Magnificent Youth

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The World Economic Forum (WEF) is well-known to visitors to this blog.  I think that people who visit this web site can get a sense of world events and new directions the world is moving in.  This Forum could be characterized as a multilevel network which links the world together horizontally, and it is a place for those individuals who are international leaders and have themselves been characterized as a “super class” in a book of the same name.

A conference was held last week in Dalian which has been dubbed the “Summer Davos” (a name that brings to mind Davos which is held in the winter).  More than a hundred attended from Japan, but my schedule did not permit me to make it.   The WEF Asian-Pacific Summit was held about a month ago in Indonesia, and I was unable to make that conference either.  I recommend the WEF site to everyone who wants to keep tabs on our rapidly changing world whose future is almost impossible to predict.

In light of these activities, Professor Klaus Schwab, who is the prime mover behind the WEF, has launched the new Global Shapers Community.  The aim is to broaden the arena for young activists who are striving to invigorate society.  William H. Saito, with whom I worked to launch Impact Japan in Japan, has been appointed as the Japanese Curator.  Impact Japan has also become a contact point.

Mr. Saito arrived back in Japan in the early hours of Saturday the 17th (actually he landed a bit after 5:00 in the morning on the day of the gathering).  Prof. Schwab, who had arrived in Japan the previous day, met with a gathering of approximately 30 youths in their 20s.  The Global Shapers Community was thus launched in the course of the subsequent 90-minute meeting.  Everyone, with the exception of 1, is someone who is working towards socially significant goals, setting up new organizations and engaging in entrepreneurial activities.  They are a hard-working and energetic group.

 

I beseech adults before they start to say “the young people of today are so  . . .” to think about these youths who are actively engaged and to offer them support.  There are also a number of youths based overseas.  Mr. Atsuyoshi Saisho and Mr. Yusuke Matsuda (in Japanese) who I have talked about previously in this blog also participated.  All of them are setting high goals and aggressively tackling them even while running into obstacles and dealing with major setbacks. 

This network of youthful activists which expands beyond borders should surely invigorate Japan.

Okinawa ‘AYDPO’ Connects Youths of Asia

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The “Asian Youth Exchange Program in Okinawa” (Ref.1,2) was launched 3 years ago in Okinawa.   It is a “Summer Camp” designed for youths of 15 years old or so of Japan and other Asian countries to spend time together in Okinawa for about 3 weeks.  The participants truly share a great time together.

This year is the 4th year of this program.  The title was modified to “Asia Youth Development Program in Okinawa (AYDPO) ” as Okinawa has become the organizer to serve as the host of the program,.  All the participants of the last 3 years of 2008-2010 and the university students who joined as the Tutors have been stayed connected through FaceBook and other networks, their passion and friendships remain vividly alive.

As always, I went to Okinawa to join in the closing ceremony.  This year the students continued to work on water problem.  Each presentation was unique and creative in its own ways.  We all shared a very moving time.

The programs, diary, photos, works, and the songs they made this year are uploaded on this site.  Here, you can feel the happy time those youths had together. Their shared experience will be of great value for their future.

I encourage all of you to expand such activities spontaneously in anyway possible, whether in schools, communities, or any sort of units as you think fit.

It is so important for Japan, Asian youths, and the future of the world to provide youths much opportunities and places to meet each other so that they can create networks of friends beyond the national borders.  I firmly believe that this is a great issue.

Besides giving a speech at the closing ceremony of AYEPO, I took advantage of this opportunity to visit the Ryukyu University in the morning to join in the lecture and chat with people who are actively engaged in “MOT” (but unfortunately we ran short of time.  Sorry about this.)  In the evening I had a dinner with President Dorfan (Ref.1) of  Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) (Dr. Dorfan will be officially appointed as the president of this institution after it is accredited a graduate school), his wife,  and　Dr. Baughman, the Vice President and Executive Director.

Actions to “Open” Japan to the world are in progress in Okinawa.  I ask you all for your warm support.

Liberal Arts Summer Course for High School Students Held by College Students from Harvard and Japan – 2

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I gave the Keynote Speech on the first day of this Course.  I spoke on a number of points including how the world has changed dramatically in the past 100 years, how globalization has brought about incredibly rapid change in the past 20 years and how it is difficult to predict what is in store for us in the future in light of current worldwide situation.  I then, based on these thoughts, talked about why the Liberal Arts are so important.

Since this Summer Course was launched by a Harvard student, I also touched upon President Charles Eliot who, 100 years ago, transformed Harvard into the university it is today.  I fielded a number of questions and greatly enjoyed the interaction.

