Yokohama 2011 What we ve done and where we ve been

Transcription

1 City of Yokohama Newsletter March 30, 2012 Yokohama 2011 What we ve done and where we ve been Fiscal year 2011 began with the impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11. Immediately after the disaster, international conferences were cancelled and the number of visitors at tourist facilities fell, but there were signs of recovery going into April, and in the second half of the fiscal year (July December), a great many large scale international conventions and events attracting visitors were held, and major tourist facilities recovered well with higher numbers of visitors than in the previous fiscal year. It was decided that the dance festival Dance, Dance, Yokohama 2012 would be held as one of three Yokohama Art Festivals in Further, it was decided that the Fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD V) would be held in June This is the second time the conference will be held in the City of Yokohama. The Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) was held in May In fiscal year 2011, amid a succession of various hardships, the City of Yokohama actively persevered in this way to achieve results as Yokohama City of Myriad Previous Visitors, and achieved results. TOPICS Tourism and MICE Showing signs of recovery! Attracting visitors in the second half of the fiscal year recovered well. Tourism and MICE [ Meeting (corporate conferences), Incentive (corporate training and incentive travel), Convention (by international organizations and academic groups) and Event/Exhibition (including exhibitions and trade shows)] were affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011, but there were signs of recovery going into April, and the trend continued through May and June. By efforts to stimulate demand in tourism through stressing to the safety and healthiness of Yokohama and tourism promotion certification business, a variety of events were held in July and August in conjunction with the public release of the Ghibli movie, Kokurikozaka Kara (From Corn Poppy Hill) which was set in the early 1960s in Yokohama and the number of visitors at related facilities dramatically increased over the previous year. Further, in the second half of 2011, the occupations rate of guest rooms in hotels and the number of conventions and the like that were held exceeded the numbers for the previous year, and events attracted many visitors as well, as a great many events were held, including the international exhibition of contemporary art, Yokohama Triennale 2011 (Aug 6 Nov 6), African Festa 2011(Nov 12 13), and Photo Yokohama 2012(Jan Mar), CP+ (CP Plus) Fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD V) set to be held in Yokohama! It was decided that the Fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD V) will be held in Yokohama in This is the second time the conference will be

2 held in the City of Yokohama, following on TICAD IV, held in May As the Tourism/MICE/Creative City Yokohama, the utmost hospitality will be devoted to the support of hosting the conference. Yokohama was decided as the venue to host the conference this time based on the strong ties between the City of Yokohama and Africa that were formed by its hosting of the conference last time, and on the evaluation of its achievements as a MICE city by its hosting of APEC Japan 2010, and the like. Empowerment of Women Female Start Up Support Yokohama (F-SUS) was launched, and the creation of other networks is being promoted. Support for female entrepreneurs is being provided to promote the social progress of women as well as to stimulate local economies. F-SUS was launched in Yokohama in June to provide a base exclusively for women in the startup phase and give a total support to women who are planning the growth and development of businesses. The organization not only provides office space, but also offers consultation with the Female Entrepreneur Support Team, chiefly comprising female small and medium enterprise management consultants. In addition, networking opportunities have been created through events such as the International Conference for Women in Business,Young Leader s Forum in Yokohama (held in Oct 2011) and the APEC Leadership Forum on Women (held in Feb 2012). Yokohama Triennale2011 Yokohama Triennale attracts 330,000 visitors! Yokohama Triennale 2011 opened on August 6 ended on November 6. The total number of visitors exceeded 200,000 on October 16 and recorded a grand total of over 330,000 for the 83 days during the exhibition, significantly exceeding the goal of audience. Yokohama Triennale, in its fourth edition this time, exhibited the works of 77 artists and groups from 22 countries/regions, including collections of the Yokohama Museum of Art, aiming at displaying works of all ages and cultures. In addition, plenty of amusing programs were held at other places around the main venues, which tied up with a tourism campaign, OPEN YOKOHAMA Yokohama succeeded in having Triennale all over the town, to make Yokohama enjoyable for many visitors. Three Yokohama Art Festival Dance, Dance, Yokohama 2012 to be held in Yokohama! The City of Yokohama has launched three Yokohama Art Festivals as its new symbolic project from next year, to keep up the excitement created by art and cultural events and to energize its economy. Yokohama chooses fine art, dancing, and music as the three arts to be promoted arts on the stage of the open city of Yokohama, for they can move people all over the world without using language. Yokohama will hold Dance, Dance, Yokohama 2012 featuring dancing. Citizens, artists, NPOs, companies, the City of Yokohama, and others concerned are working together for these festivals with three goals in mind: deliver world-class and original arts and culture; creating a bustling Yokohama making much use of its scenic beauty; and collaboration with citizens and the upbringing of the next generation including children. Partnership Cooperation Yokohama forms partnership cooperation with Frankfurt! Yokohama has been deepening the relationship with Frankfurt in various fields since establishing a representative office there in Taking this occasion of the 150th

