Meeting about Dementia at Todai, and Heading to Nairobi the Same Night

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During the afternoon of the 23rd of August, I attended a meeting announcing that Japan would be joining the ‘A4’, a clinical research programme spearheaded by the US,aimed at operationalising the use of diagnostic imaging for the early detection of Alzheimer’s and then monitoring for a further four years. This announcement was made by Dr. Iwatsubo of  Tokyo University’s Graduate School Faculty of Medicine, at the Ito Memorial Hall in Todai.

I made the keynote speech about my participation in the World Dementia Council. The Ito Memorial Hall where I gave my talk was packed to its capacity of 200 people, and my talk seemed to rivet the audience’s attention.

I presented about the founding and subsequent developments of the WDC, also touching upon public-private partnership initiatives such as the EU’s EPAD and the GAP Foundation from the US. The main message that I emphasised a lot was that such platforms with a global outlook are something that we desperately need in Japan. I also tried to describe what the implications of such a platform would be.

It will be a big challenge to replicate in Japan the successes of the multi-stakeholder platforms I mentioned in the talk, but at the same time, I feel enthusiastic about meeting this challenge head-on.

A few days later, I received an email from the consul of the British embassy thanking me for the succinct explanation of the UK’s initiative in setting up of the WDC during the 2013 G8 Summit.

In Toronto Again!

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Its already the third time that I am visiting Toronto this year. This time, it was to attend a meeting of the World Dementia Council, the first meeting after being re-formed at the 2013 G8 Summit held in the UK.

This date was arranged to follow the week-long Alzheimer’s Association International Conference that was held a few days earlier in the same city.

As soon as I checked in at the hotel, I headed out to the ballpark where the local team the Toronto Blue Jays were taking on the San Diego Padres in an MLB game. The stadium was almost full, meaning that the only seats available were the very steep outfield (500 level) seats. I had to leave the game at the top of the 7th inning. When I opened the morning paper the next day, I found that the game had not only gone to the 12th innings, but that they had overcome a 2 run deficit to post an improbable and dramatic walk-off win. The home crowd must have gone wild! You can relive the game through the following links (link 1, link 2).

Returning to topic, at the first meeting of the new independent World Dementia Council, there were discussions of several recommendations for the agenda, a brief summary and an outlining of the transition process (1).

The WDC was till recently a council created under the purview of the UK government. This was the first meeting as an independent council, yet there was very little discussion about how the new WDC would seek to enact changes that would help distinguish it from its predecessor. There was a general emphasis of discussion about such strategic intent, and I provided my input based around these observations. I think that this repositioning from UK Government to an independent one will be more difficult than imagined, but one that will nevertheless lay the foundation for the identity of this very important group in the years to come.

As one of the nations with the highest levels of population ageing, how will Japan act in the coming years. At the G7 held in Ise-shima in May, A Vision for Global Health was outlined, and section 2-2-2.5 deals addresses the issue of dementia. Similar recognition is required at the G7 Kobe Health Ministers’Meeting. For the ‘dementia tsunami’is something that we can predict with a high degree of certainty.

I met a lot of people here including John Dirks from the Gairdner Foundation, and Peter Singer, CEO of Grand Challenge Canada, and also had the opportunity to meet Consulate General Nakayama at the embassy.

I also mention Dr. John Dirk’s name here to celebrate the fact that the Canada Gairdner Global Health Award ( one that Dr. Satoshi Omura, Nobel Laureate of 2015, received in 2014) that was started in 2009 has been renamed to honour him ahead of his imminent retirement from the Foundation.

Various Gatherings and New Friends

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These days, I have had a lot of opportunities to participate in gatherings organised by inspiring women and young people.

The first of these events was one that I had not planned to go to, but I was thankful to be able to attend. It was organised by a group of researchers based in Washington, and headed by enormously successful women like Dr. Sachiko Kuno and Dr. Hiromi Murakami, who is an adjunct fellow at CSIS and also a board member of HGPI.

Last year, I had been able to support this admirable group by participating in the inaugural panel discussiony. The focus of this year’s workshop was on providing young female entrepreneurs. Speakers included Dr. Kuno and Ari Horie, who has proved to be a force to be reckoned with in Silicon Valley. I can tell you that their enthusiasm was infectious, and the program was very lively!

