Report 2: Professor Akira Yamanaka visits LA-Osaka Project

Professor Yamanaka is an archeaologist at Mie University, and is an expert on capitals in classic era Japan. While our project had focused mainly on the 20th century, his talk on urban planning in 7th and 8th century Japan clearly showed that the infrastructure for present day Osaka and Kyoto were created 1300 years ago, and that the construction of the urban environment needs to be kept in perspective in understanding the 20th century. His various illustrations of what we might call "modern urban phenomenon" at Nagaoka-kyo and Heian-kyo instigated a re-examination of the definitions of "urban" or "modern." His interest in investigating the conscious effort made by emperors to remember or construct the memory of certain capitals appeal to those of us who deal with memory construction.