CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL INNOVATION DESIGNFOR SUSTAINABILITY, OSAKA UNIVERSITY

Newsletter

August. 2014

No.

6

CEIDS Newsletter No. 6 brings you the latest information on international and social/university collaboration
being pursued at CEIDS. Our coverage includes a visit to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where
we interviewed faculty members, and a review of the collaborative research we are conducting with Suita City. Thisissue also contains articles about some unique educational programs, including lectures for graduate students and basic
seminars for undergraduate students at the Co-creative Design Laboratory for Sustainability of CEIDS. Take a lookinside to learn more about the various research and educational activities taking place at CEIDS.

1. A Visit to MIT: A Dialogue on Educational Programs
In its advanced subprogram “Environmental
Innovation Design for Sustainability”, the Center for
Environmental Innovation Design for Sustainability(CEIDS) nurtures people to become leaders inenvironmental innovation. These leaders havepanoramic and constructive understanding of a varietyof academic disciplines relating to environmental andenergy solutions, and achieving sustainable societies.
As such, they can answer social needs and visions
with appropriate scientific and technological seeds.
The subprogram goes beyond courses with a classroom
focus and aims to be practical by helping students grasp
the heart of an issue while giving them specialized
knowledge and comprehensive scientific understanding.
In this manner, we develop in them the capacity to findsolutions. A good example is Practice of Environmental
Innovation Design, a course that teaches students
practical methodologies for extracting issues from

specific regions and fields, and finding solutions forthemselves. The course Sustainability D-lab, begun in2014, actually puts students into the field as part ofefforts to find solutions for revitalizing farming andmountain villages.
Universities outside Japan are also developing

Mr. Victor Grau Serrat of D-Lab explains research being done
there

1

1. A Visit to MIT: A Dialogue on Educational Programs

educational programs that send their students into thefield in order to find regional solutions. Students in these
programs learn methodologies for finding solutions bygathering a variety of real-world experiences. In recent
years, MIT has gained the global spotlight for its
pioneering work in practical education programs with afocus on finding solutions. For this reason, Assoc. Prof.
Keishiro Hara of CEIDS and Asst. Prof. Kazutoshi
Tsuda of the Creative Design Studio on Technology,
Graduate School of Engineering paid a visit to MIT on
March 4 and 5, 2014, where they observed a number of
their programs related to practical and interdisciplinary
educational and research activities. While there, theyalso interviewed and enjoyed conversations with MIT
personnel in the hopes of soliciting suggestions for
CEIDS’ own education and research programs.
Our staff specifically interviewed personnel
associated with three MIT interdisciplinary programs:
the D-Lab, Media Lab, and Energy Initiative. They
also caught up with Emer. Prof. Jeffrey I. Steinfeld,
who previously served as a guest lecturer at Osaka
University. Prof. Steinfeld had planned and implemented
a sustainability education program at MIT for many
years. During his interview, he and our staff discussed
the current state of and outlook for interdisciplinary
research and education at the two universities. A briefsummary of the interview may be found below.
D-Lab (http://d-lab.mit.edu/) is an educational
program dealing with appropriate technologies in
the context of international development and withthe development of solutions for achieving regionalsustainability. The “D” in the name stands for a numberof concepts, including “Development”, “Dialogue”,“Design”, and “Dissemination”. We spoke withco-director Victor Grau Serrat at the D-Lab office.
Amy Smith, who is currently the other co-director,
established D-Lab in 2002. The lab was launched outof the awareness of a problem. Namely, university
research and educational activities were not leading
to solutions to the social problems faced by people inunderdeveloped countries.
The primary mission of the lab is to nurture（2）

international networks among innovators and createand disseminate technologies for ending rampant world
poverty. “Innovators” as used here includes university
researchers, nongovernment organization (NGO) andnon-profit organization staff members, local engineers,and even children. Several guidelines were decided
upon for achieving this mission. One guideline is to
propose technical solutions for people currently living
in poverty, such as those living on no more than $3
per day. The program works by bringing students fromall over the world with all sorts of specialties together
to work collaboratively and come up with proposals.
Another feature of the program is that students learn
through on-the-ground experience. More specifically,
they go on field trips, becoming part of the region
and community that they are studying and actuallyliving in the area. During this time, they work todevelop appropriate technologies through a processof co-creation with local partners. Through these
activities, students learn methodologies and strategies
for finding solutions to local problems. The program isdesigned to teach these skills through actual experience.
Some of these activities have resulted in student-led
ventures and business start-ups. The D-Lab program
has much in common with the educational and research
approach of CEIDS, which aims to find strategic
connections between social issues (needs and visions)and research seeds. Our visit to the lab yielded some
important suggestions for developing and improving
our educational program.

Together with Japanese students studying at the MIT Media Lab

2

1. A Visit to MIT: A Dialogue on Educational Programs

（3）

Talking with Dr. Amanda C. Graham of the Energy Initiative

A talk with Emer. Prof. Jeffrey I. Steinfeld

Media Lab (http://www.media.mit.edu/) is aninterdisciplinary and future-oriented research facility
located in the MIT School of Architecture + Planning.
In recent years, the Media Lab has become known inpart because its Director is the venture capitalist andbusinessperson Joi Ito, who is joined by computer
researcher Hiroshi Ishii as Associate Director. Each
year, approximately 150 graduate students and morethan 200 undergraduates take part in research here. On
our visit, we talked with Akane Sano and Dan Sawada,
two students from Japan working as research assistants.
One of the major features of Media Lab is thatit cultivates interdisciplinary research, and one major
element of this is the project format used. Currently, 25
research groups are pursuing more than 350 projects ofvarious types. Many of the students are involved in morethan one project at any one time. Researchers involved
in Media Lab must have the ability to coordinate these
multiple projects while pursuing creative research withother researchers and engineers. The lab uses a numberof methods to bring researchers from a variety of
specialties face to face. For example, participants areoffered a free lunch every other week. These lunches
provide an important forum that allows researchers
to engage in dialogue in a relaxed environment.
Another feature of Media Lab is the unique university–
industry collaboration consisting of a group of nearly
80 companies that make up its member communityand provides most of its independently funded annual

