A battery powered Electric Vehicle named 「Eliica」 was developed, based on the Integrated Chassis including Component Built-in Frame and 8 In-wheel Motors. Eliica has demonstrated the remarkable potential, maximum speed 370km/h as a passenger vehicle for 4 adults. Styling design has surely played important role for the achievement. This paper focuses on the styling design development of Eliica. After selection of 「Catamaran」 theme, plenty of wind tunnel tests were carried out. As the result for the final prototype, CD 0.19 was achieved. Also It contributes to image enhancement and promotion of the Electric Vehicle greatly.

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In the modern gastronomic culture it is reflected various contents of cultures. Though East Asia is the center of chopsticks culture, western styled cutleries such as knives, forks and spoons are commonly used for daily eating life. In modern eating life, it can be said that any kind of cutleries including Western styled might be used that are suitable for the types of cocking served. For the new opportunity to start designing, our attempt was so made to realize main themes of "Easy-to-use cutleries, simple shaped but with beautility suitable for any cuisines Japanese, Western and Chinese" as well as "Human ergonomics considering using comfort-ability". For the package of the products, our design concept was set to apply as many reusable materials and printing inks from the standpoint of environment consciousness. Our new proposal was reflected to the appearance of the product and another theme zero emission was materialized in the relation between cutlery product and its package.

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Art workshop "Asia Daihyo Nippon Representative Asia-JAPAN" by artist Hibino Katsuhiko was held for about 100days from April till July in Dazaifu, Fukuoka during all Japanese were excited and concerned about our national football team victory in FIFA World Cup in 2006 The objective of this workshop was the collaboration of Sports and culture, and all art work was made by citizens who attend the workshop, and exhibited to public. On the other hand, this project started as a part of future regional development, it would have been expected to intensify the cohesiveness of the participants. Therefore, the committee was organized by various groups, organization and citizen around the area where the event was held. As a result, all participants became a strong team and made a huge network in the area, and they will keep continue other projects for future reginal development. This report is about "Asia Daihyo Nippon" as a good example of regional development using participants strong relationship.

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Light Rail Transit popularly deployed in many areas in Europe, as a new transportation system for livening up a town, has not been so popular in Japan contrary to argument going on for its effects and advantages. With this background, Toyama Light Rail project, renovating an existing train system into a surface tram system, is a case that tried an approach called total design in which many relevant aspects were involved for their synergetic effects. The approach is to reflect design capability as an important element to materialize a compact town by a public transportation system in addition to an approach for a business operation, a development concept from views of long and intermediate span of time. This article is compiling the official policy of Toyama City for livening up the town and the background of city's decision to implement the plan, objects of total design and citizens, an approach that businesses and municipal government were involved in, overall design context associated with the design for every element consisting of Toyamako Lines. It is expressing, as the result of the approach, the change of the town after the operation was inaugurated and a livening up plan of the town from now on.

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This paper proposes a concept of "User Generated Circumstances" from the recent discussion that people acts with surrounding information in his/her situation rather than "Plan." Two design output, a tool for recording and editing of commodity purchasing are introduced. And one experimentation for visualizing numerous records of the commodities which allows users to reflect their activities is discussed. Then a workshop method called "Participatory Design Workshop" is explained.

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We developed the preparation tool program named "Smile" for preoperative children to explain about the medical treatments and operation so that they could understand and be prepared for them. The preparation means to explain for children to be able to be prepared for the medical treatments and operation. The Smile has two major characteristics. One is that a nurse and a child can operate on the same display, namely they can share simultaneous display. The other is this program was created using 3D-CG and has three kind of view points, that is a panorama view, a view point of children and a view point of nurses, so that one can switch those view points. We have started free download service of "Smile" to the medical staff after verification of the effectiveness to some degree.

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This paper proposes a design of communication platform for community construction. The platform allows community members to foster their activities of interest through expressing and exchanging their experiences by photo mail and large screen. Scenario design, tool design, and user testing are discussed.

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The project started with the concept to develop a ceramic product line-up in cooperation with a local industry, Tsugaru Kanayama pottery in Aomori prefecture, which has been producing yakishime style ceramic products for about twenty years. The products were designed also for the use of a "modern Japanese" restaurant which was opening in a high-grade hotel in Helsinki, Finland. This is not only a challenge to create modern and international products by this traditional production technique, but also a trial to propose a new way of relationship between local industry and designers and to appeal possibility of design and importance of traditional technique in a modern context.

