Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology

Yokosuka Headquarters is the base of JAMSTEC, and is the home port having a quay for the research vessels of JAMSTEC. It was established in 1972. Yokosuka Headquarters is focusing on the observational research on the global changes, dynamics of the Earth's interior, marine ecosystems and extremobiosphiles in addition to the development of marine technology.

https://www.jamstec.go.jp/e/about/vision/

An example of JAMSTEC’s work:

A mass extinction event 11.6 million years ago was apparently due to a huge meteor impact in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Minami-Torishima island 1,860 kilometers southeast of Tokyo in the Ogasawara island chain, say researchers.

They said they uncovered evidence of the impact in deep-sea sediment. It was already known that a mass extinction occurred about the same time, and the latest finding suggests a meteorite was responsible, the researchers said.

The team led by Tatsuo Nozaki, deputy group leader at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), published its findings online Nov. 20 in the British journal Scientific Reports.

The researchers studied the off-island area to discover how clay sediment containing rare earth elements formed.

In geological stratum dating to 11 million years ago at a depth of 5,600 meters, the researchers found osmium, a precious metal, in high concentrations. They also found iridium and other elements.

After calculating the ratio of isotope and other factors, the researchers concluded they were extraterrestrial in origin and fell to Earth in a meteorite impact.

Mass extinctions have occurred many times in Earth’s history.

The five biggest extinctions known as the “Big Five” include the one that wiped out dinosaurs and nearly all other life about 65 million years ago.

The mass extinction 11.6 million years ago is not included in the Big Five, but is one of 11 that have occurred in the past 300 million years.

The precise cause of that mass extinction was not understood, but the latest finding suggests a meteorite was responsible.

The researchers said an impact crater on land from this ancient time had not been found, so it was reasonable to conclude the meteorite plummeted into the sea.

To view the published research results, see (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-52709-1).

Update on Yokosuka Port Market (To be revamped & reopen in early-2021)

In recognition of its real estate value-add capabilities, Ichigo Corporation has been awarded preferential negotiation rights to renovate and become the operator of the Yokosuka Port Market located in Yokosuka, a port city in Kanagawa Prefecture near Tokyo.

1.  Yokosuka Port Market Overview

Yokosuka lies on the western shore of Tokyo Bay on the Miura Peninsula in Kanagawa Prefecture.  Perched between the sea and forested hills, it is a picturesque harbor city known for historical sites related to Japan’s 19th-century opening to the world.  Its busy port hosts Japanese and U.S. naval facilities as well as a fishing industry that produces a variety of seafood, while the surrounding area is used to grow a range of vegetables.

Yokosuka is launching a major redevelopment to promote tourism in tandem with the opening in spring 2021 of a new ferry route linking Yokosuka to Kita Kyushu, a city in southern Japan.  The redevelopment will include construction of a hotel near Mikasa Park, the opening of a 19th-century coastal fortification as a tourist site, and the creation of a visitor center on Sarushima, a historic island in Tokyo Bay. 

As part of this tourism promotion project, City Support, a public entity owned by Yokosuka, sought proposals to use the Yokosuka Port Market, which was originally opened in 2013 after renovation of a refrigeration warehouse that had been built in 1987.  City Support held an open public bid
to solicit proposals from companies to renovate and operate the facility as a Public-Private Partnership (PPP).

Together with our partner companies, Ichigo submitted a proposal to make better use of  the existing building by deploying Ichigo’s value-add real estate capabilities, while also working closely with the local residents to invigorate the community.

The central concept behind Ichigo’s proposal is to turn the Yokosuka Port Market into a bustling port marketplace for seafood, produce, and other local foods that will become a source of pride for not only residents of Yokosuka but also the entire Miura Peninsula.

Ichigo has drawn inspiration from similar public markets in New York, London, Barcelona, and Toronto to turn the Yokosuka Port Market into a creative hub of culinary culture, with live music to entertain shoppers and diners and a co-working space to support local entrepreneurs.  Ichigo aims to make the market a tourist attraction that captures the essence of this port city, collaborating with nearby tourist and historic sites to draw more visitors.

2.  Project Background and Timeline

Ichigo has acquired preferential negotiation rights from City Support for an Ichigo-led joint venture to operate the Yokosuka Port Market.  Following completion of the necessary administrative procedures and approvals, the renovated Yokosuka Port Market is expected to open in spring 2021.

