My Support for the “Audacious Young Lady” and the Publication of The Vulnerable Evacuees

Posted on by kiyoshi kurokawa

→Japanese

028

It has been thirty months since the Fukushima nuclear accident, and fourteen months have passed since the NAIIC’s report was submitted to the Diet.

How will Japan and the world go change in the future?

It has been decided that the 2020 Olympics will be held in Tokyo. This is good news.

There are people who have gone through a dramatic change in their careers after participating in work at the NAIIC. One of them is Mr. Tsuyoshi Shiina, who became a Diet member and another is Mr. Satoshi Ishibashi, who launched a project called “The National Diet of Japan Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission in Plain Language” to name a few.

Ms. Yurina Aikawa is one of them. One day she contacted us to join the work of the NAIIC. She had been working at one of the major newspapers for two years during which she participated in research on the Fukushima nuclear accident. This past August 30th, her book was published. The book is named Hinanjakusha [The Vulnerable Evacuees: What Occurred at the Elderly Care Facilities near the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant on that Day], which was written based on the research conducted by herself.

I paid tribute to her book by offering some words at the end of the book. Her compelling document simply moved me. I’d like to share excerpts of my comments with you.

First of all, the excerpt shown on the outer flap is as follows:

“A variety of cases emerged through her scrupulous interviews which connect readers directly to the scenes. The interviews illustrated the anguishes and hard decisions of many people by shedding light on the vulnerable people whose fates are out of their control. The people who support the vulnerable have experienced unfathomable distress. Her interview gave insight into each individual’s way of life on the ground. She reported the sufferings, heartfelt stories, and numerous tragedies.

What can we learn from Ms. Aikawa’s reports? Her reports are based on the interviews, which she conducted continuously on the ground. How should we deal with such a reality? This is a question that this book asks every one of us.”

About Ms. Aikawa:

After the Commission dissolved, I talked to Ms. Aikawa, who had resigned her job at a newspaper in order to join the work at the NAIIC, saying, “Thank you for all your work here. What are you going to do from now on?” Then she answered,

“I’m going to continue this research on my own because I must find more about those people and document them.” However reckless she might appear, there exist some young people who are audacious enough to make such bold decisions. We were surprised by her decision to join the NAIIC, but I was even more astonished with this decision. Then I felt a deep feeling coming over me.

Her lone battle began. However, people started to offer cooperation and support for her project. This is the book in which this audacious young lady’s research was documented … I’m delighted and deeply acknowledge all the credit the author deserves. I want to congratulate her with my personal support for this book.”

If you find her book in a bookstore, please take a look. And if you like it, please buy it. Of course, the book is also available at Amazon.

The wonderful video which brought the NAIIC report to life was created by young people on their own initiative as I have introduced it at the last column (1).

With young people who have such independent spirit and mind, doesn’t it make you sense a bit of hope for our future?

Visualizing Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission Report (NAIIC)

Posted on by kiyoshi kurokawa

→Japanese

Thirty months or two and a half years have already passed since the Fukushima nuclear accident. How have TEPCO and the Japanese government been dealing with the aftermath of the accident? The international community which has watched them with serious concerns may have been stunned with their substandard information disclosure and communication skills. The overseas media has covered this issue with as much interest and concern as the conflict in Syria.

It has already been fourteen months since the NAIIC submitted its report to Diet as the first independent investigation commission in the constitutional history of Japan.

Raising awareness about the report to the national public and making it easy to understand was not a task assigned to the Commission. However, I’m pleased to announce that there are young people who have taken up the job.

The first project that I’d like to introduce to you is called “The Simplest Explanation of the National Diet of Japan Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission Report”.

The website has recently added a series of videos that illustrates the Report visually.

The series is made up of the following videos.

1. What is the NAIIC?

2. Was the nuclear accident preventable?

3. What happened inside the nuclear plant?

4. What should have been done after the accident?

5. Could the damage be contained?

6. What are the issues with nuclear energy?

Each video gives you a clear explanation on the subject in just two to three minutes.

The series is an excellent piece of work with striking illustrations of the Commission’s report just within sixteen minutes in total.

A Surprise from the New York Times

Posted on by kiyoshi kurokawa

→Japanese

In recent days, the situation at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant has been extremely unstable. It has become widely known all over the world. In this day and age, it is not possible to keep things hidden.

