St Gallen Symposium

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Click here for the photos of St Gallen town

From Washingon DC to Zurich via London Heathrow, and then about 50 min. on car, I arrived at the beautiful town of St Gallen at about 4pm, May 11th.  Swiss in May is beautiful, and the weather is wonderful (but unfortunately it was raining tonight and tomorrow’s forecast is cloudy plus rain).  I took a walk around the town for a while.  Asparagus is in season at the market now.  In the evening, I went to the reception.

This is my third participation at the St Gallen Symposium, first in 2007 (in Japanese) and second in 2008.  The Symposium has a history of 41 years, and everything is organized by the students of St Gallen University.

The purpose of this event is an ambitious one; to invite global leaders in business and other sectors to talk and exchange views with the youths.  The age range of participants broadened a bit from last year- focusing graduate students and young people up to 30 years old from the original focus to undergraduate students, plus a special group of people categorized as the ‘Future Leaders’.

I am very pleased to see more Japanese students coming each year.  Selection of the participants are through submission of English essays. Quite a number of foreign students studying in Japan also join in the ‘Japan slot’.  This is good.

This event is hosted by undergraduate students of the St Gallen University.  They are all dressed properly, very good mannered, and take care of things in a crisp, friendly way.  Their hospitality makes the overall atmosphere quite pleasant.

I think it is wonderful that the students meet many global leaders in person and the future leaders-to-be who are of the same generation as the students.  Through the process of planning this event, they meet many people, effectively broaden views, recognize the difference, or find their own goals. 

The theme of this year’s Symposium was ‘Just Power’  (Ref.1).

I participated in the Work Session2；　What values for a world out of joint?   It turned out to be a very lively, enjoyable session because I limited my talk to just 20 minutes, focusing on major prospectives of world affairs, and spent rest of the time in dialogue with the audience.

Then I had a couple of interviews, and after dinner I continued to enjoy talking with young people until late at night (at around 1am).  Basically, I make it my policy to focus on young people in my activities.

The Symposium had many good panels; such as ‘One-on-one: Ribal Al-Assad’ in the morning of 12th,  the two sessions in the beginning of 13th;
‘Mega-Diplomacy’ by Parag Khanna and a panel on 'War and Peace at Edgy Times'.  I learned a lot from these exciting sessions.

I was interviewed by Dr. Khanna (Ref.1) and his wife last year in Tokyo.  They are both journalists/researchers – quite an impressive couple.  His new book ‘How to Run the World: Charting a Course to the Next Renaissance’  published early this year is causing a sensation.  Of course I purchased a copy at once.  It was a pleasant surprise to see him at St Gallen as I was corresponding with him via emails only a month ago, yet did not expect him to see him here.

The panel on ‘War and Peace’ was somewhat humorous since the panelists talked so much making the host to be at a loss.  Dr. Galtungs known for peace and conflict studies was especially outstanding here.  I think Norway is a great country in that it produces so many people such as Dr. Galtungs.  Considering its (small) population, Norway seems to have a high rate of producing such global leader personality as Drs Godal  of Global Health or Brundtland, who serve as the leaders of international arena by continuously working to address the difficult issues of the world.  In a way, it is like having 50-100 Ms Sadako Ogatas in one nation.  I wonder whether this has to do with their being home to the Nobel Peace Prize Conferring Institution, or they have a tradition of dedicating to such activities…
  
By the way, at a meeting like this, the way the participants speak, their expressions, their witty dialogues in particular, are something to learn from.  For example, Q&A session is a very good time for such learning.  Putting aside whether you speak as good as they, being present at such place at an early stage of life provides you a wonderful opportunity to think about your goals, or to realize that there are so many wonderful colleagues just about your age.  There are many opportunities outside, so I urge all of you youths to seize any opportunity, and go out to the broad world.

Browse through the various web sites of the St Gallen Symposium and enjoy the videos and photos.

Sadly, I had to say Sayonara to St Gallen in the morning of the 2nd day, to fly back to Japan.

 

Two Lessons from the Visit of Dr Basri: Taking Children to the Disaster Hit Area, Mr Kazuhiko Toyama’s Company

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I have explained to you about how Dr Basri arrived with a very short notice to Japan  on Saturday, April 23rd.

Dr Basri arrived at Haneda airport from NYC via Narita airport.  We had a briefing for 30 min. from around 4:30pm, and I saw the 3 Basris off for Akita airport.  From Akita airport, a car picked them up and took them across the Tohoku district to Miyako city at midnight and I received an e-mail report of their arrival right after they safely checked in to the Jodogahama Park Hotel (Ref 1).  (Both links are in Japanese).

The next day, they visited several disaster stricken areas, handed the aid goods they brought from US, and spent the last night at Morioka city.  Early in the next Morning (Monday), they left Morioka for a flight to Haneda Airport via Akita Airport.  I invited them to our office of HGPI, and had a de-briefing for about 30 min.  I heard that the cherry blossoms were beautiful at Tohoku.  Dr Basri and I busily continued discussion near the Tokyo Station and then hurried to the station to catch the Narita Express for 13:33, which they intended to board.  However, the train did not run because of the schedule change due to electricity saving, so they had to buy tickets for a different train, and I finally succeeded in seeing them off to Narita.  I am glad that I was able to attend them all the way to the platform of the station.

Dr. Basri took his two children to the stricken area of Japan because he believes that being at the site in person; to see, walk, and feel the place first handedly, is very important and practiced his belief.  This is the basics of education, and I was very impressed by his action.  Their trip was for 3 days and 2 nights in Japan, a hard packed schedule, but the children were very tough and high spirited.

The request by Dr Basri was challenging in that it was such a short notice, and the place was hit by the great disaster  which made everything quite difficult.  I was able to satisfy his request in only 2 days somehow, because I remembered Mr Kazuhiko Toyama (please search by the key word ‘Kazuhiko Toyama’ in this site), a person whom I have introduced to you so many times here in my blog.
　
Immediately after the quake and Tsunami, Mr Toyama called me on phone.  He said that one of his companies, Fukushima-Kotsu (in Japanese) ‘need many radiation detectors to ensure the safety of the bus drivers (from the nuclear plant radiation)’ and he asked for my advice.  From our conversation, I was told then that he also manages the Iwate Prefecture North Bus Company, Ibaragi Transportations, and Jodogahama Park Hotel  so I called him for his help.  Mr Toyama kindly arranged entire itinerary in two days and sent instructions to make the trip of Dr Basri and his children possible.  Dr Basri was very happy about it.

I was impressed with the speed of Mr. Toyama’s arrangement, the courteousness and attentiveness of the local staff such as sending us confirmation of the arrival of the guests.  Mr. Toyama cared much about his bus drivers from the beginning of the nuclear breakdown, and I heard that the effect of the disaster to the bus operation was kept to minimum.

My point is that this is how business leaders should be, the basic focus required of good executives.  Mr. Toyama put into action his ‘the driver comes first’ philosophy even in this crisis, and I was impressed by his conduct.

There are many who speak or write such ideals, but I learned from this event that the true value/quality of leaders  (Ref 1) is unveiled at time of such unexpected crises depending on what actions they take.

This value/quality of a leader has to do with the ‘ability to fail’, a character that must be earned through overcoming of many failures in their young age.

More and More Dynamic Actions to Expand Links to the World

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East Japan Disaster and the actions of Japan to respond to this is a huge challenge which will determine the future of this nation.  The 'strength' and 'weakness' of Japan have been clearly seen not only in Japan but by the people of the world.  I don’t know how well Japanese people understand the background and the basis for those ‘strength’ and ‘weakness’ of Japan, but I do suspect that everyone thinks that ‘something is wrong’.  It goes without saying that ‘transparency’ is the basis of trust in this flattening, interconnected global world.  However, it seems that ‘Japan Inc’ is not disclosing the first hand information nor original data to the public and the stakeholders at press briefings or press conferences.  Subsequently the reactions of the stakeholders will be late, which will trigger damaging their trust to the government, eventually leading to a vicious circle.

For democracy to function, it is indispensable that broad range of information be distributed widely to the citizens, so that they have options to choose from in making decisions.

In this context, I would like to share with you my experience at two unique gatherings.

One is a dinner meeting with Mr. Robert Thompson, the Editor in Chief of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Mr. Jacob Schlesinger, the Japan Editor in Chief, their co-workers, and 7 or so of the ‘global minded leaders’ invited from Japanese government, businesses, or academics.  The discussion was heated from the beginning.  Naturally so, because they have been, for a long time, concerned and working to solve the problem of Japan’s so-to-say ‘mal adaptation syndrome’ to the globalization.  Since all discussions are ‘off-the ?record’, I have to have their names remain undisclosed.

By the way, participants from WSJ other than the Editor in Chief and Japan Editor in Chief, were several core staffs who all happened to be females.  These staffs had a very nice impression on us.  ‘This’, again, shows what we need to revitalize Japan.

Another one.  Foreigners working in Japan organized a joint networking event with CCJ- Chamber of Commerce of Japan (I serve this year as the ambassador of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan …) in support of several NGOs of disaster relief.  The gathering was named ‘Giving Back to Japan’ and many Chambers of Commerce in Japan of the world participated.

I was given the honor of being invited to deliver a Keynote speech, and so chose the title of ‘Re-inventing Japan’.  This disaster is a ‘crisis’, and we must make it an ‘opportunity’ for not only putting into action many ideas to ‘reform’ Japan that were raised but remained undone, but also for ‘opening up Japan’ to the world.  This is the best way to honor the diseased.  It is crucial that we focus on nurturing ‘Global citizens’  (Ref.1,2)in the process of helping youths build their future career.  I introduced the activities of ‘Impact Japan’ which we founded for such goals.  I was, in return, introduced to people working for the children in disaster hit areas such as KnK Children Without Boarders or PA International .

The reception was very successful.  Another such gathering is scheduled to be held 6 months from now.

Let us cooperate with the people of the world and expand the links of networks – for ourselves and for the sake of youths, who will build the future of Japan.

 

Encounter at San Diego and An Unexpected Reunion

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IMG_3046 

I posted the other day on a meeting in San Diego in early April.

In one of the panels at the meeting, I talked about Project Hope, a Disaster Relief Project for the East Japan Disaster.  One of the participants came to me after the panel to ask about the details, and we had some discussion over what we have been doing with Project Hope.   The person was Dr Raymond Basri from New York.  He had a strong interest in disaster relief, and had participated in many disaster relief activities in the past including Afghan Wars and Hurricane Katrina.  Dr. Basri is also known for taking leadership at the ditching of an airbus at the Hudson River, New York City.

Dr. Basri and I have been exchanging e-mails several times, and then, I suddenly received an e-mail from him saying that “I plan to come to Japan 4 days from now, and hope to bring my daughter (an undergraduate) and son (a high school student) with me to visit the stricken area.  My daughter accompanied me at the Katrina time, but my son has no experience yet of being at the disaster area…”

I have been involved for these 3 weeks in the collaboration with Project Hope, ie, 3 doctors in the team 2, for 3 times to the stricken area.  We had meetings before and after each visit for briefing and de-briefing of their reports and following discussions.

With this background, I was fortunate enough to have help from many related people, and managed to have Dr Basri and his children arrive today at Narita, in the afternoon of Saturday, 4 days after receiving his e-mail.  They then transited to Haneda (it was at this point that I finally succeeded in getting in touch with them by e-mail and cell phone - truly at the very last minute…) where I met the three (photo above) before getting on board the flight to Akita.  I had 30 minutes for briefing and handing the local maps.  They will be picked up by a car from Akita to Miyako-city.  All of the arrangements were completed just a day before their arrival, very risky, but we somehow managed.  The family was to arrive at Miyako-city at midnight.

On Sunday, the next day, Dr Basri and his family visited a number of places, and we asked the people at the site to distribute the supplies he brought.

After staying two nights at the area on Saturday and Sunday, they will be leaving for New York from Narita in the late afternoon of Monday.

I thank all who kindly helped me for the arrangement despite such a very short notice.

At San Diego ? Gathering With the Youths

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On the day before the last day of San Diego, I had a small get-together party from 9 pm with young Japanese who study at UCSD and work at other places. 

Among those who came, 5 people were undergraduates at UCSD, 7 were students at the graduate school, and the rest were those working at venture businesses.  Several of them were the same people as those who came in February when I was here (Ref.1), but for those who were not able to make it then, it was a good opportunity for us all.  We had so much to talk about that time just flew to midnight..
 
Students came from various backgrounds.  For example, the 4 out of 5  undergraduate school were exchange students from Keio, Gakusyu-in, and ICU, and the remaining one student came to U.S. after high school..  All students were wonderfully energetic.  By the way, 4 of five were female.
 
On the other hand, most of the graduate students were enrolled in the Master’s course.  They were originally from the Japanese government and public offices.  A few ‘independent’ PhD course students joined us, too. One whom I know for some time was an American from CONNECT, also joined our last gathering of February.

So, we used as the common language ‘broken English’, but actually all spoke pretty  good English (many of them lived some time overseas in their childhood ? it would be hard to get along with all the classes without a reasonable command of English).  Everybody had lots to say.  Half of the students were female.  They were all very energetic.

For your information, Maki-kun posted a report about this gathering with a photo attached on his blog (in Japanese).  Thanks.

The topic naturally included the recent quake and tsunami disaster, including the ways how the Japanese government and TEPCO responded on Fukushima nuclear power plants.  I noticed that the students had many points of views which only “independent observers from ‘outside’” will have.  This is no wonder, since they are all living away from Japan as an ‘individual’
 
As I have been pointing out repeatedly in this blog and elsewhere, the best way to have eyes and senses to see and feel Japan objectively in the global context is to go ‘out’ as an ‘individual’, and better while you are young.  It is very important to do so if you wish to develop good sense of ‘global citizen’ and own career.

That being said, however, the largest concerns of the undergraduate students were the anticipated handicaps they risk for ‘job hunting in Japan’. This doesn’t make any sense.  I have to say that they are being mind controlled.  Isn’t this awful?  Tomorrow’s world is a world where the values are very different from the values of today and the past.  In a ‘flat’ world (and the world is inevitably going to increase the speed of ‘flattening’), ‘uniqueness’ or ‘being different/distinct’ is a positive value, that would be considered as the strength of each individual.  There is no sense in limiting ‘field of work/actions’ to Japan only.  Such were the points I made.

Then we had various discussions on how to build careers, and I think we succeeded in sharing some specific images.

I carried several copies with me of my book with Yoko Ishikura, ‘How to Build a Global Career’ to distribute.  Also, I informed them that her new book ‘Global Career ? How to Find a Unique You’  (published in Japanese only) will be coming soon, but actually, the book was published precisely on that same day.

I look forward to seeing how the future of youths such as they will be.  These people are truly the big asset of Japan.

 

American College of Physicians: From San Diego

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Here I am in San Diego to attend the annual meeting of the American College of Physicians (ACP).  Last year it was in Toronto.  This is my 3rd visit to Southern California (Ref.1) this year.

Since we founded ACP Japan Chapter 8 years ago, I have served as the Governor for two terms, which was an exceptional arrangement.  I am relieved that I am leaving this position of the Governor this year without any problems. 

During these 8 years, the Japan Chapter grew to have more than 1,000 members, with significant increase in Student Members and Associate Members.  Some of our activities focus on education, on female doctors, and on volunteerism, some of which led to ACP awards which I take as the manifestation of recognition by ACP of the Japan Chapter.  I thank all members and leadership of Japan Chapter for their dedications.

Because of the East Japan Disaster, the annual meeting of The Japanese Society of Internal Medicine was cancelled.  Subsequently the ACP Japan Chapter meeting which is annually held during the same period welcoming the President of the ACP was postponed at present..

Consequently, not as many Japanese members were able to join the meeting in San Diego this year.  However, at the Convocation of new Fellows, 5 physicians from Japan (among them was Dr. Gremillion, a leader of the medical education at Kameda Hospital, who organizes annually a highly stimulating session named ‘Clear at a Glance (Ichimoku Ryozen)’ at the Japan Chapter meeting) were present. As they stood in response to the announcement of the name of Chapter ‘Japan’, I was touched by a long and warm applause that arose from the entire audience filling this large auditorium…

I participated in 3 panels; a student from Yokohama City University who was selected for the poster session joined,. as well as Drs. Ishiyama and Kato whom I saw last year were also present.  Drs. Ishiyama and Kato are currently working as ‘hospitalists’ (in Japanese) in medical centers in St. Louis.  They both happen to work at the same city but did not know each other until I introduced them to each other last year at Toronto.  I was happy with the reunion.

The reception of the Japan Chapter turned out to be a very nice gathering thanks to the attendance of many friends of the Japan Chapter, including former and current Presidents of the ACP; their presence are customary every year to our Japan Chapter annual meetings since our inauguration eight years ago.

However, like others, I could not get my mind off from what was going on in Japan, so I kept myself pretty busy getting in touch and talking on phone with people at American Academies, Japan Embassy in Washington DC, or other related contacts.

I had an impression that although everyone was concerned with the damages done by the tsunami, in terms of the nuclear problems, they were worrying more about the ways of Japanese authorities and leadership.

Getting to know people across national borders, making friends with them and building trusts between each other is an asset that I would never exchange for anything.

 

The Truth of Elites Becomes Clear at the Time of Crises

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The great disaster and the following nuclear breakdown.  Now, Japan is truly in the “great national crisis”.

I have posted several columns since March 25th.  Now, how has the government been responding to this unprecedented disaster?

An article on the Asahi Newspaper, April 2nd edition, ‘Opinion Kohron 3.11’, featured views of several people in this regard.  Among them was a comment by Kazuhiko Toyama titled ‘Everything for the Sake of the Children’.  Mr. Toyama, a good friend of mine, whom I have introduced to you several times in my site, published recently an inspiring book ‘Restoration of Companies and Capacity to Fail’ (published in Japanese only)  on the essence of organizations and human behavior and leadership..  Toyama-san gave me a phone call right after the disaster to tell me about his concerns on the effect of radiation to the employees of the company he is currently heading. Please search by the key word ‘Kazuhiko Toyama’ in this site.  He is one of the businessmen I deeply respect. 

I quote below the view of Toyama-san as expressed in the Asahi newspaper, because I think they are very straight forward, worth reading opinions.

 “Everything is ‘For the Sake of the Children’; Kazuhiko Toyama (CEO, Industrial Growth Platform, Inc.)

  • I became directly involved, too.  Three local bus operating companies in Fukushima, Ibaragi, and Iwate are our subsidiaries.  In total, we have 2,100 employees and 1,200 buses there.  Although they were damaged just like others, they immediately resumed operation and helped numerous people evacuate from the nuclear power plant zone and transporting medical relief teams.
  • But fuels were not enough.  I tried to get help from the Prime Minister’s office, related ministries, or legislators whom I knew in person.  But they were very slow in responding.
  • The quake hit in March 11th.  Government announced their decision to withdraw oil reserves on 14th and expanded the volume of the withdrawal on 22th.  During this time span, many people ran to buy stocks.  When a broad area of cold district is struck by a huge disaster, it is perfectly clear that fuel will be the key to the survival of people.  Then why did it take so long for the government to make the decision?
  • After negotiating directly with the Japanese legislators, government officials, and companies, I could not help but to strongly sense the existence of a serous problem in the quality of people belonging to the elite class.
  • ‘Have to consult the authorities’, ‘There are no such requests from the prefectures’, ‘Your suggestion does not satisfy our requisites’- such were the reactions I encountered.  Their conducts were nothing but self-defense, desire to save face, shifting responsibility to others.
  • Directions and orders were coming from everywhere in different manners.  I went to a certain place as directed, but nothing was arranged as they have said it would.  When I told them our problems, the issue was hit to places all over like a ball in a pinball machine.
  • As for the fuel and supplies, I think the government should have asked at a very early stage, to the unaffected area, to withhold purchase for a certain period of time.  Likewise, the government should have announced clearly the safety or danger of the area within 30km distance from the nuclear power plant, or the degree of radioactive contamination of vegetables or water.  Comments such as; ‘They are not perfectly safe, but are quite all right’, is no good at all. 
  • For a long time, we had those ‘elite’ people who are incapable of taking risks or making decisions to the head positions as our leaders in politics, governments, and businesses.  As the result, we have rotten this country from the head.  I got such an awful feeling within me.
  • Most of those elites graduated from Todai or other top universities.  They earned excellent grades at school, are courteous in nature, good at adjusting differences of opinions, thus have climbed up the ladder of the organizations by acting as a good person.  However, once a crisis hits them, they are never able to make hard decisions because they are afraid of being criticized.  These elites try to get away from taking responsibilities.  So, nothing will move.
  • Making decision involves forcing someone or some part some sacrifice  If you can not do this, you do not qualify as a leader.   If you have to postpone making decisions at critical moments, you are much less incapable of making judgments at normal situations.  I suggest that all government offices, companies, political parties review their current human resources
  • At this difficult time, in the political, public, or financial sectors of the society, who was doing their job and who wasn’t?  Who escaped from their responsibilities?  I trust that you reporters and journalists witnessed everything.  People need to know the truths.  I urge you, people in the media, to record and report later all of what happened.
  • I think that the most important thing to do from now on, in the process of the nation’s recovery, is to judge all policies or plans by one criteria; ‘Is it good for the children or not?’. Also, ask not ‘what your country can do for you?’ but ‘what you can do for the future of your country?  It is our responsibility to choose the leaders who are brave enough to ask those questions to the Japanese people.
  • In this context, I recommend assigning younger people in their 30th or under to the restructuring of the towns or even the nation.  Since they are expected to survive some 50 years from now, I think they should be the ones to be given the rights to decide things for the future.
  • The older generations will be tested on how much they can make sacrifice for the younger generations, how much they can give up their vested interests which they have been taking for granted.  Pensions, health cares, seniority based promotions, or life long employments…  It is very important that they make sacrifices.  All policies and revival plans should put first the future of our children.
  • By the way, the buses of our company managed to keep on running.  It was because that there were, although few, legislators and government officials who did their job to the end, until the goals were achieved.  Also, we had helps on the site from our fellow transportation businessmen who shared their gas and other necessities with us.
  • It is the people on the site who deserve praises.  Seeing the great motivation and devotion manifested by my employees almost made me cry.  They revived the bus operation of the route from Morioka to Miyako, the most damaged area, in just 5 days from the quake, and the seats of the first bus were fully occupied by the young people (who would look so nowadays in normal situation), carrying tons of aids goods.  These young people are definitely not what people label as the herbivorous species (Soshoku-kei).
  • The strength of Japan is apparently the common people who are so patient and willing to make sacrifices.  Those working on the site are also wonderful.  The Self-Defense Forces (Jieitai) and fire departments are doing great jobs. At the government, the section heads and people below are especially making good efforts, not to mention those officials working hard at the local offices.
  • When a devastating crises hit, whether a company or a nation, the hidden problems show up all of a sudden.  This however, in a way, is a great chance.  I want to make this disaster work as leverage for the creation of the future of Japan.  The race just started and the winner is yet to be decided.”

 (Interviewer, Editor Masaaki Tonedachi
The Asahi Newspaper, page 13, April 2 (Sat). 2011)

The Strength and Weakness of Japan; Truth Unveils at the Time of Crises

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The quake and tsunami caused unimaginable disaster or devastation; and on top of that the damage done to the Fukushima nuclear power plant is adding to the already enough troubles.  At the time of such unexpected crises, whether in a nation or an organization, its true value – its strengths and weaknesses - will be uncovered.  Because information is open in this web age, there is no way that you can hide anything from the world.
 
So, what are your thoughts?

During the first week ot two, Japanese television and newspapers repeatedly reported the horrible status of the tsunami hit areas, cities and towns.  Were it not for the web, it was almost impossible even to imagine what was actually going on at the sites.  To put it flatly, the coverage by the Japanese media seemed to be no different from the ‘The Official Government Briefings’ in Japan during the wartime (which has later become synonymous with ‘unreliable information source’).  At the beginning, all coverage were the same in any newspapers or multiple television channels.  Comments by the so-called ‘experts’ clearly reflected directions from backstage.  The official statements by the government were announced through Mr. Edano, Vice Cabinet Minister, at the press meeting. Although I feel he has devoted his utmost efforts, because of the highly technical nature of the matter as well as the difficulty which the government seem to have in reaching to consensus, I find many of his comments difficult to comprehend. We must also understand that the press briefings by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) are also being closely watched not only by the Japanese but also by the world.

The media coverage of Japan is no good either.  Basically they are all the same.  Of course, the ‘Press Club System’ which is an antique is one problem (a kind of cronies club), but I find many questions that the reporters raise to be out of place, which is a waste of people’s limited time.  I seriously think that the television crew should shoot the image of the people who raise questions, too.
 
The whole world is also watching how the Japanese government is handling this crisis.  It is broadly known that Japanese as a language is not logical, however, given that premise, the world still thinks that the content of the press briefs by the official government is not giving or disclosing data or real substances.

Internationally, the handling of the nuclear power damages naturally has been a major point of concern, but we are disappointing them with incomprehensible explanations, unclear reports of what are happening.  I even fear that now the credibility of Japan as a nation is facing the risk of meltdown.

Where is the ‘political leadership’ of Japan?  Has it disappeared or has it never existed?

What are the weakness and strength of Japan?  My analysis is that the local and front people working on the site are strong and have demonsrated their each own best efforts in hugely difficult circumstances, but the leaders, although they may be smart, are not capable of responding to crisis because, for one thing, they do not have on site experience of disasters.

As you know from my past postings, I follow The Economist, and more recently (after the quake) the New York Times and other global media for detailed information.  Variety of views are introduced there, but as a whole, I think people are impressed with the quick actions taken by common Japanese people, firemen, the Self Defense Forces of Japan, NGOs, or the founders of companies.  However, they are questioning and monitoring the risk management ability of the Japanese government, TEPCO, or NISA ? the executives of Japanese organizations.
1.http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/VOA-Reporters-Reflection-on-Japanese-Tragedy-119013669.html
2. http://www.economist.com/node/18441143?story_id=18441143
3.http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2011/03/post-earthquake_nuclear_crisis&fsrc=nwl　

It is our responsibility to create together a new Japan after spending in vain the ‘lost two decades’.  I trust that this is the best way to honor our loved ones whose lives were so tragically taken away by this great disaster.

 

Collaboration with CSIS and Congressional Briefing: A New Process

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Our HGPI (Health and Global Policy Institute) have been hosting Health Summit every February and for this year it was held on February 26th.

We launched this year a collaboration project on Health Policy with CSIS （Center for Strategic and International Studies）, a well known Think Tank based in Washington DC.  This collaboration has been our hope and issue since last year.

The background of this collaboration is that Dr Brian Biles of CSIS participated in our Health Summit last year, and HGPI co-hosted an international conference last June in London under the title of ‘Transition from G8 to G20: Health and Development’ with CSIS and Chatham House (an established British Think Tank).

