Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Government Visits GRIPS

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I have written several times here(in Japanese)(Ref.1)on the Chief Science Advisors to the UK Government.  As the representatives of the scientists of the United Kingdom, they are well trusted by the science community and have great responsibilities to the government in giving advices in their policy makings.  

This post is currently served by Sir John Beddington from three years ago, if I remember correctly.  He is a wonderful person.  I happen to be especially close to his predecessors Sir David King, and Robert May (later the President of the Royal Society, Lord May of Oxford); we trust each other and get along quite well.

This is one of the most highly respected positions in the British Government　(Ref.1) (both links are in Japanese), and therefore a person is carefully and well selected to assume the responsibility.  This background is observed clearly in the healthy relations between the science community and legislators – particularly the Prime Minister (although the distance varies depending on the Prime Minister of the time.  Tony Blair, for example, is said to have been quite eager and used to have discussions with the Chief Scientific Adviser almost weekly… I think that, in the end, it is a matter of the level of insights of the top of the administration how they use these wonderful advisors….)

Taking the opportunity of Sir Beddington’s visit to Japan, GRIPS invited him to give a lecture and a panel, and the event was moderated by Mr. Akira Ikegami, a well known journalist/TV broadcaster. The main topic was “3.11 and Fukushima”.  It was a quite nice conference, with lots of participants, good Q&As from the audience and twitter.

I was invited to ask first question to Sir Beddington after his speech.  Its video record is uploaded on Youtube (part 1)(part 2) and summary document is available at these links (Ref.1 in Japanese) (Ref.2 in English) .

His presentation was very clear and good.  I understood very well that he was speaking with full sensitivity to political issues and process.  I hope you will learn a lot from his lecture on how to communicate/work with governments.  On the other hand, I think it would be interesting also to imagine what Japanese people in such a position would say or act if they were in a similar circumstance.

My question appears right in the end of Dr. Beddington’s presentation (I urge you to listen to this…), after a comment by Mr. Ikegami, the host.

Fukushima is a global issue and the lecture was given at the timing when we were waiting for the results of the investigations by the IAEA. 

Good questions were raised from the floor, too.

 

Drs Iiyoshi and Ishikura of the Open Education

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The weather was beautiful on May 31st, and from 8am, I gave a speech to a group of young legislators of Democratic Party and Liberal Democratic Party focusing on the 3.11 disaster under the title “What’s Now, a Step to Take” (Ref.1). The meeting was held at a conference room of the Office building of the House of Representatives (Syugiin Kaikan).  We had a good discussion, but on the other hand, since there was an imminemt issue of non-confidence motion of Prime Minister Kan, I felt uneasiness in the air.

I am deeply concerned about the state of our nation and wish to do whatever I can.
 
From 10 am, I ran a meeting at Ministry of Health, and I arrived late at a meeting over lunch with Drs Yoko Ishikuara (photo is here also) and Toru Iiyoshi (Ref.1) on the role of Open Education in Japan and the trend of education in the world.  Our table was outdoors, faced a cozy garden, with bright sunshine, so we very much enjoyed passing of the time.  I felt urge to start a new project, a new move.  I hear that Dr Ishikura is starting her new work aggressively at Keio University.

Then, I went on to join in a board meeting of an educational institution which I am part of.  The relations between education reform and conventional power is difficult anywhere.

In the evening, after a brief stop at my home, I headed to Haneda to take a flight to Paris that will take off shortly after midnight.  By coincidence, Mr. Tsuchiya, who takes charge of Japan program at the Davos meeting, was on the same flight.  We are both visiting the headquarter of the World Economic Forum in Geneva.

It was a busy day, but with the help of the nice lunch time with Ishikura-san and Iiyoshi-san, I managed to take off in a good spirit, boarding on the night flight to Paris departing at 0:35 am, June 1st.

 

AIESEC Convention

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I have reported to you on AIESEC for a number of times in my web site.

The day after I returned from St Gallen, I participated in the convention of AIESEC (Ref.1)(Ref.2 in Japanese).  I was inivited to give a keynote speech.  Thank you for inviting me.

For the details of the convention please check the AIESEC web site.

I would like all of you to know that you are all great and I enjoyed very much the enthusiasm in the air.

About 200 students and several OBs/OGs gathered. I enjoyed the whole afternoon having conversations with them.

