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Okinawa OTEC Power Initialization Ceremony

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IMG_8812_1June 16th marked the beginning of power generation at Kume Island‘s Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Power Plant with a ceremony and visiting dignitaries from around Japan and the world.  The newly completed OTEC power plant will be able to generate up to 50 kilowatt hours of electricity from a thermal convection powered turbine.  The turbine is propelled by thermal variations provided by warm surface water and cold deep sea water.

IMG_9149This station is the first of its kind in the world, creating energy in a clean manner.  The mineral rich deep sea waters used by the plant can be used in a variety of industries, making the entire process more efficient and beneficial.  The station is part of the Okinawa Prefectural Deep Sea Water Research Institute, and as the goal of the institute is to research the deep sea water, the power plant’s primary role will be as a research and educational tool. Its construction has been part of a continuing dialog on clean energy between Kume Island, Okinawa, and the National Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority and their OTEC project.

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The ceremony marked the official start of power generation after initial testing and the first power generated in March of this year.  Starting at ten in the morning, visitors were invited to the Research Institute Grounds to view the OTEC plant, sample some of the many products made with deep sea water, and enjoy entertainment by artists from local to abroad.  The open fair was followed by a half-hour ceremony with speeches and messages that ended with the pushing of the ‘start’ button. Special guests included:

  • Aiko Shimajiri – Parliamentary Secretary of Cabinet Office and Ministry of Reconstruction from the House of Councilors
  • Akikazu Shimoji – Okinawa Commerce and Labor Department Industrial Development Supervising Officer
  • Yoshihisa Kawakami – The Okinawan Vice-Governor
  • Alfred Mageleby – Consul General form the American Consulate General Naha
  • Nonaka Tomoyo – Director of the Gaia Initiative 
  • Mark McGuffie – Managing Director of Enterprise Honolulu
  • Gregory Barbour – Executive Director of NELHA

IMG_9707These guests were all involved in different aspects of promoting the OTEC project on Kume Island in communicating with the Hawaii OTEC program.  This historic achievement will have an important role in the local economy and development of Kume Island and will be a key test of this clean energy technology for institutions around the world.

IMG_9463The official events ended with a reception before the nearby visitor’s center where more performances took place and several speakers were invited to share their thoughts on the OTEC start and future of the program. Keynote speaker Nonaka Tomoyo surprised Kume Island Mayor Taira with a proposal for creating free WiFi on the island, which the mayor was just able to avoid commenting on.  Though it was a positive proposal, the Mayor is limited in the ways he can promote growth on the small island.  Luckily, organizations like Gaia Initiative and the sister-city partnership with Hawaii County are providing knowledge and political support to help Kume Island grow technologically and economically.

The celebration will continue Monday with talks by people involved with OTEC.  The continued dialog between interested parties promotes new ideas and the sharing of vital information.

For the future, project supporters hope that the power plant will justify the creation of a new deep water pipeline and expanded capacity generators which will allow for more industries and power.  Both Hawaii and Kume Island will continue to communicate and share information that will help the different projects create new opportunities for efficient use of the deep sea water and OTEC power.

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Preparing for an Emperor

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A few weeks ago, a delegation came from Hawai’i County to view the Deep-sea Water Research institute on Kume Island.  You can read about the visit and the proposed Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion plant in my post on International Cooperation in Green Energy, and on the uses of Deep-sea Water.  The proposal is now gaining wider support and interest.  In just two days, the Emperor of Japan, Akihito, will arrive on Kumejima to view the Institute as part of a larger four-day trip to Okinawa.

Since I live on Kumejima, it has been interesting to see the amount of preparation and thought that goes into an Emperor’s visit.  As a westerner, the idea of an Emperor is still a bit of a mystery to me.  I understand both the historical roles as everything from actual sovereign to figurehead, and today’s modern role as a symbol of Japanese nationalism, but its a big idea to think of one family (with a few adoptions, etc) maintaining such a position for such a long time.  Considering that this is the Emperor’s first visit to Kumejima, and likely the last for a very long time, it is perhaps no wonder such special care is being taken for his visit.

Luckily, I’ve been asked to help take photos for the event and have had a unique opportunity to see the process at work.

The first visible signs of something changing was a sudden influx of road-maintenance crews.  Over the past weeks, the street markings have been repainted along the Emperor’s route, along with new signs and a host of other cosmetic changes.  Groups of locals have gone out on weekends to tidy up the natural growth along the road and even throughout neighborhoods.  Flowers have been planted, meetings held, and most of all plans have been made.