The current situation at Fukushima has been reported in overseas media as a major scandal. The New York Times is no exception. On September 4th, it was front page news on the late edition (PDF), and they quoted me in the article (it can also be read in electronic version). This New York Times article was partly reported in the Japanese media.

But what surprised me was that my words were chosen to be the “Quotation of the Day” More than just pleased, I was surprised. It shows how much of an impact it has.

The following is the chosen quote:

“Water keeps building up inside the plant, and debris keeps piling up outside of it. This is all just one big shell game aimed at pushing off the problem until the future.”

The interview was conducted by Martin Fackler, the Tokyo Bureau Chief for the New York Times. He has also published a book titled, “Credibility Lost: The Crisis in Japanese Newspaper Journalism after Fukushima”(Futaba Shinsho, in Japanese), which critiques The Japanese news coverage after the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident.

The world is watching. The Fukushima accident occurred in a country that is one of the few major economies in the world, and has been evaluated highly in the areas of science and technology, engineering and manufacturing. Although the earthquake and tsunami set off the accident, it was still unexpected and shocking. What is more, it has been two and a half years since the accident but neither TEPCO nor the Japanese government has established any mid- or long-term plans.

It is vital that we gather wisdom and intellect from the world and prioritize transparency. It is very worrying and it is imperative that something must be done.

Down With a Summer Cold for a Week

Posted on by kiyoshi kurokawa

→Japanese

On the 29th, I made a day trip to Karuizawa, reaching my destination, the Old-Karuizawa Golf Club at noon. Feeling somewhat tired, I declined the invitation to play a round of golf and instead chose to rest in the club-house. It was a strange situation, me sitting in the lounge watching a beautiful and inviting golf-course.

After everyone enjoyed their game of golf, they came back and attended my hour-long speaking engagement. I also met Mr Takenaka, a colleague at GRIPS, as well as his parents. I also met the former president of Tokyo University, Mr. Komiyama, besides many others.

Returning at night, I still felt the same lethargy. I slept early. The next day, a Sunday, brought with it a high fever, at times reaching 40℃. I went to my neighborhood general practitioner, my friend, for a consultation, and was given an intravenous drip and told to rest. Monday also saw a high fever hovering around the 40℃ mark. To the doctor again. Although I was sick, I did not feel sick. I cancelled all my appointments for the week. Wednesday brought a respite, and I felt a bit better.

On Thursday, I had a meeting in the morning with the representative ministers from the EU. The meeting lasted about an hour, during which I briefed them exclusively about the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster and its current situation. This is understandable, given the current situation. A few more meetings and I was done, and I reached home at 3 pm,  back to bed. I was supposed to visit the New Ise Jingu Shrine this week, but I was forced to cancel this trip.

I recuperated on Friday and Saturday; I felt much better. But all the same, it was one nasty summer cold.

On Sunday, 1st September, I took the Shiinkansen to Hiroshima in order to attend the celebrations and my invited special speech that would be accompanying the unveiling of a new hospital building at the University of Hiroshima. It’s been a while since I  met many of my friends in the medical profession. I returned the same day.

On Monday (the 2nd), I went to Shonan Village (Shonan Kokusai Mura) to attend a 3-day program, the ‘U.N University Global Seminar’. I met The rector of the University, David Malone, as well as the honorary chairman of Shiseido, Yoshiharu Fukuhara. I was to give the first keynote lecture, ‘Global Agenda, Post-Fukushima’. Most of the people attending were undergraduate as well as graduate students, with women making up more than 70% of the audience. Nice! The foreign students and faculty also helped make the atmosphere more lively. I talked animatedly, and the questions flew in from the audience. And of course, it was all in English.

I do not know how exactly to describe this open and uninhibited atmosphere; but I love it. This informal exchange of opinions and ideas.

The keynote delivered after mine was by Akiko Yuge, director of the UNDP Representation Office in Tokyo. She was very articulate, and had a response to every question. After attending the reception, I returned home, while the participants stayed on; they were lodging together.

It felt that a week had ended at last, giving way to a new week. I had plenty of rest as well.

To H-LAB Again

Posted on by kiyoshi kurokawa

→Japanese

The other day, I wrote about H-LAB, which has been producing remarkable results.

This program only started in 2011 but it is impressive that already forty percent of high school students who　enrolled have chosen to study at a university abroad.

HLAB has come again this summer and I took part once more. After two days of rest in Tateshina, I returned to Tokyo and spoke for half an hour.

