CHIBA & IBARAKI PREFECTURES (October 2015): Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City & Hitachi City

When adventure beckons, just say yes!

Even if adventure entails leaving Central Tokyo at 7am like a zombie and returning at 10.30pm still like a zombie. 😛 Needless to say, it was a pretty hectic day.

20151031_022406 (2) — *Woke up and returned to my hotel room with the same night view. Haha.*

Well, it wasn’t exactly pure adventure, it’s mostly about work since it’s part of the Hitachi press tour. I found it so refreshing and exciting though that Hitachi included areas outside of Tokyo in the itinerary. Our two destinations that day: Chiba and Ibaraki Prefectures.

CHIBA PREFECTURE (Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City)

GE DIGITAL CAMERA — *The famous Lalaport Shopping Center at Kashiwa-no-ha*

Since Hitachi is heavily into making contributions to social innovation, they took us to one of their important projects: the Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City. In as much as it’s easy to picture a Smart City as a city with flying cars and automated structures and a crowd of AI neighbors, it’s not really how it is. Don’t be disappointed though. We may have a long way to get there but we’re definitely on that road. 😉

A smart city is a community that provides safety and security by practicing a lifestyle that makes it sustainable for decades and well into the future. Kashiwa-no-ha, for example, operates on three key ideals: “environmental-symbiotic city,” “city of health and longevity”and “city of new industry creation.” These only mean that Kashiwa-no-ha is a community that implements a lifestyle that’s kind to both the people and the environment, one that promotes health and wellness, and one that fosters growth industries.

The Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City is a collaboration among the local government, universities, research institutions, Mitsui Fudosan and Hitachi. No wonder, the first thing you’ll see after alighting from the Tsukuba Express (30 minutes from the Akihabara Station in Tokyo) is the University of Tokyo building.

I felt so scholarly right then. I just love how it looked like during early autumn. It felt like the perfect season to sit under a tree and read books and drink coffee. At least in my imagination. 😛

I couldn’t resist taking a photo (?!) with 2015 Nobel Prize Awardee Takaaki Fajita for his work in Physics.

He’s a resident of Kashiwa and he’s also from that University of Tokyo campus. He received a Nobel for “the discovery of neutrino oscillations, which shows that neutrinos have mass.” Whew!

Kashiwa-no-ha, at first glance, truly epitomizes how it is to be a “green” community.

Since the solar panels absorb solar energy and several buildings store solar energies as well, Hitachi implements an AEMS (Area Energy Management System) which centrally manages the demand and supply of stored energies in the area. After all, even if you save up enough solar energy, you wouldn’t want it to go to waste, right? It needs smart management. 🙂 That’s where Hitachi comes in.

The highlight of the Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City is its care for the environment. Although they also put premium on health and wellness as well as growing new industries.

Sharing some of the things I thought were interesting…

…like a Japanese Anna? 😉

A cute cafe. 🙂

It’s eye-opening to realize that the Japanese are applying technology already to improve how humans live. It’s a good social innovation practice to think of a sustainable future that’s not just tech-centric but also something that’s beneficial for both the future generation and the environment.

IBARAKI PREFECTURE (Hitachi City)

We moved to Ibaraki Prefecture to see Hitachi City.

I took the time to nap and just rest. When I opened my eyes, we were driving along a quiet, coastal area in Ibaraki.

We went to the former HQ of Hitachi in Ibaraki. Since it’s a coastal area, the old Hitachi office was destroyed by the tsunami in 2011 forcing them to move elsewhere in the area. However, the machine repair shop where Hitachi’s founder, mining engineer Namihei Odaira, worked still stands.

We weren’t allowed to take photos inside so I took the liberty of breathing in the beautiful scenery outside…and take photos of course.

20151030_151633 — Hitachi means “sunrise”

The onset of autumn at Ibaraki was beautiful. We went to Odaira Museum afterwards where we were treated to various mementos and memorabilia relating to the Hitachi founder.

We toured the Hitachi Kokobu Works factory but since we’re not allowed to take photos, will just share a photo of us, four Filipina journalists, in factory gear. 😀