Another event that I attended where talented women were in the spotlight was the annual awards ceremony of the L’Oréal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science. As with previous years, it was held on the premises of the French Embassy. Three inspiring young female scientists, Miho Kitamura, Reina Tanaka, and Hiromi Tanji were recognized for their contributions to science (link in Japanese).  All three recipients are from Tokyo University. The reception afterwards was very classy and enjoyable.

Talking of beautiful settings, I attended a small gathering at a stylish café in Daikanyama on Saturday evening, where we had a farewell party for some young students who will be starting at UCLA this fall. And amid all this hectic activity, I still had time for a meeting with a woman who had a daringly ambitious project that at the same time was a very thoughtful  one.

The next meeting I was invited to was not a gathering of young people, but rather a meeting of the Dutch and Japanese Trade Federation (DUJAT) at the Dutch Embassy, where I was able to learn of the latest developments. Unsurprisingly, Brexit was the word on everyone’s lips. I met an old friend of mine, Gaku Yamamoto, with whom I spent my early schooldays. Interestingly, the current Managing Director of DUJAT, Radboud Molijn, first started working in Japan thanks to his connections with Yamamoto Gaku san, a well known actor.

Another memorable get-together was a small dinner gathering to celebrate a close friend’s birthday at a certain place in Tokyo. I almost lost track of time as I fell under the spell of the glorious wines on offer.

Welcoming the Chancellor of UCLA

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Every June, the Chancellor of UCLA, Chancellor Block, makes his annual trip to Asia. He has many Japanese ex-post-doctoral fellows who worked with him before he came to UCLA and always looks forward to visiting Japan.

I also visited UCLA two weeks ago.

This year, we took this opportunity to host a UCLA alumni gathering to coincide with the Chancellor’s visit. Over these past couple of years, there have been more young Japanese alumni who have joined. It is heartening to see that in particular, there many who did their undergraduate studies at UCLA.

Each year, there are three students who study at the UCLA Laskin School of Public Policy, but last year there were around ten.

In 2019, UCLA will reach its 100th anniversary and there is a fundraising project underway to commemorate the anniversary. In Japan, there is the “Kashi (Oak) Forest Project” that is taking place between Tokyo and the city of Tsukuba. It is being planned to establish a UCLA Japan Center in one of the spaces. This has been made possible by Masaru Murai.

Around here, there are many research centers and there are many researchers who come from UCLA. This sort of commemorative event does not take place frequently and the Chancellor seemed to be quite happy.

I have been the Chairman of this alumni association for the past six years since 2010 and have been able to pass on the torch to Mr. Tohyama of TMI Associates from this year.

It makes me happy to see that more young members joining, as young people are the future of Japan.

Educational reforms at the University of Tokyo: Where are they headed? Dr. Inui’s Reflections

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When compared with the rest of the world, it seems that the higher education reforms in Japan, including those in the world of medicine, have not made much progress.

From around 1980, there have been revolutionary reforms in the field of life science and American and European universities began to undergo major reforms. Some leading examples are the educational reforms at McMaster University and the New Pathway at Harvard University.

Universities in Japan do not seem to understand such changing and new situations but the government has taken some initiatives, conducted under the systematic name of “reforms”. In the 1990s, there was the introduction of graduate universities and the overall reforms of universities, as well as the shift to become independent organizations. However, can it really be said that the higher education has changed fundamentally?

I was at the University of Tokyo from 1983 to 1996 and tried proposing many different suggestions. However, as usual, although many agreed with the bigger picture, they did not agree with the details and finer points. The environment and factors pertaining to medicine has also been changing. I am referring to the “five M’s” that I touched upon in my final lecture of my tenure at University of Tokyo in 1996 and in my keynote speech at the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine (in Japanese).

One of the things I tried at the University of Tokyo was to discuss with Harvard University a way to let students experience the New Pathway. We began this a year before I moved from the University of Tokyo to Tokai University. I gathered the funding for three years. Eight Japanese students and six students and two faculty members from the Harvard School of Medicine came to the University of Tokyo at the end of spring for one week. Students from the University of Tokyo spent one week at Harvard in the autumn.

When I look back on the records and reports from that time, it is clear that the experience was a very positive one with high impact for both of the students, especially on the University of Tokyo students.