3 anniversary of Japan-Germany relations, Yokohama concluded a partnership and cooperation agreement with Frankfurt, Germany, in September Yokohama has had six cities as partners in Asia so far, and the seventh partner, for the first time, is not an Asian city. Yokohama will exchange with Frankfurt mainly in three areas: economy, global warming countermeasures, and creative city of art and culture, and will contribute to mutual development in the future. Foreign Business Attraction Business Attraction Top Seminar (Seoul, Republic of Korea and Frankfurt, Germany) Ms. Fumiko Hayashi, Mayor of the City of Yokohama, visited the Republic of Korea and held a business attraction seminar intended for companies in June. At the seminar, in which about 70 businessmen from 60 companies participated, Mayor Hayashi gave a presentation on Yokohama s Security and Excellent Business environment. With the cooperation of Frankfurt, Yokohama held a business seminar there for companies with an interest in doing business in Japan. In November, with the cooperation of Frankfurt, Yokohama held a business seminar there for companies with an interest in doing business in Japan. Mayor Hayashi publicized how beneficial it is for German companies to advance to Yokohama. Other small-scale business seminars aimed at the advance of business in Yokohama were also held in San Diego, USA; Shenzhen, China; and Mumbai, India. Cooperation with JICA The City of Yokohama signed a comprehensive partnership agreement with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for the first time as a local government. Mayor Ms. Fumiko Hayashi concluded a comprehensive partnership agreement with Ms. Sadako Ogata, the President Japan International Cooperation Agency, JICA, to promote partnership cooperation jointly conducted by the two parties and to develop new efforts such as assistance in solving urban development issues in developing districts by public-private cooperation, and development of new programs on women and the economy. Promotion of Smart City Yokohama and Nissan conduct compact mobility demonstration! The City of Yokohama and Nissan Motor Co. are working jointly on Yokohama Mobility Project Zero, a five-year comprehensive project for automobile traffic measures, such as eco-friendly driving and the promotion of electric vehicles, that runs through from fiscal 2009 to fiscal 2013 with the aim of promoting the next-generation traffic technology to build a low-carbon emission city. For this fiscal year, the City of Yokohama has been selected for the subject area for demonstrations to be conducted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and Japan s first demonstration of a two-seater electric micro-vehicle has been conducted in the city, The micro mobility, a totally new type of vehicle developed and supplied by Nissan, is a car of the future that cannot be seen anywhere else. It can be used readily by anyone, it is safer than the motorbike, and it is expected to play an important role as a vehicle that ensures mobility among houses and stores in urban areas and sightseeing areas as well as the means of mobility in cities of higher altitude as part of the recovery in eastern Japan after the Great East Japan Earthquake. The latest demonstration used six vehicles for test driving in hilly areas in Yokohama such as Yamanote and Motomachi for a certain period of time, collecting data about public roads and others. Promotion of Public-Private Collaboration (Y-PORT) Smart City Week 2011 attracts about 60,000 visitors, the Smart City Week 2012 will be

