Toyama TV Broadcasting Co., Ltd.: A short program based on Toyama City Press Tour (February 15-16, 2012)
post date : 2012.03.10
As a social action program, Toyama Television Broadcasting Co., Ltd has been organizing press tours for foreign journalists for years in collaboration with Toyama Prefecture and Toyama City to enhance the visibility of Toyama abroad.
Faced with the population aging and the birthrate declining at faster rates than the national average, Toyama Citydecided to stop its population decline by developing its strengths and differentiating itself from other cities. From this standpoint, the major theme became “Toyama, City of Medicine and Health.” This year’s press tour focused on this theme and gave the participants an opportunity to visit both traditional and cutting-edge companies in the pharmacy-related business and look to the future of Toyama as a city of medicine. In addition, they covered the impact of the March 11 disaster and also the recent appreciation of the yen on Toyama’s business sector.
Toyama Television Broadcasting Co., Ltd filmed the tour and aired a 15-minute program "Foreign Media's views: TOYAMA, City of Medicine and Health" (in Japanese language) from 11:00 to 11:15 on March 10 so that local people could see how foreign reporters covered their hometown.
Toyama City Press Tour 2012
--- Proram ---
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Main theme: Toyama, City of Medicine and Health
Subtheme:
(1) What has been the influence and change of the 3/11 disaster on Toyama?
(2) How have companies in Toyama coped with the strong yen; is it an opportunity or not?
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As a social action program, Toyama Television Broadcasting Co., Ltd has been organizing press tours for foreign journalists for years in collaboration with Toyama Prefecture and Toyama City to enhance the visibility of Toyama abroad.
Faced with the population aging and the birthrate declining at faster rates than the national average, Toyama Citydecided to stop its population decline by developing its strengths and differentiating itself from other cities. From this standpoint, the major theme became “Toyama, City of Medicine and Health.” This year’s press tour focuses on this theme and will give you an opportunity to visit both traditional and cutting-edge companies in the pharmacy-related business and look to the future of Toyama as a city of medicine. In addition, you will cover the impact of the March 11 disaster and also the recent appreciation of the yen on Toyama’s business sector.
[Notice]Toyama Television Broadcasting Co., Ltd is planning to film the tour and air a 15-minute program (in Japanese Languadge) in March so that local people can see how foreign reporters cover their hometown. We will be careful not to get in your way, but please be aware that our crew, with a small video camera, will accompany you and film your activities through the tour.
【Presentations】
Ikedaya-Yasubei Shoten Co., Ltd. is a pharmacy in central Toyama that produces Wakanyaku (Japanese-Chinese traditional medicines). Pharmacists of the shop do counseling, select from among more than 20 home-made Japanese medicines and more than 200 medicinal herbs, and prepare a medicine suitable for each patient’s symptoms. With an old-fashioned “sit-and-sell” style, which reminds you of a Japanese samurai drama, the shop is popular enough to attract busloads of tourists every day.
☆This tour will give you an opportunity to find out why the company maintains the unusual “face-to-face sit-and-sell style” and its future prospects. You will also experience the craftsmanship of pill manufacturing maintained by two pharmacists in the shop to this day. They are the only “active pill pharmacists” in Japan now.
There is a traditional idea that “food and medicine come from the same source” in Japan, which means that illness can be prevented or cured by food. Yakuzen cuisine is based on this philosophy and focuses on cooking the most suitable ingredients for each person’s constitution and condition of internal organs in the best ways to prevent illness. There are many Yakuzen restaurants popular among tourists in Toyama City.
Ikedaya Yasubei Shouten Co., Ltd. provides healthy Yakuzen dishes with “ancient breed of rice” and medical herbs such as Korean ginseng, in its 2nd floor restaurant.
☆This tour will give you a chance to taste Yakuzen dishes with a briefing about the health benefits of each ingredient.
