No.121 Inagi City 10 Big News in 2021

It will soon be two years since the first Japanese person was confirmed to be infected with the new coronavirus in Japan on January 28, 2020. Despite the hard efforts of everyone involved, there is still no end in sight to the situation, but thanks to the spread of vaccinations that began in April last year, the fifth wave that raged in August has subsided. We were able to have a calm New Year's holiday.
Looking back at last year, for the first time in a while, there were no natural disasters that caused widespread or severe damage in Japan, and although the coronavirus pandemic continues, it was a year in which life gradually returned to normal.
In sports, Naomi Osaka won the Australian Open Women's Singles in February for the second time in two years, high school baseball tournaments were held at Koshien in March and August for the first time in two years, and the Golf Masters was held in April. Hideki Matsuyama became the first Japanese to win the championship, Yuka Sasao tied for the youngest title at 19 years and 11 months at the U.S. Women's Golf Open in June, and Shohei Otani of the American Major League Angels won the championship this season in November. There was a series of happy news such as being selected as an outstanding player.
Furthermore, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games were postponed for a year for the first time in history due to the effects of the new coronavirus, and although it was unfortunate that they were held without spectators, the result was a great success. The Olympic medals of 27 gold, 14 silver, and 17 bronze, totaling 58 medals, are the most in history, and the Paralympic medals, 13 gold, 15 silver, and 23 bronze, total of 51, are the second most in history after the 2004 Athens Games. It was a good result.
Regarding other domestic situations, in April, Prime Minister Suga gave a speech at a summit meeting on climate change and announced the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 46% by 2030 compared to 2013, something that the previous Cabinet had not undertaken. We have responded with a sense of speed to the decarbonization area. However, Prime Minister Suga resigned without running in the presidential election in September due to criticism of his measures against the new coronavirus, a new cabinet was formed under new Prime Minister Kishida, and the Liberal Democratic Party won a sole majority in the general election for the House of Representatives in October.261 The seats were secured and the LDP government continued.
Overseas, Democratic Party Joe Biden won the U.S. presidential election in January, and United Russia, the ruling party, won 324 seats in the Russian lower house election in September, stabilizing President Putin's political base. In November, a historic resolution was adopted at the 6th Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, giving General Secretary Xi Jinping an authority on par with Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, and a new power balance in the US-China Cold War began.
In October, the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26) was held in Glasgow, UK, and the "Glasgow Climate Agreement" was adopted, which includes efforts to gradually reduce coal-fired power generation, and aims to promote decarbonization at home and abroad. A new phase has begun.
Next, let's look back on Inagi City's past year.
1 Promotion of new coronavirus countermeasures
In conjunction with the vaccine distribution from the government, we began inoculating medical workers on April 19th, and since then we have been sequentially administering the first and second doses to each age group, achieving our target vaccination rate of 80% by the end of October. Did. The City Medical Association will administer individual vaccinations at each clinic, the City Hospital will provide mass vaccination sites, Inagidai Hospital will provide large-scale individual vaccination sites, Yomiuri Land Keiyu Hospital will provide Friend Hirao and Central Cultural Center sites, and Nanzan Rehabilitation Hospital. Thank you for taking charge of the Central Cultural Center venue and the General Gymnasium venue.
2 50th anniversary of city organization enforcement
A commemorative ceremony was held on November 6th to mark the 50th anniversary since Inagi Town became a city in 1971, and the city performed the ``city song'' that was established as part of the anniversary activities.
3 Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games held
On July 24th and 25th, a bicycle road race passed through the city course, and approximately 300 volunteers, the largest number of any local government in Tokyo, participated. A community live site was held at the general gymnasium. In order to preserve the legacy of the bicycle town of Inagi, we opened a cycle cafe along the course in June and installed a monument in November.
4 Sister city partnership with Foster City, California, USA
The signing ceremony was held online to coincide with the 50th anniversary of both cities. I hope that in the future, exchanges at the citizen level will progress through the Inagi City Sister and Friendship City Exchange Association.
5 Eliminate waiting lists for children at nursery schools
As a result of the development of licensed nursery schools based on the second Inagi City child and child care support project plan, the waiting list for children was eliminated on April 1st.
6 Temporary opening of the Yomiuri Land Line to traffic
In conjunction with the opening of the Inagi Yomiuri Land Saka Tunnel, the area was provisionally opened to traffic at 6 a.m. on September 27th.
7 Emergency fire support team dispatched to Atami City, Shizuoka Prefecture
On July 3, a fire brigade and logistics support team from the Inagi City Fire Department attended the site of a landslide that occurred in the Izuyama area of ​​Atami City as part of the Tokyo Metropolitan Battalion. A total of 23 people were dispatched from the first to the third phase and engaged in rescue and search activities for missing persons.
8 Formulation of the 4th Inagi City Agriculture Basic Plan
The third plan will expire in 2020, and we have formulated the next plan based on the concept of ``a town that lives together with agriculture, passing it on to the next generation.''
9 Formulation of Hino, Tama, and Inagi three cities collaborative recidivism prevention plan and holding joint symposium
The local recidivism prevention promotion plan was developed with the cooperation of the Hino, Tama, and Inagi district probation officers, and the three cities shared a common philosophy. On October 29th, a recidivism prevention symposium was held jointly by the three cities at the Tama City Sekido Community Center.
10 Implementation of “bottle to bottle” recycling business
With the aim of realizing a sustainable recycling-oriented society and promoting SDGs, we have concluded an agreement with the Suntory Group to realize horizontal recycling in which all used PET bottles are returned to PET bottles.

These are the 10 biggest news items for 2021.
The biggest goal for the first half of this year is getting the third vaccination. We will work with related organizations to move forward with this and strive to make this year a year in which we can expect the end of the novel coronavirus.
　
Inagi Mayor Katsuhiro Takahashi