From Toronto to Doha

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I left Toronto for Doha via Montreal to attend the Qatar Foundation Annual Research Forum. I was a member of the selection committee at its inaugural meeting of the Forum.

At the Forum, I met with the representatives of the venture company Spiber, which utilizes genetic engineering to create spider webs, developed by Mr. Sekiyama. He is an alumnus of Keio University Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC) and his mentor is Professor Masaru Tomita. I took notice of Spiber in 2010, when it was presented at the SFC’s annual Open Research Forum when I was teaching at the SFC. I also had dinner with the Spider team and had the opportunity to exchange many ideas and opinions.

Watching the activities of passionate, young people always lifts my spirits and makes me want to offer my support if any. I am cheering for Spiber’s success.

Although the relations between governments are important in diplomacy, the trust that is built through people-to-people exchanges and friendship also plays a crucial role in international relations.

To Toronto Again

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I returned to Japan from Cornell University via Toronto but I went back to Toronto just three days later.

I took part in a conference in Toronto, which focused on innovation in Canada and Japan and the areas where the two countries could increase their cooperation. Throughout the discussion, many people from both the Canadian and Japanese sides brought up how little attention each country paid to each other. The keynote speech was given by the co-founder of BlackBerry, Jim Balsillie. We were seated next to each other at the main table and had the chance to talk about many things.

I mentioned to Mr. Balsillie that I once moderated a key note speech of the other co-founder of BlackBerry, Mike Lazaridis, in Kyoto in 2007. I told him that I immediately started to use the BlackBerry when it became finally available in Japan for retail sale in 2008. Throughout his keynote speech, Mr. Balsillie emphasized the phrase, “Freedom to Operate,” and so we discussed many topics in our conversation. The Ambassador Monji was also present at this gathering.

The host organization of this conference was the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), which is a relatively new think tank. The Balsillie School of International Affairs. And both organizations are created by Mr Balsillie.

I have many exchanges with people in Canada and feel that it is a country of moderation and excellence. Although Canada shares a similar history with Australia of being a former British colony and a resource-rich country, there are some major differences. The environment and cold climate may be an influencing factor.

In my talk, I spoke about the potential for Japan and Canada to work together and to create new possibilities by combining their strengths and offsetting their weaknesses. Japan has four times the population of Canada but the two countries share the similarity of being geographically located next to countries with ten times their own populations. I raised these points and took a global and long-term perspective in my talk.

The conference concluded with a speech by the Minister of Trade, Chrystia Freeland. Her skill in the question and answer session attest to her brilliant career as a journalist.

In Japan, it is rare to find people like Mr. Balsillie and Minister Freeland in Japan. The existence of such individuals is a strength of Canada.

March 11; Five Years from the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Accident; My New Book, “Regulatory Capture”; At Cornell University in Ithaca


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Five years have passed since the terrible tragedy of the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Accident. How much progress has really been made in the reconstruction efforts? It is a difficult issue.

A few nuclear power plants have been restarted in Japan but it seems that accidents and problems are occurring rather frequently.

Dealing with the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident will likely take many more decades. We are faced with many major challenges and obstacles now and in the future, with no idea of how long we must cope with them.

Having served as the Chairman of the first independent investigative commission under the National Diet in Japan, the National Diet of Japan Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission (NAIIC), I decided to publish my book, “Regulatory Capture: When Groupthink Can Kill” at this time. It can be found in bookstores or ordered online on Amazon. It is my sincere hope that many people will read it. If Japan remains in its current situation, the future does not look promising.

As part of the book launch, I held press conferences at the Japan National Press Club and the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan. The conferences can be viewed on YouTube.

This was my fifth time speaking at the Japan National Press Club regarding the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident. Each time, my message has been fundamentally the same: the world is changing but will Japan change?

Right after the press conference, I traveled to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. The Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, directed by Professor Hirokazu Miyazaki, invited me to speak at the roundtable discussion, “Nuclear Power Roundtable: Five Years after Fukushima.”