budget. This arrangement also benefits the corporate
members in several ways. Media Lab continues to
produce creative and influential research results becauseof its interdisciplinary nature and unique university–
industry collaboration, and because of its active effort
to brand itself in the eyes of the outside world.
We also visited the office of Dr. Amanda C. Graham,
Director of the Education Program for the Energy
Initiative (http://mitei.mit.edu/) where we interviewed
her about the program philosophy, the nature of its
current educational program, and how the educational
program connects to research activities. The Energy
Initiative started in 2006 as an interdisciplinary energy
research, teaching, and practice platform transcending
the boundaries between different school departments. It
pursues three main activities: providing an educational
program, conducting research, and running a practicalprogram on campus (the Campus Energy Program).
Participating faculty members all belong to different
school departments, but form loose partnerships witheach other to pursue interdisciplinary research.
On the education side, the Energy Initiative offers
a graduate-level minor program in energy studies that isopen to students throughout MIT. The core curriculumin the minor program consists of three domains: Energy
Science Foundations, Social Science Foundationsof Energy, and Energy Technology / Engineeringin Context. Students take the core curriculum andalso choose from among 24 elective courses. While3

1. A Visit to MIT: A Dialogue on Educational Programs

technological seeds and scientific and engineering
theory are core parts of the program, students also
receive a strong foundation in the social sciences.
Moreover, the program is intended to develop a newgeneration of leaders who can use both their broad
outlook and areas of specialization in order to addressenergy problems as a social issue. During our visit, wetalked with Dr. Graham on such topics as designinga system for pursuing interdisciplinary educational
programs and picked up some valuable suggestions forthe educational program at CEIDS.
Our MIT visit also gave us a chance to meetand exchange information with Emer. Prof. Jeffrey
I. Steinfeld for the first time in quite a while. Prof.
Steinfeld, who originally specialized in chemistry, hadspent time as a guest lecturer at Osaka University.
Although currently an emeritus professor, he still finds
time to come to his university office several times a
week. Prof. Steinfeld, who has been involved in the MIT（4）sustainability and environmental education programfor a long time, played a central role in advancing
sustainability education and environmental researchat MIT. We updated the professor on educational andresearch activities now taking place at CEIDS and tradedviews from various perspectives on the outlook forsustainability research, education, and interdisciplinary
educational programs at the two universities.
During our visit and interviews, we learned thatthe two institutions’ approaches to interdisciplinary
education and research have several points in common,and we were greatly encouraged by our visit. We arelooking forward to continuing to build our network anduse it to further develop CEIDS’ educational programs
and related research.
(Keishiro Hara, Associate Professor, CEIDS
Kazutoshi Tsuda, Assistant Professor, Creative Design Studioon Technology)

2. Report from Annual Meeting of the Japan
Society of Energy and Resources
The 33rd Annual Meeting of the Japan Societyof Energy and Resources was held at International
House, Osaka June 10 and 11, 2014, which happened
to be shortly after the April 11 decision by the JapaneseCabinet to adopt the Basic Energy Plan. Thus, there wasplenty of discussion about Japan’s new energy policy
and energy systems in the aftermath of the Great East
Japan Earthquake and the accidents at the Fukushima
Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant of Tokyo Electric Power
Company, Inc. (TEPCO). The meeting offered 77
presentations, including two special lectures and 75
regular sessions. The following is a brief overview
of some of the presentations based on the author's
recollection:
In the first special lecture, Prof. Hajimu Yamana,
Professor at the Kyoto University Research Reactor

Institute (KURRI) and President of the International
Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning (IRID),
gave a talk entitled “The initiative to decommission the
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.” Right now,TEPCO is trying to deal with contaminated water at
Fukushima Daiichi, even though problems relating to thedecommissioning have become hot topics worldwide.
Prof. Yamana’s presentation provided an update of thecurrent measures to deal with contaminated water alongwith a roadmap for extracting the fuel debris (meltedfuel) at the stricken plant. The professor indicated that
it would take about 40 years or more to extract the fueldebris, dismantle the reactor facilities, and ultimately
decommission the power plant. In the second special
presentation, Prof. Shigeru Miyashita, Professor at
the Fisheries Laboratory of Kinki University, spoke
4

2. Report from Annual Meeting of the Japan Society of Energy and Resources

（2）

Patterns and Saving Perceptions - Time-series
Analysis in Suita City, Proceedings of the 33rd
Annual Meeting of Japan Society of Energy andResources, (2014), pp. 303-308.
3. Yusuke Kishita, Naoto Kurahashi, Naoki Iwai, Shinichi
Fukushige, Yasushi Umeda, Yohei Yamaguchi,
Yoshiyuki Shimoda, "Scenarios of the Electrical
Grid in the Kansai Region in 2030 - Analyzing
Influences by the Diffusion of Photovoltaics andElectric Vehicles, Proceedings of the 33rd Annual
Meeting of Japan Society of Energy and Resources,(2014), pp. 297-300.

