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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

 

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Again On “2010 ACCJ Person of the Year”

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I was elected as the 2010 ACCJ Person of the Year in the end of 2010, and gave an acceptance speech this February at The Tokyo American Club luncheon.  The text of the speech is uploaded on my web site for your reference.

Recently, someone told me that Mr. Richard Smart posted an article about me, which, I think, was based on my speech at the luncheon, on the Tokyo Weekender titled “Kiyoshi Kurokawa, The Maverick”

Well, it is true that I speak my mind outspokenly although it may irritate some people, so it is quite natural for Mr. Smart to think that way.  However, I have never doubted that I might be wrong.  My point is that the Japanese society is a too insular minded, closed “Vertical Society.”

I know that many people will have hard feelings when truths are spoken and I don’t think we can do much about it.   However, it is very important that we speak what we truly feel.

You all know how the Japanese media coverage took the side of the government, trying to make things look better in their news coverage after the events of 3.11.  I think the credibility of Japanese journalism has fallen down sharply by their behavior of currying favor with power.  And now it is clear to the whole world that this attitude of flattering to power is not limited to the Japanese government, Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), or Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO).
 
Where is Japan headed to?  I am a bit worried.

Again To Doha, Qatar

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jiro Asada’s Novel; The Last Years of the Qing Dynasty

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I think Jiro Asada, a Japanese writer, has quite a lot of fans.  I am one of his fans, too, although I have not read all of his works.
 
The 4 series’ novel about China in the end of the Qing Dynasty “The Firmament of the Pleiades (Soukyuu no Subaru, 蒼穹の昴), “Imperial Consort Zhen’ s Well (Chinbi no Ido, 珍妃の井戸)”, “Chugen Rainbow (Chugen no Niji, 中原の虹)”, and “Manchurian Report (Manchurian Report,マンチュリアン・リポート)” (published last year) is one of my favorites.  What attracts me is the structure, analysis, and the viewpoint in each “Story (monogatari, ものがたり)”.  Once I start reading, the story is so fascinating that I am completely caught by it and can not stop until I get to the end.
 
Last year NHK broadcasted a drama series that was produced in collaboration with China titled “The Firmament of the Pleiades”.  It is a story about Empress Dowager, Chunru (春児, チュンル）, and the people close to them, in the last phase of the Qing Dynasty. Yuko Tanaka, a Japanese actress, played the part of Empress Dowager which I thought was done nicely.  After this novel came the “Imperial Consort Zhen’ s Well”.  I don’t think I have to remind you that the Imperial Consort Zhen also appeared in “The Firmament of the Pleiades”.

I had an opportunity to visit Beijing (北京) several years ago, and since I had a bit of spare time I decided to go to the Forbidden City (紫禁城).  The guide asked me where I wanted to see, so I requested him to take me to “The Chinbi’s Well (珍妃の井戸)” because I didn’t have enough time to see all.  So, as I recall, we went directly to the well and saw nothing else.  I do not regret this though, because each of Asada’s storis is so fascinating that you feel as if you were living it.  My impression of “The Chinbi’s Well”?  Well, I would rather hear your impression after you have seen it.

The 3rd book of this series is “The Chugen Rainbow”.  This is a story about Zhang Zuolin (Cyo Sakurinn, 張作霖); the son of a refugee, later the leader of the mounted bandit in Manchuria area (bazoku, 馬賊), Puyi (Xuantong Emperor, Fugi, 溥儀); the last emperor whom Zhang Zuolin is to encounter at Chugen, and Yuan Shikai (En Seigai, 袁世凱).  The Western nations and the Kwantung Army (Kanto-gun, 関東軍) are also involved in the complicated development of the story.  This piece is also quite exciting.

The last book; ‘Manchurian Report’ was published last fall.  It has a wonderful structure and excellent style of story telling of the process that leads to the death of Zhang Zualin by the bomb explosion which Kwantung Army planned and executed near the Fengtian (Hoten,　奉天) Station of the Manchuria Railroad.

I truly admire the extensive research ability and high quality of writing by the professional writers.

While there are a variety of books dealing with the history of Japan and its relations with the neighbors – Korean Peninsula, China, or Manchuria – from end of the 19th century to the first half of the 20th Century, I find books such as Asada’s that tell stories of individual characters quite amusing, not to mention that they are “non-fictions” which are intended for entertainment.  Besides the books by Asada, I would recommend a story of Hajime Satomi the “King of Opium” (by Shinichi Sano), or in this connection, “The Back Side History of Manchuria; What Masahiko Amakasu and Shinsuke Kishi Bore” (by Naoki Ohta), or many other stories concerning “Japan-Korea Relations”.  There are many things to be learned from these books regarding the life of people or how history is created, among others.