The highlights of this event were the presentations by the 3 students from overseas who were engaged in internships in Japan, and 3 Japanese students who experienced 2 months’ activities at overseas.  They were selected from a large number of candidates.
 
The Japanese students had their internships at India, Brazil, and Philippines.  First, they started with Japanese common sense in their minds, but soon encountered many setbacks due to misunderstandings, went through difficult times in trying to find ways around, had to think hard to get out of the troubles, fight and go over the troubles.  They also met wonderful people… Each student had their own, very moving “monogatari (stories)” to tell.  I was very moved to see how much a person can grow in such a short period of time.  Such experience will definitely broaden their perspectives, and strongly impact the way they choose their future careers and over come challenges they will face.
 
The same goes with the 3 international interns, too.  I heard many truly moving “stories” about the difficulties Japanese host students or enterprises (smaller ones) had in arranging the interns’ visit to Japan, or how many wonderful changes took place in both visiting students and receiving companies

Some report about this event on blogs such as this one.  (in Japanese)

By the way, the best award went to Mr. Ryo Takahashi, a student in my class at Keio SFC.  He talked about his story in India.

At the reception  “Ichinokura”, a leading Sake brewery in Sendai, which won the top award for a company which accepted a student from China, the company winner, offered its brand barrel of Sake liquor to remind us the great disaster of Tohoku and we all enjoyed the wonderful Sake.

By seeing such wonderful youths, I felt from the bottom of my heart that Japanese students are treasures to offer and connect Japan to the world, and likewise, international students are important treasures to Japan.

I recommend all Japanese enterprises to host more student interns from overseas.  You will never know how much their wonderful experiences in Japan will contribute to the PR and business of your company in this global world.

On the other hand, professors at universities will easily recognize that AIESEC is wonderful educational opportunities if they just see how much the Japanese students will learn and mature through such internship activities.  Japanese companies should not hesitate to give more support to such programs.

For the Japanese society as a whole, one of the most important things to do for the future of Japan is to aggressively participate and promote such activities and support the youths.

 

The Prime Minister of Malaysia Launched Global Science and Innovation Advisory Council

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Photos here

Almost every nation of the world is setting science and innovation, ie, the creation of new social values, at the center of their national policy.

It is no exception for Malaysia, a nation that puts high priority in education, more recently making strong commitment to science research, in order to realize its economic growth.

Prime Minister of Malaysia Dato' Sri Mohd Najib announced the launch of GLOBAL SCIENCE AND INNOVATION ADVISORY COUNCIL on May 17th making use of the opportunity of his visit to New York City.

Dr. Zakri was appointed to the Science Advisor to the Cabinet at the time of the inauguration of the Prime Minister. I have been acquainted with Dr. Zakri since he was a senior official of the United Nation University (UNU) in Tokyo as well as Director of its affiliated Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS).  Dr. Zakri asked me for support when he came to Tokyo last year, and it so happens that the request materialized in this announcement.  The activity of this council is to be led by the New York Academy of Sciences (Ref.1). 

Below are the press coverage of the council for your reference;
1. BBC   
2.  New Strait Times

From the announcement, I learned that there are some people, such as Jeffrey Sachs, and Rita Colwell, whom I know very well in the members of the council.  If you search in my web site I think you will find their names in some of my postings.  I very much look forward to working with them.

Since I plan to go to Kuala Lumpur in mid June to give a lecture, I hope that our mutual schedule will permit me to see Dr. Zakri then.

I very much feel honored to be asked to serve in such an important task.

 

Dragon Cherry Blossoms Continues to Fight; “Encourage Students to Take Leave of Absence from School”

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The Dragon Cherry Blossoms which I have been reporting you every now and then was launched in action 3 years ago in December when they visited me finding out my massage from my blog postings; 　I advised them to take a leave of absence from school and go to Dhaka. My Saisyo seemed to have made up his mind right on the spot to take a leave. As they were leaving my room, I could see that everyone got my message feeling pretty confident about their next step..  After this, things started to move rapidly, and Mr Miyoshi with others organized Japanese side of the team, and later they created GCMP.

Overcoming many hardships along the process over almost two years, Dragon Cherryblossom made a big impact which quickly spread throughout Japan.  I am very happy about this.
 