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I have established commodity issuing scheme of products not merely simple commodity brand development, but to propose new concept of products that embraces contents of Japanese culture and unique high-touch information of Japan for the purpose to realize new approach of to the key contents of Japanese culture's "sense of color" under the naming of "100 traditional colors of Japan" by setting the guideline to utilize Japanese traditional colors. The first step of the products development under this project was started by selecting 100 representing colors from traditional Japanese colors that have been inherited customarily by Japanese through varieties of aspects sensed in the round of four seasons The configuration of 100 products line-up varies from many products such as baby's wears, T-shirts, room wears, tableware, towels and to micro-beads cushions. These products making approach was focused specially onto the contents of Japanese traditional sense of colors and surrounding culture.

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Recently, it is hard times for the traditional crafts and the local crafts industry. And, the industries are groping for the breakthrough plan. Then, Iwate industrial research institute developed "Universal design" iron kettle series. It aimed at "Nanbu iron kettle" become more familiar general goods by introducing the idea of the universal design. Especially, this research was developed by considering the idea of the universal design not "Consideration to the weak" but "Basic concept of the usability". The ideas of the improvement of iron ware progressed from the confirmation of use procedure and the extraction of the trouble in use. "Universal design iron kettles" has been commercialized including these one or more improvement ideas. This thesis reports the process from the plan of the concept to the product evaluation.

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The objective of this study was to develop a mah-jong game tool from the point of view of universal design, paying particular attention to the elderly, so that the game can be played by wider range of people with increased ease. The design was developed using the element matrix method which has been proposed by the authors. The element matrix has two axes: one for the physical category and the other for the elderly-friendly elements. Use of this matrix enables consistent designing from the stage of problem analysis to that of the actual design. The elderly-friendly elements include 5 elements in terms of the physical aspect, i.e. "reduction in the degree of the burden", "simplicity and clarity", "continuity", "flexibility" and "safety", and two elements in terms of the psychological aspect, i.e. "affinity" and "achievement(status property)". Using the element matrix, problems associated with the activities involved in playing mah-jong games were extracted and analyzed, the individual development concepts were discussed, and the concepts were made concrete and evaluated. In conclusion, the use of the element matrix method led to a new way of creating elderly-friendly products, thus confirming the efficacy of the method.

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In this study, a design for an elderly-friendly massager was developed. The element matrix method which has been proposed by the authors for the development of elderly-friendly products was used in the process of development. The element matrix has two axes: one for the physical category and the other for the elderly-friendly elements. Use of this matrix enables consistent designing from the stage of problem analysis to that of the actual design. The elderly-friendly elements include 5 elements in terms of the physical aspect, i.e. "reduction in the degree of the burden", "simplicity and clarity", "continuity", "flexibility" and "safety", and two elements in terms of the psychological aspect, i.e. "affinity" and "achievement(status property)". Using the element matrix, problems associated with the use of presently available massager by the elderly were extracted. Grasping these problems as user requirements, development concepts were drawn up. Then, the development concepts derived by the element matrix method were narrowed down and the final concept was made concrete and evaluated. In conclusion, the use of the element matrix method led to a new way of creating elderly-friendly products, thus confirming the efficacy of the method.

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The product is a ceramic cooking utensil which consists of a lid and a plate designed exclusively for microwave ovens. It is devised so that it can prevent microwaves for penetrating inside, and radiate heat from its microwaved body. In the oven, the utensil thus has food cooked not with microwaves, but with heat on the lid and plat. In other words, the product is a new type of ceramic cooking utensil which can be used for baking by microwave ovens.

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Aizuma Sakura Bridge is a 93.2m length bridge which is getting across the opening waterside space in middle of Aizuma river. The bridge creates a new pathway for walkers that the way changes easy to come and go from the left bank as a recreation's strong point to the right bank as a parking. The concept of the bridge design is "in-emphasizing", and outer view design aims not to show the existence in the landscape, it's like a simple horizontal line. On the other hand, inner view design aims "space on the bridge which having the pleasure to pass and stay", and we make various direct to give pleasure for walkers.