The panelists were Professor Charles Perrow of Princeton University and Professor Sonja Schmid of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. I always enjoy taking part in such discussions. After the roundtable, we attended the reception and dinner.

The next day, I had breakfast with professors and students from Japan. In the evening, I invited two post-docs from Japan and China to join me for dinner and we chatted about various topics.

The subject of conversation that came up often during my visit was how few Japanese students and professors there were over here.

The world is filled with possibilities and I encourage young people to challenge themselves more. The world is waiting for you.

My New Book on Regulatory Capture, Now Available

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Five years have passed since the March 11, 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and the unprecedented Fukushima nuclear power plant accident.

Three months before the earthquake and nuclear power plant disaster, the Arab Spring had begun in Tunisia.

The Arab Spring quickly spread to North Africa, the Middle East and now the region is experiencing a crisis that was unimaginable a few years ago, with a massive outpouring of refugees from North Africa and Syria to the EU.

In the midst of all of these major changes that have occurred throughout the world over the past five years, how has Japan changed?

With this question in mind, I focused on the lack of change in Japan in my new book on regulatory capture, through the lens of my experience as the Chairman of the National Diet of Japan Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission (NAIIC) , the first independent investigation commission in Japanese constitutional democratic history.

It will be available in stores on March 10th and can be ordered on Amazon.

Today, I held a press conference at the National Press Club of Japan, where I introduced the book and spoke about these issues.

I would be honored if you would read it.

Health Policy Summit 2016

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The annual summit of the Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) took place on February 27th from midday at the Meguro Gajoen. Apart from conferences, this venue is used mostly for weddings and has opulent decor. On top of this, the day of the summit had nice, sunny weather.

HGPI was ranked as being in sixth place in the 2015 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report in the category of “global health policy think tanks” (p.92) and was ranked in fifteenth place in the category of “top domestic health policy think tanks” (p.90). As a small, independent think tank, this is quite an achievement. It is due to the tremendous efforts of the staff at HGPI.

I had just returned from London the day before but everyone who participated, the speakers on the three panels, as well as the excellent moderators, made for a lively and interesting afternoon.

The first panel, “Sustainability in Health Care” had the following panelists: Hirotaka Unami, the Senior Director for Social Security Budget, Ministry of Finance; Toshihiko Takeda, Director-General for Policy Planning and Evaluation, Social Security, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare; and Robert Alan Feldman, the Managing Director, Chief Economist, Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities Co., Ltd. The moderator was the Mariko Oyamada, the Manager, Health and Global Policy Institute.

This panel focused on the issue of whether the public healthcare system in Japan, which the country takes great pride in, is sustainable in the face of a tight budget and an aging society. It was a very frank and open discussion and a nice opening for the whole summit.

The second panel, “Global Health- G7 Summit and Beyond,” had the following panelists: Kenji Shibuya, Professor, at the University of Tokyo who is internationally minded; Yasuhiro Suzuki, Assistant Minister at the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare who is also internationally minded; and Yoshiharu Yoneyama of JICA. The moderator was Anne Smith of HGPI.

We discussed a wide range of topics, including Japan’s contributions to global health so far; the agenda of the G7 Summit that will be held in May; and the potential for developments of partnerships which extend beyond Japan, in particular PPPs (public-private-partnerships) such as GHIT.

Japan’s contributions to the G7/G8 Summits in the area of global heath has been remarkable and the next challenge is how to further develop them to the next stage. The issues of poverty and health and diseases are some of the underlying causes of the instability that we feel in this world.

The third panel, “The Future of Health Care” had the following panelists, who come from different backgrounds: Seigo Izumo, who recently moved to Takeda Pharmaceutical Company; Tomiko Tawaragi, the Chief Safety Officer at the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA); and Shinsuke Muto who is very energetic. The panel was moderated by Ryoji Noritake of HGPI.

