Dr. Jonathan Dorfan to Assume the Presidency of Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology

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As you know, a plan to build a new graduate university in Okinawa had been in progress for quite a while.

Almost 10 years have passed since the inception of this idea, and ever since the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Promotion Corporation (OIST P.C.)  was launched as an Independent Administrative Agency with Dr. Sydney Brenner as the first President, we have been working hard for many years.  This institution’s concept is revolutionary in every aspect; the Cabinet Office of Japan is responsible in taking charge of this project, it is a scientific institution totally open to the world for the new global age.  Also, I would like to especially point out the fact that Dr. Brenner is extraordinary by his broad views and rich connections and greatly helped build OIST PC..

Since this was a very new concept, we did have some difficulties along the way such as in trying to gain understandings of the stakeholders including Japanese science community.  However, now we have paved the path enough to set up a graduate school, and finally are proud to announce that Dr. Jonathan Dorfan of Stanford University will assume his office in July as the first President elect of OIST (Ref.1).  This is truly an epoch making event.  That Japan will at last have a scientific institute with longer perspectives open to the world is something we all should celebrate.  Again, this is a revolutionary achievement.

As I have written in my past postings, conventional Japanese universities were unable to materialize such concept, although they were willing to discuss it (Ref.1, 2).  

I am determined to support President Dorfan and continue working with everyone to make this institution a success.  The credibility of science research in Japan is being evaluated and watched even through such a seemingly ‘small’ event like this in Okinawa.  I think the world might have started seeing some hopeful signs of change in Japan after a long time.

For up until now, even in the ‘academic arena’ the situation in Japan is yet closed and quite insular minded (Ref.1).

At Chatham House: From G8 to G20, Issues on Health and Development

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Photos by the courtesy of NHK Asian Voice and HPI-Japan

Chatham House in London is more formally known as The Royal Institute of International Affairs, one of the world’s top Think Tanks on international issues, a place for debates, famous also for the rule often referred to as the ‘Chatham House Rule’

This Chatham House, CSIS, an American Think Tank in Washington DC (Ref.1), and  our Health Policy Institute Japan have spent about a year preparing for this meeting at the Chatham House which was held on June 30.  The meeting was scheduled at the timing of the G8 Summit in Canada that took place a few days earlier, and the theme of the meeting was ‘Global Health: What’s next for the G20? Investing in health and development’.

Its agenda, panel speakers, and sponsors were all superb.  I understand that the total number of participants was around 200.  Dr. Shigeru Omi (in Japanese), former regional director of WHO Western Pacific Regional Office, represented the government of Japan.  Also, some Japanese officials in London were present including Minister Oka of Japan Embassy, from JETRO, and NHK crew came to report this meeting.  I would like to extend my sincere thanks to them all.

Now and in the future, such process of independent Think Tanks or other non-governmental institutions hosting and organizing conferences to set global agendas to lead discussions that in the end can come up with some overall understandings or agreements is and will be extremely important.  Organizing and participating in such conferences have been a very good experience to us, too.  I myself was honored to have a role of listening to the discussions of the day and wrapping them up in the closing.  We also tried to make clear what we could do with the outcomes of this meeting, or what our next steps could be.

These things are easy to say, but actually to reach to this point was truly a tough task. I did write several postings on this process in this site (Ref.1, 2, 3) in addition to the reports which are posted on the web site of the Health Policy Institute, Japan.  Most importantly, we must understand that in the global world, building ‘personal’ credibility/trusts’ amongst ‘colleagues of the world’ is the basis of everything. 

It seems to me that one of the fundamental problems of Japan lies in the conventional attitude of the majority of the Japanese people who think that those global issues must be handled by ministries in charge, i.e. government offices or bureaucrats, or big companies if talking about industry.  In other words, our society is not yet mature enough as the ‘Civil Society’ – at least in my view.

So, let us all together nurture as many human resources and capitals as possible who are capable of taking actions based on the deep understanding of the importance of actions by independent individuals who do not necessarily rely on ‘governmental authorities’, as well as the importance of development of mutual trusts in individual levels, particularly in this ‘global’ and ‘flat’ world.

Commentary and Other Publication Relating to Harvard University

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This year, I was invited twice ? in January  and May (Ref.1) – to participate in the activities of Harvard University.

No publication was issued of the meeting of January, but for the meeting in May  a report for the participants only was prepared under the Chatham House Rule.  One of the participants, Mr. Kurihara wrote in his Gazette (in Japanese) that he ‘laughed many times during Professor Kurokawa’s talk’ (p.3 left column) which I take as ‘honor and pleasure’.

