Aomori Energy Park

A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to go on another local exchange and monitoring project! This time, we were scheduled to go to an Energy Park in Rokkasho, Aomori. This park showcases a lot of different renewable energy resources (including wind and solar) as well as some large oil storage facilities and a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant.

先々週、他の交流会・体験型取材に行ってきました。今回、六ヶ所のエネルギーパークに行く予定がありました。このパークの中にいろいろな自然エネルギーの源泉（風、太陽）があるし、石油備蓄もあるし、原子燃料サイクル施設もあります。

Rokkasho is the area in red above

The day before we went on this trip, Ryan and I began watching a new anime called Zankyou no Terror. I didn't really know what to expect, aside that it might be a horror or psychological anime from the title, so it was really surprising when we first saw this.

実は、ツアーの前に、Ryanと新しいアニメを見たばかり。見る前に「あ、タイトルは「テロル」の言葉があるので、たぶん心理学的かホラーのアニメだ！」と思いました。だから、これを見て、すごくビックリしていた。

"Woah, it's an anime set in Aomori?! That's rare." "There are wind turbines in the background! Could this be where we're going tomorrow?? Hah! Probably not...."

青森のアニメ？珍しいな。。。

えぇ。。。？風力タービンがある！明日この場所に行ったら、すごく面白くなる。。。

Then, we were shown a close-up of the driver...

そして、ドライバーのクローズアップ。。。

...in a hazmat suit...

W-what...? No way.

マジで。

........

......

FREAKY. What are the chances that we'd watch an anime with the setting at the place that we were going to visit the very next day?? It was very surreal. (I wonder how the processing facility feels about the fact that, in this anime, two kids broke into the facility, stole some plutonium, and are now plotting terrorist attacks on various places in Tokyo...)

アニメの内容はちょっと複雑で微妙だけど、最初から青森県の六ヶ所が出てすごかったです。その偶然はマジで面白かったです！

Anyways, to the Energy Park!
とにかく、エネルギーパークへ！

Our first stop was to the solar and wind farms. The solar farm consists of 14,336 solar panels. It cost about 800,000,000 yen to build and generates about 100,000,000 yen per year of electrical power. It produces about 2,400 kilowatts, which is the yearly energy consumption of about 650 households. 650 may seem like a lot, but, to put it in perspective, there were 96,969 households in Anaheim in 2000, according to the City of Anaheim website. The wind turbines, on the other hand, produce an equivalent to the yearly consumption of about 16,600 households!

最初は風と太陽のファーム。太陽のファームは１４，３３６パネルがあります。作るために、８億円かかりまして、毎年１億円のエネルギーを作ります（２，４００ｋＷです）。６５０の家庭のエネルギーです。６５０はすごく大きいナンバーだけど、（アナハイムのウェブサイトによると）アナハイムの修身は２０００年の時に９６，９６９の家庭がありました。しかし、風力タービンは１６，６００の家庭のエネルギーを作ります！

Later, we went to the nuclear energy company, JNFL (no, it's not a football league), AKA Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited! It felt a little nostalgic since some of the places from the scenes from the anime looked so similar to the ones at the actual reprocessing plant...

ランチを食べた後で、JNFLに行きました。あのアニメを見ましたから、ちょっと既視感がありました。ビルとかゲートなど本当に似ていました。。。

I'm not really sure what I was supposed to take away from this trip. They did their best to try and give us English handouts of powerpoints, but it didn't really help because they were only about when the facilities were built. Everything else about the tour was in Japanese (and I barely have a grasp on simple Japanese...forget about the medical-like jargon of nuclear engineers in Japanese...). While I understand that nuclear engineering is NOT easy (it took Ryan 10 weeks to gain a general idea of what nuclear engineering is from a course at UCSD), it would've been nice to have a translation of a general idea of what goes on in these facilities.

