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Dec 13, 2009

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December 10, 2009 Link Collection

Dec 10, 2009

6th Annual Contest (Japanese to English finalists)

Finalists (Japanese to English)

The following five entries (#99, #108, #120, #123, #162) have made it to the final round.

Entry 99

Section 2 Creating a Livable, Beautiful City of 42 Million

(5) Project for the Adaptation of the Community to an Aging Population

In order to deal with issues arising from a rapidly aging society, such as health care, social services and housing, we must promote the development of towns and housing that are comfortable and safe for everyone, from the elderly to those raising children.

* The population of Tokyo is expected to peak in 2010 and decline thereafter.

** The elderly population of Tokyo was approximately 20% in 2005 and is expected to increase to approximately 30% in 2025.

Details of the Plan

Child-Rearing Support and Ensuring Children’s Safety

• Offer multi-layered support for access to housing suitable for child-rearing households, including priority status for renting public housing and establishment of a system for the borrowing and re-renting of houses owned by the elderly.

• As part of the redevelopment of the city, establish childcare centers near neighborhoods of remodeled public rental housing, utilizing empty buildings near train stations, etc.

• Sponsor the establishment of neighborhood child-rearing support centers where parents of young children can chat and exchange ideas.

• Encourage businesses to offer telecommuting options and work towards a better work-life balance for employees.

• Establish after-school classes, clubs, etc. for children who need a place to go after school.

• Promote measures to ensure the safety of children walking to and from school, such as the installation of sidewalks on roads leading to schools, neighborhood crime watch patrols, and installation of street lights.

An example of a road used by students with a sidewalk.

Creating a Neighborhood Where the Elderly and Disabled Feel Secure

• Offer multi-layered housing support including priority status for renting public housing and promotion of the provision of rental packages which include services aimed at senior citizens.

• Create neighborhoods where the elderly are looked after, for example by inviting nursing homes and other social service facilities to locate near remodeled public rental housing, sponsoring services to check on senior citizens which utilize neighborhood support networks, securing commitments by NPO’s to provide transportation services, etc.

• Promote the use of Universal Design in public transportation, housing and other buildings, public open spaces, etc.

• Install guide tiles in flooring for the vision-impaired, ostomate-friendly toilets, etc.

An image of public rental housing with attached social services facility.
Remodeled public housing.
Deluxe public housing.
Day service center, child care center and other facilities.

Pedestrian crossing with bicycle lane and no curb.

Creating the New Town

• Facilitate the diversification of household membership through such means as priority renting status for families with young children or elderly members, and inviting child care centers and other social service facilities to locate near housing complexes.

• Encourage neighborhood management through the cultivation of the talent who will create the New Town, creation of neighborhood rules by residents, cultivation of local businesses, etc.

• Create a vital neighborhood through the use of PFI’s to build private sector know-how and funding.

Building a Safe Health Care System

• Promote the increased use of local doctors and pharmacies to properly distribute the burden on these facilities.

• Provide public transportation to medical facilities, and traveling doctors to serve remote areas.

• Create a regional emergency medical system providing increased access to emergency medical services including complete information-sharing between fire departments and medical professionals, introduction of medical helicopters, and maintenance of the highway network.

• Strengthen measures to contain the New Type Influenza and other infectious diseases.

Regional Map of Access to Advanced Emergency Medical Services
Legend
Advanced Emergency Medical Facility
Expressway
Under 15 Minutes
15 to 30 Minutes
30 to 45 Minutes
45 to 60 Minutes
Over 60 Minutes

Entry 108

[Note from Contest Organizers: Graphical elements translated as graphics not reproduced here]

Section 2: Making a beautiful and comfortable environment a reality for our 42 million residents

(5) Regional development projects which are good for everyone in an aging society
Japan’s low birth rate and its aging society both bring with them a host of issues in the fields of medicine, welfare, and housing. In order to resolve these issues, we are working to create comfortable cities and living spaces, where it is easy to raise children and where our seniors -- and all of our residents -- can feel safe and at ease.