4 held in 2012!! Yokohama Smart City Week 2011 (organized by the Nikkei Business Publications, Inc., with special cooperation by the City of Yokohama) was held at Pacifico Yokohama in October. It was held to depict a new smart-city image and provide people concerned with opportunities to send out, share and exchange their views and information and to expand business, aiming to build safer and sustainable and highly efficient city. The Smart City Week 2012 will be held at Pacifico Yokohama from October 31 (Wed) to November 2 (Fri), Water Business International Water Association (IWA) Workshop was held in Yokohama A workshop of the International Water Association (IWA), the world's largest network in the water field, was held on February 2 and 3 in Yokohama City, and overseas experts concerned with water exchanged information. This is a workshop-type international conference held by the IWA and Japan Water Works Association (JWWA), and this is the second consecutive year for the Yokohama Waterworks Bureau (YWWB) to act as a joint host. The theme was Sustainability of Infrastructure toward Customer Awareness and Satisfaction in Water Utilities. Eight of the world s leading water experts from seven countries were invited. In addition to the keynote speech by Dr. Helena Alegre, Senior Vice President & Chair of the Strategic Asset Management Specialist Group of the IWA, case studies of the trend of water-supply corporations in North America, Europe, Australia, etc., and a panel discussion about the situation in Japan based on the impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake, were held. Selected for 3 Projects The City of Yokohama has been selected as FutureCity and Comprehensive Special Zone for International Competitiveness Development (CSZICD), for which the government accepted applications from local-government candidates as national projects, as well as Specified Urban Renewal Emergency Development Area. Selected as FutureCity! The FutureCity: The government selected advanced model cities for their policies to cope with environmental problems and an aging society, and takes a variety of ways of assistance including regulatory reform and/or fiscal measures. About 30 candidate cities nationwide applied for the project. Yokohama City proposed the following: (1) Changing the whole of Yokohama into a smart city where CO2 emissions are greatly reduced; (2) Building a compact city where residents can enjoy both a comfortable life in suburbs and a convenient life in the attractive city center in an integrated fashion; (3) Promoting culture and arts and MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, and Exhibitions) programs to become a core city of human resources, goods and information in Asia; (4) Disseminating these successful cases of (1), (2), and (3) widely inside and outside Japan. The FutureCity is a project in which the government produces successful examples of coping with the environmental problems and/or the super-aging society, and disseminates these good examples widely inside and outside Japan, thus aiming at regional revitalization and building a sustainable socio-economic structure in Japan. The concept is incorporated in the Strategy for Rebirth of Japan, which shows the government s roadmap for economic

5 growth and reconstruction following the Great East Japan Earthquake. Including Yokohama City, 11 cities, six of which are in areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, were selected as FutureCity. Selected as Life Innovation Comprehensive Special Zone for International Competitiveness Development! Together with Kanagawa prefecture and Kawasaki City, Yokohama applied to the Japanese government for a life science base in the Keihin Coastal Area to be designated as a Keihin Coastal Area Life Innovation Comprehensive Special Zone for International Competitiveness Development (CSZICD). The application was successful. Based on the Comprehensive Special Zones Act, which was enacted in June 2011, the CSZICD is a project to solve policy issues with the intention of concentrating national and local policy resources into areas with potential for making trailblazing efforts and also of making the Strategy for the Rebirth of Japan come true. Including Yokohama, seven zones have been designated nationwide. Selection as a Specified Urban Renewal Emergency Development Area! Specified Urban Renewal Emergency Development Areas are regions selected from among Urban Renewal Emergency Development Areas which are designed to enhance the international competitiveness of the city by promoting urgent and focused development of urban areas through smooth and rapid execution of urban development work. This time, seven cities and eleven regions including Yokohama were selected from among the current 65 regions. The Yokohama city center and waterfront areas were specified, and the expansion of a favorable tax climate, deregulation, and the like are expected. Plans include the formation of a base for international exchange comprising a broad range of functions including business, commerce, services, cultural exchange functions and the like, as well as the promotion of urban development with superior disaster prevention functions. Professional Sports Teams Formation of the B-Corsairs Professional Sports Team! The Yokohama B-Corsairs professional basketball team was formed, with Yokohama as its hometown. The first professional basketball team in Kanagawa prefecture, the B-Corsairs entered the fray in the *bj league from the season. There are now four professional sports teams in Yokohama, Yokohama F Marinos (soccer, J-League 1), Yokohama FC (soccer, J-League 2), Yokohama DeNA BayStars (baseball), and Yokohama B-Corsairs (basketball). With such a variety of hometown professional sports teams, all of Yokohama is filled with excitement. * bj league: Launched in 2005, the Japanese professional basketball league sponsored by the Japan Professional Basketball League, Co., Ltd. Nineteen teams (ten Eastern Conference and nine Western Conference) played in the season.