The Open at Turnberry

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Ryo Ishikawa played along with Tiger Woods in the first two days of the 138th British Open (The Open) at Turnberry (The Open started in 1860, just before the Meiji Restoration), so I assume that many of you watched the game on television until late at night.  Unfortunately both players did not pass preliminary.  Looks like Tiger was not in tune this time.

This year’s Open was held at the prestigious Turnberry.  This is the 4th time that Turnberry hosted The Open. The white lighthouse standing nearby holes 9 and 10 is the symbol mark of this links.  Tom Watson who performed wonderfully this year won over Jack Nicklaus after a heated match at Masters in 1977, and also pulled off his 2nd victory at The Open.

The Open at Turnberry last time was in 1994 and the winner was Nick Price.

By the way, I once played golf in Turnberry, too.  And amazingly enough it was in July 1994, just one week before The Open.

When I left the hotel at Glasgow in the morning with my friend, although it was July, the weather was cold, windy and raining heavily.  We put on thick sweaters.  I asked the driver "Is it possible to play golf today?" and he replied "This is exactly the weather for golf."  But as we went on for about an hour, to our delight, the weather turned out to be fine by the time we arrived the links.

The course was tough just as you have seen on television, grasses in roughs, etc.- very challenging in many ways.  I don’t even remember how many shots I’ve made.  Many lost balls, too.  I watched The Open on TV news (not live, as I recall) after I returned to Japan.

Wasn’t Tom Watson wonderful this time?  It was a pity about the play-off.  Of course, it would have been a historical record had he won the major championship at the age of nearly 60 years old.  And pulling off victories 6 times at The Open would have been a tie-record (in numbers) to Harry Vardon, the hero of 19-20 century.

My favorite brand COED beer

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As in the saying "a grain of pepper may be tiny but it still is sharp on the tongue," COEDO Beer is a "tiny but sharp" and stunningly "cool" brand.

COED means "little Edo."  Yes, it’s Kawagoe in Saitama prefecture.  COED beer is manufactured in Kawagoe.

Take their website for instance – you will be impressed by its classy design.  A soothing, slow flow of time is in the atmosphere.  Good English site is available.  So sit back, relax and enjoy for a moment.

The beer comes in 5 types, 5 colors.  "Ruri," "Beniaka," "Kyara," "Shiro," and "Shikkoku."

Each beer is different in tastes, colors, and has beautiful labels.  You can almost feel in the air their posing you a question "Which one is your favorite?"  The choice may differ depending on time and situation.

COEDO beer has a wonderful record of prizes.  It is almost moving.  From the very beginning the brewery focused on being recognized internationally.  So, at the 2007 Monde Selection all  5 brands won awards including 2 special golden medals.  Products winning silver medals in 2008 challenged again. The total now is Special Gold Medals for "Ruri," "Beniaka," "Shikkoku" and Gold Medals for "Kyara" and "Shiro."  Have you ever heard of beers with such achievements before?   If yes, please let me know.

This year at one of the most prestigious food contest "iTQi (International Taste and Quality Institute) Contest", "Beniaka" was given the highest 3 stars award, and the other four brands won 2 stars meaning that all five brands became winners.  On top of that, a Crystal Award.  Package design and bottle design were also awarded prizes respectively.

The key to victory is "difference."  A brand strategy that focuses on a selected target.  This is a typical example of innovation in global age.

President Asagiri of COEDO brewery, and all who work there – I congratulate you for this another success of 2008.  It is so very wonderful.

A visit to the office of Mr. Kashiwa Sato

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Mr. Sato is one of the front runners of what we might call "creators" or "art designers," creating very unique, fresh, and original designs in various fields, including the flag shop of UNIQLO in NYC, and more recently is also active as a producer.

His works are uploaded in his beautiful web site.  Mr. Sato told me the stories behind the making of this site.