*The population of the Greater Tokyo Area is expected to peak in 2010 and then fall into decline
*The proportion of the elderly (over 65) population in the Greater Tokyo Area was approximately 20% in 2005 and is expected to increase to approximately 30% by 2025

A detailed look at our plans

Providing support for child-rearing and ensuring the safety and security of children
- Stratified plans to provide housing for families with children, including giving priority for public rental housing to those families which are raising children, as well as renting out housing that belongs to senior citizens in order to sublet it to families which are raising children
- Setting up nursery schools during the renovation of public rental housing complexes and urban redevelopment projects, as well as setting up nursery schools and other facilities by actively using currently empty properties near train stations
- Creating spaces where the parents of infants can easily interact with one another and seek advice by providing facilities such as local child-rearing support centers
- Promoting the move among businesses towards telecommuting and realizing a healthy work-life balance
- Ensuring that there is a place for children to go after school by setting up after-school classes and clubs
- Implementing safety measures for students going to and from school by better outfitting the sidewalks that students use to commute, having local safety patrol groups watch over the routes, and keeping the streets lit at night

One example of a sidewalk designed primarily for students going to and from school

Making this a region where our senior citizens can live comfortably
- Stratified plans to provide housing for our senior citizens, such as giving them priority for public rental housing and encouraging the construction of housing with services for senior citizens
- Regional development which will look after senior citizens and others by setting up regional nursing homes and other welfare centers, establishing welfare facilities during the renovation of public rental housing, providing care by putting our regional networks to active use, and offering comprehensive transportation services through NPOs or other organizations
- Promoting the movement towards “universal design” for public transportation, housing, architecture, streets, and more.
- Installing daily living aids such as tactile tile blocks for the visually impaired and toilets equipped for those who have undergone an ostomy procedure

An illustration of a combined public rental housing facility and welfare institute

Wide sidewalks for pedestrians which resolve the problems of height differences

Revitalizing our planned communities
- Diversifying households and the generational makeup of communities by giving housing priority to both families raising children and senior citizens, as well as establishing and inviting in nursery schools and welfare facilities
- Moving forward with an area management plan which will foster the human resources to carry out the revitalization of our planned communities, establish regulations for making communities which are focused around their residents and cultivate community businesses
- Stimulating vital areas by proactively using the know-how and capital of the people, such as through the Private Finance Initiative (PFI)

Constructing a medical system that instills a sense of safety and peace of mind
- Fully developing the regional healthcare systems by promoting policies to ensure that there are doctors in local areas, to encourage sharing the burden of certain aspects of medical care through the spread of family drugstores and to build a cooperative healthcare system for each illness
- Creating widespread support for areas without doctors by implementing a remote medicine system and having visiting practitioners, as well as ensuring that medical institutions can be reached by public transportation, such as a community bus service
- Establishing a widespread emergency medicine system that ensures access to emergency medicine facilities through the arterial road network, the introduction of air ambulances and the thorough dissemination of information regarding the services of the fire department and medical institutions
- Strengthening countermeasures against infectious diseases like the H1N1 flu virus

Accessibility in the areas surrounding tertiary emergency medicine centers

Entry 120

Section Two: Creating a Beautiful and Comfortable Home for Forty-Two Million Residents

(5) Regional Planning Project Adapted to an Aging, Low-Birthrate Society—Creating Spaces where People from All Walks of Life Can Feel at Home

As a consequence of the realities of Japanese society, which is becoming increasingly elderly on average with a steadily decreasing number of children being conceived, we are faced with a host of problems on a wide variety of fronts, such as in the fields of medical care, social welfare and housing. In order to rise to the challenges posed by these issues, we are moving forward with the development of amenable communities and residential spaces which are well-disposed to the needs of parents raising children, and where all citizens, especially the elderly, may live in safety and comfort.