In 1996, the second year, the member of the faculty at Harvard who participated was Dr. Thomas Inui. Dr. Inui is a third generation Japanese American and is a pioneer in medical education reform in US.

Afterwards, there were some attempts for reform of medical education at the University of Tokyo. At one of those, Dr. Inui was invited for three months and very critically conducted inspections and interviews, based upon which he wrote the very substantial Inui Report. This was fifteen years ago.

Reflecting upon the time that has passed since then, it cannot be said that there has been effective use or implementation of the proposals. This June, Dr. Inui was invited to the University of Tokyo in order to speak about the “The University of Tokyo medical education after fifteen years.” And he gave a speech as well as served as a panelist. I was also invited to be a panelist.

As expected, there were few participants, only around 25. Unfortunately or as expectedly, professors were absent except for Dr. Hashimoto and Dr. Shibuya, who are in the field of public health and have earned their PhDs at the Harvard University School of Public Heath (which is quite a feat).

Dr. Inui’s speech is entitled “Curriculum Stagnation at Todai School of Medicine- A Sober Analysis.”

It was a passionate speech from the heart that pointed out the great effort that had been poured into creating the proposals, made possible by getting the cooperation of the dean of the University of Tokyo School of Medicine. However, most have not been implemented or developed further, while the world continues to change all around.

I share this criticism, particularly when I see the reality of the higher education in Japan and other universities around in the changing world, especially the many rising universities in Asia.

The Annual Meeting of the Japan Chapter of the American College of Physicians in Kyoto

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As I have done for the past few years, I participated in the annual meeting of the Japan Chapter of the American College of Physicians (1, 2) .

It was another full and lively program this year (1). The Chairman of the American College of Physicians attends the meeting every year and this time, Dr. Weyne Riley also participated. We were both moderators of one of the sessions and saw eye to eye on many things. We enjoyed watching the presentations of the students and residents and giving of awards.

This year, there were young people led by Prof Shibagaki of the St. Marianna University School of Medicine, who actively participated in much of the program.

My old friend, Dr. Inui also came to the meeting. Afterwards, he was to give a lecture at the University of Tokyo Education Center, which I also plan on attending.

Dr. Inui is the person who has been very passionate leader for years about the future of medical education and I asked him to come to Tokai University School of Medicine, the day before I was to start my deanship at Tokai University on June 30th, 1996. Quite a long time ago, 20 years, a fond memory of our professional career.

Three Days at Sekei Gakuen

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I am an alumnus of the Seikei junior high school and high school. Many people have good memories and feelings of nostalgia for this period of their lives.

I have been a board member of Sekei Gakuen for a while but from this year, I have become Special Advisor to the Chairman of the Board of Seikei Gakuen.

After giving much thought regarding the members, I asked Prof. Shigeru Miyagawa (in Japanese). They were both educated in Japan and the US, are bilingual in Japanese and English and are deeply passionate about education.

The three of us went to the Seikei campus and had an important meeting with the executive committee of the school. It took two to three months to arrange this meeting and coordinate everyone’s schedules. It was finally decided to be on the afternoon of Thursday May 26th.

We had meetings of an hour each with the Chancellor, the President of the University, the Principal of the junior and high school and the Principal of the elementary school. The library and elementary school were designed by Shigeru Ban (1), who is also an alumnus of Seikei.

I know that running a school can truly be challenging and I would like to give as much support as possible.

During the afternoon of the next day, I attended a board members meeting and councilors meeting in Tokyo.

The following Saturday, in continuation of last year, the International Education Division (in Japanese) hosted a seminar for junior and high school students, with the theme of “going abroad.” This year the title of the talk was, “My Study Abroad: A Discussion with Kiyoshi Kurokawa” (in Japanese) and included the OB/OGs Mr. Nagai and Miyazaki. They shared with us their own incredible stories. Afterwards, there was a panel on which I served as panelist, a presentation on American Field Service (AFS) and then a reception.

What can schools do for young people’s futures?

Many students attended with their parents attended and it was an enjoyable Saturday. It was all due to the efforts of Headmaster Kameshima, Principal Atobe and Director Kei of the International Education Division, the administrative office of the Junior and Senior High School, as well as Mr. Shimamura of the St. Paul’s School and Mr. Abe, who will be there in the autumn. In continuation from last year, I would like to express my thanks for this excellent event.