The next day, a reception was held in the evening at GRIPS with the Harvard Alumni Association also invited.  I also was able to attend and discovered that the talk by Tadashi Yanai of UniQlo that afternoon was a huge hit.  Listening to a number of the high school students in attendance, I found that everyone had been invigorated by their experiences of just two days and that they felt that their thoughts on their future had changed and they were now really grappling with what they wanted to do in the future.  That is a good thing.  Their lives have just begun and it is good to have an abundance of choices.

A video message has been posted from the main mover behind this Course, Ryosuke Kobayashi of Harvard and his comrades, and an article about the Course was also published in the Japan Times.

The events of the Course are scheduled to be posted on the web and our activities were also covered by a number of media outlets.  It should be fun to see what transpires.

Liberal Arts Summer Course for High School Students Held by Students from Harvard and Japan

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The Summer Course 2011 scheduled for 8 days from August 20th to August 27th has begun.  This Summer Course is the work of the Harvard College Japan Initiative ? Liberal Arts beyond Borders (HCJI-LAB).

Ryosuke Kobayashi, a junior at Harvard, came up with the idea for this Course about a year ago.  Over the past several years, I have been getting together and interacting with many friends who are undergraduates (actually only a few), graduate students and post-docs whom are working in various capacities at Harvard and MIT.  About a year ago, I watched Kobayashi’s video on the web where he talked about how he came to the realization that a liberal arts education was extremely important and he wondered why he was not aware of this fact when he was a high school student in Japan.  I immediately got into contact with him, began to work on a concrete plan and started full scale preparations in Japan from May of this year. 

Japanese university students worked together with Kobayashi to make this plan a reality by coming up with a plan, pooling their intellectual resources, meeting with many individuals, while overcoming many problems.  In truth, you cannot imagine all the problems and issues that they had to deal with.  They had to get permission from and coordinated with the involved organizations, come up with funding, secure locations, worry if they could actually get the Harvard students to come and whether they could enrol their target number of 80 Japanese high school students.  They overcame all this and more with an incredible amount of support and cooperation.  GRIPS and Impact Japan did what it could to provide support for Impact Japan and the afternoon meetings where held primarily at GRIPS in the Roppongi area.  Approximately 120 youths in total stayed at a ryokan in Hongo and participated in many group seminars in the evening.  The program was extremely intensive.

Yet even though Kobayashi had all this support, I am sure it was a real challenge for him, because he alone was overseeing both sides.  I took him to meet various individuals and many were extremely generous in providing assistance.  I would like to take this opportunity to offer my thanks to all.

On the Harvard side, a lot of support was received from Hirotaka Takeuchi who has been working over the past 10 years on the establishment of the Hitotsubashi Business School and returned to Harvard Business School last year to take up a teaching post.

Thus the students embarked on an educational program backed by admirable objectives and broad-based support. A great lineup of participants was assembled with 20 students from Harvard, 20 students from Japan and 80 Japanese high school students selected from 250 candidates.  Each day was marked by special guests including Hirotaka Takeuchi from Harvard, Tadashi Yanai from UNIQLO, Seiichiro Yonekura from Hitosubashi University, Takeshi Niinami from Lawson and myself.  The students from Harvard also served as instructors.

The three-month preparation was extremely taxing.  Finally the opening date of the 20th was upon us, and I gave the Keynote Speech to open the program.  I will report back on this at a later date and I am sure it launched a fruitful 8 days.

A festive reception was held on the evening of the next day which was attended by about 120 students and the Harvard Alumni Association at GRIPS, and the students were bubbling with excitement even after just two days and I got hit with a barrage of questions related to what steps they should take in the future.

I will also report on this separately, but it is really important to provide youth with a glimpse into the possibilities of the future and let them get up close and personal with some real life experiences.  That is the essence of education!

 

 

 

 

Joi Ito and Hiroshi Ishii, the Two Japanese of the MIT Media Lab

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MIT Media Lab is an internationally known research center.  Founded in 1985, many Japanese companies collaborated with this Lab in research projects so perhaps this might have made the Lab even more known in Japan.

A Big Bright News is that Joi Ito was recently appointed as the director of this Lab.  I had an opportunity to have dinner with Joi and Dr. Hiroshi Ishi, associate director of the Media Lab several days ago.  Dr. Ishi also participated in this year’s TEDxTokyo as our guest, and he gave a wonderfully enthusiastic speech for us.

