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From Dubai-Part 2: Summit on the Global Agenda

Posted on 2008/11/202014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

From early in the morning on Nov. 9 participants from Japan held a breakfast meeting on the conference hall terrace (Photo 1-4). Almost everyone at the conference from Japan was there. Can you tell who’s who?

Photo 1-4: A meeting with participants from Japan

After breakfast more brainstorming, and then the closing session. Each of the 8 clusters of large themes gave final presentations in about six minutes. Please watch the webcast of the closing session which was moderated by BBC’s Nick Gowing. I was quite impressed with the polished skills of the speakers, wrapping up their presentations within the given time frame.

After the summit I rested a bit at the hotel before I made a trip to the new Dubai Mall. It recently opened right near the construction site of what will become the tallest building in the world, Burj Dubai. Amid Japanese flagship brands like SONY, Canon, and Panasonic, the Japanese bookstore, Books Kinokuniya, is also in the mall. There is a huge aquarium with a 75-centimeter thick acrylic viewing panel. Who else could it be that manufactured something like this? Of course, the Japanese company Nippura.

Photo 5-10: Dubai Mall

I think a total of about 400 people were at the conference. There were more Japanese participants than usual. I think Japan’s increased presence at the conference, which comes at a time when there are signs of a global paradigm shift occurring because of the financial crisis, is a good thing. Overall, however, many working-level people, both in politics and business, seemed to have been absent because of the uncertainties in the financial sector and economy. I felt like participants, both from Japan and elsewhere, were mostly academics or “independents”. Attendance of people in finance was of course low.

In the evening I went to dinner with Ambassador to the UAE Takuma Hatano and others to the restaurant, Zheng He’s. (FYI: Some say that Zheng He discovered America over 50 years before Christopher Columbus.)

Photos from the dinner at Zheng He’s.

I left Dubai airport at 2:45am on 10th and returned to Tokyo via Kansai airport in the evening of 10th.

From Dubai-Part 1: Summit on the Global Agenda

Posted on 2008/11/182014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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After a six-and-a-half hour flight from London, I arrived at Dubai Airport on the morning of Nov. 8 without enough sleep. I checked into my hotel Jumeirah Al Qasr and went to the conference venue early. I was in Dubai for the first “Summit on the Global Agenda” convened by the World Economic Forum. It’s a huge brainstorming meeting on the global agenda. If you check out the conference website you can see that 8 large themes are broken down into 68 global challenges. A working council for each issue held a series of discussions, each lasting for about three hours. I am a member of the councils for “Innovation” and for “Global Health.” I mainly focused on attending sessions at the “Innovation” council. I reunited with many friends. Mr. John Gage who was also at the STS Forum in Kyoto in October and Davos conference in January was on the same council. I also ran into Mr. Tim Brown of the IEDO, whom I recently introduced in this blog, for the fifth time this year. He was participating in discussions at the council for “Design.” The sessions can be quite draining as they require debating skills and concentration. If you read the columns on the blog of Dr. Yoko Ishikura who was also at the conference you can probably see what I mean by “draining.”

In the evening, a 40-minute bus ride took us to a reception in the desert. Here are some images from it.

Photo1:　The University of Tokyo President Hiroshi Komiyama(on a day trip to Dubai), Prof. Akihiko Tanaka, Prof. Motoshige Ito, Prof. Hiroko Akiyama

Photo2:　With JICA President Sadako Ogata and Ambassador of Japan to the US Ichiro Fujisaki and Mrs. Fujisaki.

Photo3:　Horse riding demonstration

Having been engaging in intense debates at conferences one after another, in Tokyo, London and then Dubai, I felt a bit tired.

But then I learned that JICA President Sadako Ogata had left Dubai on Nov. 6 to attend the opening event of a new terminal at Afghanistan’s Kabul International Airport on behalf of the Japanese prime minister, and then made a quick return to Dubai for this conference. I’ve got to tip my hat to her. She even attended the evening reception in the desert with us.

Wherever Ms. Ogata goes people always gather around her. You can tell that they sincerely admire and respect her.

Back to London, Part 2

Posted on 2008/11/152014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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The final conference for the WHO Commission on the Social Determinants of Health was filled with wonderful sessions and panel discussions. It was the last formal gathering with the other Commissioners whom I’ve worked with for 3 years. The Commission’s final report is very unique. The WHO set up the special Commission to collect evidence of social determinants of health and recommend action, which is normally done by existing top-down orders of societies. So, the report’s recommendations will of course take time to put in place. Some of the recommended actions may simply be impossible. The greatest challenge is to implement what the Commission has identified. This is just a starting point.

In this "Hot, Flat, and Crowded" world, as Thomas Friedman puts in his new book, an unprecedented change is happening on a global scale. If humans cannot adapt, it will be too late. Different regions and countries are already being affected in ways that threaten to make the world unstable. Many people have been driven from their homes due to riots, strife and war. This is happening not only in Africa, but in areas of Pakistan, Palestine, Iraq and Kashmir. I fear that the situation may worsen over time. Poverty, lack of water, food and energy, and the movement of people will most certainly create further instability.