Since the report includes a short description of that part, I will quote it below.

Session 2: Biotech Models for Development
、、、、
‘Panelist Kiyoshi Kurokawa, Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Japan, addressed the issue of biotechnology by first delineating some key issues related to its development ? globalization, food and water, environment, and biodiversity ? and then discussing some of the challenges facing countries interested in advancing biotech. Citing Ghana and Botswana as examples, Kurokawa argued that developing countries have little need for the newest and most scientifically intricate technologies, like genetic recombination. Rather, they need simple technologies that can be used to improve the quality of life for local people.

Kurokawa advocated the deployment of existing technology to address the most severe of world crises, like food and water shortage. Such use of technology could also result in bottom-up growth and benefit social entrepreneurs. Again emphasizing the local, Kurokawa further argued that biotech enterprises should also consider how “indigenous knowledge” might propel new developments in biotechnology. Local remedies, like the use of bark to treat malaria in China or of aspirin, have the potential to help biotechnology better address the “big needs” of the world today.’
、、、、、、
‘In the discussion that followed, Kurokawa re-emphasized his position that while frontier science contributes important discoveries, these discoveries should be shared and there should be a collective effort to apply new advancements to the betterment of the human condition.’

Another publication is a Commentary which I co-authored with my colleague Dr. William Saito for ‘Harvard Asia Quarterly’  published by Harvard Asia Center.  Its title and summary are as below.

Global Climate Change:
The Interconnection with Medical Technology and Health Care
Medicine, along with culture and technology, can both cause and resolve the problem of climate change. Medicine has helped reduce infant mortality and increase longevity, thus contributing to overpopulation which results in excessive pollution and resource consumption. But it can also help solve these problems by providing better forms of contraception and education.

The full text  is about 7,000 words which is a bit long, but if you could spare time to read it, I would be very grateful for comments and suggestions.

‘Nurturing Tough Todai Students’: Lecture Series of The University of Tokyo

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Last December, President Hamada of the University of Tokyo sent out a message ‘Let Us Nurture Tough Todai Students’.

As part of this effort, a new lecture series titled ‘The Way of Life in the Global Age ? New Possibilities Suggested by Professionals’ was launched this April mainly for the freshman/woman and sophomore students.  Please refer to the Todai web site for information on lecturers, topics, abstracts, etc.  The list of invited lecturers is pretty impressive.  I felt honored to be invited.

The last lecture for this semester was on June 25th (Mon).  I was assigned for that day.   Early in the morning of this day the World Cup ‘Japan vs Denmark’ game was being played, with the result of Japan defeating Denmark by ‘3-1’, which entitled Japan to go to the final tournament so I was not sure whether students would come because I imagined that they must be sleepy after staying up all night watching the game live on TV.  However, this anxiety proved to be unnecessary.

Students seemed to have enjoyed my lecture.  I talked about the importance of going on journies abroad to discover one’s self, about ‘Let Us Take Leave of Absence From School’ (Ref.1 2),  watching and listening to Steve Jobs’ speech , and thinking of the ‘strength’ and ‘weakness’ of oneself as well as that of Japan.

At the ‘questions and answers’ session, many interesting questions were raised and I enjoyed the time very much.  The eyes of every student were shining.  My wish is that each one of these students  grasp wonderful future in their hands.

I want Japanese youths to see the world in broader perspectives as they live the ‘global age’, thus to spend more time to find out what they really want to do, or want to be.  I would like to encourage them to connect to people around the world, look for their identity, and to find opportunities to be active internationally.  All this, I have been saying repeatedly in my web site also.

Faculties at universities, people in industries, I urge you to give students support and opportunities, in any way possible, to ‘take a leave of absence, if necessary, and go out to see and feel the world’.  Any time spans, styles, programs, are OK.  I think even having students to plan and launch his/her own projects would be a good idea.

Our future lies in the hands of the youth.

Students Passionately Searching for the Ways to Serve the World. Why not Join Them this August?

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This is another posting on the‘Global Change Maker Program’ which you may be familiar with by now.  This program was organized mainly by the undergraduate students of Waseda University, with the help of their supporters.  Now at last its first project ‘E Education’ is going to launch jointly with Grameen Bank led by Professor Yunus.

Dear youths and students, why not consider participating in their activities this summer?

