science – Page 25 – Kiyoshi Kurokawa.com

UNESCO-L’Oreal prize and incredible female scientists

Posted on 2007/10/152014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

There is a cosmetic company named L’Oreal. I arrived in Paris in the morning of October 4th. I was invited as a selection committee member of the UNESCO-L’Oreal prize conducted by UNESCO to commend incredible female scientists.

The hotel I staied was Hilton which is near Arch of Triumph, the Japanese embassy, and the OECD Office of Japan. I had lunch with the UNESCO Ambassador Kondo in the official residence and got acquainted with Mr. Akiba and Mr. Sakashita of the Science council and also accompanied by Mr. Shigeru Ban, who is a world famous architect （Picture 1）. Presently he visits Paris every 2 weeks each month for the construction of the second centre which he won in an international competition.

Moreover, Mr. Kondo, the ambassador, has also a deep knowledge of culture and has also a book to his name called “Paris from the Malmasion Woods: 24 essays about the diplomacy and culture.” Rising above all the expectations, he was deeply involved in the World Heritage selection of Iwami Ginzan at the conference of UNESCO in June. The perspective of “environment” was highly evaluated. This is an era. At the end of June, when ambassador Kondo left Paris CDG airport for a conference at New Zealand, I was waiting at the airport for a flight to Tokyo and so we had dinner together.

Picture1　From right- Mr. Saka, myself, Ambassador Kondo, Mr. Akiba

The selection for the L’Oreal prize was on the 5th, the selection committee head was Nobel prize winner Gunter Blobel and committee members were past award recipients all of whom were great people. An old friend Mr. Nalecz（from Poland） was the representative from UNESCO. I met him after 3 years. 5-10 people were recommended from each continent（North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Africa-Arab） and since all were incredible it was difficult to choose. 5 people from each region were selected after a lively discussion. Please see the web site for the result. A grand business plan seems to be planned with the ceremony in Paris on the tenth anniversary of UNESCO-L'Oreal prize next March. Up till now, Ms. Tsuneko Okazaki and Ms. Fumiko Yonezawa of Science Council of Japan, had participated as the Japanese winners.

Picture2　With Mr. Nalecz

Picture3　Selection Committee

In the evening, I went to the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra concert. Myung-Whun Chung is the musical director here. The second number of the Brahms Concerto for Piano was played. The conductor was Gustavo Dudamel, and Piano by Leif Ove Andsnes. After the performance I excused myself and went to the Paris CDG airport. I left for home by Air France at 23:30 from the same CDG airport where I had met ambassador Kondo last time.

Picture 4　Evening Orchestra

Come to think of it, this L’Oreal prize has excellent global advertising communication strategy. In the global era, this type of special contribution from industries is considered very important as CSR, and is evaluated as intangible value. Hence, it is necessary that the Japanese industries contribute likewise more and more.

Insufficient “Investment” Funds are not sustainable for new growth industries of Japan

Posted on 2007/10/092014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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I was invited by JASDAQ and gave a speech on the 3rd of October. There were approximately 700 people participating. The people were over flooded with enthusiasm but I thought a little more vigour could have been better. Why it was so is hard to explain but it left a docile impression. The host, Mr.Tsutsui, director of JASDAQ and Mr. Izuka of THine Electronics, Inc. (THine) who participated in the panel were with me at Dailian also as I introduced to you a while ago in my blog (click here for article of the interview of Mr. Izuka in Japanese). The panel members were Mr. Eikou Harada, president of MacDonld’s Holdings Japan, Mr. Mineo Fukuda, executive vice-president of Jupiter Telecommunications (J:COM), Mr. Testuya Iidzuka, director of THein and myself under the chairmanship of Mr. Tsutsui.

Japan invests extremely small amount to new or growing industries compared to economically larger countries such as in OECD (Figure1-2: why are these graphs not widely used and get known to the media?). I get an impression of "slackness" under the influence of the economic growth driven by more than 30 years of mass-production of standardized goods since 1960’s, cheap energy sources like oil ( until the oil shock of 1974), culture of consumption, the logic drawn from the supplier side as Freeman and Perez put it "the paradigm 4." The feeling is especially strong for these several years since the economic recovery this time came along with the economic growth of Asia, even though the basic restructuring of Japan’s framework is still far from accomplishment. This could be dangerous. Books like "Company rots from its head (published in Japanese only)" or "Tenacity of one finger decided the contest (published in Japanese only)" etc. by Kazuhiko Toyama points out the same problem. Although the world is changing rapidly, it is not able to change as the past experience of success is becoming a barrier. People with vested interests who have the old experience of success are becoming too prominent in the high social status and forming the big opposing power. What I feel is that although the field is still strong enough, the enterprises are not utilizing it enough.