Both Dr. Izumo and Dr. Muto have unique careers amongst Japanese medical doctors- they are movers and shakers on a global scale and have interesting experiences to share, so their views have a major impact. Mr. Tawagi has built his career at the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and had a clear message.

We received many comments from people with global perspectives and it seemed that there was a major push for Japan to end its “isolation” and become a more open country.

I felt that this was a very fruitful day where we had a meaningful discussion, including with our members and the audience.

I would like to express my gratitude towards all of the people who continue to support HGPI.

Furthermore, I would like to thank the team members of HGPI, the OB/OG, as well as the interns and students for their hard work.

The report on this summit is summarized here.

Visit to London, the next Step for the World Dementia Council

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The World Dementia Council (WDC), was established in December 2013 at the G8 Dementia Summit held in the UK by the initiative of the British government. I have written a few entries on the WDC on this blog.

Since then, two years have already passed and the British government alone cannot continue to provide funding and leadership of the Council interminably. Yet, dementia remains one of the most pressing issues, so this year, it reformed its organizational structure to become an independent, truly global organization, with the strong support of the UK.

This conference was held in London and I participated as a Commissioner and traveled from Abu Dhabi to London. A few new Council members joined the Council and I was happy to learn that we have a few mutual friends.

It is a critical time for Prime Minister Cameron, who will preside over the referendum on the UK’s membership in the EU in June.

Dementia could be an item on the agenda for the G7 Summit to be held in May in Japan, and supporting UK initiative would be an important issue for Japan- UK relations.

On the 24th, a conference was held by the CEO Initiative (CEOi), comprised mostly of private sector companies. Many companies and foundations participated and it was a productive conference. In particular, there are many promising efforts on the topic of big data to keep an eye on. Recently in Japan, IBM has been especially active in the area of big data and its partnership with IBM Watson has been in the news.

From Abu Dhabi

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It has been a while since I have updated my blog.

On February 20th, I took an Etihad flight from Narita for Abu Dhabi.

Over these past three years, there has been a continuous, mutual exchange between universities in Abu Dhabi and Tokyo University and other Japanese universities and, Japan’s Institute of Energy Economics and several Japanese companies.

This time, we made visits to the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research and the Petroleum Institute.

Under the UAE-Japan Strategic R&D and Higher Education Partnership, Masdar also has links with the University of Tokyo and student exchanges, presentations and research unit observation trips. When I arrived at Masdar, there was a group of students who contacted me. They were a group of around twenty graduate students from the University of Tokyo. They had come to observe the research at Masdar, which is a good thing. I suggested that they come to see a presentation at the lecture hall if they had time. They did not come in the end but it made me glad that there were such students visiting.

Ambassador Fujiki also made an appearance during our visit and gave his greetings. The Ambassador is from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and as a background in biochemistry. I have high hopes for the mutual exchanges.

At KUSTAR, I had a meeting with President of Khalifa University, Dr. Tod A. Laursen. Last year, we had a half-day seminar at KUSTAR. However, with the recent fall in oil prices, the budget has become very tight. I wonder how many years this will continue.

At the Petroleum Institute, there was much interest in the development of solar cars with Tokai University. This team took second place at a race last year and made the news. Both the drivers and the preparations for the race are centered on the students here so they were especially happy here. The explanation by the leader was also very powerful.

This Institute of Energy Economics was ranked as number one in the world by the think tank ranking in the 2015 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report (p. 83) . It is very encouraging. There are talks of joint development.

The Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) , of which I serve as the Chairman, was also ranked in 6th place in the category of “global health” (p. 92). In the category of “top domestic health policy think tanks” it was ranked in 15th place (p. 90).

It was just a two-day trip but this sort of academia-government-industry team visit was very welcomed. Although Japan’s business interests with Abu Dhabi are mostly limited to oil, their interests went beyond, instead focusing on human resources training and education and business related to sectors other than the oil industry.

