Issue No. 43

Summer 2003

JAPAN TODAY

Experiences of an English Girlat the 2002 FIFA World CupTM
By Nicola Chilton
As an England supporter living in Japan,
I was delighted to be here for the 2002 FIFA
World CupTM. I have always liked football(the football with 11 players and without
shoulder pads, that is — I think you call it“soccer” in the States), possibly because it’s
one of the only sports that we’re any good atin England, or possibly because I’ve always
had a thing for footballers’ legs. So for me
to be in the co-hosting nation of the biggest
single sporting event in the world when mycountry’s team was coming to compete wasvery exciting.

than a little worried about what
would happen if things did turnnasty.

The fear of an onslaught ofThe author, Ms. Nicola Chilton (front left) and her friends enjoyedskinhead, tattooed, trouble-makthe FIFA World Cup immensely.
ing hooligans was a serious conplete with face paint and beer, entered thecern in the cities hosting Englandroom singing and shouting loudly in English.
matches. The first match that England played
was against Sweden, in Saitama. Jeremy Shaw, They searched the room for someone whocould speak English, and all piled over to him,
former CIR in the Saitama 2002 FIFA WorldTM
bombarding him with questions and requests
Cup Promotion Division and current JET
Programme Coordinator at CLAIR, got togeth- in English that were completely lost on theirer a group of English JET Programme particicontinued on page 6
However, it was not only with excitement pants to show the residents and World Cup
but also with some trepidation that I awaited the volunteers in Saitama that just because anTABLE OF CONTENTS
arrival of thousands of England fans. And it was England fan is drunk, shouting and dancing
JAPAN TODAYAn English Girl at FIFA
1with trepidation that the Japanese public await- doesn’t mean that he is a hooligan. The group,GUEST
COLUMNknown as the “Hooligan Janai Boys,” provided
ed their arrival, too. The Japanese media did a
CLAIR Fellow Extends Thanks
2very thorough job of making the public believe a course on the culture and language ofDESIGNATED CITY
that every England fan was a potential hooligan. England football fans. The aim of the course
Yokohama
3In fact, the question I was asked most frequent- was to show that the England fans were here to
JETAA ACTIVITIESJETAA Canada 2002 Conference
4ly in the run up to the World Cup was not “Can enjoy the World Cup, to see good football andJETAAACTIVITIES
to have fun, as opposed to coming to Japan toyou use hashi [chopsticks]?” or “Can you eat
JETAA US 2002 Conference
5smash up shops, have fights and scare small
natto [fermented soybeans]?” as is usually theSISTER CITIES
children and grandmothers.
case, but was rather “Will English hooligans
Chiba City and Houston
7
really come to Japan?” Knowing that various
PREFECTURE TODAYMie
8
The group used an original and very realmeasures had been taken to prevent hooligans
Masthead: The sakura, or cherry blossom, is Japan’s
istic approach to bring the culture of English
from making their way to Japan and causing
cherished national flower. Special hanami parties andfootball to the seminar room. The English
trouble I could answer, “No, I don’t think so”
excursions are held during blossom time each year.
JETs, dressed as “typical” England fans comwith some confidence, but secretly I was more
Copyright 2003 Published by Japan Local Government Center

The Council of Local Authorities for International Relations, Tokyo

GUEST COLUMN

Thanks to CLAIR for a Most Satisfying Visit to Japan
by Rita Thaemert
National Conference of State Legislatures
The CLAIR-sponsored visit to Japan that I
took part in was November 1–13, 2001—fournights and three days in Tokyo, five nights andfive days in Ishikawa Prefecture.
CLAIR took us to a wonderful dinner at
the New Otani Hotel in downtown Los Angeles
the night of November 1. The ten courses likely
constituted our most authentic Japanese dinneron the entire trip. The 11-plus hour flight toTokyo from L.A. would have been much
more difficult for me had the sun not shone
through the plane window all the way over.
But it was raining hard in Tokyo when welanded.

There were interpreters for English, French,
Korean and Chinese.
The Tokyo discussions addressed development of local government authority, devolution
and decentralization. Also on the agenda was
how to form sister-city relationships. One
speaker was Jean Lloyd Jones, a former Iowa
legislator who is now director of Iowa’s sister

CLAIR provided a guided bus tour ofTokyo on Sunday, November 4. It was abeautiful, clear day and we saw Mt. Fuji
Author Rita Thaemert and her husband (left) visited picand a sea of endless city from the 50thturesque Aramata-kyo (Aramata Ravine) in Komatsu City
floor of a government office building.
with their hosts during their home stay visit.
Tokyo is a marvel of more than 11 million
people, commuting on bullet trains and provid- city program. We learned a lot about fixed net
fishing at the Tuesday workshop, too.
ing order and safety with police kiosks every
few blocks. Real estate in Tokyo today is
One of the topics I proposed to consider$100,000 per square meter (square yard).
during the Japan visit was libraries. We visited
with a librarian, Noriko Toda, from the national
Monday and Tuesday, November 5 and 6,
we attended a seminar titled “Developing Local Diet Library who had also attended our Annual
Meeting in San Antonio. She provided informaCommunities that Thrive in the Global Societytion about the Diet Library that was founded inof the New Century: Building a New Network
1948 and functions as both a parliamentaryof International Exchange and Cooperation”
with 200 Japanese and 60 other CLAIR partici- library and Japan’s only national library. It
serves the Diet members and provides librarypants. Our North American group included
support to government and judicial offices asrepresentation from CSG (Council of Statewell as the general public. Each research staff
Governments); New Orleans, Louisiana;
person collects and maintains data for quickly
Portland, Oregon; and Toronto, Ontario,
Canada. Other countries with representatives in responding to requests for information.
attendance were Australia, Cambodia, China,
On Wednesday we traveled to Ishikawa
France, Indonesia, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, New
Prefecture and visited the Ishikawa Foundation
Zealand, Philippines, Thailand and the UK.

