ISSUE NO.

59• F

ALL 2006[JLGC UPDATE] JAPAN NIGHT! / [Column] SCI Annual Conference ....................................................... 1[SPECIAL FEATURE] Downtown in Japanese Cities............................................................................... 2[JETAA ACTIVITIES] 2006 JETAA USA Conference Focuses on “Community”........................................ 4[JETAA ACTIVITIES] JETAA Canada National Conference 2006 ............................................................. 5[JLGC UPDATE] The Governors Meet in Charleston, South Carolina...................................................... 6[JLGC UPDATE] “Strong States’ Strong Nation" - The 2006 National Conference of State Legislatures..... 7[PREFECTURE TODAY] Seeking the Heart of MIYAGI ............................................................................. 8

JAPAN LOCAL GOVERNMENT CENTER (CLAIR, NEW YORK)JAPAN NIGHT! at the ICMA Annual Conference
J L G CU P D A T E

T

his year, at the ICMA
annual conference in San
Antonio, Texas, we hosted a

reception for former CLAIR international fellows andfriends of the Japan Local Government Center in
New York. Managers and staff of the ICMA
organisation were feted with sushi and drinks tocelebrate our strong and thriving relationship withthese most important local government officials. Mr.
Hirai, the executive director, expressed his delight atbeing able to say ‘thank you’ and ‘welcome’ to morethan 40 people who attended. He commented on
how essential the work of city managers is to their
Japanese counterparts.

SCI 50th Anniversary Conference
The annual conference of Sister Cities International was held in Washington,
D.C. from July 13th through 15th.
Mr. Shinji Hirai, Executive Director of Japan Local Government Center, and two JLGC
officials attended.
This year’s conference commemorated the 50th anniversary of President
Eisenhower’s statement that defined citizen diplomacy as the basis for sister cities
relationships. Many people involved in the sistercities movement, including two city mayors andvolunteers from Japanese municipalities, came
together and celebrated the past 50 years andpledged the next 50 years for world peace at thishistorical event. Mary Jean Eisenhower, President
and CEO of People to People International, andthe granddaughter of President Eisenhower, gave
the celebratory speech.
Mary Jean Eisenhower giving the celebratory speech

Masthead:
The Tsuwabuki,
or Farfugium, blooms
in late autumn or early
winter in Japan. It is often
cultivated as the undergrowth of aJapanese garden. In the language offlowers,
it signifies
modesty.

Published by JAPAN LOCAL GOVERNMENT CENTER
All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced without permission. Printed in USA
666 Fifth Avenue, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10103-0072 • Tel: 212-246-5542 • Fax: 212-246-5617 • E-mail: jlgc@jlgc.org • http://www.jlgc.org

JLGC NewsLetter No. 59 • © 2006 Japan Local Government Center

PAGE 1

Downtown in Japanese Cities
Dr. Miki Yasui / Associate Professor of Hosei University, Tokyo, JapanS P E C I A L

F E A T U R E

E Japanese downtown now
Sprawl is not a discriminating
phenomenon. Perhaps best exemplified
by the suburban sprawl experienced byAmericancities,randomanduncontrolled growth has had adebilitating effect on urbanism
worldwide. The economic and social
decline of cities, especially their
downtown areas has generated aresurgence of policies to stem outward
growth and have spawned movements
to engender “smart growth” and“compact cities”. Japanese cities are no
exception.
In
Japan,
Machidukuri{community development} Three Laws
were passed in 2000 to remedy
haphazard development and to
economically and socially redevelop
depressed downtown areas. The Town
Center Revitalization Law, the LargeScale Retail Stores Location Law and therevised Town Planning and Zoning Act
were enacted to provide new methods
for economic and social development
through comprehensive planning andzoning.

A typical shopping mall in Japan: many vacant shops,
few people walking during daytime hours

