanding of new energies and it was one of the 6 locations selected and certified for that purpose by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in October 2007.

 

　Today, the number has increased to 13 locations.

 

　Our New-generation Energy Park is home to a variety of energy-related experimental facilities for low carbonization of fossil energy including oil, coal and natural gas, and for the  generation of solar, wind and biomass energies.

 

　 This park is positioned as a model in the industry sector of our ‘visualization and hands-on projects’ promoted as part of the city’s initiatives as a model environmental city. One of the main projects is to install solar energy generation devices in 60 primary schools in the city to encourage environmental education for the children.

 

 

【An Asian network for international cooperation】

　

　In addition to our environmental protection technologies, international environmental cooperation and international environmental businesses that I have talked about so far, we are also proud of our networking efforts with the other nations of East Asia. As I mentioned at the beginning of the talk, we are utilizing the advantages of our geographic proximity to major centers of East Asia and of our position as a gateway city to the region to create networks with East Asia to become one of the world’s leading centers for environmental efforts. 　

 

　The Organization for East Asia Economic Development (OEAED) consists of 10 member cities in Japan, China and South Korea in the Pan-Yellow Sea region, and we are aiming to create a Pan-Yellow Sea economic bloc through the promotion of economic and personnel exchanges.

 

　Finally, the Environmental Cooperation Network of Asian Cities was co-founded by 6 member cities in 4 nations of South East Asia. The organization is designed to help initiate the sharing of experiences among the member cities and new actions to facilitate sustainable development of the continually expanding economies of the Asian region.

 

 

【CREATING LOW-CARBON SOCIETY】
【PROPOSAL】

 

　In this talk, I tried to present an overview of our efforts to make a better environment.

　

　Our city can be proud of many things: the geographic advantage of our proximity to East Asia, accumulated experience in economic and cultural exchanges with the region, technologies for supporting production-based industries, environmental protection technologies developed through our pollution control endeavors, and experience in expanding such endeavors to create new international environmental businesses.

 

　Our potential advantages are not something that other cities can copy easily. It takes a very long time to develop such a foundation. Utilizing our potential, we are trying to make further progress as one of the model environmental cities in Japan, as well as one of the top cities in the world in the field of environmental industries.

 

　I am aware that Seattle is an environmentally-friendly city which ratified the Kyoto Protocol independently as a city, despite the fact the US government has yet to ratify the treaty. I feel that there are many aspects of environmental technology and business cooperation that Seattle and Kitakyushu can work together on.

 

　Environmental issues today are such that global interdependency is deepening and regional actions can both directly and indirectly impact the survival and the living environment of the human race on a global scale.

　

　We hope to collaborate with the people of Seattle in making contributions to the world’s sustainable development. I would like to make two suggestions in hopes of developing a win-win relationship between our cities and expanding our environmental efforts to create new businesses.

　First, to position Kitakyushu as a gateway city for Asia in regard to environmental businesses.

　Second, to position Kitakyushu as a base for demonstration research on advanced technologies from the US with the Asian market in mind.

　With strong hopes that we can work together to protect our environment for our children and future generations, I would like to end my presentation here.

Thank you very much for your kind attention.