Interview
A conversation with Dr Anthony Cox, Counsellor, Science and Technology, British Embassy, Tokyo, about Festival "UK98".
The first recorded exchange between Japan and the United Kingdom (
UK
) can be traced back to
29
th April
1600
in the Ieyasu Tokogawa era, when an Englishman named William Adams managed to reach land in Sashiu, Kyushu, after the Dutch ship he was on hit stormy seas and he was shipwrecked. He later became one of the first foreigners ever to be given Japanese citizenship and changed his name to Mr Anjin Miura. There is now even an annual fireworks festival held in Ito city, Izu Peninsula, bearing his name and today, links between the
UK
and Japan are stronger than ever. Indeed, Britain welcomes more than
700,000
Japanese visitors each year and has
60,000
Japanese residents. Furthermore, British education, science and technology played a major role in the early development of industry in Japan. For example, British engineers were involved in the building of the first lighthouses and the development of Japan's railways, coal mining and shipbuilding industries, and guided the establishment of modern water supply and sewerage systems in parts of Yokohama. In terms of education, a Scot named Henry Dyer was a central figure in establishing the forerunner of Tokyo University's Faculty of Engineering.
In this "Year of The Tiger" the United Kingdom has launched Festival "
UK98
" and we have asked Dr Anthony Cox, to talk to us about the aims, organisation and technological highlights of the festival.
OBI
:
First of all, can you describe the role of the Science and Technology Section at the British Embassy?
Dr Cox:
A difficult question! Essentially our role is to promote scientific and technological relations between the
UK
and Japan; that includes industrial, academic and government relations.
OBI:
OK
, now let's move on to Festival "
UK98
". Can you tell us about its objectives and how it was planned and organised?
Dr Cox:
It will run for
12
months and consists of more than
200
individual activities such as fashion shows, cake making, bell ringing, scientific conferences, rugby and cricket games and so on. One wish is to remind Japan about contemporary, youthful and dynamic Britain, while also reflecting on the historical links in science, technology and culture that the present relationship has depended upon.
OBI:
Is there a particular reason for having the Festival in
1998
?
Dr Cox:
The genealogy goes back about
4
years, but it is really a combination of factors which makes '
98
such a good year to highlight the role of Britain in the world. For example, the Emperor will be going to Britain this year, the
UK
holds the Presidency of the European Union. And of course,
1997
was busy, what with the handing over of Hong Kong to China.
OBI:
Can you tell us abut the organisational aspects of the Festival?
Dr Cox:
First of all this is a joint effort between the British Council and the British Embassy. Within the Embassy the Ambassador presides over the whole event, but the Minister, Charles Humphrey, is in charge of the project. We established a Festival office and recruited three people to manage the general organisation. The cultural, commercial and scientific aspects were divided between the Council and I, together with Dr Brendan Barker of the British Council, am in charge of organising the science and technology events throughout the year. In terms of financing, the British Government made a small contribution to the costs of administration. I have to say that the Yomiuri Shimbun is underwriting many of the events, particularly the Science Museum and Tate Gallery exhibitions, which are very expensive to organise.
OBI:
For you personally, what are the highlights of the Festival?
Dr Cox:
The Science Museum exhibition is something to look forward to, but the thing that really tickles the imagination is bringing over Stephenson's Rocket. It epitomizes the Industrial Revolution and will be exhibited in Tokyo, Kobe and Kita-Kyushu. This will be a part of a display of
60
or
70
major artefacts of the Industrial Revolution, plus a sprinkling of contemporary ones like "Concorde" and
DNA
. The "Rocket" should be very exciting. Children can actually touch it and it will come alive out of their history books. Another exhibition that I am particularly looking forward to is the Science for Life' exhibition in July. This will show the sciences that affect our bodies, organs and cellular structure. It's a very 'hands-on' exhibition that the Wellcome Trust Centre in London have made available to us. It will be sponsored by the University of Tokyo in conjunction with Monbusho, and there will be free admission. You have the opportunity to walk through a model of a human cell and see the electrical impulses running down the walls and so on. It should be a fascinating experience. I have described events that look backwards to the Industrial Revolution, but you also have to ask what we are doing about the present and the future. We will have exhibitions by British Aerospace and British Telecom and, in the Autumn, we will have a chance to see 'Thrust', the car that broke the world land speed record only a few months ago. We will also have quite a number of speakers coming to Japan throughout the year. Dr Ian Wilmut, from the Roslin Institute, the inventor of Dolly the sheep will come in July, and for the younger generation there will be this year's Royal Institution Christmas Lecturer The "Christmas Lectures" were first initiated by Michael Faraday in
1826
with the aim of communicating science in a manner that would capture the hearts and minds of the young.
Organising all these activities has occupied
60
to
70
percent of my time and it's good to see them finally come to fruition. We have had tremendous support from Japanese industry for which we will always be indebted.
OBI:
What impression would you like to leave at the end of the Festival?
Dr Cox:
We would like people to realise that Britain is not just Beefeaters and tweeds. We would like people to have a vision of contemporary Britain and its successes, its creativity and its global contributions to a wide variety of areas. Britain is an ideal partner for cooperation and investment.
Interviewed by Adarsh Sandhu
-
http://www.uk98.or.jp
-
British Embassy ·
1
Ichibancho Chiyoda-ku · Tokyo
102-0082 ·
tel
03 5211 1313 ·
fax
03 3230 0624
-
British Council ·
1-2
Kagurazaka · Shinjuku-ku · Tokyo
162-0825
· tel
03 3235 8031
· fax
03 3235 8040
A Historical Look at Technology and Society in Japan (1500-1900)
This is a three-part essay based on a keynote lecture by Dr Eiichi Maruyama at the Japan-Sweden Science Club (
JSSC
) annual meeting, Tokyo,
31
October,
1997
.
