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Keizoku wa Chikara nari [Practice makes perfect] 2
(Dec.26, 2006)

Three years ago, I started a workshop for those who are interested in revitalizing the downtown of Fukui. Fukui is a city like a phoenix; Fukui was completely destroyed by air raid during the war, a great earthquake hit the city three years after the war, and then, the flood bore down on it, but the city recovered each time. Based on this historical fact, I called the workshop "Phoenix workshop."

In the early days of Phoenix Workshop, Professor SAKAI, Mitsuru played a key role. He was a great chemist, who worked at many universities and NASA. However, he suddenly passed away. It was indeed a huge loss to Phoenix Workshop. However, the workshop resumed after a short hiatus. So far, we had 25 lectures. The lecturers were invited not only from the local university, but also from the universities in Tokyo, Wakayama, and Kanazawa.

Three years ago, the national and local governments worked out the concept of "compact cities" and decided to take concrete measures to revitalize exhausted downtowns. However, the sprawl phenomenon is still nagging. Everyone knows that it is more desirable to return to the center of downtowns. However, there seems to be no persons who make determined efforts to remedy the evils of the sprawl.

However, I catch the inner stirrings of change. In Tokyo, there are strong indications of the return to the center of the cities. The population of the city centers is upsurging. Developers are building many high-rise condominiums in the city centers. The return to city centers is seen in Nagoya, Kyoto, and Osaka as well.

I want to spread the return to city centers across local and somaller cities. Phoenix work shop is now three years old. Over these three years, JSB moved our headquarters to the center of the city of Fukui, and opend the "Bakery Plaza" and "Ko-gei-sha [Fukui Craft Arts Center] next to the new headquarters. I already feel that JSB's efforts has changed the unlively air of the downtown. I give a sincere compliment to all collaborators of the attempts similar to ours.

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