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This is the display for the ceremony to celebrate the completion of the JR Kanazawa Station East Square. The completion of this dome marks the end of the renovation of the area around Kanazawa Station. The display was required to express the idea of celebration, to be appealing to people of all ages, and to have an artistic beauty that would be accepted by the citizens of Kanazawa, who are proud of the cultural nature of their city. It was a challenge to decide on the materials and method to be used for the display of the dome, which is a large-scale structure measuring 29m in height, 80m in width and 60m in depth, within a tight time frame. According to the requirements of the design for the dome, I selected a safe, durable fabric that would create a brilliant, enjoyable atmosphere in the glass dome, which is transparent and open. Since the dome is an aluminum trussed structure, I designed the space to have long strips of cloth that would be hung and stretched. The process of the design work and the comments of people who visited the dome after installation of the display are outlined below.

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Himi Yume Bridge is located 4km from Nagasaki IC where is the starting point of Kyushu Transversal Expressway, which is one of the biggest 3-span continuous extradosed bridge in Japan with 180m center span. This is the first extradosed bridge in the world that uses corrugated steel webs for the main girder.And, there are Himi bypass and Route 34 under the bridge, so that is very perceptive from many drivers. In addition, a number of people who lives on the hills around the bridge can enjoy the view of Himi Yume Bridge. Therefore, it is the beautiful and delicate bridge across the valley that I tried to design. Especially, focusing on the low tower and pier bellow as a characteristic of an extradosed bridge, I have achieved the forming beauty made by the fusion of the pier and tower. It records including the design process made from the examination of a lot of sketches.

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We have designed a monument named "FORZA"(meaning "force" in Italian) in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of the municipal administration system for Sagae City, in Yamagata prefecture. The monument was raised at the Mikoshi plaza, in front of Sagae station, in November 2004. The monument is made of maintenance-free stainless steel, in the form of pipes and spheres. It glistens and is an interactive type of monument, which permits citizens to appreciate it in many different ways. Using industrially-produced materials, this monument was designed as a "unique spatial apparatus," which can yield many interesting and delightful memories for everyone from children to elderly people and handicapped individuals. "FORZA" is not merely a sculpture that people can enjoy for its appearance; it also proffers the concept that "citizen-participation" type monuments can be quite effective for creating a sense of community. Mitsuhashi has designed two other monuments, named "SORRISO"(1995) and "PARTENZA"(2002) in Yamagata prefecture, which showcase this same concept, in the same theme.

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The infra-structure which will be the basis of the social activity was indispensable to rich environment. But in our country, consciousness to the scenery was not important until recent years, it had been built up under unpleasant circumstance. To construct better social environment, it is necessary to actively arrange comfortable, affectionate and mentally replete scenic landscape in addition to fulfillment of the basic services to support economy. "Rhizo Series" are guard fences for cars, pedestrians and bicycles in mainly bridge structures to aim the design contribution to its future existence. After its released in July 2003, it won a good design award in 2006, being evaluated to raise the design level of civil engineering, especially clairvoyance using wires. In contribution to the beautiful view creation, further development of the product is demanded.

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This project aims to develop signage system that promote stroll sightseeing to enjoy a small charms in a rural area. Conventional signage system used to guide pedestrians for their destinations efficiently without assist users in finding such small charms. Post fact researches on the project have been done and provided many new findings to help improving new signage system.

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REPRE - the research magazine for studies on cultural representation and design has been published once a year since 2002 by the research group of the visual design department of Okayama prefectural university. Through the publication of last 5 issues, editorial policy focuses on relation between design and cultural topics; media, body, regional matter, and etc. We've been trying to improve the editorial designing skills seeking for good relation between seeing and reading in the process of making REPRE. One of the improvements is the adoption of horizontal typesetting at the 4th issue for escaping from visual conflict. Another is the adoption of printing text pages by two colors for the better visibility at the 5th issue. What's more, we improved web design system for causing interest in our magazine and studies.

