Yonaguni and Taiwan Seminars
2011/05/20
On May 14th and 15th, two consecutive days of ‘Japan's Network on Border Studies’ seminars were held on Yonaguni Island, Okinawa, Japan and in Hualian City, Hualian County, Taiwan. These were held under the aegis of the Slavic Research Center’s Global COE program, and supported by the Japan Society of Island Studies, the Northern Regions Centre, and the Sasagawa Peace Foundation.
The session on the 14th began with the showing of a new DVD on border islands produced by the Slavic Research Center. Following this, keynote speeches were made by officials of three towns in border regions; Yoshinari Takarabe (Mayor of Tsushima), Morikichi Sotoma (Mayor of Yonagumi), and Masatoshi Ishigaki (vice-mayor of Nemuro). These speeches revealed the challenges facing border areas, and discussion chaired by Akihiro Iwashita focused on how such problems could be overcome.
The second session occurred under the theme of ‘Reviewing border regions within national legislation’. The session was chaired by Hiroshi Furukawa of Chukyo University, and six officials delivered presentations on legislative issues facing these border regions; Masanori Takahashi (Nemuro), Yoshio Yumura (Ogasawara), Minori Kubo (Goto Island), Naganori Komine (Yonaguni), Higawashi Watanabe (National Institute of Japanese Islands), and Yuji Tsuchiya (the Cabinet Office).
Hiroshi Furukawa also chaired the day’s final session on ‘Towards supra-regional economic zones’, which heard five presentations on the problems of economic co-operation beyond Japan’s borders from Takayoshi Kabu (Kyushu Economic Research Center), Hideshi Sato (Wakkanai), Koichi Imamura (Wakkanai), Naganori Komine (Yonaguni), and Yuji Tsuchiya (the Cabinet Office).
The second day’s session moved to Hualian City in Taiwan and was held in the Banquet Hall of the Park View Hotel. It opened with a welcome speech by Tien Chih-hsuan, the Mayor of Hualian, and a reply by Morikichi Sotoma of Yonaguni. After this, Yoshinari Takarabe (Tsushima), Masatoshi Ishigaki (Nemuro), Koichi Imamura (Wakkanai), Toshimasa Asai (Kubura Primary School, Yonaguni), and Yoshitaka Matsuda (Yaeyama Mainichi Shimbun) reported on various issues in Japanese border areas. For the citizens of Hualian city, the seminar provided a rare window onto these ‘hidden’ Japanese border regions.
The session on the 14th began with the showing of a new DVD on border islands produced by the Slavic Research Center. Following this, keynote speeches were made by officials of three towns in border regions; Yoshinari Takarabe (Mayor of Tsushima), Morikichi Sotoma (Mayor of Yonagumi), and Masatoshi Ishigaki (vice-mayor of Nemuro). These speeches revealed the challenges facing border areas, and discussion chaired by Akihiro Iwashita focused on how such problems could be overcome.
The second session occurred under the theme of ‘Reviewing border regions within national legislation’. The session was chaired by Hiroshi Furukawa of Chukyo University, and six officials delivered presentations on legislative issues facing these border regions; Masanori Takahashi (Nemuro), Yoshio Yumura (Ogasawara), Minori Kubo (Goto Island), Naganori Komine (Yonaguni), Higawashi Watanabe (National Institute of Japanese Islands), and Yuji Tsuchiya (the Cabinet Office).
Hiroshi Furukawa also chaired the day’s final session on ‘Towards supra-regional economic zones’, which heard five presentations on the problems of economic co-operation beyond Japan’s borders from Takayoshi Kabu (Kyushu Economic Research Center), Hideshi Sato (Wakkanai), Koichi Imamura (Wakkanai), Naganori Komine (Yonaguni), and Yuji Tsuchiya (the Cabinet Office).
The second day’s session moved to Hualian City in Taiwan and was held in the Banquet Hall of the Park View Hotel. It opened with a welcome speech by Tien Chih-hsuan, the Mayor of Hualian, and a reply by Morikichi Sotoma of Yonaguni. After this, Yoshinari Takarabe (Tsushima), Masatoshi Ishigaki (Nemuro), Koichi Imamura (Wakkanai), Toshimasa Asai (Kubura Primary School, Yonaguni), and Yoshitaka Matsuda (Yaeyama Mainichi Shimbun) reported on various issues in Japanese border areas. For the citizens of Hualian city, the seminar provided a rare window onto these ‘hidden’ Japanese border regions.