It makes me very happy that there is a student from Harvard who has participated for three years in a row, from 2011. She spoke in Latin this year at the graduation ceremony at Harvard. There is a male student who moved to San Diego from an impoverished village in Mexico with his mother and wants to contribute to the education system in his homeland. They are all remarkable.

Afterwards, we all went to the reception. Mr. Makihara of Mitsubishi Shoji who is a Harvard Alumni came to the reception. We are very grateful for his support for the program.

A few days later, I attended a session at GRIPS. The “Wise Leader” session was led by Mr. Hirotaka Takeuchi who established the Business School at Hitotsubashi University and is now a professor at Harvard Business School. It goes without saying but the world’s leading professors are incredible. The content of the course was pure, first-class entertainment. Professor Takeuchi has introduced many cases of Japanese companies at Harvard.

The next evening, I attended the reflection session held at the old inn in Hongo where the students were staying. Many people participated in the program and were able to meet and they all seemed very happy, as was I.

Watching the youth, I felt that Japan still has a bright future ahead.

I would like to send a heartfelt thank you to the people who organized the program.

From Okinawa -2

Posted on by kiyoshi kurokawa

→Japanese

On Saturday, August 10th, I visited Okinawa again. I attended the ten-year anniversary of the Muribushi Clinical Training Program (in Japanese), which was started by Dr. Seishiro Miyagi and is a pioneering program for dealing with the future of medicine clerkship. I had the honor of giving a speech at the celebration, as I did ten years ago when this program was first established.

After training in this program, many OB/OG alumni from the time of the Okinawa Prefectural Chubu Hospital have gone on to receive further training in the United States, showing that this program is suited for a global Japan and world.

In these past ten years, the required skills of doctors have changed in response to what is happening in the field. There are many outstanding clinicians who are active and appreciated on the global scale, as can be seen in the establishment of the ACP (American College of Physicians) Japan Chapter (1, 2) and the OB/OG of the New York Beth Israel hospital clinical training program.

In my speech, I mentioned the virtuous cycle that is created when people who have received clinical training in such programs pass on their expertise and wisdom to their juniors. It just happened that Dr. Harry Ward, who was a fellow at my time at UCLA, was visiting Okinawa, and I introduced him to everyone, thus creating another virtuous cycle.

On the afternoon of the 11th, Mr. Ichida of BirdLife International showed me around northern Okinawa. He took me to a secret place where butterflies can be observed and to see the Okinawa rail or ‘Yanbaru Kuina’ On this day, twenty-eight Okinawa rails were killed due crashes with cars on roads this year. I was told the number used to be only around ten per year….

On the 12th, I took part in a gathering at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) in order to discuss plans for the future of this new research-based graduate university. We spent the entire day discussing many different issues.

I hope that this will aid the reform of research in Japan.

To Okinawa, Twice in One Week -1

Posted on by kiyoshi kurokawa

→Japanese

Other photos:
https://picasaweb.google.com/101937154598536516246/Aug5Day04?authkey=Gv1sRgCOrRi5ry9tOHfw

I visited Okinawa twice in the week of August 4th.

On Monday August 5th, I took a day trip to Okinawa. I attended the program Asian Youth Development Program in Okinawa (AYDPO) that I have reported about in past postings. It is a program held in Okinawa in which some fifty students, between the ages of fourteen and sixteen, spend three weeks together. Around 10-15 university students also participated, as well as a few OB/OG.

The program started when I was special advisor to Prime Minister Abe as a project planned by the Cabinet in 2007. This will be the sixth time it has been held. Everyone is connected via Facebook and they are very active during this time of year. I recently met with an OB from Indonesia, who taught as a university student tutor in the first and second years of the program. We discussed his current project, which he is conducting in his home country.

I have been a part of this program since the very first year. This year, I gave a speech at the opening ceremony. I had many discussions with the youth, who will lead the future of Asia, and the session was very interesting and stimulating.

Among the Japanese youth, the ratio of female to male students has always been around 2:1 since the start of the program, but this year all of the participants from Okinawa were female. I encourage more male students to participate. Everyone had an enjoyable time and there were some OB/OGs joined this year’s program. The students from Asia had a female to male ration of 1:1, as recommended by their home countries.

I hope that this kind of program will start in many regions of Japan, in local schools, villages, through homestay programs, for example,  no matter how small it is in the beginning.

