A Serialized Morning TV Drama, Gegege no Nyobo (Gegege’s Wife) by NHK

 NHK has decided to make Gegege no Nyobo (Gegege’s Wife), the autobiography of the wife of Shigeru Mizuki, the famous comic artist from Tottori, into a serialized morning TV drama. Although the drama’s main setting will be Chofu City in Tokyo, it will probably depict the atmosphere and humanity of the San-in Region, including the wife’s birthplace, Yasugi City (in Shimane Prefecture), and Sakaiminato City (Shigeru Mizuki’s birthplace in Tottori). It will offer a golden opportunity to generate publicity for the San-in Region, so we local residents are ready to lend our full support to the broadcast.

Schedule, etc.

 It has been reported in the news media that the national government will finalize the urgent economy and employment measures on April 27, and their budget will exceed 15 trillion yen. I sincerely hope that Tokyo will conduct the measures promptly.
 Today I will meet the Governor of Okayama Prefecture and exchange ideas with him. I’m going to discuss these measures with him specifically. In addition, I will confirm that we will try and map out tourist routes across the two prefectures beyond the borders and make arrangements for each executive office of the prefectures to work out the details. There are different attractions on Okayama’s side and Tottori’s side. Now that the expressway toll is reduced to 1,000 yen, it’s necessary to promote the trip routes covering both prefectures.
 The World Sand Sculpture Festival has got off to a good start. With the reduction of the expressway toll, we are seeing good signs of development. The data show the welcome development that the accommodation sector in the prefecture is also beginning to see good results.
 In consideration of these findings, with the view of further promoting the local products for tourists, we are planning to hold the “Double Welcome Back to Tottori Prefecture!” campaign from May 2 through the end of June. After we held the “Double Welcome to the Nearest Destination, Tottori Prefecture!” campaign the other day, I think that Tottori Prefecture is attracting more and more tourists, partly thanks to the reduction of the expressway toll.
 We decided to hold discussions with the tourism sector regarding the campaign style to encourage the tourists we attracted with great efforts to make repeated visits to Tottori, and try the campaign in the coming golden week holidays. Specifically, in order to show our message, “Please visit us again”, the visitors to certain facilities will be provided with a coupon that will allow them free use of the facility the next time they visit. In addition, they will also be given a discount coupon for use at various other locations during this campaign. We are planning to exert our efforts so that the people who visit Tottori will come to Tottori again in summer and many times afterwards.
 In relation to local products, “The International Festival UTAGE 2009 in Osaka” will be held. Since I joined the Kinki Bloc Governors' Association, Tottori Prefecture will be one of the organizers this time.
 Tomorrow, Tottori Prefecture will start sending out information about Tottori in collaboration with Rakuten, Inc. Specifically, we will try offering various kinds of information, such as tourism information, event information, and the information about our antenna shop in Tokyo, on the Internet in collaboration with the websites owned by Rakuten.
 Also, we are thinking of setting up a local product section in Tottori Daimaru, Inc., and showcasing our local products there on a permanent basis in association with the Tottori Prefectural Federation of Societies of Commerce and Industry (as tentatively translated).
 Strong winds caused damage in our prefecture the other day. We are still in the midst of assessing the extent of the damage, but some facilities have been seriously impaired. It is a matter of some urgency, so we will make final adjustments with an eye to utilizing the prefectural emergency fund in order to rectify the situation.
 There is a growing concern about the shortage of bees for pollination. In order to spread the safety net, we are planning to utilize the prefectural emergency fund for this also, and implement measures such as making requests to bee farmers in the prefecture for bees for the purpose of agricultural production. Then it will be necessary to produce boxes for housing the bees. In that case, we will join with JA Tottori for help in conducting required tasks to counteract the bee shortage. Through these measures, we project that we will manage to reach a solution to this problem.

Q. A few days have passed since the start of the Urgent Project. Has it made any difference?

 The team members have started fervent work on their respective tasks and are visiting various places throughout the region. From April 29 until May 1, we will hold a conference jointly with Gangwon-do (of South Korea) in Tonghae City, South Korea, in order to discuss measures for DBS Cruise Ferry.
 We still face extreme difficulty in collecting information about DBS Cruise Ferry, but I think that they are going forward with their own measures. Their fee setting will soon be made clear, and I suppose we are at the stage where we can start our full-scale sales promotion. I hear that their Japanese corporation, DBS Cruise Ferry Japan, has been established. However, the Japanese corporation does not seem to have gone so far as to start their substantial promotion activities. We are beginning to receive pieces of information indicating that they have started renovating their ship in Busan (in South Korea), so I understand that the project is going forward.

Q. Will you tell us how you as a politician evaluate the results of the Yonago City mayoral election which was conducted last weekend?

 (After the reporter’s commenting that popular sentiment was largely against the incumbent, as in the case of Daisen Town’s mayoral election in Tottori Prefecture, and that the incumbent’s administrative records seem to affect the election’s result more and more sensitively nowadays,) I think that what we are seeing now is the “incumbent syndrome,” so to speak, as a result of municipal mergers. Upon the mergers, the incumbents filled the residents’ heads with various dreams, but the dreams are unlikely to be realized because of financial restraints and the like. So in general, the tide is adverse to the incumbents in both prefectures in the San-in Region, I admit frankly.
 I strongly hope that Mr. Nosaka, who got reelected as the Yonago City Mayor, will do his utmost and reflect the will of the city’s residents in the administration. But I also think that it’s necessary for him to take special notice of the fact that the votes cast in protest to him were lager in number than the votes cast for him, and change his policies. I suppose that the direction he should take in changing policies is the same as the one we are going in as the prefectural administration based on our future vision. We will continue to offer supports to his administration from now on, if possible.
 The Daisen Town’s mayoral election was a ferocious race, partly I think because of its regional characteristics. The electoral wind is blowing violently against the incumbents nationwide. I expect this trend had a significant effect on the result of this particular election. I have the impression that the new town mayor’s administration will be headed in the direction of promoting the whole Daisen region, and that he showed his determination in the election to conduct a democratic municipal administration while listening to the residents’ opinions. So I’m looking forward to proceeding with our policies in cooperation with Daisen Town from now on.

Q. You mentioned the start of the “Double Welcome Back to Tottori Prefecture!” campaign. Will you be specific about what facilities are involved and what is the scope of the campaign?

 Various kinds of discount tickets are prepared in the form of coupons. So it’s fair to say that the scope of the campaign is quite broad. For example, I hear that we are gaining support and cooperation from some prefectural facilities and semi-public hot spring facilities, which offered the 100-yen-coin-charge service in the last campaign, for the free-of-charge services in the “Double Welcome Back” campaign. This campaign will be larger in scale than the previous one, I think.

Q. With regard to the International Festival UTAGE 2009 in Osaka, how are you planning to take advantage of the event for the opening of new markets?

 (After the reporter’s mentioning that Governor Hirai has joined the Kinki Bloc Governors’ Association, that access between Tottori and the Kinki Region has been improved, and that a business negotiation fair has been planned as a strategy to expand the festival beyond a mere temporary event,) The International Festival UTAGE is not held annually, so we anticipate a large turnout. And we expect that the business negotiation fair that will be held during the festival will lead to significant future development.
 I feel that the upcoming round of the festival is designed as an event for promotion to a great degree. First, we need to introduce Tottori’s local specialties to the people who have never tasted them before. We will use many techniques in order to draw visitors’ interest. We will also create an atmosphere conducive to visitors’ full satisfaction.
  

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