Below are the details.  I urge you to raise your hands.  Actually, I have seen participants from the last year and saw how they their eyes were opened to the world and have become motivated and some are already in ACTION.  This is truely a wonderful project.

Their web sites are;
１．http://profile.ameba.jp/wakurevo/
２．http://astu0301.blog13.fc2.com/ etc.

And see the video at ‘YouTube’.

In my web site, see postings of;
June 6th, 2010
April 14th, 2010
June 29th, 2009
December 19th, 2008

This year’s program is from August 18th to 29th.  See below for details.  Join them and go out to see the world!
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Dear everyone who expects to become a driving force of the world 10 years from now.
+ Global Change Maker Program +
12 days’ exciting program for you to learn and experience how to change the world
For details/applications ⇒ ⇒ ⇒　http://www.gcm-p.com/
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New York City; Wonderful Season, Great Discussions, Reunions With Young Physicians

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After 14 hours’ flight from Seoul, I arrived at JFK Airport.  The weather looked great from above few clouds but it was also a delight to feel the refreshing dry air as I stepped down the steps from the aircraft.  This is clearly the best season of the year in New York.

I headed to Le Meridian located in the Mid-Town Manhattan , the venue of the President’s Council (Ref.1 ) of the University of Tokyo.  You may remember some of my previous postings on this Council.  It was originally founded by former President Dr. Komiyama, is now succeeded by President Hamada.  Last meeting  was held at the Komaba Campus of Todai, which included an initiatives, two separate seminars by two Council members, Bill Emmott-san and by Victor KK Fung-san.

After checking in to the hotel and taking a short rest, I spent a wonderful afternoon in the fresh leaves and soft breeze walking for about an hour in the Central Park 　(Ref.1,2) to MOMA  (it was a pity that the museum was closed because it was Monday), and through the Madison Avenue.

In the evening, a reception was held with the local Todai alumni association joining in (article on this is uploaded in the University archive of June 8th ), and the number of people turned out to be quite large.  I was happy to see several old friends whom I had not seen for a long time and of course was glad to be introduced to many new friends.

On the next day, the President’s Council meeting opened welcoming the members including professors Princess Chulabhorn Mahidol of Thailand, Vartan Gregorian, Rita Colwell, Kari O Raivio, Michael Y Yoshino of Harvard, P Laudichina-san of AT Kearney, Yoshi Yokoyama-san, the former director of McKinsay & Company Inc of Tokyo.

Special guest of this meeting was Dr Rebecca Chopp (Ref.1,2) the President of Swarthmore College.  Main theme was ‘Liberal Arts’ education.  I will write on this further in a separate posting.

In the evening I enjoyed having dinner with young Japanese physicians, some in  medical residency at a medical center in NYC, and their OBs/OGs.  We had nice heated discussions on a variety of topics.  It is my firm belief that to nurture as much as possible those kinds of talents, to encourage more young people to work in broader fields outside of Japan, is so crucially important not only for Japan’s tomorrow but also for Japan to be trusted by other nations of the more and more interconnected world.  To let young people in Japan know about those young (Japanese) people studying and working at overseas, to show them good role models that they can look up to as their short-term future choices, is a very important element in the education of and nurturing young Japanese potentials that are well capable of working in dynamic global world.

Asian Pacific Congress of Nephrology in Seoul

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Just recently I have reported to you about having participated briefly in the meeting of the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) after a long interval.

I returned from Doha to Japan in the evening of June 1st.  Next day, I headed to the Yagami Campus of Keio University to give a lecture as part of the SONY lecture series on Innovation  organized by Professor Mario Tokoro, President of SONY CSL.  The day after, June 3rd, after taking care of several things I flew to Seoul to join the Asian Pacific Congress of Nephrology (Ref.1) held at COEX.  My first program was to appear in the Opening Plenary as co-chair with Professor Ho Yung LEE, the President of APCN.

I truly enjoyed reunions with lots of colleagues who came to participate from Asia-Pacific and countries like US and EU.  During my appointment as Counselor and later as the President of ISN I used to catch every opportunity to travel abroad, so to see many of the young people; many of them whom I met in those days have been turning into leaders in their country and the world, was a tremendous joy for me.  Speaking of myself, I had the honor of receiving the first ‘Priscila Kincaid-Smith Award’  founded at the last meeting two years ago.  Dr. Kincaid-Smith is a renowned Australia based physician and researcher, especially known for her world class contribution in the advancement of nephrology and was elected the first President of ISN from Asian Pacific (she was also the first female ISN President).  I have had the honor of being in touch with her in many occasions.