At the dinner, our topic covered broad range, but basically the discussion was about how to encourage Japanese youths mix with the world.  In addition, since Joi is actively measuring the radiation around the Fukushima area after the “3.11”, we exchanged views on this issue, too.

This year, Dr. Ishii was introduced in the “Portrait of Modern Age Leader (Gendai no Shozo, 現代の肖像)”, in the April 25 issue of the AERA magazine. Joi Ito also appeared as the “Cover Person” in the August 8, 2001 issue together with the article titled “The Future of ‘The Places to Make Future of the World’ (‘Sekai no Mirai Wo Tsukuru Basho’ no Mirai, 「世界の未来を作る場所」の未来)”.

Joi has been well recognized in the world as one of the alpha-bloggers for more than 10 years and Dr. Ishi is very active as you see in twitter （@ishii_mit）.  These two are forever hot.

Again To Doha, Qatar

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The Hamad Medical Corporation of Qatar launched the vision of Academic Health System and I was invited to attend its unveiling.  The outdoor temperature in Doha was approximately 45℃ (115 F), very hot, and in addition to the heat, the city was in the midst of the Ramadan.

I made use of this opportunity to visit the Qatar Foundation (Ref.1, 2) again.  From here, I extended my visit to Cornell Medical College in Qatar, Texas A&M University in Qatar, and Qatar Science Technology Park.

These Universities use the same curriculum and same texts as in the United States and the faculty members are recruited according to the same qualification criteria as in the States, so the students graduating from these universities receive degrees equivalent to the home Universities.  The students of medical schools, after graduation, are matched for residency and the list includes first class hospitals in the United States such as Johns Hopkins and Cleveland Clinics.  Just take a look at the web site of the Qatar Foundation and you will find much information about variety of special programs they run with many universities.

Famous Think-Tanks such as Brookings and RAND are also opening their branch offices in Doha recently.

These places of education and research not only have cutting edge utilities, but are very open and international. I think it would be nice if we developed programs with Japanese researchers or enhanced exchange programs for students, graduate students, and research fellows.

Hamad Medical Corporation is now building a number of new hospitals as well as reinforcing their research laboratories.  While expanding hospitals that are about a quarter of a century old, they also manage to keep providing health care very actively.  Emergency medicine, especially traumatic wound is a huge department here.  They have a large number of patients from traffic accidents and construction accidents.

Many staffs and Doctors are from overseas but they are working very aggressively.

I think the Academic Health System is a nice ambitious program, too.  It has a strong vision for structuring a “Healthy Community” and is determined to “Expand Globally”.

Although the Middle East today has a number of unsteady elements after the Tunisian resistance and revolution, Qatar is by far more peaceful.  Why not have more exchanges with them?

August 6th: Hiroshima, Fukushima and Global Health Summer Course

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DSC_6649
August 6th is the date of the A-Bombing of Hiroshima.

The ceremony in Hiroshima took place, as always, in the stifling heat of summer, and I have to wonder how the words offered up by Prime Minister Kan were heard by the people of Hiroshima, the people of Fukushima and the Tohoku victims.

What kind of country will Japan become?  I feel like we have been trapped in a 5-month-long nightmare.  The situation surrounding the Fukushima cleanup and its ultimate disposition is still murky.  In addition, nothing has been clarified for Tohoku in terms of how to handle the current situation on the ground, plans for the future and what will be the ultimate role of the state.  Moreover, attention seems to be more focused on what are essentially tempests in a teapot with resistance being exhibited by the old guard, generic scandals and Ministry of Trade, Economics and Industry personnel matters.  There is a growing sense that Japan is becoming a pitiful excuse for a country.

A feeling of gloom and doom is hanging over everyone because the world at large may again be on the edge of an economic collapse. Just what exactly should Japan do under such ominous circumstances?

Many people attribute the current political state of affairs to the (Japanese) public at large, but it is actually more of a push back to the tyranny of the “Cartels of the Mind.” Universities and the media (which seems to just cast ‘talent shows’ and ‘dining spots’) also bear a heavy burden.  I have repeatedly made the point in this blog, that we in Japan have been almost exclusively focused on economic growth with industries being unable to function in the globalized world of the past 20 years. I recently wrote about some of these same points in the official journals of the New Komeito and Liberal Democratic Party.

A couple of days ago, I introduced the “Global Health Human Resource Training Seminar — Global Health Summer Program 2011” (Ref. 1).

