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══════════════════【立報】═══════════════════ |
| 教 育 專 題 深 入 報 導《2005-05-13》 |
| 本期內容 | |
| ◎ Japan Pushes Casual Fry Days 夏日用電高峰期 日推動穿清涼省能源 | |
| ◎ Firms look to 'white biotechnology' to cut costs, save energy 日企白色生技 降低成本省能源 | |
| ◎ 因應京都議定書 全國通力合作 | |
| ◎ 台灣立報徵文啟事 | |
| Japan Pushes Casual Fry Days 夏日用電高峰期 日推動穿清涼省能源 | |
| 【編譯成怡夏整理報導】 | |
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東京這週的溫度飆升到華氏80度，灼熱的夏天以無可抵擋之勢前來。當太陽曝曬，街道燙得吱吱響，潮濕悶熱的天氣讓人感覺彷彿是在狗嘴呼出的氣息時，受苦受難的受薪階級該怎麼辦？ 是的，他可以開始脫下領帶和夾克，日本首相小泉純一郎這麼說。 小泉希望日本的企業家今年夏天輕裝便鞋，把單色的領帶和深色的夾克留在家裡，換掉上班族標準的行頭，穿上休閒風格的服飾。這是日本首相推動節約能源的計劃之一──這樣可以讓辦公室和市政府辦公廳使用較少的空調系統。因此，只要企業家和官員願意解開領帶，找些讓自己涼快的方法，就可以達成目標。 這樣的做法將可以讓他們更加放鬆、更加舒適。 小泉也透過優良示範帶領這股風潮。3月份，他即以京都協議書為綱領，展開讓日本達成協議書中溫室效應二氧化碳排放量的全國性運動；他宣誓，要在今年夏天和他的內閣成員一起穿著開領襯衫和露出手臂的衣著，共同為這項目標努力。 「今年夏天，原則上，大臣都不戴領帶，也不穿夾克，一起為節省能源努力。當然，我會率先身體力行。」他說。 小泉的節約能源理論根於一個信仰──即企業的中階經理人會追隨老闆。他相信風格的革命可以由上而下展開。所以他要企業界領袖一起響應這項運動。 這項運動的障礙之一在於對時尚的恐懼。對大部分日本中階經理人來說，「休閒」讓他們開始腦袋冒汗。「是啊，西裝領帶或許讓我們不舒服，但是這樣穿對我們來說就像穿制服一樣；假如我們必須換一種較為自由的風格，我們會感到緊張，而且這樣也得花上一大筆治裝費。」日本社經發展生產中心的主要負責人丁野朗這麼說。「讓制服更多樣化就行了嘛！規則和法規應該被建立，而不是全然改成個人化的穿著。」 雖然這個國家上百萬的年輕男性與女性以穿著不受壓抑感到歡樂，但是對這個長期被商人和官僚殖民的國家來說，他們對於該如何穿著休閒服卻沒有把握。有些年輕的日本人警告說，他們會穿得很邋遢。一名商人如果不穿西裝看起來就很侷促，就像在牛仔褲上面燙上皺折一般難看。 這些恐懼也與日本時尚流行史上一些相當不幸的時刻，留下的記憶悲慘相關。這幾天，日本官員提供流行資訊的勸告時，很多人馬上聯想到日本前首相羽田孜。 他在1990年代中期短暫擔任過首相一職（只在這個位置上待了64天），以節省能源的衣著著名。最被記憶的是，他展示他所謂的明智穿著：某種獵裝──稱做「環保清涼裝」﹙e-cool suit，e代表eco﹚，由薄的材質製成的夾克，誇張的袖子停歇在手肘上。這種款式後來不只風行，也造成了集體的流行創傷，至今揮之不去。 的確，近幾年，任何商業團體想要穿得時髦些的想法都停歇下來了。 在90年代中期，日本企業曾經推動過「休閒星期五」作為改善緊繃工作氣氛的方法，「這個點子的出發點是想要讓你輕鬆一些。但是結果卻造成大家不知該穿什麼，反而更加緊張。」日本政治分析家這麼表示。 在一致的反對聲浪中，「休閒星期五」安靜地隨著泡沫經濟消失無蹤。東京的企業再度恢復傳統的穿著風格。企業聘僱的守則仍舊包括了如何穿著得體的教戰守則。 「領帶族始終是領帶族──這個傳統很難打破。」三菱研究組織能源政策部門的顧問小西康哉這麼說。「在某家特定的公司或是辦公室這或許還可行，但是一旦要拜訪其他公司，許多人會感到穿polo衫，不結領帶，感到很不自在。」 但是即使寬翻領上衣無法丟掉，今年夏天在辦公室內非正式的穿著也將嘗試東山再起。這回無關乎流行，而關乎國際油價。 日本的能源高度依賴進口，有80％來自進口，其成本和需求都節節上升。2004年電用量上漲了3.7％，大部分是因為夏季熱浪造成的結果，想起去年的熱浪許多人仍聞之生怯。同時，在京都協議書的管制下，日本同意在未來5年降低其廢氣排放量至1990年之排放量的6％。 這個是日本節約能源的意願。其實日本似乎已準備要在2007年推動日光節約時間。日本曾在戰後美軍佔領期間推行這項措施，但是在1952年，經過4年資方將多餘的白日時間用來壓榨勞方後，這項措施也就停止了。許多日本人至今仍將其與較長的工時劃上等號，而厭惡這個點子。 現在日本將選擇在較熱的天氣下工作。小泉已經指示自動示溫器不要低於攝氏28度（華氏82度），可能會聽起來溫暖些。 環境部門沒有辦法說明這麼做會節省多少能源，但是某些人士卻表示，這顯示了在全球暖化問題下，日本人民願意向流行時尚讓步的意願。 這肯定會讓許多女性上班族感到開心。一名33歲的上班族女性抱怨，她總是在冷冰冰的辦公室裡發抖，她的辦公室冷氣設定永遠為配合那些西裝筆挺的男性而冷的要命。 5月份，一群政府官員也將赴名古屋參加2005萬國博覽會，將穿著適合上班穿著的休閒服飾，發揮示範作用。日本媒體稱這種現象為「清涼的生意（cool biz）」。「我建議大家穿襯衫，上兩顆扣子不扣，不打領帶，不過還是要穿上夾克。」男性時尚雜誌Leon編輯岸田一郎這麼表示。他說，最好是有點「壞男人」的形象，就像義大利人那樣。（資料來源：洛杉磯時報﹚ Japan Pushes Casual Fry Days Cooler attire will save energy this summer, the premier says. The idea gives salarymen shivers. By Bruce Wallace, Times Staff Writer TOKYO - The temperature tickled the 80-degree mark in Tokyo this week, a taste of the inevitable scorching Japanese summer to come. So what's a suffering salaryman to do when the sun burns and the streets sizzle and the humidity makes it feel like he's trying to breathe from the inside of a dog's mouth? Well, he can start by