His book "Kashiwa Sato’s Super Technique of Getting Things in Order (original title Sato Kashiwa no Cho Seirijyutsu)" is fantastically interesting in its insight into the basics of professionals.  I recommend you to read this by all means.  He says that designers are like (medical) doctors to the clients.  His more recent books include "Kashiwa Sato × 31 Top Runners (original title Sato Kashiwa × Top Runnter 31 nin)," etc.  Books about Kashiwa such as "How to make SAMURAI Sato Kashiwa (original title SAMURAI Sato Kashiwa no Tsukurikata)" are also available.  Please search for these books at Amazon.

Photos: His book and autograph

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What happened was that by introduction, I visited his "SAMURAI" office which was actually located very close to my office.  Just as described in the book, his office was stylishly neatly organized, chairs were placed very precisely in rows at the meeting rooms, and the colors were just beautiful.  I spent about an hour there.

It is truly a great pleasure to meet first class people in different fields.  There are so many things to learn from them.

Another example of inspiring artist whom I saw recently is Mr. Kunio Kato of the Academy Award.  He is also very attractive in a different way.

“Nobel Prize and Academy Award” dialogue ? a follow up

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A short time ago, I posted a story about my experience of being offered a rare opportunity of hosting an extremely charming dialogue under this title.

The dialogue was published on "Weekly Diamond" magazine so please have a look.

Enjoy reading the views and insights of Dr. Tanaka and Mr. Kato.  Also included in the article is my opinion, in short, "out of the box kind of people of the age bring changes to the society."  Search by key word "out of the box" within this site.  The search engine should hit a number of columns, since I have written repeatedly about it.

ACP Japan Chapter

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This institution is quite unique.  Why does American College of Physicians (ACP) have Japan Chapter?  This is exactly the point.  Please refer to my "Message from the Governor" (in Japanese) at the start of Japan Chapter and my blog (in Japanese) for explanations.  Ever since its foundation, we organized annual meetings (reports in Japanese) with the presence of the President from the headquarters.  The first meeting was held in April, 2004.  I have been involved since the beginning, and am scheduled to serve as Governor for another year.

The annual meeting of ACP-Japan Chapter is different from other domestic meetings in that participants do not care much about his/her position/hierarchy.  I hear this especially from young people, i.e. medical students and residents.  Here are some of the scence from the meeting for you to enjoy.  I posted a report on annual meeting of last year in my blog also.

This year’s annual meeting was, like others, held in Tokyo in April with support from The Japanese Society of Internal Medicine.  Many enthusiastic discussions took place on topics such as activities of female doctors, case studies, etc. This conference lets us feel high spirits, particularly of young generation.

Two weeks after Japan meeting, the annual meeting of ACP headquarters was held at Philadelphia, and many Japanese members participated in spite of their tight schedule.

A report on series of activities of ACP-Japan Chapter is now uploaded on its web site (in Japanese).  Anyone interested are cordially invited to have a look and learn about their activities or browse through messages from the members as well as various photos.

Two days full of intellecutal inspirations; with Drs. Azimi, Miayagawa, and Ikegami

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Last Friday (June 26), I have been to Hiroshima.  It was the last Roundtable for Dr. Nassirine Azimi upon her resignation from director of the UNITAR Hiroshima office where she has served for 6 years. Professor Shigeru Miyagawa and I gave lectures under the theme of 'Diversity'.  A crowd of Dr. Azimi's fans, well aware of her wonderful activities during these 6 years, gathered at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum hall where the event took place.  I had a nice relaxed dinner with Dr. Azimi and her staffs in the evening.

The content of the lectures as well as handouts are posted on the web site of UNITAR and Chugoku Shinbun newspaper.

Next day, on 27th , Drs. Azimi, Miyagawa and myself went for a walk at Miyajima.

Back to Tokyo in the evening of the same day, I enjoyed a lively dinner with Dr. Miyagawa of MIT and Dr. Eiko Ikegami, who is also working very actively in the United States.