Despite such laws, downtown
shopping districts were becoming“ghost towns,” and after five years, theselaws needed to be revised to retard thebuilding frenzy of large scale retailstores in suburban areas. The new laws
regulated new development of large
scale retail stores in excess of 10,000
PAGE 2“Vehicle-Free Street,” six week experiment in Tenjin, Fukuoka

square meters and initiated policies toassist local governments in their efforts
to revitalize depressed downtown
business districts. The revised laws
intend to bring attention to the conceptof “town centers” by introducing the“Town Center Activation Meeting”.
These meetings will focus on models
that will enable the revitalization of thetown centers. Participants will be thecommercial landlords, tenants, area
residents and private sector companies.
One model being considered is the“Business Improvement Districts”(BIDs) common in the United States.
These BIDs serve designated geographic
areas and provide a variety of services,such as planning, sanitation, security
and beautification. Businesses in the
BIDs are assessed a fee for these
services.
In Japan, however, there are noprovisionsfor
specialpurposegovernments that have taxing authority
enabling the implementation of special
projects. Downtown areas in Japan are
consistently challenged to raise money

to put into action ideas and programs
that would better serve the community
and its residents. Presently, there is a
growing movement among someadvanced town centers to secure thenecessary financial resources to meet thechallenge of revitalizing their corebusiness centers.
The following
scenarios are now being introduced.
• Japanese BIDs
- Voluntary assessment
There are a few successful
examples of Japanese type BIDs in large
cities where property owners meet toplan and carry out various activities
such as beautification to enhance
property values within the area. Such
areas include the district called“Daimaruyu,” near Tokyo station;“Shiodome”, a newly developed district
where several large companies haveestablished their headquarters; and inother cities like “Tenjin” in Fukuoka
and “Midosuji” in Osaka where similar
activities have been undertaken.
Common among these areas is the
JLGC NewsLetter No. 59 • © 2006 Japan Local Government CenterMy student researchers observing a local shopping areacollection of a voluntary assessment
from property owners in the districts.
In the Tenjin area, for example, theplanning
and
implementing
organization is called “We Love Tenjin
Meeting”. Their assessment fee is called
a self-governance cost paid by business
managers and property owners. There
are other sources of revenue that help
support the businesses in the district,but the existence of the self-governancecost is a good indicator that thebetterment of the area is widely
supported by all whom live and work
there.
• Citizen Donations andFinancial Support
Recent trends in community
development in Japan are focusing on
community organizations and theirability to fundraise through citizen
donation and financial support. The
SaseboYokabi Merchant Association for
example introduced a “cheering party”
accepting minimum donations of 1,000yenandincorporating
citizeninvolvement in their activities.
• Income Generation throughPublic Space Use
One possibility of raising funds
to stimulate redevelopment of town
centers is to allow the private sector
JLGC NewsLetter No. 59 • © 2006 Japan Local Government Center

more discretion inusing public space.
Income can be derived
frombusiness
advertising and sales
revenues from street
cafes, bistros andsmall retail shops.
Recently, deregulationhas
fosteredanincrease in businessenterprises using open
space to conduct theiractivities.

• Community BusinessBusinesses that use community
resources are actively finding solutions
for local community problems. These“community businesses” are presently
flourishing in Japan. In town centers,
community businesses occupy vacant
shops transforming these spaces into
purposeful services such as lunch box
delivery stations for senior citizens andschool lunch cooking centers for the
public schools in the neighborhood. In
Nagahama-shi, Shiga Prefecture, forexample, senior citizens converted
vacant shop spaces into thrift stores andother types of businesses and in
addition to the normal tourist tradepulling in customers from theneighborhood and surrounding area.
Incomefromthesebusinesses can be a sourceof revenue for particular
town center activation
projects that support a
broader plan to revitalize
the town center.
• Other inducements
Resourcesforrevitalizing town centersshouldincludeinducements other thanmoney. Advanced town
centers have establishedstrong networks with neighboring
universities, non profit organizationsand volunteers in an effort to improve
management organizations locatedwithin the town center.
E Strategic fundraising
The critical ingredient in a
successful town center activation
meeting is the ability to creatively andstrategically raise funds early in theredevelopment process. Extensive anddeliberate
planning
shouldbeconducted to evaluate the needs of thecommunity. The needs assessment
should identify the problems, concerns
and remedies and establish theappropriate relationship between costand profit. Strategic thinking andplanning are important in taking into
consideration all possible scenarios that
could impact upon the goals andobjectives of the community.
In Japan, it is vitally importantthat property owners, residents,
merchants and companies share theirideas and strategies when discussing thefuture of the area. A BID like systemshould be encouraged and introduced
throughout communities in Japan tobring about a renewed energy that will
invigorate and sustain economic andsocial growth in areas that are sliding
into decline.

“Platinum Plaza,” a community business operated by senior citizens locatedon a main street in Nagahama

PAGE 3

2006 JETAA USA Conference Focuses on“Community”
Matthew Gillam / JLGC Senior Researcher
J E T A A

A C T I V I T I E S

The US chapters of the JET
Alumni Association held their
5th annual conference on
Friday and Saturday, August 11th and12th, in the Little Tokyo section of
Los Angeles. This year’s conference
focused on “community” - namely,communities of JET Program
participants and alumni, and theirrelationships with communities in thelarger society around them.