Vancouver

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Last year, I meant to share with you my trip to Vancouver in between my trips to Seattle on December 1st and Toronto on December 6th but it seemed to have slipped my mind.

My apologies for the delay to Consulate General Okada and many others who looked after me during my stay in Vancouver. Below is the report of my trip.

On the evening of November 11th, I arrived at Vancouver from Seattle. This was my third visit to Vancouver but the last time was already around ten years ago.

From here, I will be traveling to Toronto and Ottawa. This lecture series was planned over two years by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada which invited me as a speaker. The topic of my talk is Japan’s role in facing issues of global health.

On the next day, the weather was heavy rain and a stark contrast to that of Seattle.

I arrived at the campus of the prestigious University of British Columbia. I gave a lecture at the Irving Barber Learning Center for approximately 90 minutes. Consul General Okada kindly moderated my talk.

Consul General Okada is a great speaker and he was deeply involved in the planning of TICAD4 (1),  that was held in Yokohama in 2008 under Prime Minister Fukuda. At that time, I was the chairman of the first Noguchi Hideo Africa Prize and the award ceremony was held at TICAD4.

I met with Professor Shigenori Matsui who has been teaching here for the past ten years, as well as a medical doctor who was trained in Japan. She is currently studying here.

From the afternoon, I attended a dinner at the Consulate General. The Consulate General building is one of the oldest historical buildings in the area and is very beautiful. Consul General Okada did not have experience in Africa prior to organizing the 2008 TICAD but he asked to work at the Japanese Embassy in Kenya following TICAD. We discussed issues in Africa and were able to exchange many opinions.

Both of the two days during my stay were rainy, sadly, but they were very fruitful.

On November 13th, I left for Toronto.

The World and Society of Scientists, Conferences in Kyoto and Kobe

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On October 4th to 6th, I attended the STS Forum (Science and Technology in Society Forum) in Kyoto, an annual conference of people involved in science and technology related policy-making.

On the evening of October 2nd, it was announced that Dr. Omura was selected for the Nobel Prize.

On the second day, I sat on the panel on education and capacity building in developing countries. The moderator was an old friend, Dr. Zakri (1) the Science Adviser of the Prime Minister of Malaysia. As always, I spoke about the importance of interaction between young people across national borders. There was widespread agreement on this issue and many of the speakers referred to my points. My paper calling for multi-layered international exchanges, “Multilayered Brain Circulation” was also distributed.

On the 6th, I traveled from Kyoto to Kobe to take part in the “Global Forum: Innovation for Ageing Populations” held at the WHO Center located in Kobe. An article by the host, Alex Ross, was published in the Japan Times. I was the moderator of the “High-level Policymaker Panel” held on the second day. The panelists were from Japan, the U.S., Europe, China and American think tanks and they each briefly gave their views, followed by questions from the audience. It was difficult to keep to the time limit of 60 minutes but somehow I was able to facilitate the conversation.

The recent reports by the WHO, U.S., Europe and WEF were also distributed.

I was glad to see a speaker from IDEO, whose engagement seems to be a sign of the times. The panel where Gretchen Addi was a speaker was mostly a chat between panelists who met for the first time but I look forward to following “The Powerful Now”, as well as the “White House Conference on Aging”.

Cambridge Pembroke Players Tour

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Pembroke College is the third oldest college at the University of Cambridge, which was established over 800 years ago. On the first Sunday of autumn, I attended a play by the Cambridge Pembroke Players, a student theatrical society, which visited my old high school, Seikei-Gakuin.

Seikei-Gakuin holds an annual “Shakespeare Week” at this time of year and students from Pembroke College have visited the school as part of the international student cultural exchange since 2007.

This year, they performed “The Comedy of Errors” (1). The auditorium was packed with a nearly full audience.

The students said they practice three times a week. Their Japan tour will last for three weeks and their next stop is Meiji University.

It is great to see such students’ activities and I encourage Japanese universities to embark on similar projects.