KYOTO -- For most people, tearing down a perfectly good house to build a new one may not seem all that environmentally friendly.
But for Nagoya University professor Satoru Ikeuchi, the completion in 1998 of his new home in Kyoto's Nishigyo Ward allowed him to make something tangible from the ideas he has had for years.
As a scientist, the 57-year-old astrophysicist knew only too well the dangers posed by carbon dioxide emissions and nuclear waste. But as a citizen, he had done nothing to address these problems.