In Japanese society there is a traditional culture of wrapping things beautifully. So, packaging is still considered very important to add value and often affects the sales of goods. Asahi Printing Co., Ltd. is a printing firm in Toyama City with a history of 140 years, devoted to the packaging of medicines and cosmetics. Starting from printing package boxes of medicines for household delivery, which was Toyama’s traditional industry, the company has expanded its business nationwide, and now has the largest market share in Japan in the packaging of medicines and cosmetics. To meet the demanding quality standards of the medical industry, the company has different production lines for each product (packaging/ attached documents/ labels) and for each market (medical products/ cosmetics), to meet diversifying market needs. With 18 sales offices across Japan, the company is carrying out community-based consulting sales to respond to the needs of clients.
☆You will see the production line from a viewing route, and learn how the company succeeded in achieving the largest market share, and also the meaning of packaging for the Japanese.
The Institute of Natural Medicine of Toyama University is studying traditional medicine and pharmacy scientifically, using cutting-edge technology. As the only research institute in Japan devoted to the study of traditional medicine, and as the only medical research institute affiliated to a national university, it aims to develop new medicaments and to contribute to the better health of the society by synchronizing eastern and western medicine and through research and training. The British science journal “Nature” recently took up the institute as a representative of Japan’s natural medicine study. (Photo: Director Ikuo Saiki, Institute of Natural Medicine)
☆In this tour, you will visit the “Museum of Materia Medica,” which is reputed to have in its store allegedly as many as 26 thousand kinds of oriental natural medicines, and its backyard storehouse is usually closed to the public. After viewing the overwhelming medicine collections, you will have a briefing about the actual clinical practice synchronizing eastern and western medicine.
Lead Chemical Co., Ltd. manufactures a percutaneous absorption patch to give medicinal benefits through the skin. With the sales figures jumping from 9 billion yen in 2006 to 20 billion yen in 2011 and expectedly 25 billion yen for the current term, the company is now one of the most highly-rated drug companies in Toyama Prefecture, the home of medicine. The biggest factor behind the company’s sales increase was the development of Loxonin, an anti-inflammatory analgesic to be absorbed through the skin and relieve muscle pain, sales of which have exploded since it went on sale in 2009. Company President Mr. Masao Mori came up with the idea of developing Loxonin when he heard of farmers poisoned by agricultural chemicals while working in bare feet. After large manufacturers’ plants in the Tohoku region were damaged by last year’s disaster, Lead Chemical has been deluged with orders and forced to operate 7 days a week. While the rise of the yen has affected the company’s sales by 700 to 800 million yen, it has actually made more profit from the lowering import cost of raw materials. As Japan’s population has been shrinking, the company has already started negotiations to expand its sales destinations to China, Europe, and North and South America.
☆Tour participants will have a factory tour and receive a briefing on the dual impact of the March 11 disaster and the yen appreciation.
Power and IT Company is a next-generation data center in Toyama City opened in May 2011. Even before that, after the March 11 disaster, the company was flooded with inquiries from companies across Japan including the Kanto and Kansai regions.
Until the disaster, many companies in the Kanto and Kansai regions had a backup data server either on their premises or not more than 50 to 60 kilometers away, but the earthquake and tsunami reminded Japanese companies that such measures were useless. Then Japanese companies, especially in the Kanto and Kansai regions, approached Power and IT Company in appreciation of not only its geographical advantage, but also its quake-absorbing building and anti-flood measures.
☆This tour will give you an opportunity to see the great quake-absorbing structure of the building and also hear about the characteristics of the facility and the business situation.
[Notice]Tour participants will have a facility tour and a briefing, but no individual interviews or photographing/filming will be permitted, because the restored data are extremely confidential. All of your photographing/filming equipment must be checked in before you enter the building.
The Park Zoo opened a new exhibition facility in harmony with nature last year. With an area of about eight thousand square meters, it is one of the largest facilities in the world for exhibiting Japanese monkeys. The park named the facility “Satoyama Vivarium,” and is planning to use it as a base for providing the local people with various programs which remind them of Japanese “satoyama,” where human beings lived in harmony with nature for thousands of years. Mr. Yamamoto, General Manager of the park, who also serves as the president of JAZA, busied himself after March 11. He wrote in an article contributed to a newspaper then, “There is no question that human life is given top priority in the affected areas. Meanwhile, it is true that there are also precious lives in zoos and aquariums, which give the Japanese a great many blessings, and only zoos and aquariums in the country can save their lives.