• The population of the Greater Tokyo Metropolitan Area will begin to decline after peaking in the year 2010.
• While roughly twenty percent of the population of the Greater Tokyo Metropolitan Area was over the age of sixty-five as of the year 2005, this figure will increase to approximately thirty percent by the year 2025.

Details of Specific Approaches to be Taken

Child-Rearing Support, and Ensuring Children's Safety and Comfort

• Priority leasing when applying for public rented housing, sub-leasing of residential units owned by elderly citizens to households raising children, and the formulation of other such measures designed to provide multi-tiered residential support for child-rearing households.
• Preparation of nursery schools in conjunction with urban redevelopment or the rebuilding of public housing projects, or by utilizing empty retail shop spaces in the vicinity of train stations.
• Establishment of community child-raising support centers where parents of infant children may freely seek advice while interacting with other parents.
• Promoting job-seeking at companies incorporating tele-commuting and flex-time work systems.
• Providing children with after-school gathering places, such as by establishing after-school study sessions and after-school kids' clubs.
• Promoting policies designed to provide for the safety of children commuting to and from school, such as by laying down sidewalks along school commuting routes, encouraging community child protection through the formation of crime-prevention patrol teams, and installing lighting for children walking to or from school outside of daylight hours.

Typical sidewalk used mainly as a commuting route for school-age children. [photo caption]

Creating communities amenable to elderly residents

• Multi-tiered residential support, such as priority leasing when applying for public rented housing, and providing residences with services and amenities especially designed to suit the needs of elderly residents.
• Developing communities wherein elderly residents are protected and cared for through the establishment of social welfare centers such as community caregiving facilities, building welfare facilities in conjunction with the rebuilding of public housing projects, and inviting bids for similar construction projects; providing protective services which make full use of pre-existing local community networks; and working together with non-profit organizations and other groups to implement full-scale transportation services.
• Promoting the implementation of barrier-free “universal design” for transportation infrastructure, residences and buildings, and pedestrian spaces accessible by all.
• Installing yellow guide blocks in pavement for use by the visually impaired, and equipping restrooms with special facilities for those who have undergone ileostomy, colostomy or urostomy medical procedures.

Artist's rendition of an integrated complex featuring public housing projects and social welfare facilities [caption]

Rebuilt public residences [caption]

Local upscale apartment complex [caption]

Daytime Senior Activity Center / Nursery school facilities [caption]

Crosswalks for use by both cyclists and pedestrians must be kept sufficiently wide, and curbs fronting crosswalks must be made flush with the street [caption]

Revitalization of New Town

• Diversifying household and generational makeup through priority leasing for households with elderly members and households raising children, and building day care facilities in conjunction with welfare facilities.
• Promoting area management through cultivating personnel to carry out the revitalization of New Town, drawing up rules for urban planning to be carried out by residents and nurturing community businesses
• Actively incorporating PFI (Private Finance Initiative) approaches to create a revitalized, vigorous region through the proactive use of private sector acumen and capital.

Creation of a Safe and Secure Medical Care System

• Fully implementing a community medical care system by promoting policies aimed at allowing medical professionals to continue practicing within the community, promoting the efficient sharing of medical care duties by providing for more personal care physicians and neighborhood pharmacies, and creating a medical system which links individual hospitals into a wider medical care network.
• Pursuing broad-based measures to assist those who live in areas without medical care facilities nearby, such as by running community buses in an effort to guarantee transportation to medical institutions, and promoting the provision of “house call” mobile medical services and medical care to those in outlying areas.
• Establishing a broad-based emergency medical care system by thoroughly implementing a shared-information system for firefighters and medical institutions, introducing medical evacuation helicopter airlift services, and streamlining the network of main thoroughfares, all of which are designed to ensure access to emergency medical treatment.
• Enhancing response measures to new strains of the influenza virus such as the H1N1 swine flu.

