Thursday, 23 October

Thursday started with a visit to the Tokuyama Mayor where they were interested to know about Tasmanian industry. We discussed the importance of Japan as a export destination for Tasmania, particularly beef, and about how Japan imports large amounts of mineral resources from Australia. 

Then it was another mini-bus trip to Yanai, to transfer to the Yanai RC. We had a wonderful Italian lunch at the "Flowerpark" - beautiful gardens. 

Straight after lunch we visited the Yanai Power Plant, which was really interesting. The plant created power through combustion of LNG (liquified natural gas) with minimal waste product, although we tried to find out unsuccessfully (lost in translation) the temperature of the waste water that was released into the ocean. The majority of LNG used by the plant comes from Australia. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent on  guided walking tour of old Yanai town, including a number of merchant houses which are now nationally heritage listed. 

The J-team