Dr. Miyagawa is one of the faculty members that developed the 'Open Course Ware' of MIT, showing how the educational materials should be in the internet age.  He is also offering a very unique, exciting course called Visualizing Cultures with Professor John Dower, well known in Japan also for his book 'Embracing Defeat'. This course uses materials such as Commodore Perry's visit to Japan, Russo-Japanese war, atomic bomb damage at Hiroshima, Shiseido, etc.  I recommend that you visit these sites.

Dr. Ikegami is the author of 'The Taming of the Samurai', (Japanese edition title 'Honor and Adaptation; socio-historical study on the Samurai Spirit') which I have introduced several times in my blog (in Japanese), and more recently has published 'Bonds of Civility: Aesthetic Networks and the Political Origins of Japanese Culture' (Ref.1 Japanese edition title 'Bonds of Beauty and Civility; Political Origins of Japanese Socializing Culture'), both books being great elaborate works on the history of Japanese Culture.  I have been corresponding with her via e-mails but this was the first time to see her in person.  The books were written originally in English (published from Harvard University Press and Cambridge University Press respectively) and were translated into Japanese, which is truly amazing.

It was a very, very full and intellectually inspiring two days.

Cambodia, and coordinating new relationships

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Mr. Miki Watanabe is the Chairman and CEO of Watami Co., Ltd. whom I have introduced once in my past column.

He is trying to disseminate his message, "Let’s make dreams come true," to broad public, and practices it as a wonderful entrepreneur.  Mr. Watanabe is very passionate about education, and besides managing a school in Japan he is helping foundation of a school in Cambodia.  He has also published several books to encourage young people.

Mr. Heang Chhor, President of McKinsey Japan is also my friend.  He evacuated to France from Cambodia in that painful years of massacre, pursued education in spite of continuing hardships, and now is the President of McKinsey Japan. Mr. Chhor is a very earnest wonderful person.

I introduced these two people to one another.  Since I was abroad, I could not join them at the luncheon.  But I heared that they had a nice time together sharing same views and aspirations in many ways (Japanese site).

They have a common theme, Cambodia, so we can expect their co-operations.  I am looking forward to seeing it.

And "enmusubi (coordinating new relationships)" of wonderful people like them is very exciting as well.

Stanford University and Project on Japanese Entrepreneurship

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A collaborative research with Stanford titled Stanford Project on Japanese Entrepreneurship (STAJE)  is going on since last year.  We set this up jointly with people from Stanford including Dr. William Miller, a former Vice President well known for "MOT" and we had an open symposium at the University of Tokyo on May 29.

Dr. Miller and I gave greeting speeches.  Dr. Miller is just over 80, but he is still very active and said that he started another new business lately.  Professor Shigeo Kagami of Todai and Professor Robert Eberhart are the organizers.

As for my part, my message to the audience was that "eco-platform", the "Kurofune (U.S. battleship that arrived in Uraga in 1853 to negotiate opening of Japan for trade)", pressing for the opening of the country and innovation has come; last week TEDxTOkyo and next week the opening of TiE Tokyo Office.

It was a rainy day, but I was told later that approximately 250 people gathered and joined in very lively discussions (I had to leave the place for a while and miss some of the programs).  Forbes reports on this symposium.

We talked about the advantages that Japan and Silicon Valley have respectively, but I will leave the details to the report that is coming soon.  Japan has countless possibilities.  What we need is action.  It’s "Think Locally, Act Globally" (the article is in Japanese only).  I intend to think of some ideas for fermentation with several partners.

Education and human resource development for promoting ‘Multilayered International Exchange’

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Over these 20 years and more, I have been pointing out the importance of having young people involved in competition away from home ground (Taryu-jiai) in the world.  Professional sports opened up their doors to the world too; Nomo in 1995 in Major League, FIFA World Cup and J League.  These sports earn high television viewerships in Japan just like in any other countries ? the goals and values of young people are changing to the same direction as the young people in the rest of the world.