Map of areas accessible from tertiary emergency medical institutions [caption]

[Box within illustration:]
Legend
[yellow square] Tertiary medical institution
[red line] High-speed expressway
[purple square] Less than 15 min.
[blue square] 15 to 29 min.
[gray square] 30 to 44 min.
[aquamarine square] 45 to 59 min.
[light blue square] 60 min. or longer

Entry 123

Section 2: Realizing an Attractive, Livable Region for 42 Million People

(5) Development Project to Adapt Communities Equitably to Population Aging and Decline

To address mounting problems in medicine, welfare, housing and other sectors brought on by a declining birthrate and aging population, the Tokyo metropolitan region will promote town and housing development that facilitates raising children and that enables not only the aged but all people to live in safety and comfort.
* Regional population will decline after peaking in 2010
* The percentage of aged people (65 years and older) in the region will rise from approximately 20 to 30 percent between 2005 and 2025.

Project Details
Child Rearing Support; Child Safety and Security
• Provide diverse housing options for households with children, such as prioritized entry into public rental apartments, and by creating a system in which housing owned by senior citizens is rented out to households with children.
• Set up day nurseries as integrated components of rebuilt public apartment complexes and urban redevelopment projects, and by repurposing vacant retail units near train stations.
• Provide venues where parents with infants or preschoolers can interact or seek guidance, such as community child rearing support centers.
• Motivate companies to implement telework and work-life balance initiatives.
• Provide environments in which children can spend time after school by organizing after-school classes and clubs.
• Improve safety and security during school commuting hours through proper construction and maintenance of sidewalks on routes to schools, community-based child supervision such as crime-watch patrols, and adequate nighttime illumination.

Example of newly maintained sidewalks used primarily as school routes

Strategies to Help Aged People Lead Worry-free Lives
• Provide diverse housing options by prioritizing entry into public rental apartments, and by increasing the supply of housing equipped with services for the elderly.
• Develop local assistance services for seniors by constructing nursing facilities and other welfare centers, integrating welfare facilities as components of public apartment reconstruction projects, providing supervision services using residential networks, and by enhancing transport services through cooperation with NPOs and other groups.
• Boost the application of universal design in transportation, housing and architectural structures, pedestrian spaces and other environments.
• Install and maintain tactile navigational aids on sidewalks for the visually impaired, ostomate-accessible toilets, and other aids.

Illustration: Integrated Development of Public Housing and Welfare Facilities
• Rebuilt Public Housing
• High-quality Rental Apartments
• Adult and Children’s Daycare Centers

Widened sidewalks with leveled surfaces for pedestrians and cyclists

Revitalization of New Towns
• Increase family and generational diversity in neighborhoods by prioritizing housing entry in favor of families with children or seniors, and by integrating the development of new day nurseries and welfare facilities.
• Stimulate civic involvement in local town management by cultivating leaders in town renewal, allowing citizens to take a major role in the drafting of community development rules, and by fostering businesses who take on local issues.
• Restore economic vitality to communities by utilizing private sector expertise and capital, as with PFI-related methods.

Constructing a Safe and Reliable Medical System
• Enhance regional medical care by promoting physician recruitment strategies, by increasing the number of primary care clinics and local pharmacies to balance the division of roles between institutions, and by developing a coordinated medical care response for each type of condition.
• Broaden service outreach to doctorless districts by providing dependable transportation such as community buses to medical facilities, and by promoting mobile clinics and telemedicine.
• Develop a far-reaching emergency medical system by amplifying information exchange between medical and fire institutions, by introducing medical helicopters, and by assuring access to emergency care through construction and maintenance of major road networks.
• Strengthen policies to control infectious diseases, such as new strains of the influenza virus.

Regional Accessibility to Medical Institutions that Provide Intensive Care
• Legend
• Medical Facility
• Highway
• < 15 minutes
• 15 - 30 min.
• 30 - 45 min.
• 45 - 60 min.
• ≥ 60 min.

