“Galapagosnization (Galapagos-ka)” of Japanese manufacturers

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The word "Galapagos ka (Galapagosnization)" (if you "Google" the word in Japanese, it will hit nearly 360 thousand sites) is now widely spreading.  I trust that you are aware of this word.

At last a book titled extactly it, "The Galapagosnizing Japanese manufacturers" (original title is "Galapagos-ka suru Nihon no Seizogyou") appeard from Toyo Keizai Shinpo-sya.

I urge you to read this book.  It is a helpful reference especially for the people in business.

It is often said that "Manufacturing items (Monotsukuri)" is the strength of Japan, but that only is not enough.  As I have mentioned many times in my blog.

"Story telling (Monogatari)" is very important to catch hold of people’s heart.  "Monotsukuri" is just a part of "Monogatari."  So set the goals, develop strategies and move on rapidly.  Do we find people like Morita of Sony or Soichiro Honda of Honda of the ’60s, today?  They did the "business."  Today, in this global era, speedy action is important.  Those with "domestic only" attitude had better get out of the business.  Young generation does not grow with such thinking.

People always say that "Japan is the number one country in technology" but, how much has it advanced so far in the world?  Next month the King of Spain is going to visit Japan with the rising solar panel industries of Spain.

This book has various hints as the author Dr. Tomohiko Miyazaki, Doctor of Theoretical Physics, Department of Science at Tokyo University, has provided the data based on the results of the research for Nomura Securities Co., Ltd.  After reading this book one should firmly think about ‘what he has to do’ without telling ‘excuses for not doing’ and go on carrying things out one by one.  Especially, I expect that the "leaders" and people holding responsible positions in the business enterprises take actions.  Please behave in such a way that you will be a role model for the youth.  Everyone in Japan and the world is looking at you.

This year is the 150th year of the publication of "On the Origin of Species" by Darwin.  It’s core message is "Not those who are the strongest or the wisest, but those who adapt to the environmental changes will survive." (Please refer to my speech on this site).  Speed to adapt will determine the winner.

Is Japan adapting enough to the changes of environment in today’s "globalization and flat world?"  This is a topic that also repeatedly appears in Dr. Yoko Ishikura’s blog.

From World Knowledge Forum, Seoul

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Following last year I came to Seoul by the invitation of 9th World Knowledge Forum (From 14th October to 16th October).

The forum started with the address of President Roh Moo-hyun (Photo 1) and the Guest list was very special. I met Mr. Aho from Finland as well, and after hearing his speech I thought that he was a political leader there also. There was a live discussion on Television with New York on the financial crisis and creeping world recession which originated in Wall Street. Richard Branson of Virgin Airline also made stage appearance on Television.

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Photo 1:  Address by South Korean President Roh, to right Mr. Ahern, former prime minister of Ireland, Mr. Aho, former president of Finland

Dr. Komiyama, president of Tokyo University also participated. He made a great impression of presence as he talked and appeared in quite a number of occasions. As you know, he is the top of “academia” in Japan. Looking from abroad, I feel that Japan’s presence is low, so we must send out information in every possible ways.

From my point of view, 80s was ‘Japan Bashing’ as it was bubble era, 90s was ‘Japan Passing’ because the bubbles burst, Internet era of 21st century started with ‘Japan Nothing’ and currently it is ‘Japan Missing’. In other words, though Japan is world’s second largest economy, it says too little about what it wants to do, does not express clear opinions even if asked, does not respond to invitations, and even if it did, fails to speak up.

Many people (It is said more than 3.000 people have participated in 3 days) from South Korea had participated but I feel even if such kind of conference is held in Japan very few people will take part in it. Why is it so? Think about it.

I was also introduced to Ms. Shinae Chun, Women’s Bureau Director of US Department of Labor. She went to America after graduating from Korean university. In Chicago she took part in social activities to organize the Asian communities. Having such background probably helped her for being appointed by Washington. Her husband also went to America after completing higher education in Korea. He is a PhD of engineering.

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Photo 2:  With Ms. Chun, Women’s Bureau Director of US Department of Labor. On extreme right her husband, third person from the right Ms. Kim (mentioned below) of Appletreetales publications.

