`We should consider the city as a tourist resource.'

MEMBER Discussion group on Kansai Science City

SEIKA, Kyoto Prefecture-Abandoned buildings dot the gentle slopes of the Keihanna Hills, their occupants long gone in search of richer pastures. Large, empty plots of undeveloped land separate modern office buildings that contain no workers.

A decade ago, this vast area straddling Kyoto, Osaka and Nara prefectures was supposed to have led Japan in scientific and academic pursuits. It was also intended to be a cultural magnet for various arts.

The vision for Kansai Science City was a sprawling wonderland created by businesses, academics and the government.

Now, in the face of core companies pulling out, the dream city is being forced to make major readjustments.

Construction work started after the enactment of the Kansai Science City Construction Promotion Law in 1987. Hopes were high for the creation of an innovative research hub in the Kansai area led by the private sector. The plan was to make the city uniquely different from Ibaraki Prefecture's Tsukuba Science City, which consists mainly of government research facilities.

The Keihanna project covers 15,000 hectares, in two towns and six cities in three prefectures. Plans were drawn up for the development of 12 districts or clusters covering a total of 3,600 hectares. Each district was to be dotted with research facilities and residential areas.

But then the bubble economy collapsed, and the Kansai Science City project was hard hit.

The heart of Kansai Science City lies in the Seika-Nishi Kizu district in Kyoto Prefecture. About 10 research facilities and a ``new-town'' housing area are strewn along the 506 hectares of land developed by clearing a hilly knoll.

A forlorn two-story concrete building in the area used to be the Canon Ecology R&D Center. It was shut down in June.

Back in 1993, when Canon Inc. opened the center, its purpose was to work on long-term projects.

The idea was to take a completely different route from conventional research facilities that tend to focus on product development as the bottom line.

About 100 Canon staff were put on a research project involving solar batteries. However, the economic slump of the past 10 years doomed the project.

As a cost-cutting measure, Canon ended up shifting its research arm to a subsidiary in Nagahama, Shiga Prefecture, where the company's ``manufacturing'' base is located.

Canon was not the only company that had second thoughts during this trying time.

Bayer Yakuhin and Sumitomo Metal Industries joined Canon in pulling out of the area.

Of the 908 hectares marked specifically for research and development facilities, only about 320 hectares were actually developed. Construction work on new research labs markedly slowed down after 1998. There are now 81 such facilities.

But Kansai Science City is not entirely dead.

A growing entrepreneurship movement is on hand in the area to link research with business.

In 2002, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology designated Kansai Science City a knowledge-based cluster, a unique ``Silicon Valley'' in Keihanna.

After the ministry said it would subsidize projects to create new industries through a collaboration of business and academia, efforts surged between industries and universities.

There are currently 58 research projects under way covering a vast array of potential businesses, including nurse-care robots and synthetic bone-building material.

Four of the products have already been commercialized, while 109 patent applications have been submitted.

The town of Seika in Kyoto Prefecture established a new system that will subsidize up to 90 percent of property taxes for companies equipped with factories that manufacture prototypes.

But the town realizes that research alone does not increase employment.

``It's impossible to stick to pure research in basic sciences unless we are blessed with the ample funds that were floating around during the economic bubble,'' said an official from the Kansai Science City Construction Promotion Office in charge of recruiting facilities.

The lack of funds makes things especially tough for the arts and culture cluster.

Initially, there were grand plans to build a national art center and an organization for cultural assets. But the only thing that came to fruit from the original plans was the Kansai-kan (Kansai annex) of the National Diet Library.

Cultural activities at Keihanna are still limited to concerts and providing space for activities of citizens groups.

The population growth has not reached its estimated forecast either.

About 219,000 people reside in the region, only 53 percent of the projected 410,000. Initial plans were for a city bustling with researchers living near their laboratories.

In reality, the Keihanna region is being developed as a handy residential area, commutable to Osaka and Kyoto.

Despite various negative factors, it is also true that the city is beginning to attract a new group of visitors.

In addition to the annex of the National Diet Library, a user-friendly ``Watashino shigoto kan'' (Work Experience Plaza) opened in 2003. Visitors can try out various jobs through a virtual hands-on tour. The facility drew 440,000 visitors to the city in fiscal 2003, a sixfold increase compared to fiscal 2001.

In September, a discussion group consisting of university professors and officials from research labs got together to assess a new direction for Kansai Science City.

Some came up with new angles.

``We should consider the city as a tourist resource,'' said one member. Another said, ``We should stress the quality of life made possible here, (science) coexisting with nature.''

The city is now at a crossroads on the direction to take.(IHT/Asahi: January 27,2005)