taking off his tie and jacket, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi says. Koizumi wants Japanese businessmen to dress down this summer, to leave their monochromatic ties and dark jackets at home, to swap their stubborn attachment to the standard suit for something more casual. It's a part of the prime minister's plan to save energy by using less air conditioning in offices and government buildings, and for that he needs businessmen and bureaucrats to do a bit more cooling down on their own by loosening their collars. The trick will be getting them to relax enough to slip into something more comfortable. Koizumi plans to lead by example. Opening a national campaign in March to get Japan to meet its greenhouse gas emission-reduction targets as outlined by the Kyoto Protocol, he vowed that his Cabinet ministers would come to work this summer in open-necked shirts and showing their sleeves. "This summer, in principle, ministers will wear no ties and no jackets," he said. "Let's contribute to saving energy. "Of course, I'll try too," he added. Koizumi's energy-saving theory is based on a belief that Japanese middle managers will, as always, follow the boss. He believes that a style revolution can be passed down from a Cabinet minister to top bureaucrats, eventually trickling down. And he wants business leaders to do the same. The obstacle is the fashion fear factor. Suggest "casual" to most Japanese middle managers, and they start to, well, sweat. "Yes, it's uncomfortable, but that style of wearing a suit is almost like a uniform for us," said Akira Chono, chief executive producer of the Japan Productivity Center for Socio-Economic Development. "If we have to switch to a free style, we will feel nervous, and it could cost a lot to buy a new wardrobe. "A variety of uniforms should be available," he advised. "Some rule or code should be established rather than going to completely individual fashion." Although this is a country where millions of young men and women dress in a riot of uninhibited fashion glee, there is little confidence that the colonies of businessmen and bureaucrats know how to do casual. They will just look sloppy, some younger Japanese warn. A businessman without his suit tends to look stiff, like a crease ironed into jeans. Some of the fear rests with memories of a very unfortunate moment in Japanese fashion history. When a Japanese politician offers fashion advice these days, the public immediately thinks of Tsutomu Hata. Briefly prime minister in the mid-'90s, Hata, now 69, is best remembered for his energy-efficient wardrobe. (He led the nation for just 64 days.) Most memorably, he took to podiums in 2000 modeling his notion of sensible wear: a sort of safari number he called the e-cool suit - "e" being short for "eco" - a jacket cut from a thin textile and boasting sleeves that stop, alarmingly, at the elbows. Not only did it not catch on, it caused a collective fashion