Sponsor was Maeil Business News. The evening reception was sponsored by Seoul city on 15th and by Gyeonggi Province on 16th. The mayor and governor of respective cities were present and gave the address. On 15th, a Japanese Pianist popular also by Korean TV dramas, Mr. Yuki Kumamoto, Korean violinist, Ms. Michelle Kim, active in NY Philharmonic, (Early this year, the NY Philharmonic made a historic visit to North Korea. This was supported by a Japanese lady Yoko Nagae Ceschina residing in Italy). Then a fashion show by Mr. Andre Kim on the 16th. They were enchanting.

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Photo 3 to 5:  Reception (Mr.Kuramoto is little blur due to the lights from the top. Sorry.)

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By the way, Dr. Ishikura and I co-authored a book “Sekaikyu kyaria no tsukurikata (How to make world class career)" and recently the Korean version of the book was published from Appletreetales. I met Ms. Okhee Kim (in the photograph), the president of the publishing company who studied at the University of Sacred Heart, and was interviewed by Ms. Chung of Maeil Business News.

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Photo 6:  From right Ms. Kim, Dr. Ishikura, myself (holding the book, looking pretty in pink) and Ms. Chung.

I partcipitated in the following 3 panels.

1. Outlook: India 2009: Another Opportunity or Bubble (Photo 7)

2. Outlook: ASEAN+East Asia 2009: The New Collaborative Model

3. Future Energy

It is great that I always meet new people and see old friends here. Dr. Ishikura who participated last year was on 3 or 4 panels this year. I was in the same panel with Mr. Muhammad Lutfi, chief of Indonesia investment coordinating board (BKPM). Although he is a young person bit less than 40 years, I thought he was very brilliant. I happened to hear his lectures for about 30 minutes somewhere at some other time, but it was very impressive suggesting his talent as a great leader. I say his future is very promising.

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Photo 7:  From right Mr. H Jha, one of the VPs of Tata Steel, Mr. D Johnston, Ex-director of bureau of OECD and Dr. D Bangalore from Stanford University.

“Taking Risks”: What do Young People Want to Do in the Coming Era?

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A radical symposium titled "Taking Risks" was organized by Professor Shuzo Fujimura of MOT, or the Graduate School of Innovation Management at the Tokyo Institute of Technology.  I thought that it would be difficult for young people to attend an event held during the day on a weekday, but was happy to see many graduate students there.

Speakers besides myself were Mr. Kazutaka Muraguchi, a venture capitalist at Nippon Technology Venture Partners, Mr. Kazuhiko Toyama who is former chief operating officer of the Industrial Revitalization Corporation of Japan and author of "Kaisha wa atama kara kusaru (Companies Rot from the Top)," and Mr. Yukio Sakamoto, President of Elpida Memory.  Each of us is considered a "dissenter" in our own field.  I guess our speeches were pretty extreme.  Some Japanese blogs are describing what the symposium was like.  It was quite radical, but I think that’s just fine.

Even at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, I heard that 70 percent of graduate students want to work for large companies.  It was a bit sad that I couldn’t feel their desire to explore the world while they are young.  Is it that inward-looking man and outward-looking woman dichotomy again?

American youth seem to have a strong interest in making contributions to the world and society through programs like the "Peace Corps" or "Teasch for America"(Wikipedia).  These organizations are on the top 10 list of "Ideal Undergraduate Employers," where US undergraduates dream of working.  They are recognized as career paths that nurture leadership skills. It would be good to think about this in Japan too.

Unfortunately, the number of Japanese students studying in the US is also on the decline.

Alexandria Library, Global Health and Patient University

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Bibliotheca Alexandria is said to be the oldest library in the world (B.C. 300 to 400 era).  It was an open academy which gathered various acquaintances and scholars from across the world (of those days) and made them interact with each other (What an insight to recognize it’s true value!).  Having been reconstructed six years ago, it is now rapidly growing as digital library including wonderful activities.  Nowadays, young generation is making full use of it under the excellent leadership of Mr. Ismail Serageldin.

Lectures and panels were held at the United Nations University at Aoyama on October 4th in memory of the 1st anniversary of the set up of the library’s Japanese Web site.  Dr. Helal, Minister of Higher Education and Science of Egypt, Mr. Serageldin and the Ambassador His Excellency Abdelnasser were present for the ceremony.  Since I was acting as a director, I addressed the ceremony.  Dr. Takahashi, the first director had also participated in the panel.

