Tokyo Photo News April 2009

On April 1 a signing ceremony took place to formalize the agreement reached between the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the World Children’s Baseball Foundation to hold the 20th World Children’s Baseball Fair in Tokyo. Governor Shintaro Ishihara and World Children’s Baseball Foundation Chairman Sadaharu Oh took part in the ceremony, which was held at the 7th floor hall of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building No.1. A preliminary tournament will be held in late July with teams from six countries and regions, including Canada and Taiwan, and then from July to August of next year the main tournament will be held with teams from 24 countries and regions.

Photo: Sadaharu Oh shows off his one-legged batting swing

With the World Health Organization (WHO) raising the influenza A(H1N1) pandemic alert from phase 3 to phase 4, on April 28 a Headquarters for New Influenza Control led by the Director General of the Bureau of Social Welfare and Public Health was established within the Bureau based on the TMG Action Plan for Measures Against New Influenza Viruses and the Response Manual. The newly established headquarters requested a convening of the Crisis Management Council where Deputy Director General for Crisis Management Kotaro Shimada instructed all relevant bureaus and departments to have a fully prepared response system in place.

The roughly 2.5-kilometer Tamagawa river embankment between the Mutsumibashi and Nagatabashi bridges in Fussa city is a famous spot among cherry blossom lovers. On a beautiful April 7, cyclists enjoying the balmy weather, families with picnic lunches, and young people reclining in the shade of trees reading books were among the many people lured to the embankment to enjoy the cherry blossoms.

Members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Evaluation Commission visited Tokyo in their tour of candidate cities for the 2016 Summer Olympics. On April 17 Commission Chair Nawal El Moutawakel and the other 12 members of the Commission visited the scheduled site for the main stadium in Harumi, Chuo Ward, and other proposed competition venues. At Koto Ward’s Tokyo Big Sight, the proposed site for the Main Press Centre, Governor Shintaro Ishihara used a huge scale-model of Tokyo to explain how the proposed compact venue layout would situate nearly all Olympic facilities within an eight-kilometer radius.

Photo center: Commission Chair Moutawakel (pointing with her left hand) with Tokyo Governor Ishihara (third person to her right)