This project is in line with the initiatives announced in Ichigo’s Ichigo 2030 vision on April 17, 2019.  As a sustainable infrastructure company, Ichigo is working to revitalize the local community, create new employment, and promote regional economic development.

Yokosuka's Famous Naval Port Cruise

https://www.tryangle-web.com/en/naval-port/about.html

Yokosuka Port has been developed as a naval port since US Fleet with Commodore Perry arrived nearly 160 years ago. This port is famous for US Naval Base (Yokosuka Port) and the headquarter of JMSDF (Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force) (Nagaura Port) located next to each other. TRYANGLE offers unique local tour, Cruise of YOKOSUKA Naval Port daily. This is one and only unique tour available in Japan to view JMSDF and US Naval ships up close.

Many different kinds of vessels can be viewed during the cruise. JMSDF (Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force) submarines and escort vessels, US Naval Aegis destroyers and cruisers, and depending on the time, aircraft carrier, icebreaker vessel (an Antarctic research vessel), and so many more. Cruise with the view of vessels that changes daily is a unique charm of Yokosuka!

The US Naval fleet with Commodore Matthew Perry (aka Kurofune the black ships) came to Uraga, Yokosuka in 1853. During that period, Japan was under the isolationist foreign policy by Japanese Tokugawa shogunate (aka Bakufu), and the order such as Edict and Repel Foreign Vessels were placed. However Oguri Kozukenosuke who was a commissioner of the finance of Edo Bakufu believed Japan as an islands country urgently needs modern Naval system, in order to stand fair and equal position against foreign countries. He convinced Edo government and hired Leonce Verny the French naval engineer as a construction director, and built Japan’s first modern comprehensive factory “Yokosuka Ironworks” in Yokosuka where it's close enough to Edo and has less effect from ocean waves in 1865.

After nearly 150 years, Yokosuka has developed as one of the leading Naval port in the world.
The leading technologies and the remaining facilities are still used in many places and Yokosuka became the modern military port with many vessels moored there daily.

Coronavirus cancels 400th Anniversary events for William Adams

(Asahi Shimbun "Vox Populi" editorial, 01 June 2020)

My first encounter with the name Miura Anjin was during a junior high school English class decades ago.

The class textbook described him as “a great figure who brought shipbuilding to Japan.”

William Adams, an Englishman who became a diplomatic adviser to Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate, was known in Japan as Miura Anjin. May 16 marked the 400th anniversary of his death.

Adams shipped out in 1598 as a pilot in a Dutch fleet and his ship was cast up on the coast of Oita in 1600.

“I think he was a bold person who had the nerve to lecture Ieyasu on international affairs,” says Koichi Shiozuka, 52, an official at the Hirado municipal government in Nagasaki Prefecture.

In 2017, a piece of bone, which presumably belonged to Adams, was discovered during an excavation of what is believed to be his grave in Hirado, where he died in 1620.

The old Japanese word "anjin" means “pilot.” As a confidant of Ieyasu, Adams served as a commercial agent and contact man who introduced Western traders visiting Japan to senior officials of the shogunate. Despite being a foreigner, Adams was given the rank of “hatamoto” (under the banner), a direct retainer of the shogun.

But Adams lost his privileges after Ieyasu’s death in 1616 under the rule of his successor, who adopted an increasingly isolationist diplomatic policy.

The changing political situation prompted Adams to move to Hirado, the site of the English and Dutch trading posts, which he helped manage while undertaking trading voyages to other parts of Asia.

Biographies of Adams, both old and recent, mostly depict him as a sailor who had a quick wit and was dexterous at worming himself into the confidence of the man in power.

Even though he finally obtained permission to return home from the shogunate, Adams failed to set foot again on his native soil due to conflict with his superior.

While he made no secret of his desire to return to England, where he had a wife and two children, Adams nevertheless fathered three children in Japan with two Japanese women. Despite being venerated as a great figure in the English textbook, Adams acted otherwise.

Unfortunately, two events related to Adams that were to be held in May in Hirado--an “Anjin Summit” conference and an “Anjin Ki,” marking the anniversary of his death--have been postponed due to the new coronavirus outbreak. Plans to invite people who have connections with Adams from England have also been put off.

The coronavirus has unexpectedly imposed a distance between Japan and England that recalls the era of Adams.