on the topic of “Cultivating the ocean: The world's
first successful complete-cycle aquaculture of Pacificblue fin tuna.” The university is deploying theirtuna under the brand of “Kindai Maguro” (literally,
Kinki University tuna). Two restaurants with “Kinki
Daigaku Suisan Kenkyujo” (Kinki University Fisheries
Laboratory) in their name and serving Kindai Maguro
are now open: one in Grand Front Osaka located near thecentral station of Osaka and the other in Ginza, Tokyo.
Both are reportedly constantly fully booked. In his
speech, Prof. Miyashita recounted 32 years of trial anderror experimentation; from the time the research beganon the complete-cycle aquaculture of Kindai Maguro
until it was successful. During those years, he and his
fellow researchers faced a number of difficulties. In
each case, they analyzed the problem until they founda solution and achieved their objectives. Perhaps theunderlying factor of this achievement was the sharedtenacity across all the generations of researchers.
The regular sessions touched upon an expansive
range of topics: transportation; energy policy; resources
and waste; global warming; natural forms of energy;
consumer, workplace, and international energy supply
and demand; heat pumps and environmental problems;
solar energy; energy conservation; the economics ofenergy cogeneration; power systems; regional energy
demand; home energy; energy storage; and reforming
the energy market. There were three presentations given
by CEIDS staff (fulltime and concurrent), including theauthor, as discussed below:

The first two presentations listed above werereports on collaborative research by Suita City (Osaka
Prefecture) and CEIDS. The first concerned diffusion ofphotovoltaic (PV) systems, while the second was about
consumer energy conservation behavior. The thirdconcerned research performed as part of a Ministryof Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) project.
Each presentation appeared to pique the interest of
those attending, as there were quite a few questions
afterwards. The attendees were not necessarily
engineering specialists. Researchers from the fields of
economics and policy science also attended and asked
questions from a variety of perspectives. For example,
in the first presentation listed above, there was a
discussion about consumer preferences in respect to PV
installation, as well as the impact that separating thefunctions of power generation and transmission would
have upon PV diffusion. These discussions reminded
us the importance of understanding how technology
and society interact when designing energy systems,
or any other system. This point also came acrossduring the meso-level research that CEIDS has beenpracticing. We left the event with a greater awarenessthat applying research findings, such as those reported
at this meeting, in actual society (in other words, social
implementation of the research results) will be among
our next major challenges.

1. Yutaka Nomaguchi, Hiroki Tanaka, Akiyuki
Sakakibara, Kikuo Fujita, Yusuke Kishita, KeishiroHara, Michinori Uwasu, "Design and Evaluationof Scenarios in Cooperative Planning of Subsidy
Systems and Power Grids toward Building
Distributed Energy Systems - Case Study of Mishima
Area, Osaka -, Proceedings of the 33rd Annual
Meeting of Japan Society of Energy and Resources,(2014), pp. 31-34.
2. Keishiro Hara, Michinori Uwasu, Yusuke Kishita,
Hiroyuki Takeda, "Electricity and Gas Consumption(Yusuke Kishita, Assistant Professor, CEIDS)
53. CEIDS and Suita City Begin“Collaborative
Research on Environmental Innovation”
In June 2014, CEIDS and Suita City began their“Collaborative Research on Environmental Innovation.”
Researchers from Osaka University and employees
and policymakers from Suita City are now meeting
regularly to discuss the city’s environmental policies
and various issues. The objective is to help the city draft
policy and build its vision for the future.
Up to now, CEIDS has worked to strategicallytie promising scientific and technological seeds tosocial visions, such as achieving a society that is
low-carbon, recycling-based, and safe and secure. To
accomplish this, we pursue what we call “meso-levelresearch”, by which we mean research intended topromote environmental innovation. We believe that it
is very important to work with the regional communityand society to advance this new level of research. For
that reason, CEIDS and the Suita City Environmental
Bureau signed a memorandum to confirm collaborative
research on environmental innovation in 2013. Under
this arrangement, the two sides have pursued a varietyof partnerships and exchanges, such as hosting joint
symposiums and using the city as the venue formeso-level research. The recently begun collaborative
research represents another step forward in suchexchanges, as it is an effort in “cooperative knowledge
creation” between a university and local government.
Collaboration between researchers and policymakers
for common objectives (such as finding solutions

and creating visions) and mechanisms and practices
designed to let each side accumulate knowledge forfinding solutions have been very limited up to now,
despite the great need for them. CEIDS has begun a
new undertaking intended to put such mechanisms inplace.
About once every two months, Suita City will
share some specific policy issues with the center. The
two sides will also present relevant research to eachother and discuss the issues from a number of angles.
The first joint research meeting took place on Tuesday,June 24, at Suita City Hall. Osaka University sent
CEIDS faculty and Graduate School of Engineering
Assoc. Prof. Yutaka Nomaguchi, among others, while
Suita City sent City Hall staff from various departments,
including the environmental and roads and parks
bureaus. The two sides enjoyed a spirited discussion.
Assoc. Prof. Nomaguchi gave a presentation entitled“Research on writing and evaluating scenarios for the
diffusion of distributed energy: a case study on theMishima area of Osaka Prefecture” in which he covered
a number of topics, including policy and technology
options that Suita City should consider based upon
his analysis of scenarios for the renewable energy
diffusion. Representatives from the city presented theirviews on current high-priority policy issues such as
dealing with the heat island effect, and other items thatneed to be considered.

