Mr. Saisho of the Dragon Cherry Blossoms and the ‘Dream Award 2010’ by Watami Co., Ltd.

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On December 21st, I posted a column titled ‘The Dragon Cherry Blossoms (in Japanese) of Dhaka – They Did it Again’, which I wrote on 20th.

The main character of this story, Mr. Saisho, passed the screening of the ‘Dream Award 2010’ (in Japanese) from so many candidates to remain among the 5 finalists, and on 21th, the day after I drafted the above column, the final speech competition took place at Hibiya Public Auditorium.  I heard about this from Mr. Saisho himself because I met him the day before, on 20th near Hibiya, where the event took place.
 
I was told by the organizer that the speech by the wonderful 5 finalists were all very moving, but surprisingly Mr. Saisho won both the ‘Best Watami Dream Award’ and ‘Special Watami Award’ (in Japanese).  Mr. Saisho’s presentation can be seen on the web (in Japanese) within the timeframe of  01:57:55-02:12:33 and the announcement of the winners during 02:19:15-02:25:30.

A transcript of the interview of Mr. Saisho (in Japanese) is on the web, too.

The Dragon Cherry Blossoms is an outstanding project in terms of its scope, the big gap between now and the goal, and the strong ability to take actions to carryout the plans.

The impact of this project is huge because they, together with the youths of the poor village in Bangladesh, actually proved in real life that a big dream can become true.

I sent an e-mail to Mr. Saisho right away to say ‘I am proud of you.  But let’s be careful not to be too flattered by those series of good things that keep happening recently.’  The next day, he sent me a reply: ‘Yes, I will keep telling myself that praise is the biggest trap!’.  Good!

He will leave for Dahka on December 26th.

I wrote an e-mail to him: ‘Have a nice holiday season in Dhaka. Take care’.

The Dragon Cherry Blossoms of Dhaka – They Did it Again!

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This is another entry about Mr. Saisho (in Japanese), a Waseda University student. He’s been on leave from school for two years working in Bangladesh. I’ve written about him several times here.  Mr. Saisho has been working on a great project that brings hope to a poor village in Bangladesh. The project uses e-education to assist and empower youth in preparing for entrance exams for top Bangladesh universities. Preparation for these exams is usually class-driven; Mr Saisho and his colleagues are helping to lesson obstacles for the poorer. 

Two students succeeded in the exam. The news  was reported on the local newspaper under a bold heading.  Japanese media has been covering this news as well.  Mr. Saisho and his friends started this project two yeas ago and later gave it an ambitious name: ‘Grameen Change Maker Program’.

What happened to the other students?  Well, I received a follow up e-mail from Mr. Saisho yesterday.  According to his message, two more students passed the exams.

 "Dr. Kurokawa,

Here is more good news.  Two male students passed the entrance exam to the Teachers College of Comilla University, the 5th best national university in Bangladesh!!!

Below is the summary to date.

Accepted to University of Dhaka, the No.1 National University:
Bhuran Uddian Helal (male)
1,276th of 36,000 applicants

Accepted to Jagannath University, the No.3 National University:
Jaren Akter (female)
2,000th of 70,000 applicants

Accepted to Comilla University (Teachers College), the No.5 National University:
Muhamad Hossian (male)
480th of 40,000 applicants

Accepted to Comilla University (Teachers College), the No.5 National University:
MD Jafor Ahmed (male)
270th of 70,000 applicants

Each student passed with high scores!

Here, people are praising the achievement by calling it a ‘miracle in Hamchar village’

Now, people are curious to know more about the Dragon Cherry Blossoms e-Education method ? to learn the secret of how the village high school students succeeded in passing the university entrance exams with such high scores.

Sincerely,
Atsuyoshi Saisho”

For all those elderly who look down upon our youth, what do you think of this? Youths today are not in as bad of a place as you think. They are actually reliable and know exactly what they are doing.

Just giving them a small nudge from behind, like encouraging them to take a leave of absence from school and go abroad, is enough to make them go and see the new broad world, to find issues, and to challenge the issues bravely.

I advise youths to not be afraid of failures.  Have ambition and courage to challenge high goals. Try, and when you fail, learn your lessons from your failure and try again.  This is the key.  In short, it is ‘No Failure, no success’.

It is this young population that we want and that we are always looking for.  Are they not the human asset – the human resource whom the society, companies, and Japan as a nation need?  They are what we would call the ‘nails that stick out (Deru Kui)’, people who are not restricted to the commonsense of the Japanese society.

This is the reason why I so strongly recommend taking leave of absence from school.   We should give the youth opportunities to be aware of their possibilities.  As I always say, Japan is only a part of the wide world.

For you, readers, I would like to remind you that there are so many ways of helping such youth.  I ask for your warm support.

Qatar Foundation Annual Research Forum

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After finishing the panel at Tunis, I left the hotel in late afternoon.  Arriving at Doha, Qatar via Dubai at 6:30 am, I checked in at Sheraton again.  I was here this past June (Ref.1), too.  This time, it was right when Qatar won the 2022 World Cup Bid.

My travel was by the invitation of Qatar Foundation Annual Research Forum which will be held for two days.  The Qatar Foundation  (Ref.1) is one of the major institutions of Qatar focused on development of good education. Her Highness herself is the devoted driver of its activities, some of which have already produced great results. For example,  the research laboratories of Cornell University, Carnegie Mellon University, Texas A&M University are all built on the huge premise of the Foundation.
 
Because this was their first Forum, the main purpose was to introduce the Qatar Foundation to the world.  The Foundation attracted many participants this year.  This country is very young, to begin with.  And the nation is also very dedicated to human resource development, with the initiatives of the Qatar University.  They are keen to education because they know that, although they are rapidly accumulating wealth as one of the major energy exporting nations of the world of gas and oil, the final resource this small island nation will be able to depend on for its future is the human resource.

Qatar is also a nation that protects and supports culture and art.  A good example of this is the Museum of Islamic Art, which I have spoken about before on this site.

The Forum opened at 9am with the speech of Her Highness, the Queen.  Between the programs, I enjoyed reading posters (especially those by the students).  I was also a jury member that presided over the presentations of Biomedical Science researches. Dr. Elias Zerhouni （former Director of NIH）, Dr. Peter Agre (a Nobel laureate of chemistry for his discovery of water channel) and Dr. Monsef Saloui（the head of GSK, RD）were also part of this jury. Elias and Moncef are my good friends, but I have not worked with Dr. Agre before. I did, however, know about his work, and had listened to several of his lectures. The forum was full of young energy.  I was particularly impressed by the existence of many active women.

In the evening, I visited Ambassador Moji at the Japan embassy in Qatar with President Tsuciya and several people of Tsuchiya Corporation (Mr. Nishida, a very good Arabic speaker whom I saw at the embassy in Abu Dhabi was there also.)  Then, we visited the residence of former Ambassador of Qatar to Japan, H.E. Reyad Ali Al-Ansari who recently returned to Qatar after 9 years of service in Japan and invited us for dinner.  It is nice to experience expansion of human networks like this.  H.E. Al-Ansari said that his son studied in the U.S. and is currently working in the oil business in Qatar.  However, he seemed to be not so approving of his daughter’s studying abroad.

We paid a brief visit to the president of administration of Her Highness the next day at the head office of Qatar Foundation. It was unfortunately brief because our schedule was packed in the afternoon with many sessions on science policy etc.  We need to have more Japanese researchers and youths participate in such occasions. It is important to promote the exchange of young people.

The result of the selection was announced at the evening reception.  From our group, the award was given to a study done on defective hearing that identified the responsible DNA and showed that the deficiency was caused by the malfunctioning of its hair cells.  The project was very nicely  researched and the researcher answered each question with confidence.  Her boss, the head of the administrative office at her hospital (who also happened to be a women), looked very happy.  This head was also a very gifted and able person whom I truly enjoyed talking for some time with.  I was seated at the same table as the professors of MIT, UCLA, and the Dean of the local Texas A&M research laboratory.  We quite enjoyed the conversation over dinner because we had so many common topics to talk about.  I had to leave during the dinner to catch the 22:50 airplane for Abu Dhabi, a forty minute flight.
 
Whenever I am exposed to the energy and motivation of young people, I always become eager to help.  I also look forward to seeing more exchanges carried out between Japan and Qatar.

Welcoming Ambassador Roos to my Keio SFC Class

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I assume that you are familiar with my Keio SFC course through my reports on this web site as well as through the on-line videos. 

For the December 8th class, we welcomed U.S. Ambassador Roos (IMPACT Japan posting of 2010/12/08) as our guest.  Because this was such a rare occasion, the Keio SFC administration arranged to open the auditorium at the θbuilding,  thereby extending the opportunity to all students.   President Seike, as well as the Deans of Keio SFC, Drs. Murai, Kokuryo, Agawa, and Tokuda also came to listen to this lecture. NHK came to report on this, too.

To say a few words about Ambassador Roos’ background, he earned his degrees at Stanford University and Stanford Law School, and was the CEO of a Silicon Valley-based law firm specializing in intellectual property law before accepting the ambassadorship, and has a great interest in entrepreneurship.  So, I decided to have a dialogue style session with H.E. Roos focusing on the theme of entrepreneurship.  Since the auditorium was huge, I asked my students beforehand to prepare one question they each would like to ask Ambassador Roos. I also asked about 20 students to get on the stage with him.
 
Additionally, we set up a big screen behind us to show twitter entries from the students  in the hall during the session.

I think the session turned out to be a nice one, reflecting well the character and personality of Ambassador Roos.  After our dialogue, Dr. William Saito, my partner of this class (we do this together because we are both frequently away for overseas travel…) hosted a Q&A between the Ambassador and the students.  The first question was asked by a surprise guest (IMPACT Japan Posting of 2010.11.22) Ms. Reina Otsuka of Ecotwaza. This session will be uploaded on the video site of my class soon, I hope.

After giving the lecture, the Ambassador stopped by our Innovation Lab.  He seemed to be quite interested.  I hope that several years from now, some good results will emerge from here and directly relate to Silicon Valley.

A part of my session with Ambassador Roos was broadcasted two days later on NHK-BS television program at 10 pm on December 10th.  Unfortunately, I was unable to see this because I was set to leave for Tunis the same evening….

I am quite positive that this was one of the most unforgettable, wonderful, and stimulating days of the participating students’ lives.

Another Achievement by the Dragon Cherry Blossoms

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Dragon Cherry Blossoms  (Ref.1, 2, 3) (Ref.2 is in Japanese) is a project in Bangladesh that helps youth in poor villages pursue great dreams. Their goal is high, and thought to have been impossible to achieve.  Mr. Saisyo of Waseda University, who is currently taking a leave of absence from school, is leading this project.

His activities were reported in the November 30th issue of Nikkei newspaper as the special feature titled: ‘Challenge’.

I was in Dubai when the article appeared, but I had already been familiar with the story since Mr. Saisyo informed me.  People may congratulate Waseda University as having done a good job again.  But this is not the University’s work. This is the result of hard work by Mr. Saisyo and his friends.  It would seem that taking a leave of absence from school  (Ref.1) for and going through many struggles might have worked positively toward this achievement.

As you see, encouraging students to not be afraid to challenge is one of the great missions of the universities in this global age. Indeed, these are the future leaders of the world. Such individuals are those who possess the potential to become human capital. They will have great impacts on society and the world.
 
Upon my return to Japan, I received good news from Mr. Saisyo:

“Dear Dr. Kurokawa,

This is Dragon Cherry Blossoms.  I am pleased to report to you that Jellen Acter, an 18 years old female student was accepted to the second best national university in Bandladesh, Jagannath University!!  This is the first case where a female student has passed the exam! 

She scored 2,038th among 70,000 students who sat for the exam!! 

A female student in this village who studied on e-Education qualified for a distinguished university equivalent to Hitotsubashi University in Japan!

This is the 2nd miracle after Heral!!  Wow, 2,038nd of 70,000!

Again, local people are in great excitement. “Unbelievable!” is their common reaction.

Today, a new role model is born in our Islam village, a new hope for the majority of female students whose options are very limited in planning their life.

After Heral, Jellen is the second case in this nation to pass the university entrance exam through study on the e-learning program. 

Jellen Acter, thank you for the revolution!

This is Saisyo reporting from Bangladesh.”

I sense great enthusiasm in his report…..  For more information, please look at his new web site. (in Japanese)

This is one of the great examples of how adults may support youth who are generally regarded as being inwardly focused.  The idea is to help youth see the desires hidden deep in their hearts (Ref.1),  and give encouragement and warm support as they pursue their dreams.

This is the essence of education.

Since When Did Japanese Become Insular, Closed Minded People?

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Recently, I notice many comments being rapidly issued by media on the insular closed mindset of Japanese people. This surprises me.

Isn’t this strange?  What could it be a sign of?  The reason I feel this way is because a certain number of people including myself have been pointing this out from long time ago, with key words such as ‘Intellectually Isolated Country’ or ‘Cartels of the Mind’ (Ref.1 in Japanese) (Ref.2,3,4 in English)

Despite their serious thinking, didn’t people of distinguished positions sense this issue? Or perhaps they did not wish to admit that the problem existed?

I hear that the November 28th morning issue of Nikkei included a 1 page special report titled ‘Fading Existence (1)’ (by Mr. Yuzo Waki, Deputy Chief Editorial Writer) as part 3 of special feature ‘Japan in These 20 Years: Lessons to be Learned from Long Stagnation’.  Its sub-title was ‘Global Human Assets are Diminishing:  Silent Executives, Youths With Closed Minds'  (in Japanese).  A boxed article of an interview with Toyoo Gyohten, Tadashi Yamamoto, and Lee Howell, Managing Director of World Economic Forum is also on the same issue.  I was told that the Nikkei On-line show similar articles but access to them is not free of charge.  (By the way, I hear that this On-line edition was awarded some prize recently.  I wonder what is so new and wonderful about the Nikkei On-line?  I would like to know the reason why they received this award.)

However, the points they are making in these articles are correct.  I just posted the same discussion and recommendations on November 27th….

I can’t help feeling some sadness and disappointment in this phenomenon. Why is this happening so late and so suddenly?

 

Recommendation for Taking a Leave of Absence from School, AIESEC: An International Internship Support Organization, Support from a High Official of the Ministry of Education

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Japan’s insularity or closed mindset is now becoming so evident that we can no longer wait for social structure reform to resolve this problem.   Many media reports as well as opinions from various fields in the society continuously point out the seriousness of the Japanese closed, insular mindset.  This problem, however, is not new at all.

This way of seeing refers not only to the youths, but as well as to the adults.  While many intellectuals point to the students as being inwardly focused, I believe that parents have a strong influence, and therefore should be held accountable for passing on these unprogressive mindsets.

As Japan grew in economic strength and prosperity combined with the publication of  'Japan as Number One' , National pride also grew. The baby boomer and subsequent generations accustomed to this status had to adjust their attitudes into a more defensive stance as the Cold War ended in 1991 followed by the Japanese economic bubble bursting in 1999.  Not to mention the advent of the internet, globalization, a dynamic restructuring of 14 city banks, the bankruptcy of Yamaichi Securities, a skyrocketing national deficit and stagnating GDP.

Therefore, I suppose, current college students grew up without being given any sense about a positive economy. (in Japanese)

All of the things I’ve said so far are the same as what I have written here so many times.

For a change, let me introduce you to some examples of the wonderful activities of college students who took leave of absences from school (Ref.1,2,3,4,5). 

And here is my small report on AIESC, an international internship network run by college students.

However, I regret to say that there are millions of obstacles that must be overcome in order for these kinds of activities to flourish.  For example, in many private universities, they charge various fees of students even on leave.  From my point of view such conduct is deplorable.  Being supported while traveling and experiencing the world is taken for granted in other parts of the world. Such attitude makes Japan’s unwillingness to encourage international experience that much more evident. I ask all university related persons to be quick in crafting ways to stop these kind of disgraceful procedures.

Staggering economy is bad enough, but with high education fees combined, I must say that Japan is a nation that neglects future human assets.  We cannot expect any positive future for a nation like this.  Not only university administrations but Japanese government will also have to do a better job .

Just recently, I had an opportunity to see Japanese students from AIESEC Japan (sadly, this site is only in Japanese…), a Japanese branch of AIESEC the world wide student run organization working to promote international internships.  Now, we are trying to find how to empower their activities, make this organization known to people, to gain support.  Of course it goes without saying, companies will also gain a variety of great merits by providing support to such students’ activities.

If the website of AIESEC Japan is written in English as well as in Japanese, their activities will contain broader perspectives.  For instance, not only can they send students abroad, but they will also be able to offer international students internship opportunities at Japanese companies.  The problem is that the current system fails to take into account the needs of the counterparts.  We discussed this issue also in specific manners.

Recently a high official at the Ministry of Education (I won’t say the specific name) who I have once worked with started a blog (in Japanese).  From his blog I could see how he supported my ideas, or is helping students in his own way (Ref.1) ( both links are in Japanese).  I was thrilled to discover this.  He also gave a wonderful lecture (in English) at a recent meeting (in Japanese) that included much of his own thoughts. I was told that the lecture was well received by the audience for its originality and strong message, all very unlike typical government officials.  I would like to express my sincere gratitude to this official for supporting my views.

I am aware that there are many more people who understand and support my ideas besides people in the Ministry of Education, but on a whole, it seems that making policy takes more than understanding.  I do understand that there are many reasons and conditions particular to the posts they are in.

It must also be understood that another problem lies in the fact that educators in junior high schools, high schools, or universities are far from doing their best in nurturing talents for the global age(Ref.1,2, 3 in Japanese), (Ref.4,5 in English).  We must not forget that the trends of the world moves rapidly.

As for the argument on whether it is good or not that active officials write a blog, I think there is nothing wrong with it because the blog is a tool to express personal views.  It’s a way to interact with a diverse community, and besides, what they write on the blog is far from being a secret.

Keio SFC Class, Welcoming Two OGs

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For our Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC) class on November 17th, we welcomed as our guests two OGs of SFC: Ms. Maria Yogo and Ms. Naoko Tajima.

Ms. Yogo is working at Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi where I also serve as one of the board members.  She just arrived to Japan yesterday evening.

Ms. Naoko Tajima  is a young director whose current works are mainly TV commercials.

At the start of class, we played her portfolio reel, a short film that summarized her works. Watching her work created a nice atmosphere in class. .

Their self introductions impressed us by their very unique, difficult to imagine, careers.  With their aggressive, animated spirits and talents to make things happen, Ms. Yogo and Tajima are moving forward very steadily.

I am certain that their exciting narratives provided every student with inspiration and something to think about.

Good responses were also sent via twitter during the class.  Such a simultaneous, live, class makes it possible to share a good time together.
 
Because these two female guests followed last week’s SFC seniors, their stories appealed that much more to the students’ sense of reality.

Please enjoy their full stories on this video. 
 

The Power of Words, A Leader’s Power to Sense, Judge, Understand, and Reason

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Since seeing Mr. Kurihara of the Harvard Kennedy School this May I’ve written several columns about him.

Since then I try to see Mr. Kurihara every time he comes back to Japan.  He is a wonderful person of broad topics, and global thinking with a sophistication based on broad readings including history, philosophy, and literature.  He is also a rare person (a true human asset) who is capable of seeing Japan from the outside, thus has the ability to see the fundamental principles of our country.  Talking with him is thrilling because he introduces me to many perspectives that are seen from fields which are not mine.  

So, when he came to my office again the other day, time flew by and we could not help but talk for nearly two hours.  As you may know from my posting, he issues a periodical titled the Cambridge Gazzette (in Japanese). He kindly commented on our meeting in this yeat's final edition that features  power of insight and words.

His writing was again surprisingly dynamic, telling stories accompanied with rich references from books and articles about his friendships, human networks, historical views, and about how Japan has truly talented individuals on the one hand, and has fickle, intelligent idiots who mislead this nation on the other.