Two weeks ago a contingent of police officers from Okinawa arrived to practice the Emperor’s motorcade.  For two days they checked roads, drove up and down streets, and got comfortable with their surroundings.  Then they left.   The contingent arrived back in town on Sunday.  Every pot hole, bridge, and grating has been checked for security purposes and sealed, and there are buses of police and safety taking over key areas such as the airport.

What surprised me the most, however, was the level of detail put into planning.  As part of the Kume Island Town staff for the event, I received a numbered printed booklet outlining the schedule for the Emperor’s trip to Okinawa.  The entire trip is choreographed by time and distance with maps of every single area the Emperor will visit and the places where camera people will be allowed to stand and take pictures.

For our part, we have teams of camera and video operators to cover each spot, plus more to cover major points along the route so that we can capture Kumejima’s people welcoming the Emperor.  We had a special meeting just to cover the photography aspects of the visit.  I can only wonder how many meetings more involved persons are having in anticipation of tomorrow.  It is an exciting opportunity for myself and for the people of Kumejima, and I look forward to it.

 

 

Update:

Here’s a quick video I made of the crowds in front of the Kumejima Airport just before the Emperor arrived.  Groups of students and other locals were bussed in about half an hour before he arrived.  They were then instructed in how to wave by a group of professionals and police.  Here’s how it looked.

 

International Cooperation in Green Energy and Beyond

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Last week I wrote about an interesting ceremony where Sake was used as a metaphor for the growing relationship among diverse parties.  That ceremony was part of a larger event recognizing the sister city partnership between Kumejima Town and Hawai’i Country and a series of workshops to investigate the future of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) at both localities.  It might seem like a simple enough thing, but there are a lot of things going on within this partnership, and just two days of talking with various participants has opened new windows into how each culture approaches resources and cooperates internationally.

Background

Kume Island is located east of the main Okinawa Island.  The island has tall mountains, with Uegusuku being the tallest point in Okinawa.  North of the island, the ocean plunges very deep where clean, mineral rich water resides.  For the past ten years, the Kume Island Deep-sea Water Research institute has extracted this cold water as it explores uses for it.  There are now several companies utilizing the deep-sea water in a myriad of products.

Similarly, the Hawai’ian islands are located in the tropics where warm surface water sits atop cold deep water.  The American research has focused on uses of the thermal differences between the two to drive power-generating turbines, thus producing green energy.  The resulting water from the process can still be used in other ways.

A year ago, the two governments signed sister city agreements to help promote educational and cultural ties.  There have also been three workshops on Ocean Energy, two in the States, and one in Japan.

The Partnership

What makes this partnership so exciting to everyone involved is that they compliment each other so well.  Kume Island uses the water in a myriad ways, but has no power plant.  Hawai’i has a power plant, but has not fully utilized the water after the fact.  While these reasons might be enough, there are far more that highlight the importance of cross-cultural communication and cooperation.

For Kume Island, a place of mostly agricultural industry, it is important to create new jobs so that young people have a place to return after going to college or after leaving high school.  Many small islands in Okinawa face a severely declining population as young people leave for school but find no jobs to return to.  Farms can only be given to one child, and the large geriatric population of Japan means that even this is often not an option.

There is also the increased interest in clean energy after the March 11 Daiichi meltdown.  Kume Island has its own gas-powered energy plants, but the world is looking for new ways to power the future.  With Okinawa as a prime place for OTEC due to the high difference in surface and bottom temperatures, Kumejima could place itself as a leader in green energy while also providing new construction, power, and subsidiary jobs.

For the American side, Hawai’i is mostly dependent on tourism, which has fallen along with the slide in the world economy.  Hawai’i too needs to find new ways to employ its young and to better utilize its many natural resources.  Kume Island has long studied the use of the deep water in everything from food to farming to cosmetics to even bathing.  The chance to help build the power plant also provides US companies like Lockheed Martin, which also attended the workshop, important contracts that will help the wider US economy.  Working together provides unique opportunities for both.

Towards the Future

With the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawai’i Authority’s expertise in pioneering OTEC power, and Kume Island’s expertise in the use of mineral rich deep-sea water, both localities have a lot to learn from each other.  More than the simple economic benefits the two countries will gain from working together, the sister city partnership allows for people and thus ideas to pass more smoothly between the two cultures.  The sister city connection in particular opens the door for student exchanges which can help provide opportunities for closer understanding.

Friendly ties lead to greater understanding, new ideas, and greater prosperity for both.  Later this week, I’ll share some of the amazing and efficient things Kume Island does with the natural resource of deep-sea water.