The future of Japan depends on the youth.

Two Panels; In support of Women Empowerment

Posted on by kiyoshi kurokawa

→Japanese

other photos:
https://plus.google.com/photos/105840412439031950380/albums/5910115686676869777?authkey=CKPXlJPgwpSp-QE

One of the problems with Japan, well recognized in the world, is the situation where there is less opportunity for women to shine when compared with other countries. The need for gender empowerment and gender　equality is sorely needed, and is a major social issue.

I have long been advocating gender equality, and have mentioned this topic numerous times (a quick search of my blog will tell you just how much) and thus have been invited to participate in panel discussions about this topic.

On the 4th of August, I attended an event organized by Ms. Sasaki (CEO of ewoman), the 18th International Conference for Women In Business, where I was on a dialogue with Ms.Yuri Okina (link in Japanese). The last time I met Ms. Okina was for the Keizai Doyukai Panel a few years ago. I shared this very stage two years ago with Ms. Yoko Ishikura (link in Japanese).

There were a lot of young women in the audience, and the program for the whole event was packed with interesting events. Started off by an opening speech by the organizer Ms. Sasaki, the event included talks by Kathy Matsui, two women Ministers, both are lawyers and children, Ms. Mori and Ms. Inada, a stirring address by the mayor of Yokohama city, Ms. Hayashi. These were followed by my dialogue with Ms. Okina. And there was more to come in the afternoon sessions as well.

Worth special mention is the talk by Japan’s fencing silver medalist at the Olympic Games, Mr. Ota (link to blog in Japanese). His points of view and his perceptions are truly world-class.

At the event, I sold around 50 copies of my book co-authored with Ms. Ishikura, ‘How to Build a World-Class Career’. What I was really happy though, was to see a visitor who had brought along their own copy of this book and asked for my autograph.

On the 8th of August, I went to Tohoku University in Sendai. This was to attend a symposium (link in Japanese) held as part of a series of events (link in Japanese) to commemorate the first ever female students accepted into then Imperial University, which happened here over 100 years ago; three women were accepted here.

Everyone on the program were very happy to join this event, particularly the two visitors from the U.S and the U.K, respectively, Dr. Colwell and Dr. Haynigen, but also Ms. Kubo, Ms. Tsujimura, Ms. Mukai, Ms. Kotani, the two Ms. Takahashis, Ms. Motomura, the two Ms. Kurodas, Ms. Harayama,  and Ms. Ueki, all were inspiring.
Additional information may be found on the Tohoku University page, because the event was organized by the efficient Ms. Noriko Osumi (link to her blog in Japanese).

Finally, there was a speech by the President of Tohoku University not exactly promising anything but providing hope that change is close by. The key issue is when the promises will be made into reality.

I was with Rita Colwell for the fourth time this year, and I was also with Ms. Motomura, with whom I had shared a panel discussion the previous day for the Nature Cafe.

I have been pretty busy this hot summer days, but it has been rewarding as well.

Nature Café: Can Japan Change?

Posted on by kiyoshi kurokawa

→Japanese

As I have mentioned before, the well-known scientific journal ‘Nature’ organizes an annual ‘Nature Café’ (Japanese).

This was the 12th such event, and was organized in collaboration with Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST). The panel for the Japan session was mainly composed of the ‘Crazy Ones’, scientists who are willing to think different. The title for the discussion session was ‘Will Japan Change? Universities and Research Facilities Faced with Change’.

The venue for the session was SONY CSL, the small research laboratory where geniuses and other ‘crazy’ people have been rcruited.

The panel was composed of the director of SONY CSL, Mr. Hiroaki Kitano (1); the leader of the initiative to bring about a new collaboration between the astronomy and the mathematics department of Tokyo University, Hitoshi Murayama (there are a lot of videos with him as well); a professor at OIST, Yoko Sugiyama Yazaki; and me. The moderator for the event was Yukiko Motomura (Japanese), from the Mainichi Shimbun.

I liked that the audience was composed mainly of students. Each of the panelists gave a brief but energetic 10 minute ‘talk with a twist’ before entering a panel discussion. We had a surprise during this discussion as Joi Ito (1), the head of MIT Media Lab, joined in.

For the details of the ‘Nature Café’, please check the OIST web site.

It was a  wonderful evening and the young people in the audience enjoyed it immensely.

I am glad it was a very stimulating session.