At the reception by the Consul General of JapanThe conference began early
Friday morning with brief welcoming
remarks by Mr. Shinji Hirai,
Executive Director of Japan Local
Government Center in New York, andMr. Yasuhiko Kamada, JET Program
Director at the Consulate General ofJapan in Los Angeles. After this,Brian Noguchi, a former chapter
officer for Southern California and aformer Country Representative, gavea brief overview of JETAA’s past andpresent, to give some context andbackground to the conference
participants before they got down to
work on current issues.
After each chapter reported on
their status and activities, Nancy
Kikuchi, a founding member of theSouthern California chapter andlong-time booster of Little Tokyo,
spoke first about that community’s
history and the future that its
supporters hope to create for it. She
recounted the difficulties faced by
Japanese-Americans through decadesof discrimination and economic
PAGE 4hardship,andthedifficulties now facedby Little Tokyo itself asa coherent community
as Japanese-Americans
move out into thesuburbs and around theworld to chase newopportunities. Nancy
then talked about her
experiences in helping
found the chapter after
she returned fromteaching in Japan in
1989. Because there
was no funding or
supportfromtheJapanesegovernment in those days - other thana list of names and phone numbers of
returning JETs - it took a lot of
perseverance and dedication to getpeople together and get the chapter
on its feet. Overall, the talkhighlighted how much progress has
been made, both in overcoming racial
prejudice and discrimination against
Japanese and others, and in building a
network of people who serve as abridge between Japan and the rest of
the world, contributing to this effort.
One interesting event in theafternoon was a team and awarenessbuilding
exercise,wheretheparticipants created a giant collage
map of their chapters within the US,
using words and images to express
each chapter’s character.
The Consul General of Japanin Los Angeles, Mr. Kazuo Kodama,and his wife hosted a delightful
reception for the participants on
Friday evening at their residence,
followed by a nijikai in the
Koreatown community.
Saturday was given over topresentations by the Japan National
Tourist Organization, CLAIR, andMOFA, and then to discussion andvoting on proposals for activities andEach chapter expresses its distinctive personality

initiatives to be undertaken bychapters individually or on a national
level, and on policy and strategy
proposals. One development thatappears likely to move forward is thecreation of a national newsletter to be
put out as a collaborative effort
among several newsletter editors fromchapters around the country.
Committees were then formed to
study how to increase the profile andstatus of JETAA, to determine thebest strategy to pursue should thechapters wish to try to attain NPO
status individually or as a national
entity, and to create a detailed job
description for the US Country
Representatives. Finally, Shannan
Spisak of New York and Shannon
Quinn of Seattle were elected as theCountry Reps for 2006-2007.
The evening was then given
over to a dinner in the Hispanic
community on Olvera Street, hosted
by CLAIR, followed by a nijikai in
Chinatown. For those who were able
to spend some time on Sunday, theconference was timed to coincidewith the annual Tofu Festival and the
Nisei
Week
Paradeintheneighborhood surrounding the hotel,
providing a good dose of Japaneseculture, music, and food.
JLGC NewsLetter No. 59 • © 2006 Japan Local Government Center

JETAA Canada National Conference 2006
Ms. Seiko Kubo / Assistant Director of JLGC
J E T A A

A C T I V I T I E S

This year, the JET Alumni
Association (JETAA) Canada
National Conference took
place in Vancouver, Canada from June
23 to June 25. Blessed with mild
weather during the conference, every
participant could share ideas topursue their goals and make efforts todevelop their chapters, as well as
being able to enjoy the city itself.
JETAA Canada has seven chapters,
based in Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal,
Winnipeg, Calgary, Vancouver, andEdmonton. This national conferenceis held annually, hosted by a different
chapter each year.
A total of 20 representatives
from every chapter got together at theconference.
In
addition,
representatives from Japan Local
Government
Center(JLGC),
including Mr. Shinji Hirai, theExecutive Director, and Mr. Naofumi
Hida, the former Director, took part.
The Consulate General of Japan at
Vancouver sent Mr. Toshiyuki Taga,
the Consul General, and otherdelegates.
The conference wasorganized and moderated by membersof the Vancouver chapter, acting as
the conference host.
Before the opening of theconference, Consul General Taga helda cocktail reception on June 23, where
people could get to know each other.