Ancient Tales of Yomitan Village

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Theater is just as much a part of Japanese culture as Broadway is a part of America.  It certainly is no longer the main form of entertainment, but it is an important one.  There are two major types of Japanese theater.  Nou is masked performance, while kabuki was geared more for the masses with song dance and drama.

I was fortunate to get an invitation to view a version of kabuki currently playing around Okinawa.  The play is titled 読谷山花織の宴　(untanza hanaorino utage).  The title doesn’t translate well into English, but I had a chance to speak with the writer after the performance and we came up with “Ancient Tales of Yomitan Village” as a workable equivalent.

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They play covers several stories from roughly 500 years ago.  The writer Kurato Shinya-san told me that he got ideas for the play from various historical texts, then wove them into one play.  Just as the story wove together various aspects of Okinawan history, so too did the play feature many aspects of Okinawan culture.

From traditional Okinawan dances to martial arts, the play gave a unique insight into Okinawa past and present.  One of the stories covers exploits between two Ryukyu lords, namely between Yomitan and Katsuren in Okinawa.  The fight scenes were stylized yet energetic, building from Gojuryu Karate, but developed by the actors themselves.

“Ancient Tales of Yomitan Village” has been running since October 2010 and is performed by TAO Factory.  The cast includes Jr. High students to 23 year olds.  Since most of the cast members are still in school, they only practice once a week and give limited performances.  The performance I saw was performed on Kumejima Island and supported by the Board of Education and Yomitan Radio.

The stories were tied together with a story-teller called 語り部 [kataribe].  This narrator appeared between each play segment, and occasionally interacted with the story.  As with kabuki a central aisle was also utilized for dramatic entrances and exits and to tie in the audience with the performance.  Instead of extravagant sets, the cast used props, lights, and people to create new scenes.

In major fight scenes the cast wore black sheet-like garments to create a unique sense of tension, as if there were a whole army fighting around the main characters.  In another scene, several black-clad figures formed a giant shark for the hero to vanquish.

The performance was accompanied by a live band with songs from both the group and actors.

If you’re in Okinawa, I highly recommend taking the time to see this performance.  It is a unique look into Okianwan culture and a fun, well-done, production.

Production Schedule (here in Japanese)

March 24

Place: Naha Shimin Kaikan Hall

Time: 1:00 and 5:00 (seating begins 1 hr before)

Cost: 500-2000yen

March 25

Place: Kadena Cultural Center

Time: 1:00

Cost: 2500yen (reserved Seating)

March 31

Place: Yomitan Cultural Center

Cost: 2000en (free seating elementary students free)

Time: 1:00 and 5:00 (seating begins 1 hr before)

Tickets can be purchased by phone 098-989-9459 or on various websites for each event.

Japan’s Emperor

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This post is based on a WSJ article and NHK news reports.

The Emperor of Japan has had several health issues, including a recent hospital stay for pneumonia.  This past weekend, he was hospitalized again for an in-depth check of his heart.  He will soon return for bypass surgery.

Over the past year, Emperor Akihito has been far more visible on the news and in the media.  After the March 11th earthquake, he made a rare address, then later appeared with his wife to tour the damaged areas.  I’ve spotted him several times on various TV programs as NHK covered him at various ceremonies.

His role, and that of the Imperial Family in post-WWII Japan is as a national symbol.  The Emperor of Japan helps provide continuity and a national image, and after the destruction last March, his role has been all the more important.  It seems, however, that his busier schedule has had a negative effect on his health.

The Emperor’s health is the latest in a series of news surrounding the Imperial Family lately.  Its long been known that Japan has a growing geriatric population. The issue is now showing up as it refers to the shrinking Imperial Family and the status of its female members. With a shrinking house and uncertain future, the laws governing the institution of the Imperial Family are being examined.

Added to the succession worries, are the health of the Emperor.  With all the expected appearances, and the importance of the Emperor’s role as a national icon in this period of rebuilding and economic worry for Japan, it is no wonder his family is concerned for him.  His second son recently suggested a retirement age for the Emperor.

While the article names the thought as “unthinkable,” it wouldn’t be that odd if you look at Japanese history.  It was quite common for Emperors to step down and allow younger sons (or daughters) to reign.  While this was often a forced action by a powerful regent, it still happened.  In modern times, the job of Emperor has been until death, but perhaps it is time for Japan to take a hard look at its laws concerning the imperial house.  Americans essentially wrote the current laws, perhaps its time for Japan to change them to fit the current situation.

Allowing women to become Empress, creating a retirement age, and allowing more sons and daughters to retain their rights might be an effective way to move the Imperial Family into the next era.