A CEIDS/Suita City collaborative research meeting (Suita CityHall)

A presentation by Graduate School of Engineering Assoc. Prof.
Yutaka Nomaguchi

6

3. CEIDS and Suita City Begin“Collaborative Research on Environmental Innovation”

The second joint research meeting is due to takeplace on Monday, August 25 at the Suita Campus
of Osaka University. CEIDS faculty and Suita City
employees will take part to discuss “convenience andcommunity development”. The two sides hope tocontinue holding research and discussion meetings witha specific theme for each session. The theory is that,by working together, Osaka University researchers andSuita City employees can produce results that lead to avision for a better Suita City.
Researchers have had opportunities in the past,through mechanisms such as councils of governmental（2）bodies, to get involved in solving national and regional
policy issues. Now, however, on top of these traditional
mechanisms, new initiatives are needed to help local
governments formulate visions and find solutions forsocial problems. Those mechanisms must specifically
include collaborative research and work by all typesof stakeholders, including researchers. It is our hopethat the collaborative research that CEIDS and Suita
City have begun will become a model for such newcollaborations.
(Keishiro Hara, Associate Professor, CEIDS)

4. Community Development Innovation
Starting this academic year, CEIDS offers courses
for graduate students at the Co-creative Design
Laboratory for Sustainability of CEIDS at Grand Front
Osaka. In the first semester, we offered the course
Community Development Innovation. This course,taught by lecturers from the university and beyond,introduced how community revitalization and urban
management are perceived from various points ofview, including enterprise/government/university andbusiness/management/research. At the close of thelecture series, a workshop was offered on the themeof “Thinking about Community Development in Osakaand Phase 2 at Umekita.”
The first lecture touched on current city conditions
and how they came about, as well as initiatives being
taken to revitalize the community. The lecturers were
Prof. Atsuko Kaga of Osaka University and Asst.
Prof. Hiroyuki Takeda of CEIDS. The second lecture
concerned business improvement districts (BID), which
are attracting attention, especially in Osaka City, as a
new method for area management. Prof. Kaga gave an
overview of BIDs and Mr. Yasuo Tatsumi of the Osaka
City Urban Planning Department talked about the Osaka
City Area Management Activity Promotion Ordinance,

established this year. In the third lecture, Mr. Mitsuhiro
Matsuzuka of the Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc. andAsst. Prof. Hiroyuki Takeda of CEIDS gave concrete
examples of recent community development activities
in central urban areas by private enterprise, as well as
housing development that fosters community spirit. In
the fourth lecture, Mr. Taiki Toriyama of Bird Design
House, who is involved in regional branding strategies
that rely mainly on graphics, talked about how citizen
initiatives can develop into community development.
Prof. Nobuhiko Matsumura of Ehime University talked
about his onsite research into citizen initiatives forarea design. At the fifth and final lecture, Mr. Hiroyuki
Uematsu of Hankyu Railway, a company involved in
the development of Grand Front Osaka, was joinedby Mr. Yuji Suzuki of Grand Front Osaka TMO, whocurrently oversees area management at Grand Front
Osaka. Their talk included a site visit.
During the sixth and seventh sessions, students
took part in a workshop in which they considered futurecommunity development in Osaka and the Kansai
region, using what they had learned from the lectures.
Then, they discussed what concepts should guidedevelopment of the Umekita neighborhood in its second
74. Community Development Innovation

（2）phase. The class was then divided into two groups,
each with a mix of student types (liberal arts/science,
Japanese/international students). Some members werea bit perplexed, but both groups had lively discussions.
I think especially for the Japanese students, the fresh
viewpoint and ideas of the international students
gave them a good opportunity to reconsider Japanesecommunity development and consequently Japaneseculture and ideas.
In the second semester, CEIDS will offer omnibusstyle lectures on “Society and Energy” at the Co-creative
Design Laboratory for Sustainability. See the syllabus
for details. In closing, I would like to express my thanks
to all the lecturers who helped with the course.

5. Basic Seminar Held: The Environment and Global
Sustainability as Seen in Cities and Rural Communities

Theme and lecturers for each session
June 6 (Fri.)#1
18:00–21:00#2#3

A Sustainable Urban Structure
Prof. Atsuko Kaga, Osaka University
Graduate School of Engineering
Asst. Prof. Hiroyuki Takeda, CEIDS, Osaka
University

June 13 (Fri.)
18:00–21:00

Town Management for Community
Revitalization
Mr. Yasuo Tatsumi, Osaka City Urban
Planning Department
Prof. Atsuko Kaga, Osaka University
Graduate School of Engineering

June 20 (Fri.)
18:00–21:00

Community Revitalization and the Real
Estate Business
Mr. Mitsuhiro Matsuzuka, Kansai ElectricPower Co., Inc.
Asst. Prof. Hiroyuki Takeda, CEIDS, Osaka
University#4

June 27 (Fri.)
18:00–21:00

Citizen-Led Community Development
Activities
Mr. Taiki Toriyama, Bird Design House
Prof. Nobuhiko Matsumura, Graduate
School of Science and Engineering, Ehime
University#5

July 4 (Fri.)
18:00–21:00

Community Revitalization in Umekita
Yuji Suzuki of Grand Front Osaka TMO
Hiroyuki Uematsu of Hankyu Railway#6

July 11 (Fri.)
18:00–21:00#7

July 18 (Fri.)
18:00–21:00(Hiroyuki Takeda, Assistant Professor, CEIDS)

Workshops
Thinking about Community
Development in Osaka and Phase 2 at
Umekita

The first lecture at Co-creative Design Laboratory for
Sustainability

Explanation of area management initiatives at one site (fifth
lecture)8

CEIDS held a basic seminar for first-year
undergraduate students entitled “The Environment andGlobal Sustainability as Seen in Cities and Rural
Communities” August 6 to 8 on the Toyonaka Campus.
To deal with sustainability problems, it is important tohave a comprehensive view of a variety of phenomena,
since these problems deal with the environment, social
economics, and many other sorts of issues. This
course consists of lectures that provide a panoramicview of sustainability from the perspective of urban
cities and agricultural communities, the environmentand social economics, and global (world) and local(Japan) viewpoints, as well as group work during
which students come up with their own suggestions forselected issues based on their own research.
This year’s event drew participation from 24
students, including two senior high school students,
as well as undergraduates from the schools of Foreign
Studies, Law, Economics, Science, Human Sciences,
Letters, Engineering, and Engineering Science. The
students broke up into five groups to work on thethemes of sustainable cities, poverty reduction, anddepopulation. After the students received a basic
overview and perspective in the classroom onsustainability and problems of the environment andpoverty in cities and agricultural communities, eachgroup was asked to pick a problem and recommend
solutions. Because the group members had different
areas of expertise, their own interests and awarenessof conditions were different. After reading up on theissues from the Internet, printed reports, and othermaterials, the students held energetic discussions ofwhat is important in terms of sustainability, and how
the issues can be addressed. As they did so, they put
together PowerPoint presentations. While some groups
struggled to make progress, in the end, everyone,
including the senior high school students, gave theirown presentations, which were followed by spirited
question and answer sessions.
Although this basic seminar has now been held
for three years, each year it is a matter of trial andGroup work