To Norway: the Territory on the 78th Parallel North

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After the dinner with DUJAT (Dutch & Japanese Trade Federation), I departed from Schiphol Airport, landed in Oslo 90 minutes later and stayed for one night. The next morning, I boarded a charter flight with about 140 people, which flew north for three hours and landed in Longyearbyen. It is located on the 78th parallel north.

This small village is the center of the Svalbard Islands and is located on Spitzberg Island. Due to the historical background, the governance is conducted collectively by Norway, Russia and the United States. In recent years, how to tackle the issues in the arctic has become one of the world’s challenges.

The Aurora Borealis Foundation (1) hosted this gathering. It was organised mainly by Bo Ekman of the Tallberg Foundation.

I attended a conference by Tallberg in 2013 when I visited Stockholm for a conference by invitation of Vattenfall power company due to my position as the Chairman of the National Diet of Japan Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission.

This time, another Japanese participants was my good friend Prof Mario Tokoro of Sony, which made me feel a bit relieved. The conference was co-hosted by Christopher Chuang, who has a career in media in Taiwan, and Mr. Ekman, so there was a large group of participants from China. However, I had the impression that much of the program, lectures and remarks were rather liberal. The brainstorming sessions that took place in small groups were also very good.

Through the brainstorming session, I met Dr. Eric Rasmussen, who is a leader in the field of global health and has a very unique career path. We share some similarities and had a very productive discussion.

On the third day, there were a several optional activities and I went to Barentsburg via a boat ride that was approximately two hours one-way. I enjoyed the outing there.

There was one man from the group from China who was wearing a very peculiar hat and had a unique appearance. I got the feeling that I had seen him somewhere before and it turned out that he was thinking the same thing.

He is a renowned designer and we had seen each other numerous times at the venue and hotel of the Nobel Prize award ceremony, which took place last December. It turned out that he was the stylist of Youyou Tu, who was awarded the Nobel Prize together with Dr. Omura. He brought his apprentice on the trip as well. I look forward to running into him again someday.

On the way back, I stopped by the Global Seed Vault. It seems that there are many people who stay at Oslo and the charter flight was delayed. From Oslo Airport, I made it just in time for my connecting flight in Paris and made it to Haneda.

My luggage was left at Oslo but it arrived three days later in Tokyo.

To Amsterdam for a Conference on Dementia

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After the end of splendid Golden Week with beautiful weather, I left for Amsterdam.

This year, the EU Presidency is held by the Netherlands. This conference was hosted by the Netherlands in order to showcase and share the measures taken for dementia by the Dutch. Since being appointed as a member of the World Dementia Council (WDC) , which was formed at the G8 Summit hosted by the UK in 2013, I have participated in many such activities and have written about them on this blog.

Three months ago, at the conference in London, the WDC was reformed to become independent from the UK government and to become a truly global council. I participated in this conference and continue to be a member.

The Chair of this newly reformed council is Yves Joanette and the Vice-Chair is Raj Long. The last time I saw them was at the WDC meeting three months ago. The transition to the new, global Council has been smooth and is making progress, especially due to the enthusiastic efforts and support of the secretariat, temporarily transferred from the UK Department of Health.

The British government regards dementia as one of the most significant problems in the world and raised the issue at the G8 Summit, pouring in roughly 100 million US dollars in funding and raising another 100 million US$ from other relevant organizations. I am always amazed by the dynamism that is an important part of the fabric of British politics and governance, its foreign policy as well as universities and scientific research, in spite of its problems with the EU and national politics.

The last time I visited the Netherlands was last year in June, when I attended the conference at the Hague. In the meantime, I’ve met with the Dutch State Secretary for Health, Welfare and Sport, Martin van Rijn at a seminar held at the Dutch Embassy, during his visit to Tokyo.

The conference venue was the Europe Building. The venue was characteristically Dutch, in the sense that the venue was not particularly flashy but the program content was well thought out and was moderated effectively. The conference kicked off with a speech by Martin van Rijn and the panels were moderated by Member of Parliament, Marijke Vos (donning a red dress in the photograph above). These two days have been very informative.

Japan will host the G7 Summit in Ise-Shima in May and I often get asked many questions about how dementia will be approached in the Summit. There will be many activities by organizations dealing with dementia.