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The main purpose of this project is to construct a learning environment utilizing 3-dimensional simulating contents based on the experience of which subjects are aquatic animals and their inhabiting environments in an aquarium. On producing the simulating contents of a fish tank, the goal was set to provide a prepared environment that allows users to be involved independently in through their experience. This simulating contents provides two kinds of points of view. One is "Outside view" and the other is "Diving view" It is expected for users to recognize simulated experiences as learned one through the intuitive operation of interfaces provided to switch two points of view. Providing the points of view on the simulating contents that cannot be realized with the living fish in the actual ocean, users can realize a kind of experience through "discovery" and "awareness" with intuitive operation and action. In other words, simulating 3D environment can lead users to be involved in a self-directed learning through the comparison and trial.

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As for the current spread type wheelchair, a bearing surface and the back have a weak point to break posture to sheet Therefore, in this study, I suggest a wheelchair of domestic use such as wood or paper that considered elements such as touch or maintenance of posture for main material charges in natural materials Used natural materials are Beech, Paulownia, Cork, Paper, and Felt These are used properly by the parts of wheelchair The seat and back of wheelchair were made a fixed type to keep a posture, and it was improved to move even into small space easily It is the proposal of the gentle wheelchair to the person who used natural materials extensively.

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A dining set for an infant orphanage where children are taken care in 24 hours a day, has different requirement from kinder garden, because of it's long nursing time. We noticed that there is not appropriate dining table set for children nursery's demmand. We made a series of prototypes of dining table set for children and stool for nurse, along with field survey and prototype test done in Kurate infant orphanage in Kurate-town, Fukuoka prefecture. We noticed that there is a problem of Asobitabe: play during the meal. To solve this problem, product design wise, we set a new standard height of the chair. And we called it "middle chair" because of its middle height between high chair and low chair. We also made table with guard for the middle chair and a stool for nurses. Then we donated them to Kurate infant orphanage.

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"Layer-built lamp" is a lighting device made of Washi, the Japanese traditional papers. An amazing three dimensional effect is created by different shade of the lights coming through the over laid and pasted Washi. In a well-lit room, it looks like a box covered by Washi, however, in a dark room, an intricate "trompe l'oeil" like three dimensional effects appears automatically. The effect will be enhanced and will be more realistic when the room is darker. Wood ash treated Kozo or Gampi Washi are used to add some natural color of the paper to the shade of the lights. In Japanese modern living environment, all the rooms are fairly bright. However, it is quite interesting to produce small lighting device like "Andon", a lamp with a paper shade, because people in Japan are quite particular about papers such as "fusuma", a papered sliding door for partitioning rooms in a Japanese house, and wall papers. I truly expect that the design of the lightings will help people reevaluating this kind of lifestyles.

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This chest is to install at the corner in the room, it is one of traditional craft products of Oshu-city in Japan that called 'Iwayado', this work has used the traditional techniques. This work can be draw the any things from two side of the chest, also it is same storing volume as general chest. We have approached to completely touch it with a corner between drawers to make it ability for maximum storing. It is also consideration of the design which can show skill of a traditional craftsmen.

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This is an instrument to reduce both patient's and nurse's burden of transferring from a bed to a surgical table. There had been a group of instruments that enabled transfer from either left or right side with necessity of supporting, or only from a fixed side without requiring support. The novelty of this instrument is, among those ones, in a mechanism that enables transfer from either side without supporting by rolling up the upper, left and right transfer plates. A composition of rounded stainless steel sheets is employed in the appearance design to eliminate patients' anxiety. The handle of stainless steel pipe for moving is also curved to go along with the taste of the main body. This instrument was installed in the Nagoya University Hospital.

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We designed a dwelling space for the realization of high habitation of convenience in the center of the city, for families where both parents work and receive support for child-rearing. The living space is designed as the infill system for multifamily housing units. The infill system is designed so that multiple units are arranged in a skeleton building, and the building serves as a single block. The image of the skeleton is the existing stock building. An unoccupied office building located in the center of the city may be converted to accommodate for a child-rearing family. This infill system comprises of three layers, each called "yard space," "ground space," and "exclusive space.' The ground space connects separately to the common area and each exclusive space, equipped with a kitchen whose layout may be varied according to different life scenes. The trial production model proposes yard space and ground space as a dwelling unit. This study performed as part of the scientific research auxiliary enterprise of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology "Research on the ideal way of the support and the infill industry that supported a new lifestyle".

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