A question-and-answer session after a presentation

error to figure out how to present such a broad theme.
For many students, this seminar is their first timeeven to hear the word “sustainability”, but the group
work and all-group discussions appear to give them asustainability perspective on poverty in industrializing
nations, along with urban issues and depopulationin Japan’s semi-mountainous areas. Although each
student will go on to pursue his or her own specialty,
we hope that, as they go forward in their student
life and academic career, they will remember thesustainability perspective that they learned during thesethree intensive days. In closing, we would like to thankthe teachers who led the lectures and group work fortheir great effort.
(Michinori Uwasu, Associate Professor, CEIDS)

96. CEIDS Research 4: Research on Sustainable Forest Managementin Partnership with Osaka Prefecture Forest Owners Association

6. CEIDS Research 4: Research on Sustainable Forest Management in Partnership with
Osaka Prefecture Forest Owners Association

（2）CO2 emissions resulting from power consumption

The Cabinet of Japan adopted its Basic Energy
Plan in April 2014, which gave a boost to renewableenergy initiatives. However, in 2006, long before thisplan had been formulated, the Ministry of Agriculture,
Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) had begun its Biomass
Town Concept, which set forth a comprehensive system
for using biomass. Under that system, concerned
parties over a wide region would partner to form
efficient processes, bringing together everything fromthe generation to the use of biomass. Presently, suchinitiatives are going forward in 318 zones throughout
Japan, but many have gotten no further than theconceptual stage or failed to reach the implementation,
evaluation, and re-implementation stage, and there havenot been any particularly prominent successes. Thus,
there would appear to be a number of implementationand sustainability-related factors that need to be resolvedin projects that expect to use biomass. Implementation
will require not only a conceptual examination ofregional characteristics, policy, work efficiency, andlocal production for local consumption, but also acomprehensive understanding of a number of concepts,
such as environmental burden and economics, in orderto design scenarios for success. Moreover, one of
the reasons that the concept has not been realized
is the fact that theory does not always overlap withpractice. It is well known how difficult it can be tocommercialize the results of research and development,
but it is extremely important to establish techniquesthat allow such results to start taking effect in actual
society. For this research, researchers (the University)and business people (a forest owners association) set up
a collaborative research organization designed to study
the current state of biomass production on the groundand stakeholders in the local community. This allows
any problems or advantages that they discover during
the process of study, analysis, and evaluation to be
immediately reflected as improvements and solutions.
The knowledge learned from such analysis, trial, andreconsideration will be used to build a “woody biomass
fuel diffusion scenario” in Takatsuki City, Osaka

Prefecture. The objective of the research is to suggest
a theory and mechanism for promoting efficient use ofwoody biomass regionally. The collaborative study with
the Osaka Prefecture Forest Owners Association uses
Takatsuki City as a case study for sustainable forest
management. It began last fiscal year with the objectiveof both reducing environmental burden and achieving
economic efficiency. The owners association is the only
enterprise in Japan to produce bio-coke, or coke derived
by heating and compressing biomass resources. The
owners association is taking an advanced initiative inthe field of woody biomass fuel diffusion.
Last academic year, the partnership conducted an
economic evaluation of the project. It considered theeconomy and efficiency of forestry operations based on
a comparison of actual income with maximum possible
income. This year, to evaluate the environmental
burden, it estimated the CO2 emissions of producing
woody biomass fuel (bio-coke and pellets) in Takatsuki
City. The results were compared with emissions
from using fossil fuels to determine how much theenvironmental burden could be reduced. The figure
shows the processes and factors involved in CO2emissions during bio-coke production. The researchers
have also interviewed a business using bio-coke inplace of fossil fuels (conventional coke derived fromcoal). Based on this interview, they are learning
how much of each fuel is being used, how far it istransported, and the implementation status of alternativefuel. From this, in turn, they are calculating how
much actual CO2 reduction results from the use of thealternative. Comparing CO2 emissions derived from theproduction and transportation of woody biomass fueland CO2 emissions resulting from use of the alternative,
the project is specifically quantifying the reduction ofenvironmental burden resulting from the use of woody
biomass fuel.
At present, only one business is purchasing andusing bio-coke as an alternative to coke made fromcoal. Moreover, since most of the unused material
that provides the raw material for bio-coke comes
10

Transportation
within site
Forestry
operations

Drying 1

Crushing 1

Crushing 2

Drying 2

Filling/compressing

Heating

CoolingCompany T(uses biocoke asalternative)

Transportation
offsiteCO2 emissions resulting from fuel (light oil, kerosene, gasoline, etc.) consumption

CO2 emitting processes and factors during bio-coke production

from thinned wood obtained from owners association
operations, bio-coke cannot be said to significantly
promote the use of unused wood resources over
the region as a whole. If the environmental burden
reduction effect of bio-coke could be clearly shown,
it would likely cause enterprises to consider using
it, and then the economic merits of the fuel would
likely lead to actual use. Naturally, if the number ofbusinesses using bio-coke were to increase, it would
also encourage forest maintenance in the region andrevitalize related industries such as distribution. Thus,
this research seeks to stimulate the creation of both arecycling society and a revitalized regional economy
by creating a mechanism for environmental measures
based on regional partnerships.