This contributed to the frank opinion
exchange and smooth running of theconference later on.
On June 24, the opening
session started with speeches from
Mr. Fujita, followed by Mr. Hirai.
The first session was conducted by Mr.
Chevalier and Ms. Nagao of the
Vancouver consulate, speaking about
their involvement in recruiting andhiring, and about the JET Program itself.
The next session was devoted to CLAIR’s
funding for chapters. The morning
finished with a keynote address by
Mr. Kevin Thien, the coach, and Jane
Leung, one of the founders, of the
JETAA BC dragon boat team. They
spoke about the BC chapter’s
experiences participating in dragonboat races in Vancouver and how thishas contributed to strengthening ties
among chapter members and friendsof JET, etc. After lunch, therepresentatives from each chapter
introduced themselves and reported
on successful events from theirchapters.
Then, four topics werediscussed during the brainstorming
and national action plan session. The
first was the Visit Japan Campaign,sponsored by JNTO. Many ideas weresuggested, such as having pamphlets,
maps and information available to
distribute to JET parents at predeparture sessions. The
second topic was ecommunications, whata new Wiki site was set
up and is running at:
http://jetaabc.ca/
JETAACanadaForum/
JETAACanadaForum/.
The
third
topic
concerned talking toprospective JETs. The
final
topic
was
discussion of a national
Participants at the residence of the Consul General of Japan in Vancouver
newsletter. A lot of
JLGC NewsLetter No. 59 • © 2006 Japan Local Government Center

topics were covered and the day ended
with a reception hosted by JLGC.

Keynote Speech by Mr. Thien and Ms. Leungat the conference

On June 25, the first session
concerned chapter activities for new
and returning JETs. The next session
discussed the role of the Country
Representative. It was agreed that aneffort should be made to look for any
job descriptions or other records
concerning the position. Then Mr.
Donovan gave an update on theContact Management System (CMS)
project that he is working on with the
CMS team. The last session was a
discussion of issues relating to theCountry Rep and the nationalguidelines/bylaws governing these.
Finally, the venue for next year’s
conference was discussed. Edmonton
and Calgary were mentioned as
possibilities, and after the conference it
was reported that SAJETAA in Calgary
will host the national conference next
year. Mr. Hida then closed theconference with his farewell speech tothe conference participants. This was
his final goodbye before returning toJapan to take up his new duties. With
this, the conference was finallybrought to a close.
The conference was successful,with all the chapter representatives
exchanging opinions throughout all
the sessions, and outside of thesessions as well, which made theirrelationships much stronger. The
Vancouver chapter did a very good jobof organizing and managing theconference.
PAGE 5

The Governors Meet in Charleston,South Carolina
Seth B. Benjamin / JLGC Senior Researcher
J L G CU P D A T E

Every year, in the Summer, theGovernors of the fifty states in the
United States (together with Guam,
Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Northern
Mariana and U.S. Virgin Islands) meetinformally for a three- or four-day period to
discuss a topic that has been the focus of the
National Governors’ Association (NGA) forthe previous year. This year, because of thedevastation caused by Hurricane Katrina,
Governor Mark Sanford graciously accepted
the challenge, at short notice, to host the
governors in historic Charleston, South
Carolina, from 4th August to 7th August
2006.

Mr. Hirai and Governor Huckabee

For his year as chairman of theassociation, the theme that Governor
Huckabee (R-AR) chose to ask the governors
to focus on was ‘Healthy America’. At themeeting, Governor Huckabee, having set theexample by his own behaviour, presented forthe governors a plan for them to take the leadin their states - at home, at work and in theschools. As he called it, Wellness Where We
Live, the work done by NGA over the year
offered the governors five strategies for‘Creating Healthy States’: (1) Educating the
public about existing community resources sothat it can take advantage of services andopportunities for health programmes; (2)Work with community organisations tocommunicate to the public healthinformation encouraging healthy lifestyles;(3) Promote civic and personal responsibility
for better health; (4) Improve access tohealthy options for those living in
disadvantaged communities; and (5) Lead byexample by sharing publicly how thegovernor and his family gets and stays
healthy.
The governors opened their meeting
PAGE 6