“Historic novels” has nothing to do with strange nationalisms; it is a good way to understand the movement of the world or nations from the multi-standpoint of those who lived in that time, the effects those movements had on the everyday life of the people.  Such perspective is especially important at times when you have to deal with the issues that arise in this rapidly globalizing world.

Below are some of the examples of the insights of Mr. Asada expressed as the words of the “story tellers” in this 4 series’ books;
“Neither (Japanese) government nor army is capable of thinking in a big scope because they are too nearsighted, merely focusing on immediate, short-term tiny profits….”
“Japanese thinking is too small scaled, just like the size of their homeland…”
“’Manchuria is the lifeline of Japan’, the words slipped out (at the Far East Meeting), but this comment was practically equivalent to saying ‘we are determined to invade our neighbors for the profit of our nation’….”

 “Wise men learn from history, fools learn from experience” is a well known saying.  Likewise I think “If people do not study the long history, they are just a bunch of idiots” is a good quote, although it is anonymous.

 

Upcoming Speech: Keynote Address with Madam Susan H. Roos, Wife of American Ambassador to Japan

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GOLD is an NGO which is “An organization dedicated to developing global women leaders and building bridges across the Pacific”.  GOLD was founded by Ms. Hiroko Tatebe who went to the United States for university and then launched her career. 

One of the main activities of GOLD is its Annual Symposium.  The Symposium will be held this year on October 28th in Tokyo.

“Turning Strategy into Action through 3Cs: Creativity, Collaboration and Connection”

             Time and Date: October 28, 2011, 09:00 to 17:00

             Location: Tokyo American Club

You can get further information on this Symposium via these site links (Ref 1).

 

Ms. Susan H. Roos, wife of the current American ambassador to Japan, will be giving a keynote address on the theme of “Women’s Leadership: From “I Can’t” to “I Will” while I will be talking on “Turn Crisis into Opportunity: Time to Shape and Create New Next Generation Diversity”.

Ms. Roos is a labor law attorney who is well known in the United States and is a passionate supporter of the empowerment of women.

While there is a fee for participation (which is a tad on the high side), I think that you will find this Symposium to be well worth attending.  There will also be a reception at the end of the day’s events.

I would be really happy to see you if this event fits into your schedule and budget.

Upcoming Speech: Keynote Address with Madam Susan H. Roos, Wife of American Ambassador to Japan

Japan’s Future, The Shining ‘Nadeshikos’

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

My Opinion Pieces in the New Komeito and Liberal Democratic Party of Japan Papers

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Last month, a dialogue with the Tetsuo Sato, former Minister of the Environment and current acting Secretariat General of the New Komeito and myself took place on the topic of “Japan Overcoming Crises and Making a Contribution to the Rest of the World ? The Lessons of Our Nuclear Disaster as a Resource for the Common International Good” (in Japanese).  This article appeared in New Komeito which is the official monthly journal of the New Komeito Party.  This debate took place one month after the earthquake on April 13th.  I hope you will forgive me for the delay in posting this information because, frankly, it completely slipped my mind.

The following topics were covered:

  • The real face of Japan
  • Leadership that is weak at the time of crises
  • A blueprint for disaster recovery
  • Japan in the world today

I wrote frankly about “political leadership (p. 3) of the current Democratic Party of Japan administration.

In this journal, a dialogue with the Kazuhisa Ogawa, an expert on Japan’s self-defense force, and another with Masayuki Yamanouchi, a historian and a great scholar appeared in the issues before and after mine.

A three-part series was published in the official weekly paper of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan in July.  The series was entitled “Contemplating the State of the Nation” and my theme was Social Welfare.  The titles of the articles (all in Japanese) are listed below:

However, when I talked with the editor on the phone and expressed my reservations that these three expansive themes would be extremely difficult to adequately cover over three installments in the available space with the end result being essentially being meaningless, the editor responded that he had gotten the exact same response from a number of people.

I did address these topics broadly over the three installments, and I was able to say what I wanted to say.

The final installation came out today and I, quite by chance, was in the offices of a senior Liberal Democratic Diet member in the afternoon.  He took a look at the article and offered up some comments.

The article did contain some rather critical comments in regards to the Liberal Democratic Party which is to be expected.

Today, more than ever, politicians have a huge responsibility in a Japan which is currently in a precarious position.

 

Liberal Arts Education

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

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

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

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

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

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