☆You will hear from Mr. Yamamoto how zoos and aquariums in Japan worked together to help animals and underwater live after the earthquake, and also have a tour of this zoo that aims to achieve harmony with nature.
Toyama City just opened a new care prevention center with high-quality technical services to support the independent living of elderly citizens and extend their healthy life-spans. It also aims to reduce the financial burden of the city to cover nursing care insurance and other expenses. Local elderly people certified as on support level 1 or 2, including the frail elderly, are eligible to use the new facility with a doctor on duty on a full-time basis, and what distinguishes it is a swimming pool and heat treatment utilizing a hot spring dug on the site.
☆You will have a facility tour and a briefing about its characteristics.
＜Tour Itinerary and Application Details＞
1. Itinerary (tentative): February 15 (Wednesday)-16(Thursday)
[Day 1 (February 15)]
10:15 Arrive at Toyama Airport (ANA883)
10:35 Leave Toyama Airport by chartered bus
11:00-12:15 Museum of Materia Medica, Institute of Natural Medicine, Toyama University
-Briefing by the institute’s director Dr. Saiki Ikuo
-Tour of the storeroom
12:25-13:25 Lunch (@Toyama Art Creation Center)
13:45-15:00 Asahi Printing Co., Ltd (Toyama East Plant)
15:40-16:55 Lead Chemical Co., Ltd.
17:25 Check in at ANA Crown Plaza Hotel
18:00-19:00 Presentations by Deputy Mayor Oizuki and Director Nakamura of Commerce, Industry and Labor Dept.
19:15-20:45 Reception hosted by Toyama City
(Stay overnight at ANA Crown Plaza Hotel)
[Day 2 (February 16)]
09:30 Leave hotel
09:45-11:00 Toyama City Kadokawa Care Prevention Center
11:05-13:00 Ikedaya Yasubei Shouten Co., Ltd.
-Briefing about Toyama medicine and Yakuzen cuisine
-Lunch
-Shop Tour
13:30-15:00 Toyama City Family Park Zoo
-Briefing by the zoo’s General Manager Mr. Shigeyuki Yamamoto
- Satoyama Vivarium
15:20-16:30 Power and IT Company
16:35 Arrive at Toyama Airport
17:15 Leave Toyama Airport (ANA890)
2. Qualification: Bearer of Gaimusho Press Registration Card
3. Expenses: 13,000 yen per person including round-trip air ticket to Toyama, meals and accommodation.
*FPC will inform the participants of payment methods, cancellation fee etc. later on.
4. Participants: Limited to the first 10 applicants on a first-come first-served basis. (Only one reporter and one photographer from each company, but two participants from each TV team will be acceptable.)
5. Application: Please copy and paste the application form below and send it by email (cp@fpcjpn.or.jp) with “Application for Toyama Press Tour” in the subject line.
6. FPCJ Contact: Ms. Koizumi and Mr. Sugawara (Email:cp@fpcjpn.or.jp Tel: (03)3501-5251)
7. Remarks:
(1) This tour is organized by Toyama Television Broadcasting Co. and Toyama City, and starts and ends at Toyama Airport. FPCJ takes care of receiving applications and handing over round-trip air tickets, but will not accompany the tour.
(2) There may be some restrictions on photographing and filming at the tour sites. Please follow the instructions of the staff on duty.
(3)Toyama City, Toyama Television Broadcasting Co., Ltd. and FPCJ will not be liable for any inconvenience, trouble or accident that might occur in the course of the tour.
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Application Form for Toyama City Press Tour
NAME:
ORGANIZATION:
TYPE OF ORGANIZATION (newspaper, magazine, TV, etc.):
NATIONALITY OF ORGANIZATION:
TEL:
MOBILE PHONE:
FAX:
E-MAIL:
Smoking/Non-smoking:
Gaimusho Foreign Press Registration Card number:
Expiration date of Press Registration Card: