education – Page 31 – Kiyoshi Kurokawa.com

Welcoming Leaders-to-Be on Global Health

Posted on 2008/04/022014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

One of my former associate at Health Policy Institute, Mr. Ban-no (see blog on Aug. 2007.～sorry, but this is in Japanese on my visit to New Delhi), who now studies at Harvard University School of Public Health. He brought with him some 30 classmates to Japan and I was invited to give a welcome speech for their Day 1. I began by asking them whether they read or listened to the 2007 Commencement speeches at Harvard by Bill Gates and another one at Stanford 2005, by Steven Jobs. Surprisingly or not, a handful knew about these speeches, thus I strongly recommended them to read and view them on the web, benefits of our connected world. Mr. Gates and Jobs both delivered quite passionate and moving messages to these selected small number of students what they could think of in their future career.

I discussed the issues on global health, MDGs, and related matters they would and should challenge. It was a very enjoyable one hour for all and all students seemed enjoy our interaction. One student from Iraq later sent me a moving email which reflects the status of his country and his career and I replied with encouragements toward our common goals.

photo1　Our group picture

They then will visit a couple of places over a week. But when I was told that they will visit Hiroshima with a visit to A-Bomb memorial, I strongly suggested them to try to see Ms. Nassrine Azimi, Director of UNITAR in Hiroshima. She is one of the most intelligent and most inspiring persons I met. So I called her office, but she was out in Thai, then, but just back in time to greet them later in the week in Hiroshima. I received an email from Mr. Ban-no to tell me how fortunate they felt they were to see her even for a short time to discuss various matters including A-Bomb and also a ‘thank you’ email from her, too. Unexpected encounters are often a step for something new of significance and I am sure this could be such one for some of students.

L’Oreal – UNESCO 10th Award “For Women in Science” – from Paris

Posted on 2008/03/132014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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I flew from Narita to Paris in the evening of March 5th to attend a memorable 10th anniversary event of L’Oreal-UNESCO “For Women in Science” Award. There was also the year 2008 Award presenting ceremony. Laureates in the past 10 years count up to over 50 and if we include International Fellowship and National Fellowship, nearly 500 women scientists have been awarded and supported in the past 10 years. This is a wonderful contribution to the society. Almost 40 Laureates participated to celebrate the 10th anniversary event.

After arriving in the morning of 6th, I had some rest. In the afternoon, there was an event at UNESCO headquarters. First, there was an introduction of L’Oreal-UNESCO Charter for “For Women in Science” and its 10 Commitments followed by signing of the 40 Laureates. Please refer to this site for detail of the 10 commitments. This is with full of good intention. I hope that my blog readers will also practice it. I was invited to take part of the event since I served as a member of the jury for 2008. It was a 1 week event, but I could only attend the award presenting ceremony.

After this introduction, there was the award presenting ceremony of this year’s Laureates. Mr. Koichiro Matsuura, Directeur-General of UNESCO and Sir. Lindsay Owen-Jones, Chairman of L’Oreal and the L’Oreal Foundation both gave a welcome speech in fluent French. Dr. Gunter Blobel of the Rockefeller University, who received the 1999 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, was the 2008 Chair of the L’Oreal-UNESCO Awards jury. Laureates were introduced one by one. To introduce each, a short, well edited movie of each of the Laureates was shown which was filmed by visiting them, and a very clear introduction by Dr. Blobel about their scientific achievements followed by a speech from the Laureate. All of the 5 Laureates were introduced in this manner. Then Mr. Matsuura and Sir. Lindsay presented the award, it was quite an impressive stage.

Laureates representing the Asia Pacific region include Dr. Tsuneko Okazaki(2000), and Ms. Fumiko Yonezawa(2005-she was absent for this anniversary event and we missed her) from Japan. Also, Dr. Fang-Hua Li(2003) from China, Dr. Nancy Ip(2004) whom I’ve known very well from Hong Kong, China, and this year’s Laureate was Dr. Narry Kim from Korea.

Photo1 With Dr. Tsuneko Okazaki

Photo2 With Dr. Nancy Ip

In selecting the candidates, juries focus on the creativity and the quality of their achievements based primarily on their publications and professional achievements, but the most important factor is “whether it is an achievement as an independent scientist.” This year’s award winner, Dr. Kim is 37 years old, studying MicroRNA and is Assistant Professor at the Seoul National University. With her outstanding achievements, all of the juries unanimously chose her out of many outstanding candidates from Asia Pacific. I wanted to know how she could have made such an eminent achievement as an independent researcher, so a week after the selection committee, I took advantage of scheduled visit to Seoul to meet her.

Photo3 With Dr. Blobel and Mr. Matsuura

She earned her master’s degree at the Seoul National University, PhD. at Oxford University and Post-doctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. When she returned to Korea as Assistant Professor at the Seoul National University, as she told me, her Professor strongly supported her providing her a part of his research budget for a few years until she became independent, allowed her to use whatever equipments necessary in his laboratory, and had 2-3 graduate students from his program to work with her. But when coming to writing the research paper, the professor declined to be a co-author, saying that it was her own work. She said that in that process, she was able to become independent in pursuing her research and was very grateful for the support she received from the professor. This professor must have really wanted her to become an independent researcher to pursue her career; it is wonderful, but may not be ‘norm’ in Seoul National and I wonder why. One day, I would like to meet this professor in person to ask this question. In Japan, young people are not encouraged to become independently early, nor going through an open process of competing, so it is hard to see from the outside who are showing great potentials with creativity as a newly rising future stars. It is often the case, you have to become a professor to be able to compare as an individual scientist with peers to see a potentially promising scientist. This is not a way of nurturing creativity. As we say, spare the rod and spoil the child.

Photo4 Ms. Narry Kim

Upon the award accepting speech, she said that she once considered giving up research career because she had to take care of two children. She appealed that it is important for the society to support women scientists, particularly mothers, like the day-care center. I totally agree. I met her child, too. I hope that in Japan too, we can expand the opportunity for younger talented people and women, and give them chance to enhance their ability to be independent in their field of study. You don’t necessarily have to become a professor to be an independent researcher, becoming a professor must be just a result of academic achievements. It is important for professors to support nurturing the younger generation’s talents and potentials and to give them opportunities to become independent early in their career to become someone different. Our future is indeed on the shoulders of the younger people.

The hotel was Sofitel, located near the Japanese Embassy, Concorde Plaza and St. Honore. The location was magnificent, but too bad that I did not have much time to spare. In the afternoon of the following day, I had to return to Japan. At the airport, a cinema screen size photo of each of the Laureates were exhibited everywhere; Nicely done.

From New Delhi part 2

Posted on 2008/03/072014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

My 2nd and 3rd day in New Delhi was mainly visiting Honda and local business leaders. First visit was Honda (Honda Siel Cars India). I met with President & CEO Mr. Takedagawa and Vice President & President of the Manufacturing Facility, Mr. Matsuzaki. Mr. Takedagawa shared his experience about the tough times, the current business situation and future plans. Mr. Matsuzaki established a manufacturing facility in America in 1982 and stayed in the U.S. for about 15 years. After America, he worked in various parts of Asia and set up this manufacturing facility in India. The facility was very clean and the employees were very polite. This must have been a painstaking effort.

Photo1 My visit to Honda Siel Cars

Photo2 In front of their entrance

After Honda, I visited the local office of Dentsu Inc. and the New Delhi campus of ITT. In the evening, we had dinner at the Japanese Embassy with Ambassador Domichi, Dr. Sunami of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies and First Secretary, Mr. Seto. Ambassador Domichi was assigned this post from the Japanese Embassy of Iran and Mr. Seto is the person who helped organize the SCA (Science Council of Asia) 2 years ago in India.

Photo3 At the New Delhi campus of IIT

Photo4　At the Japanese Embassy from left: Dr. Sunami, Ambassador Domichi, myself and First Secretary Mr. Seto

The following day I visited the local office of Mitsui & Co, Ltd, Mr. Munjal of the Hero Group, Mr. V. Krishnamurthy, Chairman of National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council and one of the leaders of Indian business (Photo5), and the Confederation of Indian Industry (an organization similar to the Japan Business Federation?!). The main topic was about business. India is especially keen to have technological alliance with Japanese companies, but the Japanese way of business is slow and they insist on getting the majority share. No wonder the Koreans and Chinese outdo us. I also heard that the European and American businesses are becoming more active in the Indian market.

Photo5 With Dr. Sunami and Mr. Krishnamurthy

During the meeting with Mr. Munjal at the Hero Group, I was told that the JV negotiation with Daimler has been launched and that he just received a letter from the French President Mr. Sakrozy yesterday. In the past two years, I have met the Indian Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Minister of Technology and Science, they are all unique and intelligent in their field of business and science technology. Of course there maybe some “challenges” special to India, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we have to let it go. There are various ways to do business relevant to the local business tradition and strength. In that respect, Mr. Suzuki, Chairman & CEO of Suzuki Motor Corporation is admirable as a business leader. Suzuki has become somewhat a local brand. You have to be the first comer and work up a sweat to get the fruit. Understanding local customs and incentives to the local staff may also be important. All my best wishes for the people involved in business in India! I hope that our economy flourishes together with growth of India and Asia. I remind you all that Japan is the only OECD member country that has not grown their GDP in the past decade…Wonder why?

From New Delhi part 1

Posted on 2008/03/042014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

After successfully ending the 3-day Global Health Conference on February 17th, flew to New Delhi the following morning. Upon arrival at New Delhi Airport on time at 17:30, I went directly to the city of Noida in the suburbs. The objective of my visit was to attend the commendation ceremony of YES（Young Engineers and Scientists） by The Honda Foundation. This is to recognize the top 5 outstanding students atIndian Institute of Technology（IIT）, now well known to the world as one of leading technology institutions. It is a wonderful project. That is Honda, or so to say the spirit of Mr. Soichiro Honda. There was one other guest aside from myself who just appeared at the last moment of the commendation ceremony, and that was Dr. R K Pachauri. I have known him very well through the SCA (Science Council of Asia) and other conferences that we have attended in the past few years. Even 3 years ago in Bangkok, we did the keynote speech together at the AGS-Global Alliance for Sustainability conference. Last year in 2007, as IPCC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize together with Mr. Al Gore, we can say that Dr. Pachauri became globally known as being the Chairman of IPCC. But he was already widely reputed as the leader of global warming issues among scientists.

Photo1　At the commendation ceremony. From left Mr. Takedagawa, President & CEO of Honda Siel Cars India Ltd., myself, Dr. Pachauri(**）, Mr. Ban from The Honda Foundation

Photo2　From left Dr. Pachauri, one of the awarded students and myself

**Dr. R K Pachauri arrived from America the day before and is wearing a hat to cover his blotch on his head.

After the commendation ceremony, Dr. Pachauri and myself each gave 20 minutes’ speech to congratulate and encourage the award winning students. I touched upon Mr. Soichiro Honda’s sprit and wished the students to inherit his spirit to contribute and play an important role in the global agenda we all face. I will introduce my speech on another occasion. People from The Honda Foundation, executives and members from local Honda and the families of the award winners were also present and they all looked very happy. Also, Mr. Brijmohan Lall Munjal, the Chairman of Hero Honda Motors Ltd. was attending this ceremony. Hero Honda is a joint venture with Honda since 1982 doing production and sales of motorcycles. Mr. Lall’s son, Mr. Sunil Kant Munjal is leading the Hero Group and we both serve as a member of the President Council of the University of Tokyo.

Photo3　this is me giving speech

Photo4　With the award winners and staff （5th from left is Mr. Brijmohan Lall Munjal, Chairman of the Hero group）

At night I had a drink with Dr. Sunami of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, and Ban-san and Ishihara-san of The Honda Foundation. Meeting bright young people, it was a pleasant and wonderful evening.

From Davos, part3

Posted on 2008/01/262014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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The morning of the 25th was busy. I had an early morning meeting with Dr. Tachi Yamada from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to discuss about the upcoming February conference in Tokyo and other meetings that I had arranged. In the afternoon, I attended a session related to innovation and joined the beginning of plenary session “New Drivers of Development” chaired by Ms. Indra K Nooyi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pepsi Co. Participants were Mr. Bill Gates, Mr. Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Mr. Robert B Zoellick, President of World Bank, Mr. Michael Treschow, Chairman of Unilever and Mr.Trevor Manuel, Minister of Finance of South Africa (photo1,2).

photo1 From left: Mr. Gates, Mr. Brown, Ms. Nooyi, Mr. Zoellick, Mr. Manuel and Mr. Treschow

photo2 Ms. Nooyi

The reason for attending only the beginning was because I had a session with Ms. Sadako Ogata, Bono(photo3) and some big figures who represent Japan. We discussed how Japan can show their initiative globally to make a move on development in Africa, TICAD and G8 summit and respond to the expectation from the world. Other participants were Mr. Okuda, former Chairman of Toyota Motor Corp, Mr. Yasuhisa Shiozaki, Ms. Yoriko Kawaguchi, Mr. Matsuura, Director General of UNESCO and Dr. Komiyama, President of the University of Tokyo. I met with Bono and his staff yesterday and I think we will continue to work together in the future. Bono respects Ms. Ogata very much. He is well aware of Japan’s successful and long ODA history in Africa which is different to that from Europe and America. This year is an important year for Japan and he is seriously considering how Japan can show its presence. I was surprised at how much we can do. I learned a lot. He also said that during the 3-day concert in Japan, 120,000 fans gathered, which I later heard that he tried several attempts to send his message to the world through the crowd. He feels the passion that everybody is considering what they can do to make a change, but with the current political level, it is not well communicated inside and out.

photo3 With Bono before the meeting

Also, John Gage from Sun Microsystems joined. He supports Bono and Al Gore’s activities and I’ve been meeting him every year in Davos for 4 years. I hope my blog readers give consideration to what we can do and expand our will to the vast world to realize it. Then, I ran into Larry Page(who is very interested in climate change and global health and established the Google Foundation), the founder of Google which I introduced in last year’s report with some photos and Steve Grove from YouTube (photo4,5).

photo4　With Larry Page and Steve Grove

photo5　With Dr. Hirotaka Takeuchi from Hitotsubashi Univ, Mr. Tsuchiya from the World Economy Forum Secretariat, Larry Page and Steve Grove

（Mr. Tsuchiya studied with Steve Grove at Harvard Kennedy School. Isn’t that interesting, it’s the value of each individual in this global era.）

Tonight, Prime Minister Fukuda will arrive at Zurich. He will arrive at Davos the following morning and meet with Tony Blair, Mr Bono, Bill Gates and will deliver a speech. After that, I heard his schedule is full with luncheon meetings with the business community. I wonder whether the Prime Minister is really satisfied with his speech draft, but the speech writer must have worked hard to prepare it. The world’s opinion will show us the result. How will Japan be reported? How do the foreign media see Japan? What is the real opinion that doesn’t show up? At night, I met a lot of people at the ASEAN reception, but ended up with the usual members, Victor Chu (He is well known everywhere. He said that he travels 250 days a year for business. Wow, what an energy!) and John Gage. We had a drink at a bar at the hotel next door. Dr. Michael Porter from Harvard Business School joined and we had a great time together. This is the excitement of Davos.

photo6　With Mr. Chu and Mr. Gage

I am invited to a “Bollywood Party” hosted by India from 23:00, let’s see…

From Davos, part2

Posted on 2008/01/252014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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The last keynote speech on the first day was by the US Secretary of State, Ms. Rice. She delivered a clear and firm message about the current role of the US and the responsibility for the US and the world. Then, the political and business leaders from the world, such as Mr. Blair, Mr. Kissinger, Mr. J Dimon(JP Morgan and Chase), Mr. KV Kamath(ICICI Bank, India), Ms. IK Nooyi(CEO of Pepsi Co, she graduated from the famous IIT in India…. Can you imagine this in any Japanese company?!), Mr. DJ O’Reilly(CEO, Chevrons), Mr. Wan Jianzhou(China Mobile Communications Corporation) etc, went up the podium for a Q&A session. Ms. Rice handled this session very nicely. This is indeed world class. Answering to tough questions in front of a big crowd.

This year, there were especially a large number of participants including 20 or more Presidents and Prime Ministers. Even only on the first and second day, Mr. Karzai(Afghanistan), Mr. Musharraf(Pakistan), Mr. Yushchenko(Ukraine), Mr. Simon Perez(Israel), Al Gore and Bill Gates were there.

From Japan, ever since Prime Minister Mori attended in 2001, Prime Minister Fukuda will attend. As a hosting country for TICAD and G8 Summit, the world is watching Japan’s leadership of global agenda. What kind of message will he give to the world? Let’s hope it will be a high toned, powerful speech that reflects as a Prime Minister of the second largest economic power, not something drafted by bureaucrats. Regardless of domestic circumstances, ‘it’s spoken message that counts as politician.’ It is important to strategically communicate to the overseas press.

Needless to say, Ms. Sadako Ogata, President of JICA, is a global figure representing Japan, but also the global minded professors from Hitotsubashi University School of Business Administration, Hirotaka Takeuchi and Yoko Ishikura as well as Heizo Takenaka of Keio University are taking an active role in various panels and acting as session leader. In a brainstorming session called WorkSpace, Prof. Takeuchi showed his amazing ability as moderator by entertaining the participants while pursuing the subject on track. Wow, this is something inimitable.

Photo1 With Mr. Hatoyama and Ambassador Fujisaki at the conference room

At night, there was Japan Sushi Reception jointly hosted by University of Tokyo and Keio University, supported by Teijin Limited and Sojitz Corporation. Many guests from the political, academic and business world attended. I would think this kind of party should be led by the business community. In fact, it’s the World “Economic” Forum.

Photo2 At Japan Reception with Mr. Hasegawa from Takeda Chemical, my friend and famous Indian political scientist, Mr. Challaney, Mr. Sakurai from Japan Association of Corporate Executives or Keizai-Doyu-kai

Photo3 With Ms. Kuniya of NHK, moderator of ‘Today’s Close-Up’

Photo4 With the President of Peking University

Just to list a few of the big names that attended from the political world, Mr. Hidenao Nakagawa, Mr. Koji Omi, Mr. Yukio Hatoyama(to substitute Mr. Ichiro Ozawa, the leader of DPJ who could not make it), Mr. Yasuhisa Shiozaki, Mr. Motohisa Furukawa, Ms. Kuniko Inoguchi etc. From the business world we had Presidents, CEO’s and Chairmen from various companies like Mr. Okuda of Toyota Motors, Mr. Yonekura of Sumitomo Chemical, Mr. Sakurai of Ricoh and Japan Association of Corporate Executives, Mr. Nagashima from Teijin, and Mr. Hasegawa from Takeda Chemical, etc. Ambassador Fujisaki, Mr. Kono the G8 Summit Sherpa and Councilor to the Foreign Ministry, Imai-san and Kuniya-san from NHK, Mr. Xu Zhihong, President of Peking University, Dr. Tachi Yamada of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Global Health Initiative also joined and we discussed about Japan’s contribution. Mr. S Brim, Founder of Google also showed up briefly. Also Dr. Yamanaka from Kyoto University, who is gaining fame by his research in iPS cells, was also there.

Photo5 With Takenaka-san, Dr. Yamada and 2 of Bono’s staff

Photo6 With Dr. Yamada, Prof. Yoko Ishikura and Prof. Anzai, President of Keio University

As Prime Minister Fukuda will participate this year, there is a mixed emotion of expectation and anxiety among us, as to how much he can communicate a high vision and powerful political messages expected of as one of the world’s political leaders.

From New York City

Posted on 2008/01/112014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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Here I am in New York City. I came to visit The New York Academy of Sciences which is the first Academy of Sciences established in the United States. I have been working with this organization for several years now and decided to visit their new office which was moved to a new site last year. The office of the President and CEO, Mr. Ellis Rubinstein (photo 1), is located at the 40th floor of a building that stands next to Ground Zero of September 11. I did an interview with him for 45 minutes from 8:30 am. From 10:00am, attended a board meeting of a new project called “Scientists Without Borders” (photo 2). Sounds familiar? Yes, the naming comes from “Doctors Without Borders.” Its mission is about the same. Twelve (12) people are working as its Advisory members including myself.

Photo1　President Rubinstein and myself at his office
(Today, his wife, Dr Joanna Rubinstein is in Ethiopia with Dr Jeffery Sachs. She works as Executive Director of a program run by Dr Sachs )

Photo2　Together with Advisory members and NYAS staffs

Dr. Wakhungu from Kenya is also an Advisory member. Kenya has just gone through a presidential election and now is in great confusion because of the doubt of injustice. Especially I was concerned about Kibera slum which was reported to be in terrible chaos, and Dr. Wakhungu told me that the situation is really bad. Olympic Primary School which I mentioned in my blog of June 2006 and October 2007 was burned. I hope the school will be rebuilt somehow quickly.

Also, Prof. Victor Zhau at Duke University, whom I met yesterday at Washington DC and introduced in my blog is in the Advisory board. We are working together again. Dr. Seth Berkley of Int’l AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), whom I introduced in my blog in October 2007 is also with us and he gave us many suggestions based on his own experience. We did brainstorming for full 3 hours covering issues such as registration, potentials, management, funding, etc. There are many problems addressed and to be solved, but it certainly was a good learning opportunity. A MD-PhD candidate at Columbia University School of Medicine (moved from India with his/her parents) is joining our session, too. Developing a new project like this inviting such young people is nice. I certainly hope that this project will get started no matter how much time it may take.

Photo3　In front of the bust of Charles Darwin at the reception of NYAS with Ms Miura, vice consul of Consulate general in New York

In the afternoon, I went to the Council of Foreign Relations known by its outstanding journal “Foreign Affairs.” To my amazement, the day before, Dr. Tachi Yamada of Gates foundation, whom I wrote about in my blog was here to give lecture on “Global Health.” It is an interesting coincidence that I gave a lecture at The World Bank in Washington DC under the same theme. I quickly sent an e-mail to him about this. The purpose of my visit is to see Dr. Laurie Garrett, a Senior Fellow for Global Health, who wrote a great paper on “Foreign Affairs” Jan-Feb 2007, which pointed out that “the waste is seen so much in projects on AIDS.” I was impressed by this paper, and asked her to be a jury member to select the winner of Noguchi Hideyo Africa Prize, a prize established by the suggestion of former Prime Minister Mr. Koizumi, it’s first awarding ceremony scheduled during TICAD that will be held in Yokohama in May. I came to thank her for accepting our invitation and discussed our common interests, global health.

Photo4　With Dr. Laurie Garrett

Today, it is warm here New York City this winter. The city has unique and unexplainable charm.

Photo5　On the street of NYC

Then I went to the Rockefeller foundation to see Managing Director, Dr. Ariel Pablos-Mendez (Photo 6) to talk about the report on a meeting which he organized “Pocantico II: The Global Challenge of Health Systems.” Unfortunately, I received a message from the President Dr. Judith Rodin, saying that her schedule did not match mine this time. Maybe we will be able to see each other at the World Economic Forum at Davos, two weeks from now.

Photo6　Together with Dr. Ariel Pablos-Mendez

Dr. Rodin is the first woman to become the president of an Ivy League University in 1994. She became the president of the University of Pennsylvania, where I started my career in the US. But, now, four (Princeton, Pennsylvania, Brown, Harvard) among eight Ivy League Universities have female presidents. How about Japan? I mention this so many times, but….

Dr. Rodin was the Provost at Yale University before becoming the President of the U. Penn., and as I pointed out several times, Dr. Allison Richard, top (it is called Vice Chancellor because Chancellor is HRH Duke of Edinburgh) of Cambridge University and Dr. Suzan Hockfield, President of MIT, both were recruited to head these top universities when they were the Provost at Yale. Is this a sheer coincidence? Or does this mean that Yale has an exceptional ability to choose right people?

This day was also a day of preliminary of the Presidential Election in New Hampshire, and Ms. Clinton won to make up the defeat in Iowa, making it a tie to Obama. Do you think US will have a first female president?

The main objective of this two day trip of visits and lectures was to prepare for the Global Health related meeting (under the auspices of WHO, World Bank, Gates Foundation, NPO, Government of Japan) and connecting it to preparation of and publicity for TICAD, G8 Summit.

In the evening, I had dinner in a restaurant in Soho with Dr. Rubinstein and Dr. Berkeley, whom I saw in the morning, and Mr. Nakasone, a student at the School of International and Public Affairs, Graduate School of Columbia University whom I met in Tokyo this summer. Mr Nakasone is a fascinating young man. I am looking forward to his future as a world level career holder. Maybe you have guessed by his name ? yes, he is a grandson of former prime minister Mr. Nakasone, and son of Mr. Hirofumi Nakasone, a member of the House of Councilors.

I left JFK Airport in the morning of January 9, to return to Japan.

Visit to Washington and then New York

Posted on 2008/01/102014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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On January 6, I went to Washington DC from Narita airport. It was very warm just like last year.

In the afternoon, we went to the Holocaust Memorial Museum along with Mr. James Kondo, my colleague at Health Policy Institute, our “Think Tank.” The plan and building of the museum had been well designed but I felt the stupidity of mankind. With only slight differences, the same things are happening again and again even today somewhere in the world and it is madness. Preserving, exhibiting and exposing such historical records and documents are very important. Otherwise nothing can be learned and the same things could happen again and again. It’s foolish isn’t it?

The following day, on January 7, there was a meeting with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in the morning. (Photo1). Lunch for me was arranged in the members’ lounge, exclusively for the members of National Academy by invitation of Dr. Nina Fedoroff, Scientific Advisor of U.S. Department of State. It occurred to me then I could have used this lounge since I was a member of Institute of Medicine (IOM) too and we talked about various topics with Dr. Fedoroff and Mr. Arimoto. We were able to network with various people while talking and Nina was kind enough to making several phone calls.

Photo1 From left-Dr. Goldin, former director of NASA, Dr. Cicerone, chairman of National Academy and introduced many times, Dr. Serageldin, Director of Alexandria Library

On that day, there was a board meeting of IOM coincidently, thus I came across my old friend, Dr. Victor Zhau (Mentor of Dr. Ryuichi Morishita of Osaka University, well known in Digital New Deal a forum to support as a cheering group member of ‘Innovation 25’). Dr. Zhau is now a powerful person running every thing from the medical school to the hospital at Duke University. I also met Dr. Fineberg, President of IOM with whom I had lunch just 1 year back. It is good to have professional friends.

(By the way, I had been selected as ‘DND person of year 2007’ in Digital New Deal, mentioned just before.)

I also met Dr. Bruce Alberts, the President of the National Academy for 12 years, who had devoted his special attention to support developing countries. This is the first time we had met since last October. He told me that he has returned back to the University (UCSF) but the work is becoming monotonous. He will become an Editor-in-Chief of “Science” magazine this coming March. So I joked with him “You will be famous won’t you!.” In the afternoon, I visited the World Bank and met Mr. James Adams, Vice President of East Asia and Pacific Region and Mr Alfred Watkins, Science and Technology Program Coordinator. I gave a lecture about 'Innovation for Development' for about 45 minutes in the auditorium. You can watch it on the webcast. Though it was the beginning of New Year, lots of Japanese were in attendance as it seems Japanese embassy announced. Many questions were asked and it was fun.

Photo2, 3 After lecture in World Bank (In Photo2, the person on left in front of me is Mr Watkins.)

Photo4 At the exit of World Bank, with Mr. Ebata of Japan embassy
(Mr. Ebata had been previously assigned to Samawah in Iraq)

In the evening I visited Dr. Marburger, scientific advisor of President Mr. Bush (Photo5, 6). After that, I returned back to the National Academy and met Dr. Charles Vest, who has been a Principle of MIT for more than a decade (Photo6). In this way I could meet heads from all three academies of the National Academies in one day.

Photo5, 6 In the conference room of Mr. Marburger
(Photo6 Joan Rolf, administrative secretary. He had been in Japan for about 2 years and is fan of Japan.)

Photo7 From left-Myself, Dr. Goldin, Dr.Vest and Mr. Arimoto

I had to excuse my self during dinner and returned to New York from Ronald Reagan Airport.

It was one busy day! The temperature during the day was 18 degrees and really warm. The temperature last year was more than 20 degrees. Is this proof global warming?!

California-3 after a long time, Address at the Stanford University.

Posted on 2007/12/122014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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On the 6th, it was a gloomy weather since morning. Was raining a bit. First, I met Ms. Shizu Munekata of Enhance Inc. (is she is known as “Ms. Shizu”?) and spoke with her on broad topics and we spent a very good time. Then at lunch, I met Dr. Kaneko who is becoming a legend in bio technology (also profiled in the “Going through the digital era” of Mochio Umeda) after 3 years, and Ms. Chika Watanabe of blog and “ Human 2.0”. It was a strange feeling like knowing the person well, even though all were meeting for the first time.

After lunch, I met the people of the biotechnology venture of Circulatory organs in the Silicon Valley. We discovered many common friends in the board members of the companies, like coming in groups. This is really what excites me. You can never tell who you will meet as you visit places. The reputation of every person spreads unknowingly, and it gets established in this “Flat” society. This will become “Individual power”, moreover “Trust” of the global era. It is hard to understand who is connected to whom. Therefore it is necessary to be alert. In every case one should give his best with honesty and sincere efforts, and should improve his ability.

From 3 pm to Stanford with Prof. Mr. Dasher. It was raining a little, like needing an umbrella depending on the walking distance. After visiting his office, I did the last lecture on the series of “Innovation of Asia” from 4pm. Not only the students, but also foreign students, faculty members from Japan, many other people from outside the campus , and local celebrities were there to many of whom I was introduced to.