If you closely look at the current situation of “Sad Japan” you would inevitably notice that it basically has not changed, or rather, was incapable of changing, at all.  I am truly impressed with the huge volume of Mr. Kurihara’s readings not to mention his rich connections with people as an independent individual. His talent to assimilate a large body of information into one piece of writing and his huge knowledge from many layers of culture coupled with his eagerness for investigating different topics are most impressive. The process in which he thinks about the things is admirable.

At any rate, I have to say that the comments made by leading Japanese are the strangest of all.  Admitting that they have any extent of knowledge or information, they still do not have the ability to seize upon the principles and essences of things. Instead, their words sound uninspired and do not connect to the hearts of the people. I am quite concerned and saddened by this notion recently.  These leaders always have scripts in their hands when speaking, and they fail to convey their own will or thoughts by looking directly into the eyes of their audience. What is probably true is that they hold no confidence or genuine belief in what they are conveying. They do not have a good grasp of history or for any other topic for that matter, though I assume they made decent efforts for high scores at the university entrance examinations.  I feel obliged to say that everything from their policies to their discussions and work is shallowly conceived, despite the volume of knowledge they have.  These greatly respected individuals, don’t recognize how tragic they are; they only make excuses for their inabilities to step outside of their comfort zones and truly inspire the people who look to them for solutions. 

I also agree very much with Mr. Kurihara’s citation regarding Hirofumi Ito’s English ability.  However, I tire of persistently hearing the worn out discussions on policies for English education in Japan in this global age.

Today, facial and other expressions are clearly depicted on high resolution television. So I am even more convinced when I say that I cannot recall hearing insightful words that are spoken from the bottom of one’s heart, either from legislators questioning at Congress, ministers, high officials, distinguished professors, executives of companies, or so called journalists.

I think people of Japan share this feeling with me, too.  I am truly concerned and sad about the disgracing television programs, newspaper articles that originate from kisha club, and the meaningless words uttered by television people (all in Japanese language….)
 
Words are indicators of mental power and intelligence (not knowledge).  Since we cannot see inside people’s hearts we have to depend on words to judge the depths and broadness of one’s character, and their personality.

Mr. Kurihara is one of those people who has the sort of intelligence and heart that is lacking in Japanese intellectuals today.  He doesn’t let this show to many.  So, I am looking forward to seeing him again to partake in an enjoyable intellectual battle.

 

Exciting ORF2010

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Keio University’s Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC) presented the Open Research Forum (ORF) 2010 on November 22nd and 23rd at the Academy Hills in Roppongi during the Mita Festival, the Festival at Keio Mita Campus.  I participated in ORF2009 last year as well.  In comparison to last year’s this year’s atmosphere and student participation in displays and performance was much better and larger.  I enjoyed interacting with the displays and listening to the student-creator’s explanations for their projects.

Coincidentally, a book by Dr. Shigeru Nakanishi, Genealogy of Heresy (in Japanese) was published, and I was inspired to read how Keio SFC produces so many unique talents, entrepreneurs, and the like.  Equally wonderful is that professors spend such a large amount of time with and for the students that they’ve structured a system for students to teach each other.  The speech by the first Dean, Dr. Hiroshi Kato, at the first commencement ceremony was stirring, with words full of love and encouragement.  I was awed to read both about the devoted faculties and the active students.

It was a privilege to see Dr. Hiroshi Kato, the leading figure in the foundation of SFC, again after a long time

At the ORF2010 I participated in the last panel on November 23rd, ‘Considering the Future of KEIO and SFC’s Direction’ with Dr. Rakutaro Kitashiro, Hiroshi Fujiwara, and hosted by Ms. Maria Yogo, a graduate of the first class of SFC currently working in Abu Dhabi.

People expressed various opinions(in Japanese), but I think we agreed to wrap up the session with the recognition of necessity for SFC to expand its international exchange with overseas students and faculties.  My point was, as always, to recommend students take a leave of absence from school in order to see, hear, and sense the outside world first hand.

At the reception after the event, I had the impression that our session was well received by many.  The challenge now is to establish and cultivate action based on our opinions.