Tulips are currently in full bloom in The Netherlands. I had the chance to visit the nearby National Maritime Museum. It is worth making a visit.

In the afternoon of the second day, the people of DUJAT (Dutch & Japanese Trade Federation) invited me to dinner. It turned out that the Managing Director of DUJAT and a medical doctor who was also as guest at the dinner had mutual friends of me from a long time ago and that the doctor joined my teaching sessions before. It was a very fun dinner.

After my stay of three days and two nights, I returned to Schiphol Airport. I came across this very moving photograph of a whale and people, which won first place in a contest, and I share this image with you here.

My next stop: Oslo.

A Week of Conferences on Global Health

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In April, there were many conferences that focused on issues related to the G7 Summit agenda in anticipation of the Summit in May. The first G7 (originally G6) Summit was held in 1975. When Japan was the host country in 1979, the word “health” appeared for the first time on the G7 agenda.

Following this, Japan proposed the concept of a “Global Fund” at the 2000 Okinawa Summit; at the 2008 Toyoko Summit Japan presented the idea that human security can be guaranteed by strengthening health policy.

In this age of globalization, Japan has been a pioneer in recognizing that “global health” is becoming an important keyword on the agenda.

On April 18th, there was a conference on the issue of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), co-hosted by the Center for Security and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington D.C. and HGPI, of which I serve as Chairman. There should soon be a report of the conference on the CSIS website. This conference was very substantial in content, with rigorous discussions that were to the point and highly evaluated by the audience.

On Tuesday the 19th, I attended the garden party at the British Embassy celebrating the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II. Ambassador Hitchens gave an excellent speech in his usual manner, which was well received by the crowd. I had the opportunity to discuss with the first secretary who is in charge of the issue of dementia and items on the G7 Summit agenda.

On Wednesday the 20th, I had dinner with the head of a British think tank. We discussed the situation in the East China Sea and I had the chance to hear things that are rarely openly disclosed. We discussed that since the UK and Germany are currently facing major issues within their countries, it was difficult to conduct agenda setting for the G7 Summit in Japan. Since the G7 countries make up less than 50 percent of the world’s overall GDP in today’s world, the more concerning item on the world agenda is China, this year’s host of the G20.

On Thursday the 21st, I participated in a bipartisan breakfast meeting on the topic of Japan’s contribution to the Global Fund. The Liberal Democratic Party was represented by MP Ichiro Aisawa and the Democratic Party was represented by MP Motohisa Furukawa. Mr. Tsuruoka, who has been appointed to be the next Japanese Ambassador to the UK, was also at the meeting. He gave rather critical remarks, as he often does. I am grateful to him for his support during the 2008 G8 Summit when I was Science Advisor to the Prime Minister Fukuda.

On Friday the 22nd, I participated in the Nikkei Asian Conference on Communicable Diseases (1) (in Japanese). This was the third consecutive year that this conference has been held. In the first conference, I gave the keynote speech, and last year and this year I gave the closing remarks. This year, I also appeared in the FT and GAVI Fireside Chat with the CEO of GAVI, Seth Berkeley, moderated by Mr. Andrew Ward, the pharmaceuticals correspondent of the Financial Times.

Regarding Japan’s contribution to GAVI, I proposed that the Japanese national bonds could also be included in the mix. Approximately 20 percent of GAVI’s funding comes from the national bonds of nine countries, including the UK and Norway.

This year, Japan, the G7 Summit and the issue of AMR were topics on the agenda. Some exceptional technologies developed by Japanese companies were also presented. However, from a global business perspective, it is a pity that the mindset still seemed to remain inward-looking.

Yet, I was glad that during this two-day conference, many people from Japan and abroad commented on the GHIT Fund. The GHIT Fund is built on a Public-Private-Partnership model, one that is completely new and has instilled the support of the Gates Foundation. I am glad that there is increased attention from both within Japan and from the international community.

Saturday the 23rd, was the second day of this conference. Member of the House of Councillors, Keizo Takemi, gave an eloquent speech, followed by panel discussions. The day ended with my closing remarks.

In this way, this week was filled with events related to the G7 Summit and global health. Last November, I gave a lecture at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, where there are research groups focused on the G8 and the G20. This year’s publication by the G7 Research Group, which will be distributed at the G7 Summit, includes my commentary on global health.

It was indeed a busy week with many events.