The 2nd day in Davos was another beautiful day. I attended the Japan breakfast meeting of GAC (Global Agenda Council). About 20 people were there including the YGL (Young Global Leaders), and since all were Japanese, our discussion was naturally in Japanese. I was the chairman of this breakfast session, and so seeing that some people were new to the Davos meeting, I first talked in English and pointed out that this Council was the only council in which the participants all spoke Japanese (the majority were Japanese and the rest were American who live in Japan). Perhaps I surprised them. But afterwards, I was told how they liked my comments because it served as an ice breaker. Of course, the main topic at this session was the visit of the Prime Minister on the 29th.
In the afternoon, after several sessions, I went to hear the speeches given by President Yudhoyono of Indonesia and President Sarkozy of France. Recently, Indonesia is experiencing an 8% economic growth under a democratically elected administration. The current president and his administration are promoting the decentralization of the government, appointing talents in drastic style. The ASEAN host of this year, President Yudhoyono delivered a wonderful speech. Great speeches by great leaders always moves our heart.
I participate in the Governors meeting of big chemical industries annually as a guest and this year it was held in the afternoon. The discussion is always good here, and it was again stimulating with participants like Mr. Kobayashi of Mitsubishi Chemicals, Mr. Ohyagi of Teijin. I had the honor of making comments on Shale Oil, ‘Global to Local’ and such. I learned a lot from talking with the top executives of these industries.
In the evening, I browsed through the Japan Night, Korea Night, and Indonesia Night. The Indonesia Night had the best venue, but to my disappointment, there were not many people present, since it was after 10pm. Japan Night had the largest number of participants. This was good.
However, I understand that the news of the S&P reducing Japan’s ratings from AA to AA- caused some stir in Japan. I commented on this topic a year ago in my blog. Japanese media did not cover the news much when the S&P declined last time, but I wonder how they will behave this time. I noticed a short comment by the PM being reported…
I went to bed feeling it difficult to fall asleep.