trauma that lingers. Indeed, in recent years, any inclination in the business community to dress modishly has been in retreat. In the mid-'90s, Japanese companies, like their Western counterparts caught up in the black T-shirt fad of the Internet go-go years, introduced casual Fridays as a way to loosen up the working atmosphere. "The idea was it was supposed to relax you," said Masaru Tamamoto, a leading Japanese political analyst. "But instead, everybody got stressed out wondering what to wear." Widely seen as a resounding failure, casual Friday was quietly put out of its misery amid the implosion of the economic bubble. Tokyo's business districts are again a study in fashion blandness. The orientation program for company recruits still includes instructions on how to dress to fit in. "The tie tribe is the tie tribe - it is difficult to break tradition," said Yasutoshi Konishi, a consultant at the energy policy department of the Mitsubishi Research Institute. "It might be acceptable within a particular company or office, but when workers visit other companies, many feel uncomfortable wearing a polo shirt with no tie." But just like that wide-lapelled jacket you just can't throw out, the concept of dressing informally for the office in summer is trying to make a comeback. The resurrection has little to do with fashion and a great deal to do with the price of oil. Japan imports more than 80％ of its energy, and cost and demand are soaring. Electricity use jumped 3.7％ in 2004, largely because of a brutal summer heat wave, the memory of which still makes Japanese wince. Meanwhile, under Kyoto Protocol stipulations, the country is committed to slashing its greenhouse gas emissions by 6％ over the next five years from its 1990 levels. The result is a willingness to consider the imponderable in order to save energy. Already, Japan seems set to move to daylight-saving time by 2007. The country shifted to daylight-saving time during the postwar U.S. occupation, but dropped the measure in 1952 after four years of using the extra daylight to wring more hours of labor out of workers. Many Japanese still equate "springing forward" with longer work days, and hate the idea. And now they're bracing for hotter work days. Koizumi wants thermostats set no lower than 28 degrees Celsius - a number that sounds warmer when converted to 82 degrees Fahrenheit. The Environment Ministry can't say exactly how much energy this would save, but among some segments of the population, there appears to be a willingness to make a fashion concession to global warming. It certainly would make many female office workers happy, said Yuka Miyazaki, 33, who complains that she shivers in an office kept at frigid temperatures all summer for the comfort of buttoned-up men. And in May, a group of chief executives will travel to Expo 2005 in Nagoya to saunter down the catwalk in casual styles deemed suitable for wearing to work. The Japanese