with a session given by the former governorof Wisconsin and United States Secretary of
Health and Human Services, Tommy
Thompson. Piggy-backing on Governor
Huckabee’s initiative, Tommy Thompson
called for the governors to begin a complete
reform of the way Americans think about
health care. He said we should focus on‘health’ not ‘health care’. If the governors
took prospective action to encourage wellness
then they could save a considerable amountof their Medicaid costs. He pointed out that
only 5 per cent of their health care costs go
toward illness prevention. In a light-hearted
moment, he mentioned how the Japanese,
Mexicans, Italians and Germans, despite theirethnic diets, suffered fewer heart attacks thanthe British or Americans. “So”, he said, “eatand drink whatever you like - speaking
English is apparently what kills you!”
Seriously though, since long-term care isgoing to be a major cost burden of the future,
he suggested a way to make the Americanfederal system work well. How about, heargued, the federal government taking on thecosts of the over-65 population, whilst
leaving to the states (with all the flexibility
and creativity they can muster) the healthcare concerns of the 64-and-underpopulation. This was the thrust of Tommy
Thompson’s appeal to the governors.
Health was not the only subject
under discussion. The governors tackledenergy, telecommunications and education
issues. The governors acknowledged that ineach of these areas solutions to the complex
problems they present will take a lot of hard
work and consensus-building. Then, at theclosing plenary session, Sir Ken Robinson
encouraged the governors to think differently
about how to prepare students for the
workplace of the 21st Century. Using his
recent book, Out of Our Minds: Learning tobe Creative, he showed how organisations canbecome creative, and thereby competitive, by
thinking about intelligence anew.
Governor Napolitano (D-AZ), theincoming chairman of NGA, announced her
initiative for the upcoming year. She called it
Innovation America. As she said, “to becompetitive as a nation, we must prepare ouryoung people to meet the real demands of thejob market. The goal of my initiative is to
educate our students to be innovators, andfor them to carry that spirit of innovation
through their university experience and into
the workforce”.
Of course, we had an opportunity tosavour the rich history and heritage of theSouth, especially that of the Charleston area.
A visit to an old plantation, a privileged lookat some of the ante-bellum houses that grace
the peninsula shoreline of the city and a visit
to the new Liberty Park were occasions for us
to enjoy casual evenings with the governors,
their top staff and other participants.

Mr. Hirai, Governor Sanford and myself

JLGC NewsLetter No. 59 • © 2006 Japan Local Government Center

“Strong States, Strong Nation”- The 2006 National Conference of State Legislatures
Stephen Fasano / JLGC Senior Researcher
J L G CU P D A T E

The National Conference of State
Legislatures (NCSL) held its
2006 Annual Meeting andExhibition in Nashville, Tennessee.
Founded in 1975, the National
Conference of State Legislatures is abipartisan organization that serves thelegislators and staffs of the nation’s fifty
states, its commonwealths andterritories. NCSL provides research,technical assistance and opportunities
for policymakers to exchange ideas on
the most pressing state issues. NCSL isan effective and respected advocate forthe interests of state governments before
Congress and federal agencies.
This year the host city was
Nashville, Music City USA. More than
6,000 attendees were treated to an arrayof lectures and panel discussions onimportant and timely state issues.
Building upon the event theme“Strong States, Strong Nation” thisyears conference focused on theprominence and power of states in thefederal system.
The general plenary sessions
addressed the many important andcontroversial issues that confront thestates and the United States.
Globalization and macroeconomic
models and principles were aired by adistinguished panel that included
Frederick W. Smith, chairman and chief
executive officer of the Federal Express
Corporation; Jim Sasser, former UnitedStates Senator from Tennessee andAmbassador to China during the

JLGC Executive Director Shinji Hirai with State Senator andMrs. Dan Kelly

JLGC NewsLetter No. 59 • © 2006 Japan Local Government Center

Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff addresses NCSL audience.

Clinton presidency and Congressman
John Tanner from Tennessee.
United States Secretary ofHomeland Security, Michael Chertoff
spoke about the effort being made to
thwart terrorism, just days after British
authorities foiled a terrorist plot todestroy jet liners over the Atlantic
Ocean, and weeks before the fifth
anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
Chertoff listed security improvementsthat have been implemented over thelast five years and gave support to the
traditional model that puts state andlocal
governments
first
when
responding to natural disasters. He
went on to briefly discuss the REAL ID(Identification),
which
would
standardize state drivers’ licenses. Thisis a major state concern because of themandated timeline and cost to theindividual states.
Perhaps the best attended andcertainly the most enjoyable session
featured Doris Kearns Goodwin, aworld renowned historian and author
who has been reporting on politics andbase ball for the last two decades. Her
recent book, Team of Rivals: The
Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
details how Lincoln prevailed over three