Photo 1 At the Seminar Hall with Dr.Dasher

The title of my lecture at the seminar was “Innovate Japan”. I started my speech by explaining how Japanese people start any discussion with a sort of apology or humble attitude like “Thank you for coming today despite of the bad weather”. The point of discussion was what I already said before, (In this case Web cast)-that the Noble prize for peace for 2006 and 2007 represents the key to the innovation boom of the globalization era, and that Silicon Valley as the resource of free unrestricted ideas is now turning into the “Clean Green Valley”, the mecca of “Clean Green Technology”. This seminar will be on the web soon so please wait for the contents and the questions and answers.

Photo 2 With some of the participants after the seminar.

Nevertheless, this is the frightening aspect of the information era. Any one can see this picture all over the world. This essentially is the frightening aspect of the “Global era”.　　The image has more impact than just the words, just like live, nothing can be concealed. In most of the cases, everything is almost instantly seen and known in real time. In the “FLAT” world, anybody can see it. Who is he? What does he do? What can he do? How good does he do it? Within no time, it is widely known throughout the world in a form that anybody can see. A title does not have much power. The value of the “Individual power” that crosses the national borders, is the essence and the message by Dr. Ishikura and me in our Japanese book “How to make a world class career”. Now the whole world knows how much the value of “high” title in the Japanese society actually is. This cannot be concealed no matter where you go or what you say. Higher the position in society, if there is “difference in the actual ability”, then in the global era, it affects the liabilty of that individual, the organization, the society and the nation to which he belongs.

To tell the truth, I am scared. However, actually this is a good education. We should get a feedback from the people, students and from the counterpart and self-analysis should be done. Here we have to learn and make the best use of it. I think this is important. To watch oneself and learn in modesty and move to the next step is what “Self Improvement” process is all about.

Many questions came out after the lecture. After we finished with the questions, I was with everyone as usual (Picture 2). Many young people from the Japanese industries (mainly big industries) and from the universities had participated. One woman had come from the nearby high school, she wanted me to come to the school and speak and so I replied her through e-mail that I would come in the next chance. Thank you everyone for coming in spite of the bad weather. Thank you.

Thanks to Mr. Yagi of IMAnet for attending and for writing about this in his blog. Thank you.

From California-2, Palo Alto after a long time, Secret of the Silicon Valley

Posted on 2007/12/112014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

→Japanese

On the evening of 5th , I arrived at the San Francisco airport after a 2 hours delay, and was welcomed by Mr. Deepak Bangalore (Called as DB), who was also with me at the Global Innovation Ecosystem 2007（GIES2007）, his daughter who attended the Oxford University and Ms. Hoshi of the Panasonic whom I met at the World Knowledge Forum held in Seoul . We went straight to Palo Alto, the town of the Stanford University, at the heart of Silicon Valley (SV）. We went to “TiE”（The Indus Entrepreneurs）.

As the name suggests, this organization has several offices and many SV Venture Capitalists and entrepreneurs were there. The members mainly consisted of Indians many of them connected to each other in some way or other. If you look at the website, you realize that it is full of activities every day.

It looked like they were mostly Indians. Around 100 people gathered around the table and exchanged opinions and information having wine and light snacks. It was clearly an atmosphere of casual confidential talk. Many people were introduced and visiting cards were exchanged. I was told that such extremely open gatherings took place every 2, 3 days a week. How energetic. Can such gathering be imagined in Japan?
Maybe few attend every time but I never thought that so many people, may it be entrepreneurs or scientists or investors, would gather together so frequently. This is probably one of the secrets of the SV strengths. The “TiE” network has been spreading widely in the world. I am impressed with the Indian strength of organizing and providing this.

This evening, Dr. Burton McMurtry who is called the “Pioneer of Venture Capitalist” did an interview style speech at Stanford University Chair, Board of Trustees. It was wonderful. This kind of people are the regulars. Even Mr. McMurtry looked like a lay person and didn’t appear to be so special. But lots of Venture Capital information is exchanged through such gatherings, and human resource training/education, business strategy network building, result achievements are discussed and put into practice. This might be the secret of SV success. It is incredible to have many such extremely open places.

I left early for dinner with DB and his daughter, Ms.Hoshi, Mr. Hirose of Hitachi, Mr. Masa Ishii (former McKinsey, a Venture Capitalist established in SV), joined later by Prof. Richard Dasher (our host at Stanford visit), who had just returned from a meeting of Tohoku University. Well, we had a lively discussion on wide range of topics, and there was an after dinner session with Mrs. Ishi. This evening’s host of “TiE”, the incoming chairman Mr.Vish Mishra were also with us. It was a long but enjoyable day.