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What's Going On? TOPICS |
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August 2021page 1 |
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What's Going On? TOPICS |
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August 2021page 1 |
August 2021 page 1 TOPICS
Matsuyama Man Wins Short Film Award
One of Asia's largest short film festivals called "Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2021" was held in Tokyo and online from April 27 to June 30. It gave 19 awards such as "International", "CG Animation", and "Vertical", which was newly added for works using only the vertical screen seen on a smartphone. There were 186 works from 41 countries, such as Russia and the US, 23 of which were shown. Masaki Nishiyama, a 22-year-old movie director from Matsuyama who lives in Tokyo, won the Best Vertical Short Award with his horror film, "SmaHorror", in which a high school girl meets with fear at school. It was evaluated to have a high quality composition making the best of the characteristics of vertical video. Since he was in Nitta Seiun High School, he has created short films, which were well received worldwide. "SmaHorror" was released on a for-pay website from July 16. Mr. Nishiyama said, "The young generation too easily takes pictures and have their pictures taken. I wanted to highlight the issue about this carelessness. I would like to shoot a movie set in Ehime and the Seto Inland Sea in the future." (July 11, Ehime Shimbun) |
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Ehime Student Wins a Bronze Medal at Asian Physics Olympiad
Kensuke Hayashi (17) from Aiko High School (Matsuyama City) won a bronze medal at the 21st Asian Physics Olympiad (APhO). Students from 23 countries and regions tackled difficult physics problems. He was pleased, saying, "Honestly, I am very surprised, but very happy." Kensuke participated in the Contest of The Committee of Japan Physics Olympiad (JPhO) last year to gain more experience for another domestic competition. After training, he was selected as one of the top eight and became a representative for Japan. The Asian Physics Olympiad was held in Taiwan in May, and about 180 people participated online. They worked on theoretical and experimental problems with a time limit of five hours each. For the theoretical problems, the participants had to calculate the fluid pressure and flow velocity in a pipe, and analyze the properties of light. For the experimental problems, they simulated the deformation of material by using a program provided by the organizers. Kensuke studied seven fields including quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity during the six-month preparation period. The presence of other Japanese national teams who worked together at training camps was also inspiring for him. Kensuke said, "It was hard for me, but at the same time, I was excited to think about quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity because there was no doubt such subjects were much more interesting than high school physics." He added, "I sometimes felt a little nervous when I was working with smart members who could quickly understand and create problems themselves, but that inspired me a lot to learn more deeply. Now I want to keep expanding my interests after entering university." (July 9, Ehime Shimbun Online) |
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Iyo Bank New Banking App
The Iyo Bank (Matsuyama City) introduced a trial of an application, AGENT, for individual customers by July 8. The app enables customers to use their smartphone for services such as opening a savings account and changing their address while talking to bank staff on a video call. The app will first be made available on iPhones followed by Androids in March 2022. According to Iyo Bank, this video call smartphone service is the first in Japan. There are six services available: opening a savings account, reporting changes in name, address, and phone number, applying for a cash card and changing card type. Another six services, such as opening a fixed-term deposit account, will be added in September this year when the app goes into full operation. Video calling is a feature of this new service. For example, when opening an account, customers first enter their personal information (name and phone number) on the screen as directed by the staff during the video call. Next, their identity is verified using a driver's license and then they choose a branch, with staff explaining the procedure via the video call. The app was jointly developed with the consulting company Accenture Japan (Tokyo). The Iyo Bank has been using the AGENT system on in-branch tablet computers to handle 21 operations such as inheritance procedures and for public relations activities since February 2019. Because of the decreasing number of customers due to the declining population, people's changing lifestyles, and the outbreak of Covid-19, the demand for non-face-to-face services is increasing. Hidenori Ishikawa, chief of the General Planning Department of Iyo Bank,said:"We would like to provide customers with a people-friendly digital service. Even if customers are unfamiliar with smartphones or feel uncomfortable with digital-only services, we would like to help make it easy for them to use a video call to complete procedures.” The video call service is available from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm on weekdays. (July 8, Ehime Shimbun Online) *Additional information: At this stage, the service is available in Japanese only. |
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Asian High School Students Work Together on Disaster Prevention
Matsuyama city is seeking to train leaders of all generations in disaster prevention. The city joined a non-profit organization, the Regional Network of Local Authorities for the Management of Human Settlements (CITYNET), in 2020. One of the tasks CITYNET tackles is disaster measures. On July 5, the city held an online meeting about the prevention of disasters. 19 students from Matsuyama East School and Matsuyama Technical High School gathered at a school to interact with 10 university students in Thailand online. Japanese students gave a presentation about disaster-related issues, such as the damage of the Western Japan Heavy Rain in 2018 and the estimated total loss of the expected Nankai Trough Earthquake. These two high schools are scheduled to have interchange with schools in the Philippines, Nepal, as well as Thailand for one year. The city is planning to continue such interaction with Asian countries. Each school that takes part in is going to make a practical guidebook to make available world-wide through various institutions, such as the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction. (July 6, Ehime Shimbun) |
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Friendship Exchange Promotors with Taipei
An Agreement of Friendship Exchange between Matsuyama and Taipei was concluded in October 2014, and both cities have been interacting in various fields such as sports, culture, and economy since then. The Matsuyama Board of Education appointed a Friendship Exchange Promotor with Taipei for elementary and jr. high schools in 2020 to enhance students' understanding of not only Taipei, but also Taiwan. Mr. Fujita, superintendent of the Board of Education, appointed Ms. Xu Zhiyu and Ms. Ye Peiping for the 2021 academic year. Ms. Xu says that she feels nervous and excited at the same time, and she would like to introduce the differences between Taiwanese anime characters and gestures and those of Japan. Ms. Ye says that she would like the students to learn about the differences in Taiwanese and Japanese food.(July 1, Koho Ehime) |
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Iyotetsu Raises Fares
The Iyo Railway Co., Ltd. announced that fares for both the tram and trains would rise by 10 yen from December 1. The base fare for the railway will be 180 yen, a 10 yen increase, and the tram fare will be 180 yen (flat rate), which is also a 10 yen increase. Commuter passes will rise as well. The average increase is 3.6%. The rise has not been caused by the pandemic of COVID-19, they said. It will be used to install a barrier free environment and the introduction of LRT (= Light Rail Transit). The details for commuter pass increase and others will be released later. The Iyo Railway Co., Ltd. and Iyotetsu Bus Co., Ltd. increased the fares October last year to maintain safe services, install barrier free facilities, and improve old facilities.(July 1, Ehime Shimbun) |
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Matsuyama International Center |