One piece of good news is that the United States seems to be on its way to regain trust and confidence of the international community by electing Senator Barack Obama as its next president. No one had imagined his victory even a year ago. However, Mr. Obama probably cannot afford to just focus on the rest of the world as he needs to fulfill his campaign promise to revive employment in the US.

In this global world, companies and non-government organizations will increasingly move beyond existing national frameworks and become more international. But politicians of democratic nations will basically remain local as they get their jobs by being elected in their countries.

I am posting some images from the conference. I hope you will enjoy the webcast and the website. You can listen to some amazing speeches by Hilary Benn (Photo 1&2) who I met at the May G8 Environment Ministers’ Meeting, Prof. Paul Hunt and former president of Ireland, Ms. Mary Robinson (Photo 3&4). I’m also in the Cafe Conversation on the afternoon of Day 2.

Photo1 UK Environment Secretary Hilary Benn

Photo2 With Secretary Benn （The red flower on his lapel is for Poppy Day to commemorate the war dead. I was wearing one too. ）

Photo3 Ms. Mary Robinson

Photo4 Ms. Mary Robinson and Conference MC, Mr. John Humphrys of BBC

On Friday, the second day of the conference, I skipped the final session and left for Heathrow Airport at 4:30 pm to fly to Dubai.

To London once again.

Posted on 2008/11/142014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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After a meeting in Tokyo, I left Narita on November 4th, to London via Paris. The travel was to attend the final meeting of Commission on Social Determinants of Health CSDH, WHO, where I served as one of the commissioners. A report was neatly prepared by then.

Obama was elected for the next president at just about 5 am of November 5th local time, and I listened to his live speech on television at the lounge of Charles de Gaulle International Airport. Wasn’t it a wonderful message? Obviously the speech was a declaration of a strong will as the leader of America, perfectly aware of the attention that he attracted from the whole world. "Google" the related sites, English sites, of course.

The fantastic thing about this meeting is that it is hosted by the Department of Health of Great Britain. Approximately 500 people will gather from all over the world and not only the details will be broadcasted, but also the speeches and videos will be open to the public on internet. Visit the web site in to get the idea of what has been discussed and feel the atmosphere. My interview is uploaded, also. I was a bit nervous, because it was <one to one> interview and I had no clue to what the overall program was like, or who came before and after me, or what the topics were, and also there was no rehearsal or editing, and lasted for 5-6 minutes. It makes me sweat.

Photo1: Prime Minister Brown

Photo2: Minister Johnson

Photo3: Chairman Sir Marmot

The opening speech of 6th was delivered first by Prime Minister Gordon Brown and next was Minister of Department of Health, Alan Johnson. Both speeches were impressive, as political leaders of Great Britain always are. Responding to the report of this conference, the British government expressed their decision to develop specific policies and requested Professor Marmot, the Chair of WHO CSDH to organize a special committee for this objective. They are very serious about what they are doing. This is truly what I would call a government initiative. Isn’t it admirable? I envy it.

Japanese do not see the difference of the roles of bureaucrats, public officials, and politicians (I don’t know why but many of them are Niseis and Sanseis, i.e. successor of their fathers or grandfathers. Even their electoral district is descendent, which is obviously not normal. It might be that the candidates are unknown "outside their home district"). And also, English people perceive government as "Civil servants" while Japanese people see it as "Okami (people who reign)". This difference is huge. I feel embarrassed that without perceiving this basic difference in the societies of Britain and Japan, Japanese politicians, public officials, and specialists only quickly mock the system of Great Britain superficially, when problem arises and talk about "agency-nization," "privatization," "two major opposing political parties," "Thatcherism," and so on as if they are experts. Actually, they don’t really know what they are talking about.

Photo4: Chair of the conference, BBC presenter and writer John Humphyrs, and Chair of CSDH

Photo5: A panel. On the left is chair, Editor of Lancet, Dr. Richard Horton

Photo6: At the reception. Asian network, mainly organized by Dr. Hashimoto of University of Tokyo. The 3rd person from the left is Dr. Kumaresan, president of WHO Kobe Center

By the way, the venue of the meeting was Queen Elizabeth II Conference Center, and the accommodation was Royal Horsegurads. They are located only a few minutes away from each other by foot. In between stands Prime Minister’s official residence Downing 10, Westminster Abbey, The houses of Parliament and Big Ben, and so on. I have been to this place early in September, too. This time, I had an opportunity to stop by at the residence of minister Nishigahiro.

G8 Summit Global Health Follow up Tokyo meeting

Posted on 2008/11/112014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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2008 Toyako Summit had on its table agendas on energy, climate change, surging food prices, financial crisis, etc., all of which are major global problems that seemed to appear so suddenly. However, I would like to point out that Japan played a significant role here even in this difficult time, especially in the area of global health where Japan followed up the promises between health care providing systems and G8, producing outcomes that were very highly evaluated by the world.