Keishiro Hara, CEIDS, OsakaUniversity
Michinori Uwasu, CEIDS, OsakaUniversity
Shuji Kurimoto, CEIDS, OsakaUniversity
Koichiro Tsuge, Mishima branch, Osaka Prefecture Forest
Owners Association
Tateo Kita, Mishima branch, Osaka Prefecture Forest Owners
Association(Yukari Fuchigami, Project Researcher, CEIDS)

List of main research members

Unused wood, the raw material of
bio-coke, is crushed

Yukari Fuchigami, CEIDS, Osaka University

bio-coke

7. Researcher Interview No. 4,“Methodology and Practice of Future Design”
Prof. Tatsuyoshi

Saijo (Professor, School ofManagement, Kochi University of Technology; Visiting
Professor, CEIDS)

Visited: May 26, 2014
Visited by: Keishiro Hara, Yukari Fuchigami
Hara: Tell us about your specialty, and how
your research themes have changed over time.
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7. Researcher Interview No. 4,“Methodology and Practice of Future Design”
The starting point of my research was when I
was involved in mechanism design at the University of
Minnesota. First, let me give you an overview of myresearch field as a whole. In the first half of the 20th
century, there was a great deal of conflict over socialism(i.e., the question of whether capitalism or socialism
is better). That debate led a number of researchers to
begin research that treated institutions themselves as
variables. One of those researchers was Prof. Leonid
Hurwicz, who was a mentor to me. One of the key
concepts for these researchers was “incentive”. Theirintention was to build mechanisms capable of keeping
people motivated while achieving societal goals likefairness and efficiency. Now that I am working with
CEIDS, we talk about “intergenerational fairness”, but
at the time we were not thinking about it at all. At
first, the conversation was to create good conditions(a fair and efficient society) for the present generationand then create mechanisms so that people always
have incentives. The initial result was an impossibility
theorem called the Hurwicz theorem. If you ask why weuse the term “impossibility”, it is because the aim wasto fulfill incentive compatibility (acting in accordancewith one’s own actual preferences) after first maintaining
efficiency and fulfilling individual rationality (ensuringthat things do not get worse than they presently arefor the individual). However, it is impossible to createa society that fulfills incentive compatibility, in otherwords, a society where honesty is the best course ofaction. My field of research begins with the recognition
that this is impossible. It says that it is not possible
to create a good society easily. To give an example, amajor topic at the time was the “competitive system”.
Such a system fulfills both efficiency and individual
rationality, but is incapable of fulfilling incentive
compatibility. In light of this discovery, in its attempt tosomehow create good mechanisms, the field of research
moved in a different direction. Specifically, it decided
to abandon the condition of incentive compatibility, thestate in which honesty is best. This was because, in
our society, we exchange such information as price andproduct specifications but preferences are not stated.

（2）

The new starting point for the research was thefamous Maskin’s theorem, advocated by Eric Maskin in
1977. As I said, the original goal of this field of research
was a system capable of keeping people motivated whileachieving societal aims such as fairness and efficiency.
This is possible if we actually design mechanisms forit. In other words, “if certain conditions are met, it ispossible to create mechanisms such that societal aims
can be achieved.” However, there was not sufficient
proof of this theorem, so I affirmatively proved it bydesigning a new mechanism. I published my paper in1988 in Econometrica. Based on my findings, Maskin
formulated the basic theorem of mechanism design.
In 2007, he received the Nobel Prize for Economics,
together with Hurwicz and Roger Myerson. However,
the mechanism was still complicated and mystifying tomost, and was not so easy to implement in an actual
society. Accordingly, I set about to create a more easily
understood mechanism for achieving societal aims
based more on economics, that is, price and quantity.
Hara: Can you explain to us concretely theaims you were trying to achieve?
This is economics after all, so at the very least,
the mechanism must be able to achieve efficiency.
One additional condition is that the mechanism must
make things better than they are now for all people.
I conducted numerous experiments during which I
combined these two conditions with various otherconditions. In the process, we in the field began to get
the uneasy feeling that the mechanisms that we werecreating looked good on paper but might not do sowell in actual society. Therefore, we started to verify
our theory by experimenting with human subjects. I
had begun doing experiments with human subjects
in the mid-1980s trying to prove the well-known
Vickrey mechanism (named after the 1996 winner of
the Nobel Prize for Economics), but my efforts did
not go well at all. It really hit me that not even a wellknown mechanism such as this one could be simply
implemented in an actual society, and I wanted to build
a mechanism that would go well in experiments while
12

7. Researcher Interview No. 4,“Methodology and Practice of Future Design”

remaining scientific.
After I started these verification tests, I learned
something interesting. Similar experiments were taking
place in various countries besides Japan, such as theUnited States, China, Mongolia, and South Korea.
However, for some reason, only in Japan did we find acertain percentage of subjects with a unique behavior:
they would get in the way of other people, even if itcame at some loss to themselves. I was doing research
on a project called “Are Japanese spiteful?” It turned outthat such people were enough to alter the overall trend
in Japan. For example, suppose that someone takes an
unfair head start over others. In Japan, the moment
other people see this happen, they block the person who
got the unfair head start, even if it means incurring a
disadvantage for themselves. When that happens, theperson who attempted to gain unfair advantage learns
that “free riding” will not work, and simply accepts that
there is nothing to be done except cooperate fairly withothers. In Japan, it is widely believed that humans arefundamentally depraved, but that if you step out of line,
others will get in your way (or as we like to say, the nailthat sticks out gets hammered down). For that reason,
Japanese people strive to cooperate with each other. Or
to put it conversely, the racial or national characteristics
of Japan are better suited than others for dealing withproblems of providing public goods (problems such as
climate change and global warming).