In the afternoon, there was a follow up meeting of the Health Systems of Global Health, proposed by Japan in the Lake Toya G8 summit.  Excellent members gathered with Mr. Keizo Takemi as the head, and we will work to shape the system’s foundation before handing it over to Italy which will be acting as the host of G8 summit to be conducted next year.

In the midcourse, there was a session called "Patient University" (the link is in Japanese) organized by our NPO, Health Policy Institute, Japan, focusing on GE HealthCare and NGOs assisting the patients.  I also expressed my greetings and talked about "Why NGO has grown?"  Such a common process will support "civil activities."  Thank you all for your hard work.

It was a long Saturday.

Design and Innovation

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A day after my returning back from Tianjin, there was a lecture session hosted by Hakuhodo Innovation Lab （Director Awata. Link of the Lab is in Japanese）.

Lecturers were myself, Dr. Komiyama, President of the University of Tokyo, and Mr. Tim Brown, President of IDEO.  Mr. Brown and I were in the same panel at Davos conference this January, and I saw him at Tianjin also.  We each had one hour to speak, so there was an ample amount of time.  Dr. Komiyama, busy as always, arrived just in time to the conference hall, made his speech on "Japan as a front runner of global challenges (Kadai Senshinkoku, Japan)" and left immediately.  It’s a pity though, that only few people raised their hands to ask questions even on this good opportunity of listening to inspiring lectures.

As for myself, I started my speech by showing a red "iPod nano" which I borrowed on the spot and, as always, talked about how "story telling (monogatari)" is important as well as "making things (monozukuri)", how "concepts"and "designs" should have diversity and surprises, importance of being involved in a project from the start, what "Melting Pot vs Salad Bowl" in this global era means, etc.

Dsc00119Photo1 　Mr. Tim Brown and myself at the conference hallp>

Mr. Brown’s lecture was also very interesting.  He talked about design, process, and speed with many good specific examples, confirming and supplementing what I have said in my lecture.  Please refer to his HBR article of this year for more information.  Hakuhodo is also collaborating with IDEO.

From Tianjin, kungfu master and international star Jet Li takes action

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I’m a Jet Li fan and often watch his movies on planes and television (I must admit that I haven’t been to a theater for almost ten years now).

His films move at brisk, quick-cut pace and are filled with hard-hitting excitement.  It’s hard to describe, but they’re so much fun to watch.  Lately he’s also been starring in many mainland Chinese pictures like "the Monkey King" which I’ve seen on tv.

The martial arts star has set up an NGO called "One Foundation" and is addressing problems in China and the world.

He is energetically persuading many individuals and businesses around the world to join in and get involved in charity projects to help victims of the recent Sichuan earthquake, alleviate poverty and economic disparity, and solve problems in education. He wants everyone to participate and expand it into a big movement.

In Tianjin I met One Foundation staff members.  They’re young, but passionate and bursting with energy.  When I parted with them I told them, "Say hello to my master." I am very impressed how the foundation is thinking very big.

It’s the same idea that I have repeatedly emphasized on this blog.  In this world of globalization, each person can take action based on individual ability and mutual trust.  And because this new world is connected and flattening, each action will have the power to enable and empower others (See page 5 of my opening keynote at the G8 Environment Ministers’ meeting).

Jet Li is participating in this New Champions conference too.  On September 28th, there was an interview session with him.  I found time and sat in.  At first I was a bit surprised to see that he is much smaller in person than on screen.  But his passion and ambitions are big.  He took all kinds of questions and energetically answered them one after another.  He repeatedly emphasized that "transparency and governance" are key in his projects and operations.  He said that even if he makes mistakes he wants to take one small action at a time for the world.  It was a wonderful session that communicated his great depth of feelings.  He wants to get everyone to think about what they can do and join hands to make a difference.

If everybody does a little bit, it can solve global problems of the world.

The New Champions, From Tianjin

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The second New Champions conference was held in Tianjin.  It’s a new annual meeting organized by the World Economic Forum, known as the Davos conference.  It started last year in Dalian.  The event mainly brings together young leaders of new emerging companies in the world.  I was very pleased that many young entrepreneurs from Japan were taking part.  Out of the nearly 1,500 participants from around the world, about 60 were from Japan.

