This semester, I am conducting a course on ‘Innovation in Globalization’ at Keio University Shonan Fujisawa Campus. (Ref.1)
As I have previously reported here, I recently was traveling outside Japan for a duration of two weeks. Because of this, Dr. William Saito and Mr. Kazuhiko Toyama (in Japanese) kindly helped me with my course and delivered exciting lectures to the class in my absence. Just after the October 13th class, I called from Seattle and thanked them.
This week, on October 20th, my guest was Mr. Kohei Nishiyama of Elephant Design. He delivered a very stimulating lecture about his business and on how he founded such an innovative enterprise that incorporates unique global vision and processes.
If you are interested in hearing this lecture or another from previous weeks, all of the lectures from my class are online in Japanese. They have all been extremely informative and I recommend that you take time to watch them.
・ Dr. William Saito
・ Mr. Kazuhiko Toyama
・ Mr. Kohei Nishiyama
After class that day, I went to PASONA’s head office in Tokyo to give a lecture at the joint session by Osaka University Graduate School and PASONA Career Juku. This was again a very exciting session. Mr. Nanbu, the CEO of PASONA, is a wonderful business leader. He designed a program to support young professionals find jobs by providing them opportunities to learn business skills through hands-on experience. By providing such opportunities, Japanese youth gain invaluable knowledge about what they want to do in their professional life. It is important to participate in this sort of activity in anyway possible.
Supporting and encouraging Japanese youth to build their careers is crucial for the Nation to prosper. Elders must never try to discourage youths from dreaming. The more repressed children and students are, the less chance there is of this portion of our population to reach their full potential. If a country is dominated by adults who only want to fit youth into a preconceived box, limiting opportunity and growth, then the future of the country will not be promising.
So I encourage you all to invest in our young people.