I assume that you have already heard about the book written by Mr. Saisyo; “Go Forward, Go Forward, Go Forward” (in Japanese).  Here, I would like to introduce the book to you again.  I can see from his book that at the site, they are encountered with many difficulties.  Of course, there would have been hurdles of different kinds continuing his studies in Waseda University, too, had Mr Saisho stayed at the Univertsity not taking the leave..

However, this is only a beginning, and I can assure them that they will be challenged by many unexpected “barriers” before they succeed in expanding this project or even changing the society a bit.

Mr. Saisyo, you are very diligent in pursuit of your dream and have shown the ability to get people involved.  Many youths see you as their “role model”.  However, I have to say to you that harder times are yet to come, but remember that I am always on your side and willing to support you just like many others do….
 
By the way, in connection with the “Encourage Youths of Taking a Leave of Absence from School”  which I so many times urge in this web site, I would like to call your attention to the fact that many private universities charge “fees” such as “tuitions” even while the students are on “the leave” ? which is unimaginable policy for educational institutions.

However, the good news is that at the Meiji University, with strong actions on the students’ side, University Admisnitration decided to significantly reduce the amount of fee they charge to students during the period of leave.  I am very, very, pleased.  I would like to ask the university administration to make the amount they charged (during absence) part of the tuition due after their return to university.

I urge other private universities to follow the example of Meiji University.  To students, I urge you to unite and petition to the universities.

For it is about your right to build your future.

 

Fukuzawa Yukichi Memorial School (Juku) of Civilization; Enjoying Dialogues With the Youths

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（Photos by Mr. Nobuyuki Aoki of the Change-the-World ）

Fukuzawa Yukichi (Fukuzawa is the family name) is a leader of the modern Japan, one of the persons I respect very much.

If you search by the key word ‘Fukuzawa Yukichi’, in this web site, you will find several postings on him.  I summarized some of them into my book review “Vision of Fukuzawa Yukichi; His Insights Into the Future at Time of Chaos”  (in Japanese).

I was invited to a gathering named “leadership” in the “Fukuzawa Bunmei (Civilization) Juku”, a Juku (literally meaning cram/private school) named after Fukuzawa Yukichi, the founder of Keio University.  The program was hosted by Professo Jiro Tamura .

About half of the Juku-class were students, the rest were young people with jobs, but what struck me as a pleasant surprise was that about half of them was women.

The video of the session is presented in u-stream.

I discussed with them in schemes of; the ‘3.11’ and subsequent crises of today, how to see Japan’s response and background, and the need of leaders with global vision.  Participants discussed in a group at some intervals, and raised me questions.

I always enjoy talking with youths very much.

 

TEDｘTokyo 2011

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We began TEDｘTokyo in 2009 (Ref.1).  This year is their 3rd year.

I reported to you several times also about TED, its home organization (Ref.1, 2, 3 ), here in this site.

This year, however, we quickly changed the theme to respond to the ‘3.11’ disasters.  And it turned out to be a wonderful gathering.

Participants seemed to enjoy the event very much, and I felt that the expectations for the future Japan gradually fermented.

Programs are posted on the web  (for example, search by the key word ‘TEDxTokyo2011’ in the here…)

People have different likings and what you like may be different from mine, but personally, I enjoyed for example;

Black A Yo Yo
Dr Ueno
Gunter Pauli
Kathy Matsui
just to mention a few…

I urge you to visit the site and have fun.

Todd and Patrick were the producer and organizer of this event.  More than 100 wonderful volunteers helped.

Thanks to every and each one of you for your support.

 

 

 

First Step Towards Structuring New Japan

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 ‘3.11’ disaster attracted global attentions not only by its huge impact but also by the importance Fukushima has in the world.

However, this attention lasted just for the initial 1 to 2 weeks.  Japan has exposed its strength and weakness clearly to the world, as I have pointed out for several times in this web site (Ref.1, 2, 3 )   
or in other media such as newspapers (in Japanese) (Ref.1)

News coverage of Japan is altogether minor in international media.  If you follow the world news, it is perfectly clear that any comment by Japanese government is taken as nothing but excuses.; that is to say the credibility and trust of Japanese government have fallen.

Then, how can we recover the international credibility of Japan?  This is the keypoint.  As far as browsing through the domestic news coverage, I could hardly find any opinions or comments by the Japanese ‘leaders’ on this issue.