Even Sumo, the 'National sport' of Japan, have internationalized totally and the last two matches in the last two days of latest summer tournament were done by non-Japanese only.  The rates of number of foreign rikishis (sumo wrestlers) were in grand total 7%, Makuuchi 30%, Sanyaku 40%, and Yokozuna 100%.  Nevertheless, I don't think Japanese are being especially furious or anything about this.  Japanese also cheer for their good plays, and at the same time this in effect spreads the value of Japanese cultures to the world.  People liking Japan will increase through such experiences.

Yes, the basis of a nation is human resource development and this is the most important task for the future of Japan.  For the coming global age nothing is more needed than to urge young people to see the world outside ? in order to recognize the differences or variety of people of the world, the value of oneself and to build up global networks of friends and colleagues for their future.  This is the recommendation I have been proposing repeatedly in my website.

In this year's January/February issue of 'Foreign Affairs,' Dr. Anne Marie Slaughter, Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, wrote a wonderful paper.  When I compare this with the universities in Japan, I feel very uneasy and worried about the future of Japan.  Dr. Slaughter was appointed to the Director of Policy Planning of the U.S. Department of State starting from the end of January.  A nice selection!

Recently, I participated in a meeting at the World Bank.  The content of my discussion is highlighted in its website.  I take this as a sign that people are supporting my view.  It is about the importance of 'Multilayered Brain Circulation.'

Now, can Japan change? Ozumo-nization of universities and industries are so tardy ? too many professors and CEOs are interested in domestics only, don't you think?

Please search within this website by various key words as the ones I have highlighted in Bold.

From Toronto-1

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Photo1:　With Dr. Naylor, President of the University of Toronto

Departing from Washington DC, I arrived in Toronto on May 1st.  5 years have passed since my last visit.  The main purpose this time is to visit Munk Center for International Studiesof University of Toronto

After checking in at Le Royal Meridien King Edward Hotel and taking a short rest, I took off for the destination.

First destination was a meeting with three people from MCIS, Janice Stein (Director), Judith Wolfson (Vice-President for University Relations) and LJ Edmonds to discuss on this year’s "Japan-Canada amity 80 years anniversary" plan with my colleague at GRIPS, Dr. Sunami.  Both parties suggested focusing on "Innovation" in a broader sense.  By the way, the three persons from Canada were all female, PhD, Lawyer, Government official respectively, representing a variety of careers which is truly impressive.

In the 75th anniversary, MCIS and SCJ (Science Council of Japan) co-organized a conference under the theme of "Gender Issue" that produced an outcome of Japan-Canada academic exchange program for female researchers (this web-site is in Japanese only) .

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Photo2:　With Drs. Stein and Sunami at the Munk Center

"Asian Foodprints", a series of conferences under the auspices of Munk Center and Asia Institute happened to be open so we decided to have a quick look into them.  The first conference was organized under the theme of "understanding cultures through food" and this year’s theme was "China, Hong Kong."  It appeared to be very interesting.

After this, I left the site for a meeting with the President of University of Toronto.  In my last visit five years ago, I had a lunch at the President’s office with current President Birgeneau of UC Berkeley, who was then just about to take on the new appointment.  This time, it was Dr. David Naylor (the photo at the top) who succeeded Dr. Birgeneau just recently.  Dr. Naylor is MD, and was the Dean of School of Medicine very much like myself.  Still young, but has an impressive career and had lots of topics common with me so the meeting turned out to be a lively interesting conversation.

Then, a dinner of "understanding cultures through food" hosted by Munk Center and Asia Institute.  A large number of guests were invited, including Dr. John Wong (Director), Professor Ito Peng , Drs. Stein, Wolfson and Edmonds.  It was a wonderful event overall.  Next year’s theme will be Japan.  At the dinner I had an opportunity to see Mr. Yamashita, Consul General of Japan in Toronto, President Suzuki of the Japan Foundation and his wife.

In July, His Majesty the Emperor and Her Majesty the Empress will visit Canada.  I am delighted to report to you that this was also a hot topic at the event.