The day after returning from Dubai I went for a panel ‘Global Agenda and Japan’ (Ref.1) (in Japanese) in ‘G-SEC 3rd annual conference’, a part of the series of lectures and panels (in Japanese) named ‘ORF 2009’ organized by Keio University. Many programs were running simultaneously and there was a lively mood in the air reflecting the fact that a large number of the participants were young people.
The panel (video) started with a great keynote lecture by Mr. Yoichi Funabashi, Editor in Chief of the Asahi Newspaper. Then, Dr. Heizo Takenaka hosted the panel of Mr. Funabashi and three of us who just returned fromDubai and Fujairah the day before; Drs. Tamura, Kondo and myself. Dr. Motohisa Furukawa could not make it because his work at the government office was ‘Super’ heavy.
The people in this panel were all those who could see Japan clearly from ‘outside’ so the discussion was very active. I wished there was more time ? we ran out of it too quickly.
Perhaps you may feel that I am basically talking about the same theme recently (global change, the ‘strength’ and ‘weak points’ of Japan, etc.). However, the audience is different every time, so I keep on talking about these matters even if it sounds repetitious.