From what I understood (in layman's terms), this place is a combination of many different places. There's a uranium enrichment plant, which seems to be important for civilian nuclear power generation. Most of the facilities, however, seemed to be more for safe storage of the harmful by-products of the nuclear reactions. There are many waste storage centers in the facilities, which are 98% full because of waste canisters received from France and the U.K as well. They're stored in glass and steel, and treated very very carefully. It looks like the nuclear reprocessing facility is not actually finished yet, but expected to be in 2014. Spent fuel from power stations would be sent here in order to have the plutonium extracted from it and reused again?

自分で分かったポイントはあの場所はいろいろなビルのコンビネーションです。原子力発電を作るためにウラン濃縮工場がありますが、ほとんどのビルは使用済燃料受入貯蔵施設です。安全に危ないものを入れておきます。フランスとイギリスもフールを連れていて置きます。保管施設は９８％満タンです。まだできていないビルは再処理工場です。

Anyways, after the tour was over, we went back and had a long discussion about the energy situation in our own countries. There were many people from all over the world (Thailand, Malaysia, China, America, Canada, the Philippines, Japan, etc.), and we were asked to talk about "which energy resource would you select if you were in charge of your country's energy?", but none of us could really say much about our respective countries. We're not specialists, you know?

ツアーの後で、ランチを食べた場所に戻って、自分たちの国のエネルギーシチュエーションについて交換しました。いろいろな国の人がいました(例えば、タイ、マレーシア、中国、アメリカ、カナダ、フィリピン、日本など）。「自分の国のエネルギーの代表いれば、どんなエネルギー源泉を使えますか？なぜ？」について話しました。私たちはただの教育（など）専門だから、プロではありません。その特別なトピックについて考えるのはちょっと難しかったです。

I do have a greater appreciation of what the people in charge of our resources do (or should be doing). It's a difficult matter and one has to think of the safety, energy security, economic efficiency, and the effects that the energy type will have on the environment. One also has to think of public opinion. These topics are often so complicated that many people aren't very interested in them, but at times, (especially when considering nuclear power) they may have the completely wrong idea of how it works...

でも、前より今国のエネルギー代表を尊敬します。人とエネルギーを手に入り方の安全やエコノミーや環境について考えなければなりません。世論も考えなければいけません。一般人はたまにエネルギーについて、詳しくないのに強い意見があります。

Before anything can be done to have a global impact, I think that everyone should be required to at least watch a few videos on renewable energy or nuclear power. That way, everyone can learn how their decisions impact our planet and the lives of those around them.

グローバル・インパクトを考える前に、自然エネルギーとか原子力についてクラスを取るかヴィデオを見るべきだと思います。だからこそ、皆さんが少しくわしくなって、できるだけ世界と他の人々について考えられます。
Anyways, throughout the trip, I was happy that Ryan and the tour guides could explain bits and pieces of the global energy puzzle to me. I knew that America is one of the leading user of fossil fuels, but I also learned that the dust and smoke from coal-burning is radioactive and carcinogenic! I hope that I can continue learning more and more about renewable energy so that I can vote for eco-friendly energy laws and regulations. It seems expensive, but it'd also be pretty cool to live in a home that runs on some renewable energy!

アメリカへ帰る時、エコフレンドリー法律を選べるために、自然エネルギーを続けて学びたいと思います。もし、高いのに、自分の家で自然エネルギーを作ったらいいと思います！これに加えて、Ryanによると、コールは放射性だし発癌性だから、できるだけ使わないように行きたいです。

That's all for now, tune in for more adventures in Aomori!

以上です！他の青森探検について書きます！

A Familiar Place

A week ago, I revisited the Bunaco warehouse in Hirosaki City! It looked completely different in the summer compared to my last visit during winter. I could actually see the ground and the figures of the people working there (instead of heavily dressed workers in the cold warehouse).

先週、もう一回弘前市のブナコ工場に行ってきました。冬と比べて全然違う感じがありました！地面が見えるし、従業員の顔と体も見えます！冬の時、とても寒かったので、みんなは温かいくて着ました。顔だけ見えました　笑

The outside of the Bunaco warehouse

We were greeted warmly by the same people as before. Surprisingly, they remembered both me and Ryan!! They also remembered that I was one of two people who messed up last time... yay...