rivals for the presidential nomination in1860 then appointed those rivals to his
cabinet and worked with them.
The audience was captivated byher story telling which included
revealing insight and humorous
anecdotes involving her work with
President Lyndon Johnson and otherleaders.
Her work on Lincoln
highlighted his key leadership strengths
such as: confidence, empathy and awillingness to share credit and failure.
He learned from his mistakes andthoroughly understood himself. Above
all he never forgot his roots and had agreat sense of timing.
On a lighter note, after the closeof each business day, attendees weretreated to special events, including avisit to the Country Music Hall ofFame, a local country fair and theinfamous Wild Horse saloon.
Year after year, the NCSL
conference provides an opportunity tomeet state government officials and tolearn about their jobs and experiences inpublic service. These dedicated andcommitted leaders are proud of theirwork to make their states strong, andstrong states are the bedrock of a strong
nation.
PAGE 7

Seeking the Heart of MIYAGITakahiro Hino / Assistant Director of JLGC
P R E F E C T U R E

T O D A Y

T

he prefecture of Miyagi is locatedin northern Japan, less than 2hours from Tokyo by the
Tohoku Shinkansen (bullet train).
Miyagi has been prosperous sinceancient times. Miyagi’s development
began in the 1600’s when feudal Lord
Date Masamune, one of the most
famous and popular warriors ofJapanese history, first took possessionof the surrounding territory. The“heart of Miyagi” is the spirit of thestrongcharacterandnativeintelligence of our predecessors and isemblematic of the warmth and wisdomthat continues to nourish theprefecture.
Today,
Miyagiisflourishing and enjoys its success inmany different ways.

ESendai - An Attractive City of
Trees
With
a
populationofapproximately one million, Sendai, thecapital city of Miyagi, is the political andeconomic center of the Tohoku region.
Despite its small size, the city features
an abundance of natural beauty thatchanges with the seasons. Sendai’s
nickname “Mori No Miyako”, literallytranslated as the city of trees illustrates
this perfectly. Jozenjidori Avenue,
lined with beautiful “keyaki” (zelkova)
trees, is a popular spot for strollers in
downtown Sendai. In December, thetrees are lit at night with hundreds ofthousands of lights during the “Pageantof Starlight.”

Pageant of Starlight

PAGE 8EMatsushima - A Placeof Beauty andSpirituality
The green pines
stand in stark contrast to
the cliffs of the 260-plus
islands of Matsushima thathave been eroded by the sea
over the ages. Considered
one of the three mostbeautiful landscapes inJapan, Matsushima has
been written about in waka
and haiku poetry sinceancient times.
EEnjoy the Delights of First-rate
Hot Springs
Visiting a hot spring to enjoy
its waters is one of the great pleasuresof traveling in Miyagi. There aremany hot springs in Miyagi, including
those in Naruko, Akiu, Sakunami and
Togatta. According to a local legend,
the waters of the Akiu Hot Springs
cured a seriously ill emperor 1500
years ago. There are so many different
types to choose from, you will never
be disappointed.
The healing properties of the
hot springs differ according to thecomposition of the waters. Miyagi has
numerous hot springs which are
effective for treating injuries andcuring neuralgia. The baths arediverse as some are built from hugerocks while others are built outdoors.
Often, large hotels have a variety ofbaths so guests can leisurely make therounds.

Matsushima in Winterone of the leading producers of rice.
Miyagi’s rich and fertile soil is ideal
for rice cultivation. Miyagi’s rice has asweet flavor and is often used in otherfood products. Miyagi’s sake, madefrom quality rice is highly prized forits smooth, mellow flavor. The rice
gives the sake a sweetness thatneutralizes the strong taste of alcohol.
The sake goes very well with sushi.
The people of Miyagi areproud of their heritage and their land
and they work tirelessly to enjoy the
fruits of their labor. Miyagi-ken is abeautiful and exciting place to visit
where you too can experience the“heart of Miyagi”.
For more information
Miyagi Prefecture Government
http://www.pref.miyagi.jp/english/index.htm

ETaste the Harmony of Nature
There is a harmony that
resonates
among
theocean,
mountains, rivers and plains in
Miyagi. There is an abundance andvariety of delicious food. You canenjoy astonishingly fresh seafood
including tuna, oyster and scallops
from Sanriku. Furthermore, Miyagi is
JLGC NewsLetter No. 59 • © 2006 Japan Local Government Center