JLGC Newsletter

2Rita Thaemert is a Senior Policy Specialist in theLegislative Information Services division of theNational Conference of State Legislatures. Her
visit to Japan was undertaken under the auspicesof CLAIR’s Fellowship Exchange Program.

for International Exchange. Thursday morning
we met with Ishikawa’s Governor. He knew
about Denver because he had visited Aspen,Colorado. He also knew something of Portland,
Oregon and Canada. Then we took a tourof the newly rebuilt Kanazawa castle, madecompletely of local wood, which hasburned down twice. Friday’s featured
activity was a bus trip to southern Ishikawa
to visit a school superintendent, a garden
and a glass factory and museum. Everysite illustrated the Japanese commitment
to cultural preservation.
On Saturday morning we met hostfamilies with whom we were to stay for
the weekend. We were treated to tours oflocal parks, temples, museums and our host’s
underground, low-level radioactivity evaluationlaboratory. The hospitality of our hosts was
simply the best and their mastery of English
was very commendable. On Monday morning,
November 12, we rejoined the North Americangroup at the Kanazawa city government offices
and heard two presentations, one about theimportance of preserving and maintaining local
cultural heritage sites and one about the city’s
attempts to employ more women.
Again and again on the trip we heard dignitaries tell us how very sorry they were about
September 11. The outpouring of sympathy
and genuine concern was tremendous andadded to the feelings of solidarity with
continued on page 6Issue 43

Summer 2003

DESIGNATED CITY

Yokohama
The Future is Here
Yokohama may readily be remembered as
the venue of three of the first-round matches
and the final match of the recent 2002 FIFA
World CupTM Korea / Japan. As the hosting
city, it attracted many supporters and visitorsfrom around the globe who learned muchabout the city and its activities through boththe World Cup and other events.

Yokohama Seal

Landmark Tower Yokohama, which stands 296
meters (971 feet) high and is the tallest building in Japan, its impressive, high-grade officebuildings house the offices of numerous majordomestic and foreign firms.
21st-century industry
Along with information technology (IT),biotechnology is anticipated to evolve into aleading industry that will provide a powerful

one of “soft” research and development as partof the conversion of the area’s industrial structure. The district is being transformed into acore of R&D facilities centered around theInstitute and bringing together universities,
biotechnology-related venture firms, and IT
companies for work in programs at all stages,
from basic to applied.

A Corporate Center
Yokohama is situated in Japan’s nationalcapital area, the country’s ecoFor more than ten years,nomic, political, and information
Yokohama has actively endeavcenter. It developed around its
ored to provide opportunities forport, which is Japan’s biggest port
dynamic economic activity byof international trade, and its busicorporate enterprises, regardlessness community includes manyof their nationality. These efforts
foreign-affiliated companies. Its
have motivated many foreign
population of roughly 3.5 million
firms to move into Yokohama
makes it the second-largest city infrom other parts of Japan as wellthe country. Since its opening toas other countries.
trade with the West more than 140
years ago, the Port of Yokohama
Of particular note are four
has played a pivotal role inindustrial centers intended primarThe Landmark Tower and surroundings characterize the impressive Minato
Japan’s trading activities, and is
ily to serve as hubs for companies
Mirai 21 area of Yokohama.
now poised for further advancebased in specific countries.
ment as a hub of East Asian trade.
Among them are the US-Japan Technology
drive for Japan’s future economic growth. The
Improvement of its capacity is exemplified byVillage Partnership (TVP) project, designed
the April 2001 opening of a high-standard con- Yokohama Science Frontier now taking shapefor tenancy by US firms, and the Canadian
will become a center of the most advanced
tainer terminal with a deep berth able toIndustry & Trade Centre (CITC), built for
research and development in fields such asaccommodate ultra-large container vessels.
Canadian firms.
structural and functional analysis of genes andMinato Mirai 21, aOverseas offices
protein. Its list of facilities is headed by theforward looking business area
Institute of Physical and Chemical Research
Outside Japan, Yokohama has established
Covering 186 hectares (460 acres), this(RIKEN), which is one of Japan’s leading
offices in New York, Frankfurt, Kuala Lumpur,area is the site of an exciting new urban district organizations of comprehensive scientific andand Shanghai with a view to promoting thethat is being created as part of Yokohama’s
technological research, and also has won much business activities of local Yokohama firms,
biggest development project. Generating a lot
international acclaim.
attracting corporate siting, and gatheringof attention both inside and outside Japan,
administrative information. Besides providing
Minato Mirai 21 (MM21) features a state-ofThe Science Frontier is located in a
the latest business information on Yokohama,the-art information infrastructure equippedwaterfront district that is making the transition
continued on page 6
with optical fiber networks. Showcased byfrom a site of “hard” conventional industry toJLGC Newsletter

3

Issue 43

Summer 2003