At 6 am on September 26th, I boarded a shinkansen bullet train to Nagoya.  There’s a direct flight to Tianjin from Nagoya International Airport.  How convenient, I made it to the conference in time for 2 pm, at the risk management workshop moderated by INSEAD’s Dr. Soumitra Dutta.  Apparently a high-speed train service between Beijing and Tianjin started ahead of the Olympics last month, but flying directly to Tianjin seems to be a more reliable and quicker way.

The venue of the international conference is of excellent quality.  China’s vibrancy is similar to the atmosphere in Japan 40 years ago.  Hosting the Tokyo Olympics back then inspired the construction of new infrastructure like the shinkansen bullet train and the Tomei expressway.  Of course, the speed and scale of building are of a different magnitude in today’s world of globalization.

Many of the Japanese participants were also at last year’s conference.  Mr. John Ehara from Unison Capital hosted a "Japan Sushi Dinner."  It was a smash hit.  Japanese-cuisine really has a worldwide appeal.  A dinner like this is a company’s intangible asset because people will surely talk to friends about the experience.  Word of mouth will eventually spread around the world and boost the company’s credibility, resulting in new opportunities.  Mr. Ehara remained very low-key throughout the event.  I’m very grateful for his efforts.  It became such a wonderful gift to our country too.

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Photo1  Dr. Dutta from INSEAD(middle), Dr. Probst of WEF

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Photo2  Yokohama Mayor Nakada

In the afternoon of September 27th, I served as a member of a panel session.  It was quite an interesting experience.  Because I naturally tend to speak fast, I always consciously try to slow down.  But this time I found myself talking even faster than usual.  That’s because each panelist was given only 2 to 3 minutes for an introductory comment.  We also needed to end the session on time since Premier Wen Jiabao was to make his appearance afterwards.  It was a difficult task to highlight my differences with other panelists and make sure that the audience understood the key points.  I need more practice.

Premier Wen Jiabao flew in to Tianjin directly from New York where he was attending the UN general assembly.  He delivered a powerful speech and answered questions very well.  He provided clear answers on some difficult questions involving the earthquake, food safety, and environmental problems.

A gala dinner was held in the evening.  I was a little disappointed that the music and dancing was mostly Western, and not Chinese.

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Photo3, 4  images from the gala dinner

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Crans Montana, Swiss

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Crans Montana is a beautiful small town in a valley two hours drive from Geneva.  Here, I came on September 10th, from London to participate World Knowledge Dialogue.  This was its second, the first was in 2006 in the same town as you see in my earlier (sorry, but only in Japanese, but many pictures), and indeed, my third time to Swiss this year, Davos in January, and St. Gallen in May.

The meeting was for four days and this time I was honored to meet with Prof. Edward O Wilson of Harvard University, one of the most respected scholars of our time, who wrote many epoch-making, sometime controversial books such as ‘Sociobiology’, ‘On Human Nature’, ‘The Ants’ with the latter two received the Pulitzer award.  He is a cheerful and admirable person and we share a good time together over his thoughts including ‘fairy fly’.  By the way, you could see his lectures at Harvard on the web, too.

It was very good that quite a number from Japan including Prof. Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, participated and our contributions were thought significant.

The details of the program can be seen thru its websites for 2006 (I appear at a panel) and for 2008.  And you see many pictures and if you find me, let me know.

This year, I appeared in Day 1 at the Opening with Dame Julia Higgins (we know each other well since her days as Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society), and as Chair of the entire Day 4, thus you could see my commentaries and interactions through the webcasts.  In particular, the Day 4 is tough, the number of participants are less, everyone getting tired, some have to leave before the end, etc, thus I tried to make the entire session more interesting but casual.  I thought it went well and stayed on time and in fact ended 9 minutes earlier than the schedule.  Enjoy the website and webcasts.

I really enjoyed the conference itself and meeting with many interesting people, old and new friends.  Nonetheless, the format required as we discussed, certain strategic goals, participatory processes, and some outreach deliverables and actions.

There is a great champion golf course here and the Omega European Masters was played one week earlier.  I managed to play a round of 18 holes starting 7am finishing 10am.  I enjoyed it very, very much.