The reception hosted by President Lee was held at the annex of Walkerhill Hilton  (the garden of Aston House  (the photos are seen in this web site) which is known to many through a popular Korean TV series ‘Hotelier’ .  I hear that this place was built for the meeting of Heads of North and South Koreas.  At the reception I had a great time talking with many old and new friends.

On 7th, left Seoul from Incheon International Airport  to New York JFK, a 14 hours’ flight.

Japan, UK, US, Korea Cancer Clinical Trials International Symposium ? A Report

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In my May 29th posting I have reported that we hosted Japan, UK, US, Korea cancer clinical trials international symposium.

A report on this meeting is now uploaded on the web site of Health Policy Institute 

Every session was excellent, but from Japan’s standpoint, the rapid internationalization and growth of Korean clinical trials in the last few years was impressive and very much worth focusing.  Details are illustrated in the slides (especially the latter half, #7 and after) of Professor Yung-Jue Bang of Seoul University, the 3rd presentation in the plenary session (first presentation was by Dr. Miyata of Ministry of Health, second was Dr. Kondo, Chief Executive of PMDA).  Please note that cancer or oncology is now the largest stream of clinical trials in Korea.　

I think that these rapid changes were possible through the excellent co-operations and leadership among government agencies, universities, health care stakeholders, indurstry etc., strong initiatives in prioritization, good decisions and quick actions for internationalization (introduction of international standard systems).

For Japan, the fastest way would be to participate aggressively in multiple international clinical trials right from the early phases, simultaneously.  Understanding, co-operations, and pressure of patients advocacy and their family would be crucially necessary to make it possible.

The so-called ‘Drug Lag’ is not just a problem of regulatory agency, but equally important factors are the speed of decisions of companies and clinical trials process

Doha, Qatar-3: Education in the Global Age, Concerns About Japan

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In this Global age, of fast growing Asia, with expectation of great change ahead, education in Japan has ‘more than enough’ of problems. 

Since the major work force in academic, political, and industrial arena of Japan today are comprised of those who went through the conventional school system, having  spent the 20 years of Japan ‘bashing→passing →nothing→missing’ time period with people who experienced the golden age of high economic growth of 60s to 90s, I can not but help suspecting they hardly recognize the fundamentals of education reform towards the global age.

In comparison to the population, number of Japanese people having been educated in overseas universities (undergraduate) is too small.  I presume also that there are only but few who got into (overseas) graduate schools through official entrance exams, finished full courses and graduated.  This goes particularly for male students most of whom are likely to have earned MBA under the support of ‘dispatch’ program of ‘institutions’ such as companies or government offices.

True that there were some historical backgrounds uniqe to Japan of education system , but still, Japan among growing Asian countries has exceptionally smaller number of people in comparison to its population who have gone through overseas (US and UK) higher education or who have been at ‘Boarding Schools’ (in US and UK) where ‘elites’ are nurtured.  And yet, the so called ‘leaders’ of Japan preach us ‘the vision for education’ in high pitch.

Of course, top universities of Japan are quite good.  However, even today, the ‘elites’ in Japan (in politics, enterprises, governments ? and I wonder how things are at universities…) do not have good command of spoken English, and to be honest with you, generally speaking their ‘passion’ is weaker than the elites from China or Korea not to speak of their ability to appeal themselves and sending out messages at international arenas.

At Doha we had sessions on ‘Education’, and it was quite clear that every country was very serious about nurturing/educating next generation, thus prepared for the global age.  All were fully aware that the issues they face were different from those in the conventional education of the past.

In this sense, the message on education by Queen Rania of Jordan was wonderfully focused on its essence.  I urge you to listen to her on web (資料１).  She was without doubt one of the most wonderfully influential and committed person in this forum.

May 30 – June 2 columns in the blog of Dr. Yoko Ishikura are also a very good source of additional information to what I have reported in this ‘Doha, Qatar　series’ postings.  By all means, I recommend that you visit her site.

Youths Awake; A Project Started By Going Out to the World

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PHOTOS: Saisho-kun receiving a ‘Go’ sign from Dr. Yunus, female students of the program.

The youths whom I have been writing about for some time (Ref.1) have at last fully started their activities in Bangladesh.

A report on this also appeared on the recent Asahi Shinbun newspaper .