でも、顔だけが見えるのに、従業員が私達を覚えました！すごい。（ところで、私のしっぱいも覚えました。。。＾＾；；）

They told us about the buna shaving process again and showed us the process for making bowls, trays, trash cans, lamps, and tissue boxes!

もう一回ブナコの製品の作り方を説明してくれて、新しい形を見せてくれました。例えば、ボールだけではなくて、トレ―やダストボックスやランプやティシュ―ボックスも作っています。

To freshen up your memories, the wood that they use is from the beech (buna) tree. They make thin boards from the tree and cut those boards into strips of varying widths. Those strips are rolled up and the end product resembles a baumkuchen! Those baumkuchens are rolled into various shapes using teacups.

思い出すために、ブナコの木はブナと言うきが作られています。薄いボードを作ってその薄いボードを切っています。バウムクーヘンのようにラップをしています。そのバウムクーヘン見たいな丸を好きな形にロールをします。

This time, I learned even more about the finishing touches on the various products. After rolling the wood into the desired shape, they put something that resembles wood glue/caulking into the holes where one strip of buna ends and another one begins. That way, the finished product looks like it's from just one strip of wood! From there, they cover it with glue and let it dry. Once it's dry, they paint it with one of the many colors available. There's even a plastic coating finish option (if I remember correctly)!

今回、仕上げについて勉強になりました。たくさんの色があります！プラスティックみたいなコーティングもあります。

We could only choose from 5 colors (brown, dark brown, natural, rose, and black), but as you can tell, they have many options available for their products! They seem to include violet, scarlet, yellow, and many others. Perhaps these are just ingredients in the mixtures for the 5 colors above~ I don't know ^^;

Spray-painting!

We got to create new bowls this time, too! This time, Ryan and I decided to make taller bowls. It was a bit more difficult than before, since we had to roll the wood in such a way that the bowl walls were a thinner than before. With the help of the friendly workers, I was able to do it mostly on my own *without making an explosion*!! Yay for not messing up~!

今回もボールを作ることができました！もっと高いボールを作りたかったです。前回より、ボールの壁がもっと薄くなりましたので、今回の方が難しかったです。でも、親切な従業員の手伝いと自分の力でかんぺきでした！失敗しなかったのでうれしかったです。^_^

Our work space

Ryan with the coiled base that we later rolled into a bowl

Ryan and I with a friendly Bunaco worker (who remembered us)!

We went to their showroom again, but this time, we were to discuss our visit (and Bunaco in general) with the company president! We learned that Bunaco has been showcased not only in Japan, but also in Europe, especially in Paris. Big companies like Starbucks also special-order hanging lamps and such for their shops.

ブナコのショールームもう一回行って、ブナコの食品などについて社長と話しました！青森だけではなくて、ブナコはパリにも人気があります！！

Starbucks hanging lamps. They were made to resemble garlic (seen on the left) and an apple (the one in the middle)

They make not only lamps and bowls, but they also made speakers!!! Pretty crazy!! They play smooth jazz especially well.

It's a bit pricey, but I can understand why! Every piece is delicately hand-made by professionals who make the difficult process look extremely easy. Any product from Bunaco would be an excellent addition to a home or business wishing to go for a classy look with effortlessly clean, simple, and modern decorations. Not only are they great-looking, but they're also incredibly eco-friendly. According to one of their brochures, they require about 310 square centimeters of wood (and waste nothing). Using wood-turning methods, other companies would require about 3,200 square centimeters of wood and would waste all of the shavings! Pretty incredible!

値段がちょっと高いんですけど、理由がよくわかっています。製品が一個ずつプロで作られています。簡単みたいのにとても難しい作り方です。特級なイメージがほしいなら、ブナコの製品がとてもいいと思います。モダンだし、きれいだし、シンプルです！また、とても環境共生です！全部のブナコ木を使えます。屑がぜんぜんありません！すごいです！

If you're interested, please take a look at their company website at http://bunaco.jp!

気に入れば、会社のウェブサイトに見てください！http://bunaco.jp

Anyways, that's all for this time! I'll post soon about our trip to the Energy Park in Rokkasho!