A follow up meeting was held on November 3 th and 4th in Tokyo under the auspice of JICE with the cooperation of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. Participants were the world’s top members in this field, Dr. Margaret Chan, Director General of WHO (photo1, the last time I saw her was at Seattle in June), Dr. Tachi Yamada, president of the Global Health Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (we were together at Fusionopolis 3 weeks ago), Dr. Julio Frenk, former Minister of Health of Mexico and Dean elect of the Harvard University School of Public Health (can you imagine such selection in Japanese university?), Dr. Richard Horton, Editor in Chief of The Lancet.

In addition, Dr. Miriam Were, the recipient of the "Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize" announced at TICAD4 this May was present, also a happy reunion for both of us. Large number of specialists gathered, not just from Japan but from all over the world. Here, I would like to acknowledge their effort.

photo 1 From the left end, Ms. Ikegami of UNFPA Tokyo Office, Dr. Mari Simonen(deputy executive director of UNFPA), me, Dr. Margaret Chan(Director General of WHO), Dr. M Prakasamma(director of Academy for Nursing Studies and Women’s empowement Research Studies).

photo 2, 3 Panel title. Myself as the chair, to left, Mr. Yamamoto, Ministry of foreign affairs and two officers of Ministry of Foreign Affairs who were assigned to the G8 of next fiscal year.

In this meeting, Japanese government intends to summarize and stabilize plans that will be handed to Italy, the next host of the G8 Summit. Former vice minister of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, currently Senior Fellow at Harvard University School of Public Health, Dr. Keizo Takemi is working to make this happen, which is truly wonderful. Political activities carried out not only by government offices but also by many global NPOs and social movement groups, in which many of us participate, are part of the great social changes occurring in Japan as well as all parts of the world in this global era (refer to my speech at the G8 meeting of the ministers of environment). Thanks to all who participated. I was in the panel, too (photos 2, 3). At the reception, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Nakasone delivered a welcome speech.

In the evening, besides other appointments, I had an opportunity to meet with Dean Olian of UCLA Management School (whom I saw last year, too), the Vice President, and Mr. Shibusawa (reference 1 ), a graduate of UCLA Management School and my friend (photo 4).

photo 4 Dean Olian of UCLA Management School, Mr. Shibusawa, in the back row, Assistant Dean, Dr. Schakelford.

It was a busy day.

Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize, our story to tell

Posted on 2008/11/092020/11/04 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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Dr. Hideyo Noguchi is one of the most known medical doctor and heroe of modern time Japan. But he is not known in the rest of the world though you can see his bust in the library of Rockefeller University, where he worked from its establishment in 1904, and made this new research institution known to the world in early 20 century. You also see him printed in Japanese 1,000 Yen note.

This May, Japanese government inaugurated Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize and two laureates, Dr. Brian Greenwood of UK and Miriam Were of Kenya, were awarded the prize at the first evening, May 28th, 2008, of the 4th Tokyo International Conference of African Development as you may see I earlier columns of my blog.

Now our story appears in print. We hope you enjoy reading more or less a full story of the prize and share the spirit of Dr. Noguchi with your friends in and of Africa and throughout the world.

From Singapore, The opening ceremony of Fusionopolis

Posted on 2008/10/282014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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After my visit at Seoul, I came to Singapore to participate in the opening ceremony of Fusionopolis. Attended by many scientists in Singapore and around the world, Director Lim of A*STAR made a welcome speech. Then, a powerful message from the Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, followed by fascinating high tech holographic demonstration, musical performance by researcher group, and a reception. I had the honor of being introduced to the Prime Minister Lee at the reception hall and talking with him. He explained how his government is committed to making Fusionopolis a center full of energy that attracts scientists and youth around the world. By the way, the architecture of Fusionopolis was designed by Dr. Kisho Kurokawa, a well known Japanese architect.

photo Prime Minister Lee at the Opening.

On the next day, I attended the board meeting of A*STAR. Then, in the evening of the day after, had dinner with Professor Ito (ref. 1 ), a very active scientist at A*STAR as well as former director of Institute for Virus Research, Kyoto University, and Mr. Kakihara, the manager of Riken Singapore office.

Anyway, I would like all of you to know how sad I am not to see Japanese researchers, especially young generations, participating in such places to mix with other researchers for training and competition as Samurais did for fencing in their era. Shouldn’t Riken stop making excuses and send more scientists to Fusionopolis? I dare say that Riken is just wasting their money if they don’t. As I always say, I do not want to hear excuses for not doing. Remember the Japanese old sayings such as "Young ones head to wilderness (Wakamono wa koya wo mezasu)" or "If you love your child, let him/her travel (Kawaii ko niwa tabio saseyo)." They have universality and implications.

I expect everyone to do better.

“Galapagosnization (Galapagos-ka)” of Japanese manufacturers

Posted on 2008/10/222014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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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

Posted on 2008/10/182014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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?

Posted on 2008/10/162014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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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.