The morning of Saturday August 6th marked the end of the two-week course.  Four different teams gave presentations on the topic for this year which was policy proposals aimed at the eradication of polio throughout the world in the expansive Fukutake Lecture Hall at the University of Tokyo Hongo campus. Everyone presented well-thought-out and unique proposals and it was extremely difficult to score the presentations. A combination of the various proposals present by each of the four groups might actually make for a good project in the future.

I actually took to my bed during this two-day period, because I had an absolutely awful cold, but I woke in the morning and finally felt able to put in an appearance.

It was definitely well worth the effort, because the participants have given a lot of thought to the wheres and whys of the task at hand.  Many of them commented that they had never really given any thought to such problems before and this activity allows them to greatly expand their horizons and way of thinking.

I went to lunch with the students and many individuals who supported their activities.  Many commented that they were starting to think about their next career path from a different perspective.  It is always a pleasure to interact with those individuals who will be responsible for leading us into the future.

This event marked the gathering of a group of approximately 20 passionate and driven students, some of whom have studied in the United States and France while others have gotten real life experience in places like Africa.  I really enjoyed interacting and getting to know such students who are looking to build a global career.

I left early to get home, pack my bags, and head off to Narita to depart for Qatar.  I will be participating in the unveiling of the Academic Health System Initiative.  This undertaking is quite something particularly in the heat of the summer and at the beginning of Ramadan.

I will report back later on how things go in Qatar.

Japan’s Future, The Shining ‘Nadeshikos’

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Ever since the ‘3.11’, the establishments of Japan, i.e. governments, politics, mega companies, scientists, are somewhat weak, failing to appeal their existence in this global world.  They seem to be merely running around, not knowing what to do at this national disaster. People who will automatically think of ‘reasons why something can not be done’ will not be much of a help, especially at a time when we have to deal with such a huge issue.

You may not notice much by watching just Japanese media, but several big changes are taking place in the world today.  The great success of the ‘Nadeshiko Japan’ took place precisely at this timing when Japan was at a loss in this trend.

Recently, I had two opportunities to meet energetic ‘Nadeshikos’.

One is the annual L’Oreal Women in Science Fellowship award ceremony.   I am a member of the committee of the L’Oreal-UNESCO Women in Science Award, so I have participated in the awarding ceremony for these several years.

The venue was decorated beautifully, as always, in milk color tone which is very like L’Oreal.  I sensed that L’Oreal was working hard on PR since there were more media and cameras at the entrance than the years before.

Among the participants were the President of L’Oreal Japan and Dr. Koichiro Matsuura, former Director General of UNESCO who arranged the collaboration between UNESCO and the L’Oreal Women in Science Award while he was at the position.  Four wonderful awardees were selected this year.  In addition, a special award was presented to the Science Angels of Tohoku University.  I found out that Ms. Meisa Kuroki, a popular Japanese actress and singer, was invited to the ceremony, which explains the reason for more media persons with cameras.

Another was the International Conference for Women in Business organized by Ms. Kaori Sasaki, chair of e-Woman.  The conference started from 8 in the Saturday morning with the nice lectures by Ms. Fujiyo Ishiguro, an active business leader and Ms. Yukiko Arai, Senior Specialist at International Labor Organization.  Then, Dr. Yoko Ishikura and I had dialogue for 30 minutes which we enjoyed very much.  After the first session was a panel session titled ‘Japan’s Communication Skills’ with Ms. Ishiguro which was a wonderful opportunity to meet with lots of energetic women.  I think the percentage of men there was about 5% or so, but they were all very nice, mostly ‘out of a box type’ people, whom I very much enjoyed talking to.

I expect a lot from women, especially younger women, for the sake of the better future of Japan.  It’s ‘Nadeshikos’ that we count on.

 

Liberal Arts Education

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There were times in the past when people discussed passionately about the importance of ‘Liberal Arts’ education.  I think this is happening again recently.  Dr. Ikujiro Nonaka, a ‘guru’ of innovation (in Japanese), is also repeatedly  preaching the importance of Liberal Arts education in innovation for these several years.

ICU  is basically a rare Liberal Arts College in Japan, and this year it launched a new ‘Liberal Arts’ course as the Summer Course in a summer camp style (students staying in campus).  Since I was interested in this, I happily accepted their invitation and spent a good 80 minutes at the seminar.  ICU has a huge green campus.  Actually, I wished to study at this very new University (established in 1953) when I was a high school student.

Liberal Arts as I understand it is a way to enable you to make rational decisions or choices in your life, at times of difficulties or confusions.  Aside from detailed discussion, basically, in general, I think it is the art of understanding the basics of humanity, regardless of the difference of cultures. I remember President Faust of Harvard University making the same sort of comments when she came to Japan last year.