______________________________
Notes:
1) The Tokyo metropolitan region is defined here as the area encompassing Tokyo city and the seven surrounding prefectures of Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, and Yamanashi.
2) Community buses in Japan contrast with purely public or private bus systems in that a municipality contributes in some capacity to its private operation, often but not exclusively by subsidizing operational costs.

Entry 162

Section 2. Creating a comfortable and beautiful environment for 42 million people

5. An urban development initiative to meet the needs of a society with a low birth rate and an aging population

This initiative will meet the challenges accompanying a society with a rapidly advancing aging population and low birth rate, across all areas including medicine, welfare and housing. It will support families raising children and provide a safe and comfortable living environment for the elderly, and all members of society.

Notes
• The population of the Tokyo Metropolitan Area is set to peak in 2010.
• The proportion of the population over the age of 65 years will grow to 20% in 2005 and 30% in 2025.

Specific measures

Supporting families and ensuring the safety and security of children

• Establishing a multi-tiered system for families raising children by providing priority for publicly funded housing and the leasing of housing from the elderly by the government for subleasing to families
• Rebuilding public housing developments and city redevelopments to include childcare facilities and the allocation of vacant shops around stations for use as child care centers
• Establishing support centers for parents with young children allowing for informal interaction with other parents
• Helping business work towards telecommuting and a better work-life balance
• Ensuring a place for children after school such as after school classes and activities for children
• Implementing measures for the safety of children during travel to and from school such as the creation of walking routes in school zones, supervision by safety patrol groups, and ensuring well-lit areas

[Image] A walking route in a school zone

Creating a safe and secure living environment for the elderly

• Establishing a multi-tiered system for the elderly including priority for public housing and the promotion of housing with special services
• Looking after the needs of the elderly through establishing community welfare centers such as nursing homes; housing redevelopments which include or attract new welfare facilities; the use of local networks to care for the elderly; and transport services provided by NPOs

• Promoting universal design for public transportation, housing and other buildings, and pedestrian spaces
• Installing facilities such as tactile paving for the visually impaired and restroom facilities suitable for people with ostomies

[Image] Integrated public housing and welfare facilities
[Captions L>R] Public housing reconstruction
Daytime support center and day care center
High quality apartments

[Image] Ensuring ample space for bicycles and pedestrians and eliminating raised curbs on sidewalks

Revitalizing residential areas
• Diversifying households and age groups by giving priority for public housing to the elderly and families raising children; and attracting and establishing childcare and welfare facilities
• Promoting community self-management by developing skilled human resources to revitalize residential areas; creating guidelines for community-based town planning; and fostering community businesses
• Reinvigorating communities by actively applying the ‘know-how’ and assets of the citizens through activities such as Public Finance Initiatives

Creating a reliable medical system
• Implementing community-based medical systems by guaranteeing the number of doctors; improving the distribution of medical services due to an increase in family doctors and pharmacists; and developing a system of comprehensive care for the treatment of illnesses
• Ensuring transportation to medical facilities such as by community bus; and the implementation of wide-reaching measures such as visiting doctors or remote medicine for communities without their own doctor
• Providing a wide-reaching emergency medical system through comprehensive information sharing between fire and medical organizations; the introduction of a medical helicopter; and ensuring access to medical facilities through the road network
• Improving measures to deal with contagious diseases such as the HINI flu

[Image] Access to tertiary emergency care facilities
Key
Tertiary medical facilities
Expressways
15-30 mins
30-45 mins
45-60 mins
60 mins or more

	New	Exp.	Net
Last month (June)	8	12	–4
Year to date (2009)	58	59	–1
Last 12 months	110	82	28
2008	104	79	25
2007	80	119	–39
2006	116	103	13
2005	109	111	–2
2004	109	111	–2
2003	112	163	–51
2002	171	78	93
2001	124	41	83

Finalists (Japanese to English)

Finalists (English to Japanese)