We had a preliminary meeting at the Congressman Hall room on February 25th with influential Japanese legislators and the CSIS team Stephen Morrison , Brian Biles.  Also participating in the meeting were the specialists of the project – Professor Gerard Anderson of Johns Hopkins University and Professor Ikegami of Keio University for ‘hospital payments’, Professor John Hamelka of Harvard (he has a wonderful blog site) and Professor Akiyama (in Japanese) of the University of Tokyo for IT and health record and patient safety.

A number of legislators with good knowledge of healthcare policy shared their valuable time with us; Mr. Otsuji (in Japanese)(LDP, former Minister of Health and Welfare), Dr. Sakaguchi (in Japanese)(New Komeito, former Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare), Mr. Seko (in Japanese) (LDP), Mr. Kan Suzuki (in Japanese)(DPJ, Senior Vice Minister of Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, Japan), Dr. Adachi (in Japanese)(DPJ, former Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Labour and Welfare), Dr. Umemura (in japanese)(DPJ), and Mr. Konishi (in Japanese)(DPJ).  I thank them all for their participation and good, productive discussion.

We also invited several people from business and mass media.  Dr. David Bowen of the Gates Foundation happened to be in Tokyo, so we asked him to come as well.  Dr. Bowen worked for many years as the policy staff for Senator Edward Kennedy so he has a good knowledge of how healthcare policies work or how legislators develop and manage the process of legislation.

I think that this is the very first case that policymaking process like this took place in Japan.  It is the first time that an independent think tank of Japan and the United States collaborated in policymaking, and in its process, set up a Congressional Briefing session with nonpartisan legislators at the Japanese congress auditorium.  Next meeting of this CSIS-HGPI project will be held in Washington DC on July 14th, at the timing where a large framework is worked out.

I hope that this event will eventually become one of the new steps of legislation process in Japan

‘Kaisya Ishin (Restoration of Companies)’ and ‘Zasetsu-ryoku (Capacity to Fail)’ by Kazuhiko Toyama

Posted on by kiyoshi kurokawa

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Kazuhiko Toyama is known for his direct comments and actions.

His books "Company rots from its head (published in Japanese only)" or "Tenacity of one finger decided the contest (published in Japanese only)" might give you an impression that he is a radical, but I consider his works as clarifying the essence of the issues, and presenting to you views worth listening to.

He published a new book last year titled ‘Restoration of Companies ? A Guidebook to Capitalism in the Transition Period (published in Japanese only)’.  In this book, he makes his points very clear on what we must hold as the core values of capitalism and enterprise.  I found many parts where he clarifies things I did not understand well before.  Of course, since the book is on ‘cores’ and ‘essence’, he discusses not only about how a company should be organized, but also presents many keen observations about society as a whole.  Therefore, I strongly recommend reading this book not only to businesspeople, but also to those in the government sector or academia ? or anyone who is in positions responsible for running organizations in our society.

I said on twitter; ‘The book is a ‘must’ to all businesspeople.  But I also recommend it to officers, legislators, or anyone.  Don’t argue with me, just read the book because it concerns essential issues regarding the problems we have.’  I later found that someone read it right away and posted a comment on his blog . I was thrilled.  Thank you so much for your action.

Some of you may remember my recent posting on ‘failure’ (in Japanese) in which I mentioned this new book by Toyama, ‘Capacity to Fail (published in Japanese only).

Again, this book is great.  Like in other books, he writes in a light but firm tone, how important it is for any individual to experience a failure.  He lists about 50 (actually, 52…) valuable lessons to be learned by failing in something especially in your early stage of life.  In short, he talks about having a ‘backbone’.

The importance of learning lessons by experiencing a failure is significant.  One learns a lot from the process of overcoming failure.  Manuals are no good for such learning.  Come to think of it, the proverbs that exist in all parts of the world reflect such wisdom.

I recommend this book, especially to young people.  Old people might find hints here on how to support youth, things they can do for the young people, by reflecting on the paths they, the old people, have gone through.

It doesn’t make sense to regard someone as ‘no-good’ just because the person failed to get a job in the year they graduated.  Only Japanese society has such an employment system.

Everyone, please support the youth so that we may create a society that has opportunities for the future.