As I have reported in my recent blog posting, this summer, a group of Harvard College students with some college students of Japan organize an event titled; ‘This is Liberal Arts: Summer Course 2011’, and we, IMPACT Japan, is helping them.  This course is designed for the high school students, and although the course is rather short (only for 1 week), I think this sort of independent positive actions well deserve supports, not to mention the excellence of the content the Harvard students are trying to develop.  I can see that students are pouring in much effort in building the program.  My message, as I quote below, is posted on our web site in which I describe my thoughts of the Liberal Arts education.

“The aim of the HCJI-LAB Liberal Arts Program is to provide a model for life-long learning, for engaging society in meaningful ways, and for making a difference in the world. Liberal arts education draws on the rich histories of human wisdom common to all cultures, as evidenced by a nation’s philosophical, religious, scientific and social traditions. What are the values that shape the decisions we make, and what new skills are needed to respond to the challenges of rapid technological and social change in an increasingly interconnected world? By emphasizing critical thinking, freedom of expression and experimentation, students will learn to make decisions that positively impact society and to develop meaningful ways of working in a globally connected marketplace. A liberal arts education prepares students for the leadership roles that will shape future generations.”

Higher education of a speciality or two could not meet the need of nurturing future leaders.

 

A Nice Email From Tatsuya Honjo

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Starting in about April of last year, I became totally exasperated with universities due to their unchanging, unbending and unyielding mindset.  As part of my frustration, I advanced the notion of allowing students to take time off from their university studies for a quasi-sabbatical or gap year.  If you search this site for “Let Us Take a Leave of Absence From School” you will see that ever since my talk at the Keio University Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC) on April 8th 2010 that I have strongly encouraged students to take such a break.  You have probably seen many posts (Ref. 1) which talk about this subject since then.

It has been a little while since I posted my opinion in January that students should take a break from their studies and embark on travels overseas to get a taste of the world.  I say this despite the fact that I realize private universities often require a large payment of tuition fees even during such “sabbaticals”.

A number of private universities have greatly reduced the fees for students during this break from studies.  I really must express my appreciation to the university administrations.  So while I do offer my heartfelt thanks, their actions are actually no more than what should be expected.

I have just recently received a very nice email from a Tatsuya Honjo (Ref. 1) who, after hearing my talk, went off to Ghana despite the fact that he was a senior and had to halt his postgraduation job search.

Dear Dr. Kurokawa,

I hope that you are doing well.  I hope that you remember me, I am Tatsuya Honjo of Keio SFC.  I have recently take a break from university and gone to Ghana.

After thoroughly thinking over all the things that I have experienced in Ghana, I have recently decided that I will accept a full-time position in a company.  Thus, I will be working at Nissan Motors beginning next year. 

Nissan truly has a diversified workforce at the highest levels including female employees and foreign employees who have entered mid-career.

I think that in today’s global society that we are in a situation where it is important to study the various philosophies and approaches as part of deciding how we will live our lives in a manner that conforms to our own values.

By leaving Japan and coming into contact with value systems which are not found in Japan, I was able to understand, with all my being, the importance of living based on my own internal measuring stick. 

This was all the result of hearing about your recommendation to take time off from my school studies.

In the same vein, since I will be graduating in September of this year, and I have a whole six months before I have to start working in April of next year, I have decided to make the most of this time as a kind of “gap year.”

                                                                                Tatsuya Honjo

 

He seems like an entirely different person.  I really get a sense of confidence coming through what he has written.  I know that his parents were probably worried and anxious, but I really want to offer my congratulations.  I suspect that his parents were quite displeased with me due to pushing their son into a non-conventional career path.

There are a number of companies that hire this type of youth who have finally opened their eyes to their surroundings and the rest of the world.  Students should not focus all their energies and attention on just trying to secure employment, but also give some thought to the possibility of taking a leave of absence through organizations such as AIESEC. 

We should spread the word about the existence of companies that view these activities as a matter of course in their potential employees.  These companies have a value system which should be respected and are actually nothing out of the ordinary in the global world.

Companies also need to think about approaches other than simply interviewing and hiring university juniors and seniors en masse.  Society at large looks at corporation evaluations including actions such as rescinding of job offers.  This is one of the important points of CSR.  An impact is slowly being felt on evaluations. 

Work opportunities for the youth of today are not limited to Japan.  Thus, everyone should at least consider taking a leave of absence and taking on the challenges of going overseas, if even for a short period of time.