（3）

example, at the time the European Union (EU) had
begun emissions trading. This was known as the EU
Emissions Trading System. As soon as the details weredisclosed quantitatively, the market reacted and the priceof emissions credits dropped all at once. “Emissions
trading market control” is now a very importantresearch issue. After that, I went on to take a concurrent
teaching post at the Osaka University Research Institutefor Sustainability Science (the forerunner to CEIDS) in
2006. There, I became involved in researching energy
resources with Prof. Yoshiyuki Shimoda of the Schoolof Engineering, among others. One of our findings
was that solar water heaters were substantially more
effective than solar power generation for reducing CO2
emissions. However, we also learned that even if you
show people this, they tend to be more attracted to solar
power.
Of course, I continue to do theoretical researchon mechanism design now, not just research on
environmental problems. In particular, I am working
to create game models for solutions of social dilemmas
and am testing these models with human subjects. I
am also developing mechanisms that may be simple
but appear likely to go well, and I am gradually seeingsome success. It is all very fine if the mechanism
works well in theory and experimentation, but it isstill relatively abstract and it does seem to me thatwhat I have developed deviates a bit from actual social
conditions.

Hara: Tell us how you started to incorporate
environmental issues into your research.
After the Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1997, I
became a member of a project to design mechanisms
related to it. That is when I began to learn a great deal
about the environment. One of the major principles of
the Kyoto Protocol was so-called emissions trading.
With assistance from the Research Institute of Economy,
Trade and Industry, we started to conduct verification
tests to see how well such a mechanism would actuallywork. Our finding was that “if there is uncertainty about
the future and investment is irreversible, emissions
trading will not be very successful.” To give an

Hara: Right now you are a leader in Future
Design research. Can you tell us about that?
The thing that made this research really take form
for me was something that happened after a presentation
I gave at the University of Massachusetts in March2012 on the topic of social dilemmas. I was at a dinnerparty when the talk turned to a topic that philosophersand economists had been discussing. Namely, there areproblems such that decisions we make today have amajor influence on future generations, but those future
generations cannot negotiate with us, because they do
not exist yet. At the time, I suggested that perhaps
137. Researcher Interview No. 4,“Methodology and Practice of Future Design”


we should set up a group that exists in the current
generation but which thinks only of future generations.
I was told by the wife (Laura) of John Stranlund, a
student of mine at the University of California, about
the Iroquois Indians, who thought about the futurein 1000-year units when they acted. I was greatly
surprised to think that if we take the Iroquois as a casestudy, it may be possible for the present generation tonegotiate with future generations. That was a major
influence on me, and that is how my Future Design
research was born. Another important factor was thatsome young researchers at Osaka University endorsed
the idea of having people in the present generation who
think only of future generations. That helped to form
connections between older and younger researchers.
Then, in April 2012, working with researchers from
CEIDS at Osaka University, I started to develop amechanism for creating a group that would exist in thepresent generation but think only of future generations.
We called this mechanism the “Ministry of the Future”.
Through it, we are endeavoring to design what the future
should be, looking at it from a number of angles, suchas problems of energy, water, population, the forest, andurban structure. Since then, we have changed the nameto Future Design, and we are working on a project tosum it up in a book.
One point that I had not paid much attention to
until this project began was the problem of markets.
Markets allocate resources without any thought for
future generations. When a market is a mechanismthat freely steals resources from future generations,
we need to bring it under control. That is, we needto develop methods and mechanisms for skillfully
taming such markets. Let us take emissions trading as
an example. To keep CO2 emissions from exceedingsome established amount, we have to use the market
skillfully. Numerous people praise the “logic of market
competition”. I am not refuting competition itself, but
I feel that if we do not take future generations into
account when we consider how future markets shouldact, the various conflicts between generations will not
go away. Another major perspective is democracy.

（4）

I did some research into national constitutions fromaround the world and found that hardly any of themmentioned the terms “future” and “generations”. At thetime that those constitutions were being framed, theintent was to create a democratic constitution in thewake of a democratic revolution. It was not a time tobe thinking about future generations. However, we have
now reached an age suitable for incorporating future
generations into our political systems and constitutions.
Government has to change, and our market mechanisms
need to give way to something new. If we do not do so,
we will not be well prepared to solve climate change orother environmental problems. Our concept starts withmore than just penalizing those who emit excessive
amounts of greenhouse gases, or conversely, rewarding
those who omit little. Rather, the point is to change theentire world.
To take this discussion a little further, we areconsidering the idea of creating something like a Schoolof Future Studies in universities as a mechanism fordeveloping people who consider future generations. I
do not know whether we can really create a society
capable of achieving such things, but if things continue
as they are now, there may well be a “revolution for
the future” at some point. As climate change occurs andwe start seeing flooding, drought, and famine close up,
people will finally start to accept that things cannot beallowed to continue this way. I fear that there will be
unrest, called a revolution. That is the reason we do theresearch we do.
Hara: So “future generations” is an important
keyword for you.
I guess the story of the Iroquois Indians was amajor influence on me. I was shocked to hear that there
were already people who think seven generations aheadwhen they make decisions. I thought, “This is exactly
what we are aiming for.” Actually, even before that, I
had thought of the idea of creating something like a
Ministry of the Future and developing people who thinkof the future, but learning about the Iroquois reinforced
the idea and led me to step up the pace of this research.
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7. Researcher Interview No. 4,“Methodology and Practice of Future Design”