In the afternoon of Day 4, we moved to Geneva, visited some historical sites.  One was University of Geneva campus where John Calvin founded in 1559; he was the one who converted the city to Catholic to Protestant community in mid-16th century, and we wondered in front of a large Reformation Wall of Calvin and other three (see at ‘Reformed Geneva’ at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Calvin).

This visit gave me quite a moving feeling since in the Opening speech I mentioned on ‘Incunabula’ and commented Internet is the incunabula of today, that is to lead an unexpected consequence which may change the world. In fact, I said to the audience, because of incunabula of printed Bibles since Gutenberg of mid-15th century to year 1501, the religious revolution ensued almost 100 years later.  This message has been my recurring theme of some of my keynote speeches of ‘flattening and connected world’ as you may see in my blogs (refer 1 , 2 , 3 ) and elsewhere.

By a mere co-incidence, I was just standing there in front of such a consequence of major magnitude by John Calvin.

To London, for the GLOBE planning committee

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2 weeks ago, I received a FAX from Mr. Morley, the Minister of Environment of Mr. Blair’s regime, whom I have introduced before.  He wanted me to participate in the planning meeting of GLOBE, to be held in London on September 8.

I therefore reached London on the 8th morning via Paris, went to the hotel, changed in just 30 minutes and left for the meeting.  I was a bit late and joined the conference at 10:20.  The meeting was held in the Thatcher Room of Portcullis House, House of Commons which is a part of British parliament.  After the announcement of resignation by the Prime Minister, the representative of Japan and Member of the House, Mr. Yoshio Yatsu decided not to participate in the meeting.

Img_1333Photo 1  Photograph of participants, Mr. Morley, Member of the house in white shirt (in the center), to his right Mr. Gardiner, Member of the house. Some participants returned to their countries in the half way.

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Photo 2  The venue of meeting, a new building immediate right to Big Ben (It is not seen here)

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Photo 3  Mr. Tokumaru from the Ministry of the Environment

It is necessary to investigate the policies as well as approach to the "Land utilization, Forest conservation, Biodiversity, Ecosystem" which is actually very difficult.  As Mr. Barry Gardiner, a member of the House of Great Britain, was in-charge and delivered a speech in the beginning followed by a series of serious discussions by about 15 participants.  I think it will be a significant step if we find out the way to focus the policy from domestic to global. It may take a while, but it is very good if such discussions go ahead in a meaningful form in years to come. It is a global and very important subject but does not move forward easily.

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Photo 4  At  the reception, Mr. Gardiner, Member of the House, Mr. Nishigahiro, Minister to Great Britain.

The reception was organized at "The Goring Hotel", a small but sophisticated hotel which is common in London.

After staying for 24 hours in London, next morning, I am leaving for Swiss.  I will send next column from there.

Again from “Asian Youth Exchange Program”, High Motivation and Power of Japanese Women

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Recently, I have talked about "L’Oreal and women in science", and "Asian Youth Exchange Program", which started in Okinawa.

In the column of "L’Oreal and women in science", I wrote how Japanese women players came out demonstratively different than Japanese men in the sports activities such as softball, baseball, soccer, Judo and wrestling in Beijing Olympics.

"Asian Youth Exchange program" is an excellent policy planned and newly started by the Former Prime Minister Mr. Abe and cabinet minister Ms. Takaichi as part of "Innovation 25" policy which I was also involved.  It would be nice if it expands and gets carried over nationwide.  The funds for this program do not necessarily have to be the public funds but can be collected through different schemes such as tax systems.  I hope that the schools, local communities and enterprises will make spontaneous contributions and participate actively.  That is  what I call "Society Innovation" and "Talent Innovation".

By the way, you can see various photos at http://flickr.com/.  Have fun! Thanks to Mr. Ivannanto, an international student from Indonesia who had participated from Asia Pacific University, for creating this site.

As I was searching the data of this "Asian Youth Exchange Program", I realized that out of the 30 participants from overseas, there were 15 men participants and 15 women participants.  Of the 45 persons who participated from Japan, there were 30 women and 15 men.  Oh!, I thought, and when I inquired about the number of applications to the secretariat, the number of applications from women was overwhelmingly more and as a result the female participants were having higher competitive rate. The points related to the qualification, considering the competency to some extent, are written on the application form but still the motivations towards the participation is fairly different.  Isn’t it?  Why is it so?

I am expressing my opinions in this blogs frequently but please think about it.