At a time like this, when the nation is at the brink of losing its trust, it is good to learn lessons from the past.  However, that being said, the point is how much the leaders have profound insights, are capable of making good judgments, know what they must do.  Self-centered ‘pride’ means nothing here.
The one and only thing that matters is how much you care about the people (of Japan).  It goes not just for the government but also for the major business enterprises like TEPCO.

This means, in case of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, that the government or the Diet must launch an ’International’ task force that is completely ‘independent’ from the government. I can assure you that unless this is done, the world’s trust in Japan will never even start to recover.

Such idea/reasoning is also presented in the document which the Natural Resources Defense Council submitted to President Obama dated March 25th.

Also, unfavorable rumors or misinformation about agricultural produce or industrial products, thus harming credibility of Japan, are difficult to tone down unless the steps I described above do not materialize. There are lots of lessons to be learned from the process of recovery of the reputation of British Government that took more than 20 years when the BSE started in 1886. 

What we need is a special committee that is ‘independent’ and ‘outside’ (i.e. internationally trustable) of the government.  Equally necessary is a quick and total information disclosure.  This again, is very unsatisfactory at this stage.  Transparency is the foundation of trust and credibility.

Recently, I had an opportunity to present this idea using this figure at a meeting (open to media) organized by legislators of the Democratic Party of Japan.  I learned that many members of the Diet share this idea with me (in Japanese).

Mind you, the whole world is watching.  They are questioning whether Japan has no intention of turning the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster to lessons to share with the rest of the world.

 

The Risk Response Network of WEF: The World Is Paying Attention to Japan’s Responses

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The World Economic Forum (‘Davos’ Meeting), recognizing enhancing mutual dependence of the global world, have launched ‘Risk Response Network （RRN）’ (Ref.1),  where the danger of expansion of various risks in the world is discussed so as to structure the system of addressing to those risks and responses to them.

I have bee participating in the processes, but this ‘3.11’ quakes, tsunamis, and the nuclear power plant crisis of Japan was precisely one of huge disasters we had been discussing about over the last few years

WEF-RRH meeting was held in New York in April, and then, on May 18th, a Workshop focusing especially on this mega disaster in Japan was held in Tokyo.

Many people gathered, and Mr Edano, the Chief Cabinet Secretary, among others, came to deliver a message. Summaries and references are available on web sites (Ref.1, 2, 3) (Ref.3 is in Japanese).

A summary by Kevin Steinberg, the COO of RRN, is also posted on the web site of WEF.

Besides participating in the open sessions, I have been involved in many discussions, interviews with key persons for these 3 days.

How Japanese government respond to this disaster is being watched by the whole world.

 

Turning the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Disaster to Lessons to Share with the World

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Hardships will continue for the people at Sanriku district, the area hit by the great tsunami disaster.  I earnestly hope that political measures will be taken swiftly to at least have their basic daily life recover soon enough although inevitably more time is needed for full recoveries.

In addition, we have to deal with the huge nuclear power plant disaster in Fukushima.  The whole world is paying attention to us.  This issue is not something that will end in a decade or so, but something much huge, that will last for much longer period of time.  Since the global trend was to increase the number of nuclear power plants, the attention from the world to Fukushima is accordingly much higher.

Here, I would like to introduce to you my interview  (in Japanese) with Tetsuo Saito (in Japanese), Deputy Secretary General of the New Komeito, and former Minister of Environment.   This interview includes ideas on the ‘most important things to do’ NOW, so please take a look.

The title of our dialogue is; ‘Overcoming the Crisis and Changing Japan to a Nation Contributing to the World’, its subtitle is; ‘Turning the Nuclear Power Plant Disaster to Lessons to Share with the World’

The sub-sub titles are;
1. Truths of Japan Exposed
2. Fragile Leaders at the Time of Crisis
3. Blueprints of the Recovery
4. Japan in the Global World
 
In the end appears my recommendations on ‘the most important things to do’ at this time.
 
I have been expressing my views repeatedly in this web site, so I think you already understand, but below are some examples for your reference (Ref.1 (in Japanese), 2, 3, 4, 5 (in English)).

I have also pointed out that Japan is currently regarded as one of the major risk factors of the world and explained why this is the case.