There will be difficulties such as we have never faced
before, for example, social conditions that interfere withsustainability. To deal with these problems skillfully
and maintain sustainable conditions, we will have todesign a variety of social systems that take the future
into account. It is not possible for everyone to bea leader who acts with consideration for the future,
so I think it would be a good idea to incorporate
consideration for the future into social mechanisms
from the very start. We have to create a mechanism
whereby “people who think only of the future” canhelp to make decisions within society. How about, forexample, a “House of the Future” in addition to thepresent House of Representatives? Unless some of thetasks aimed at considering the future are assigned tothe political system, it is unlikely this function will evertake root, no matter how much concern people express
about environmental problems and social conditions inindustrializing nations. Right now must be the time toinnovate by setting up a Ministry of the Future, Houseof the Future, or School of Future Studies. If we fail todo so, I cannot help but feel that the human race will
not be able to continue.
In that sense, “Future Studies” would not meana certain field filled by specialists. More than just atechnical discipline, Future Studies would have toconsider the viewpoint of future generations by bringing
in a variety of perspectives, including economics andgovernment. Of course, specialists will be necessary,
but we also need to nurture numerous people who cansee things comprehensively.

（5）

about how leaders a decade from now will think. This
is what the Iroquois were thinking so long ago. So I
expect that there are others in the world who think thesame way.
The Iroquois way of thinking contains roots ofsomething other than Western democracy. The foundersof the United States of America used plenty of Iroquois
ideas, but the US Constitution itself does not containthe Iroquois notion of democracy. That is a terrible
shame. If the US had adopted the Iroquois concept of
democracy, the world would have changed even more.
So now is the time to create a new mechanism thatemulates the Iroquois and incorporates their way of
thinking.
Hara: As a final question, tell us what you will
be working on going forward in your Future
Design research.
The mechanisms of Future Design cannot just be
assembled logically. So I hope to verify them throughrigorous testing. I hope to see the day when the
Ministry of the Future and the School of Future Studies
are born. But unless we build a society where thesecan be realized, we could end up having a destructive“revolution for the future” someday. This is a key issue
going forward. I do not know whether it will happen in
my lifetime, but I plan to work on building those social
mechanisms that make it possible.
(Keishiro Hara, Associate Professor, CEIDS;
Yukari Fuchigami, Project Researcher, CEIDS)

Hara: So it seems that, as a society, we need tosee “future-thinking” as a type of career.
Yes, that is one of the issues that we are dealing
with. There is no easy way to achieve things such assustainability unless society as a whole creates thattype of atmosphere. We should not just follow ourleaders. Rather, we need to make leaders in our social
mechanisms. Moreover, in our idea of Future Design,
we are not trying to create leaders for a decade fromnow. We are trying to create people capable of thinking
15

8. Introduction of New Member
A young faculty member who joined CEIDS in
FY2013 introduces himself.

develop automatic algorithms for surface reconstructionof mechanical objects and quantitative analysis defectstructures. In addition, I worked on issues in a wide
range of fields relating to geometric modeling, such as
digital mockup (DMU), geographic information system,and quantitative analysis of fossil crania.
Based on these experiences, I am exploring thepossibilities of geometric modeling in the fields of civilengineering and urban planning. Recent progress ofmeasurement technologies such as LIDAR and mobile
mapping systems (MMS) have made it possible to scanlarge scenes such as cities as point cloud data. Such“actual object” data are important clues for realizing
a sustainable society. However, many technological
gaps still exist in order to use the measurement data
for actual problems. I would like to use my experienceso far to help close these gaps. I will appreciate yourguidance and support.

Assist. Prof. Takashi Michikawa
My name is Takashi Michikawa, and I have joined
CEIDS since April 1. I graduated from Keio University(Bachelor of Environment and Information Studies andMaster of Media and Governance) and The Universityof Tokyo (Doctor of Engineering). Then I worked for
RIKEN and Research Center for Advanced Scienceand Technology (RCAST) at The University of Tokyo
before I joined CEIDS.
My research interests lies in the field of geometricmodeling and its applications to industrial problems.
In my last position, I was engaged in a research on
geometry processing of mechanical objects scannedby CT scanner in order to improve manufacturing
processes by measuring and evaluating actual objects andproviding feedback. My contribution of this field is to

9. Announcements from CEIDS
1 CEIDS faculty member receives Osaka
University Presidential Awards for Outstanding
Contribution in Research
CEIDS Assoc.
Prof.
Keishiro
Hara has won the
Osaka University
Presidential Awards
for
Outstanding
Contributionin
Research for the2014 academic year. The award goes to younger faculty
members who are expected to play an active part intheir fields, judged in part by recognition that they havegained for their work in education and research.
(Osaka University web site: http://www.osaka-u.ac.jp/
en/oumode/commendation/deed/h26encourage).
Going forward, the faculty of CEIDS is fully
devoted to our research and educational activities.

Environmental Innovation
The “Reading Session on just two pages,” hosted
by the Support Office for Large-Scale Education andResearch Projects, held its third session September 10 at
Resona Bank Umeda Branch / Private Salon Re LUXE.
The theme of this session was “What is dialogue? Viewed
from clinical philosophy and sustainability science.”
The group picked the book Pioneering Sustainability
Science towards Environmental Innovation, edited by
Keishiro Hara and Yasushi Umeda of CEIDS, andsupervised by CEIDS. For details, see http://www.ura.
osaka-u.ac.jp/2pages.html.

Publisher

Contact information
Osaka University, Center for Environmental Innovation
Design for Sustainability (CEIDS)
Office for University-Industry Collaboration, Building D, 6F
2-1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, Japan 565-0871
Tel: +81-6-6879-4150 / Fax: +81-6-6875-6271
HP: http://www.ceids.osaka-u.ac.jp/english/

2 “Reading Session on just two pages” selects
book Pioneering Sustainability Science towards
16