On December 27th, nearing the end of 2010, I had dinner at Sumeshiya (in Japanese), a rather unique restaurant. Mr. Honjo (Ref.1) had returned from his trip to Ghana. I was invited to this gathering by a businessman who helped him during his stay in there. Mr. Honjo was on leave of absence from Keio University during this trip.
Other participants were Ms. Sasaki, an International Christian University student who spent most of her life outside Japan (Ethiopia, Ghana, UK and US); Ms. Mawarida (Ref.1) (in Japanese) an experienced soccer player, university student, and a professional singer; Ms. Kanno, a businesswomen who is working for a Japanese business company (shosya); Mr. Sato, a Todai student who went to Rwanda but returned due to Malaria; a Hitotsubashi University student who stayed only for a short time because he had to catch a bus for Hakata, his home town; two businessmen (one of them lives in Rwanda and is the person who invited me); and Dr. Sahara, my staff (a medical doctor but had been to India this fall, and is planning to go to Scotland for the New Year Holidays).
They all came from very different backgrounds so naturally the conversation became very active. They kept talking and talking, enjoying the conversation very much? experiences in Africa, hopes for future careers, worries about the future… Given so many choices, each seemed to wonder what to do.
Seeing them made me confident that these sort of youth were definitely our human assets. They are who have potentials to be active in whatever arena, be it Japanese enterprises, governments or studying abroad.