media have dubbed the phenomenon "cool biz." "I would suggest a shirt style with the top two buttons undone and no tie, but still wear a jacket," said Ichiro Kishida, editor of the men's fashion magazine Leon. The Japanese should dress with a bit more of a "bad guy" image, he said. Like the Italians. Koizumi can already count on one disciple to his cause. Former Prime Minister Hata has never stopped pushing the casual style. His personal website even directs visitors to a Tokyo boutique where you can still buy the e-cool suit. (A spokeswoman for the shop says it sells 20 to 30 of them a year.) Hata's office says he fully supports Koizumi's initiative. It's a sort of vindication, after all. When it comes to fashion, some people are just ahead of the curve. |
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| （回目錄） | |
| Firms look to 'white biotechnology' to cut costs, save energy 日企白色生技 降低成本省能源 | |
| 【編譯成怡夏整理報導】 | |
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國際企業愈來愈多使用「白色生化科技」來節約能源，以降低垃圾量，並透過發酵作為生產方法減少企業的成本。 在歐洲，生化科技分成三項：「綠色」作為農業用途；「紅色」適用在醫療領域；「白色」則是企業用途。 巴斯夫（BASF），是家德國化學公司，也是歐洲代表性提昇白色生化科技的公司，主要生產維他命B2作為飲食的補充品。這家公司使用發酵的方法，把植物油和其他的營養素放入細菌中，然後就產生了維他命B12。在發酵之前，BASF生產維他命B2則是使用四階段化學合成法。 新的方法讓公司減少了30％的氧化碳化合物，垃圾減量95％，而生產成本則降低了40％。 去年，BASF在南韓開設了一家工廠，每年生產3千噸的維他命B2，一名發言人表示，他們將擴大產量，並繼續使用這種新方法。 發酵技術在日本是製造味增和醬油的傳統技術。味之素無論是在日本或是在海外的工廠，都使用發酵技術生產胺基酸。在1960年代，日本頂尖的胺基酸製造商就開始採用發酵法，萃取胺基酸作為其受歡迎的調味料──味素──以改進生產的效率。這家公司官員表示，1990年代，透過使用發酵能力超強的微生物，生產發酵相關的產品，這家公司節省了30％的能源。 另一個白色生化技術的例子則是從螢火蟲身上抽取螢光酵素。這種小型的昆蟲會在自然生產的螢光酵素和三磷酸腺●（廾甘）（ATP，是所有生物的能量來源）接觸時發光。日本主要醬油製造商龜甲萬從1988年開始，便透過生化技術，從螢火蟲的螢光酵素中提煉酵素。透過這種技術，這家公司可以大量生產用來做食品衛生檢查的試劑。存在食物中的細菌和污物內都含有ATP，當它接觸到含有螢光酵素的試劑時，就會發散出光芒，這即顯示食物表面受到汙染。 「我們過去直接從螢火蟲的尾巴抽取螢光酵素，但是每10萬隻螢火蟲才能生產出一公克的螢光酵素。」一名公司主管表示：「沒有生化技術，供應市場根本是不可能的。」 丸紅經濟研究所的所長杉浦勉表示：「提到生化科技，很多人感到一絲勉強，但是企業使用生化科技，能夠廣為社會接受的原因即在於，它能降低環境的負擔。」 「到2010年，估計這項科技將會運用在10％到20％的化學產品上。同時，這項技術應用到一般消費物品，和其他生活用品上的可能性也很高。」他說。 （資料來源：日本時報） Businesses worldwide are increasing their use of "white biotechnology" to save energy, reduce waste and cut corporate expenses by using fermentation as a production method. In Europe, biotechnology is divided into three categories -- "green" for use in the agricultural field, "red" for the medical field and "white" for the industrial field. BASF, a German chemical company and Europe's representative promoting white biotechnology, produces vitamin B2 for dietary supplements. The company is using a fermentation method in which vegetable oil and other nourishment is given to a bacteria that has the enzyme to produce vitamin B2. Before fermentation, BASF produced vitamin B2 using a four-stage chemical synthesis. The new method allows the company to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent, waste by 95 percent and production expenses by 40 percent, it said. Last year, BASF built a factory in South Korea to produce 3,000 tons of vitamin B2 annually, and a spokesman said it will further expand production