JSSC
is a society for Swedish scientists in Japan and Japanese researchers who have stayed in Sweden. It is open to anyone interested in all aspects of science in these countries. See
http://www02.u-page.so-net.or.jp/fa2/crane/
for details.
Dr Maruyama studied science history, scientific philosophy, and physics at the Tokyo University. After graduating from the university in
1959
, he joined Hitachi, Ltd., and became the director of the company's advanced research laboratory in
1985
. He is currently executive director of the Angstrom Technology Partnership.
Japanese industry today produces many technically advanced products of high quality. There may be a tendency to think that Japan has only recently set foot on the technological stage, but there are numerous records of highly innovative ideas as far back as the
16
th century that have helped to lay the foundations for the technological prowess of modern day Japan. The aim of this series of essays is to shed light on some historical aspects of the technological development of Japan that might otherwise be overlooked, and in certain cases are not even well documented.
The table on the next page lists important historical periods in Japan from
AD
250
to the present day, and will serve as a useful reference to this series of essays.
The first essay discusses some early examples of Japanese biotechnology and microlithography; the second essay relates to the organisation and management of people and the development of a highly sophisticated socio-technological infrastructure; the third and final essay concerns changes in education and scientific thought following the
Meiji Restoration
in
1868
.
In many parts of the world, and Japan was no exception, the
16
th Century was a time of conflict and violence. In Japan, a number of feudal lords were embroiled in fierce battles for survival. The battles produced three victors who attempted, one after another, to unify Japan. The last of these was
Iyeyasu Tokugawa
, who founded a "permanent" government which lasted for two and a half centuries before it was overthrown and replaced by the Meiji Government in
1868
.
One particularly well documented battle was the
Battle of Nagashino
in
1575
. This was a showdown between the organized gunmen of the Oda-Tokugawa Allies (two of the three unifiers) and the intrepid cavalry of
Takeda
, who was the most formidable barrier to unification under
Nobunaga
. Three groups of untrained infantry men with
3 000
match-lock guns completely defeated the troops of veteran horsemen by cyclical firing of their weapons. Historians regard this tactic as being Nobunaga's invention, occurring as it did about
30
years prior to its introduction on an European battle ground. The events leading to the victory date back to
1543
when a Portuguese ship was wrecked off a small island off to the south-west of Kyushu called
Tanegashima
. The ship bore a pair of match-lock guns. The Lord of Tanegashima, a
15
-year old youth named
Tokitaka.
Tanegashima, cleverly recognized the benefit of possessing firearms and purchased the guns at a price of
2 000
ryo
(equivalent to
$1 000 000
at today's prices). He then ordered his retainers to copy the design and manufacture duplicates. Historical archives show that when the Portuguese returned to Tanega-shima two years later, they were very surprised to find guns being manufactured there.
Another factor that contributed to the growth of the gun industry in Japan was the supply of gunpowder. Black gunpowder is made from charcoal, sulphur and potassium nitrate, known also as nitre. While charcoal and sulphur were abundantly available, nitre, which is readily soluble in water, did not exist naturally in Japan and had, consequently, always been imported from China. However, by using an early form of biotechnology Japan managed to secure a stable supply of nitre from its own resources. The process used for making the nitre was as follows. A rain-proof hut was built with a one metre square fireplace in the centre around which several one metre deep holes were dug. Stacked layers of mugwort leaves, silkworms' excreta and chicken droppings were thrown alternately into the holes. The holes were then covered with earth and warmed by the heat from the fireplace.
Subsequently, human urine (a good source of nitrogen!) was added and the material in the holes was left for four to five years. During this time the various materials underwent a series of chemical reactions: the nitrogen compounds (urea and uric acid) in the excreta decomposed into ammonia, this was then converted by bacteria into nitric acid which reacted in turn with potassium in the mugwort leaves to form the potassium nitrate or nitre. Subsequently, the contents of the holes were dug out and put into a barrel with a perforated bottom. Water was then poured in from the top to leach or dissolve out the nitre. The resulting solution was then refined and dried to make a pure product.
|
Period
|
Dates
|
|
Yamato
|
250-710
|
|
Nara
|
710-794
|
|
Heian
|
794-1192
|
|
Kamakura
|
1192-1333
|
|
Muromachi
|
1333-1573
|
|
Momoyama
|
1573-1603
|
|
Edo
|
1603-1867
|
|
Meiji
|
1867-1912
|
|
Taisho
|
1912-1926
|
|
Showa
|
1926-1989
|
|
Heisei
|
1989-
|
The introduction of
Ukiyo-e
to Paris in
1850
created enormous enthusiasm for this form of Japanese art. Its fresh and simple use of colour together with its bold and clear designs was highly appreciated. Indeed, many impressionist and post-impressionist artists such as
Monet
,
van Gogh
and
Degas
were so deeply affected by Ukiyo-e art that they used its concepts in their own works. Ukiyo-e is a multi-coloured wooden block print which can be thought of as a high-precision colour printing technology. A painter creates an original picture design and a team of wood cutters engrave that picture into a number of wooden blocks, one for each of the different colours. Finally, a print is made using the seven or eight wooden blocks in accurate registration. Extreme care is required to prevent misalignment. A deluxe version of this technique called
Nishiki-e
also exists in which each print is made with
50
or
60
blocks, using a powder of gold and silver foil as well as the ordinary dyes on embossed paper. These prints are treasured by connoisseurs worldwide.
Techniques analogous to those of Ukiyo-e are used in the microlithography industry in Japan today. For example, the fabrication of microelectronic circuits such as the
256-megabit
DRAM
, where
10
to
15
separate exposures are required, employs multiple masks that have to be aligned with submicron accuracy.
dend
met