Students took leave of absence from Waseda university to visit the site, and while trying to appeal their activities in Japan, searched for the ways to solve the problem they focused, made plans, worked, tested, and at last launched the first Japanese social business in the ‘Grameen Bank’ – the ‘E Education Project’ led by Saisho-kun of Waseda University (Ref.1 in Japanese).  His friend at the Waseda University, Miyoshi-kun also took a leave of absence this year to focus on the next project in Bangladesh. 

The goal of this ‘E Education Project’ is;
1. Produce future leaders of Bangladesh from this village.
2. Provide education of the highest quality via ‘E learning’ to passionate students from low income families in the rural villeges, and have them get to University of Dahka, the top university of Bangladesh.

The ‘Story’ of Saisho-kun goes as below;
1. Atsuyoshi Saisho, the 20 years old youngest Grameen Project Coordinator used to be a drop-out student, the lowest in grades at high school.
2. His teacher asked his parents to see him/her at school and told them ‘Atsuyoshi is only good enough to go to the 3rd class University, and will take two years to even succeed that!’  On that day, he enrolled in the Toshin High School, a cram school.
3.  Saisho-kun mastered 3 years’ syllabus in 3 month using the DVD digital lectures, and succeeded in entering Waseda University.
4.  This experience faded as he worked at the ‘Grameen’, but one day he witnessed a serious shortage of teachers at a village primary school.
5.  ‘Isn’t it the Toshiｎ model that this country with shortage of 40,000 teachers need?’
6.  ‘An education model that anyone, anywhere, any time can have access to the lessons of the best teachers’.
7. Saisho-kun presented this vision to Dr. Yunus, the President of the Grameen Bank, and a strong go sign of ‘DO IT！DO IT！GO AHEAD!! ’ came back!
8.  He launched a social business co- operated by the Grameen and Hitotsubashi University Institute of Innovation Research (Professor Seiichiro Yonekura).

The Outline of this Project is;
Make digital contents of lessons by the best teachers at Dhaka, and distribute them to the village children through Grameen networks.

1. Program;
1.1. Contents to prepare for entrance exams of University of Dahka:
Intensive courses by the 3 best teachers in Bangladesh (Bangli, English, Social studies).
1.2. Contents on Leadership:
Leadership Programs by the young Bangladeshi social entrepreneur EJ Ahmed, one of the best students of Professor Hyetts of Harvard University.
1.3. Future Career Development Contents:
Weekly interviews via Skype internet phone service with students of University of Dahka
Class on future careers by the Professors of University of Dahka

2.  Period of Time and Goal;
2.1 Class will start from June 2010.
2.2 Class will continue through November, 2010 the month of entrance examｓ of University of Dahka (5 months).

3.  Target;
20 (including 7 female) 9th grade students from farm village of Ekhlaspur.

4. Future Visions;
4.1. In 2010, structure one success model.
4.2. From 2011, gradually spread this as social business via the network of 600 branch offices of Grameen existing throughout Bangladesh.
4.3. By 2015, provide education to 6,000 children.
4.4 After succeeding in Bangladesh, expand the model to ‘Asian nations with problem of shortage of teachers.’

5.  Story:
5.1. In farming villages, lack of ‘hope’ is the most serious problem for children.
5.2. ‘Role models’ that children would want to look up to do not exist in their neighborhood.  The goal is to present models that make them want to ‘do a cool job like this’ or understand that ‘such kind of future career exists’.
 
Saisｈo-kun wants to;
“Deliver children ‘chances for the future’”
This is his ultimate goal.

What do you say?  Isn’t it wonderful?  They are beaming with enthusiasm.  Let’s support them.  But moreover, please think what each one of you can do.  The world is broad so go out and see for yourself.  The world is waiting for you to join their work.  It is precisely for this purpose that I say ‘Let Us Take Leave of Absence from School’ (Ref.1). 

By the way, when they called for participants of the program more than 20 students applied for available 10 slots and among them were 7 female students (photo above) gathered in this country of Islam.

This is truly a great accomplishment!  People of the village said that it was ‘a revolution’.   I was told that the teacher of the local high school who brought the talented female students to this program said ‘They are the Hidden Treasures of our village.  But there is no way that we can get them to the University of Dahka.  Please save them with E education.’   The class will start in June.

To end this column, please listen to the passion and determination of Miyoshi-kun (in Japanese).  I believe that such desire, strong will of each people, when gathered, becomes the force and drive to make changes in Japan and the world.