to use the new method. Fermentation is a traditional process used in Japan to produce miso and soy sauce. Ajinomoto Co. produces amino acids using fermentation technology in its factories both here and abroad. In the 1960s, Japan's top amino acid manufacturer moved to a fermentation method to abstract amino acids for its popular Ajinomoto seasoning, monosodium glutamate, to improve production efficiency. By using microorganisms, whose fermentation ability is high, the company has saved 30 percent more energy than in fiscal 1990 in the production of fermentation-related products, company officials said. One unique example of white biotechnology is found in extracting the luciferase enzyme from fireflies. The tiny insects glow when the naturally-produced luciferase comes in contact with adenosine triphosphate (ATP), an energy source for all living things. Major soy sauce producer Kikkoman Corp. began using a biotechnological process to extract the enzyme from the firefly Luciola cruciata in 1988. With this technology, the company is able to mass produce reagent kits used for food sanitary inspections. Food bacteria and dirt contain ATP that reacts to the luciferase in the kits by giving off light, indicating that a surface is contaminated. "We used to directly extract luciferase from the tails of fireflies, but 100,000 fireflies were needed to produce 1 gram of luciferase," a company official said. "Without biotechnology, commercialization was impossible." Tsutomu Sugiura, director of Marubeni Economic Research Institute and an expert on international economics, said, "There are many people who feel a sense of resistance to biotechnology, but the industrial use of white biotechnology can be socially accepted because it lessens environmental burdens. "In 2010, the technology is estimated to be applied to 10 percent to 20 percent of all chemical products. There is a high possibility that the technology will also be applied to consumer goods and others around us," he said. The Japan Times |
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| （回目錄） | |
| 因應京都議定書 全國通力合作 | |
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防止地球溫室效應，規範先進國廢氣排放基準的「京都議定書」今年2月中正式生效，作為議定書誕生舞台的日本卻喜憂參半。喜的是同一項國際公約受到大多數國家的認同，憂的是如何落實減緩排放二氧化碳等有害氣體，以免危及地球生態環境。儘管日本國內許多產業尚未準備好因應，但在環境部長登高一呼之下，全國上下無不展現應付未來艱鉅挑戰的決心。 日本去年的廢氣排放削減量，不但未達京都議定書規定的6％比例，反倒大幅成長8％，經濟產業省不諱言，要達成京都議定書的目標，前途依舊充滿荊棘。此外，在京都議定書正式生效後，日本國內也出現是否應討論課徵環境稅的聲音。 事實上，有關徵收環境稅的議題，原本是明年度的日本稅制改革的重要課題之一。不過，正由於京都議定書引發的諸多時事效應，導致徵收環境稅的話題提前受到各界關切。去年，日本環境省首度提案徵收環境稅，對象範圍涵蓋：石化燃料產生的每公噸廢氣，應課稅2千4百日圓。 環境省進一步評估，如果實施徵收環境稅，應可削減5千2百萬噸助長地球暖化的「人為溫室氣體」。 這項估算的數據，依照1990的基準，相當於削減4％的量。 另一方面，環境稅課徵所得的約4千9百億日圓，日本官方將不嚴格限制使用途徑，反將同一稅收視為「一般財源」。 其中3千4百億將用於地球溫室效應對策，1千5百億作為民間企業的社會保險費。 只不過，擔心官方課徵環境稅將衝擊日本在國際市場競爭力的工商產業界，堅決反對徵收環境稅，再加上經濟產業省也持保留態度，因此，環境稅的徵收與否，勢必成為京都議定書生效之後日本政府的最大難題。 （資料來源／中央社） |
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| 台灣立報徵文啟事 | |
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