Figure1: Poor Quantity of Fund Supply for venture ?1: Transition of VC investment balance of Japan, America and Europe

Figure2: Poor Quantity of Fund Supply for venture ?2: Venture Investments in 3 stages in various countries (GDP ratio) (1998-2001)

Source: Investigation of investment trend for the venture capital 2005
Note1: Conversion for the United States is 1 Dollar=107 Yen
Note2: Conversion for Europe is Euro= 139 Yen

Regarding its social background, I write a lot about it in my blog. My speeches can be also used as a reference. In these 40 years, the framework has been completed using the 3 poles of Japan, America and Europe. However, the composition is such that with the rapid growth of Asia, Japan in Asia is chased for the success. To seclude in pride or relief is not an option.

The "investment" is not only about the country’s money or the tax system. They are only policies that are intended to prime the pump. In Japan the "government, industries, bureaucracy" with "big vested interests" has become too accustomed to the old experience of success and the centralized indirect finance of the mega banks, that their mentality became used to "financing" but not "investment." Even if financing is considered, the mental make-up is becoming such that they are not able to do the investment. The "stakes which come forth" (a Japanese idiom for "brilliant people who speak up") with spirit of great entrepreneurship are so few in the Japanese society. The situation is not good for new industries. It is difficult to be competitive about the industrial structure and economic growth in the paradigm of the new Global era. Since the industrial revolution, we saw the history repeat again and again in industry and economy. The new generation (regardless of age) must come.

In the age of speeding information, the world knows much better about the Japanese situation. Think carefully about the above 2 graphs. How should it be interpreted? I am afraid that, as usual, "too little too late" policies derived from the old narrow personal experiences and logic of vertically divided thinking will probably come up. Can’t we change after all? Recently Japanese isolation and Japanese sinking are discussed in the media. Maybe it is so. There are a bunch of people in the authorities who always count reasons for not doing something, who have never experienced a serious match.

Although the economic scale is 2nd in the world, Japan gives an "indifferent" or "irrelevant" or "nothing to do with" impression among the international society. It is predicted that China will get ahead of Japan in the GDP by 2010.

I predict that talented people with high ideals will eventually go abroad to pursue their career. It is a shame, but this is what global era is about.

After the speech, I headed to Narita and took off to Paris by the usual night flight.

From beautiful Hangzhou, city of West Lake

Posted on 2007/09/252014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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From 20th to 22nd, I came to Hangzhou, which Marco Polo had described to be "The most beautiful city" in his book, "The Travels of Marco Polo" also known as Oriente Poliano (Reference: "About Hangzhou," "Culture of Hangzhou" and "How to make things enjoyable in Hangzhou"). The streets around the West Lake are marvelous with full of greens everywhere. When I walked around the West Lake town (about 12 km), there were many willow, camphor and platanus trees. The streets lined up with willow trees were very beautiful. I was impressed with the affluent greenery of this city (Reference: Hangzhou flower garden ).

You might have seen on television etc. but a very rare phenomenon of high tides with the height of 2 to 3 meters running several hundred kilometers up from wide river mouth gradually till it becomes narrow is seen in Sentoko at around 15th August as per old calendar (end of September as per new calendar). This phenomenon is also seen in the Amazon river. The timing is only a week from now; It is a pity that I have to return back immediately.

This time, I came for a keynote lecture ("Social policy for the aged society") at the annual conference of the Society of Internal Medicine in China. I met many old friends and we renewed our old friendship. There were Prof. Thomson from Department of Medicine, Monach university, Melborne, Prof. Drazen, editor-in-chief of New England Journal of Medicine, Prof. Kohler, director general of Secretariat of International Society of Internal Medicine of Bern (Switzerland), Prof. K.N. Lai, director of kidney, Department of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong and Pro. Zhaori, chief editor of a Chinese science magazine "Chinese Medical Journal." The host was Prof. Wang Haiyan (lady professor), president of Chinese Society of Internal Medicine, one of my old friends (Photo1). I felt reformation and international developments for global era in progress everywhere and its dynamisms were great. It is just wonderful and inspiring.

Photo1: At the reception, from left, Professors Lai, Drazen, Kohler, Wang, Thomson and myself.

Next day, Prof. Lawrence Tierney of UCSF, who attended my clinical lecture 2, 3 times in my Todai era and chief editor of "Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment" whom I helped for chapter "Abnormalities in body fluid" arrived. As introduced also in "Learn in ‘Major leaguer’ "(Igaku-Shoin, 2002) by Dr. Matsumura Rishi, he is a wonderful teacher visiting Japan every year and traveling all over the world. He will be visiting Japan for about one month from next month.

Maybe the readers of my blog are aware that I go to various places in the world but usually don’t go for sightseeing. Regret to say I don’t have time for it. However, this time, all the lectures other than those by invited lecturers were in Chinese, so Dr. Zhangfei Shou (working in related hospitals of Zhejiang University, School of Medicine. Its Dean is Dr. Ba Denian whom I have introduced in my blog last week) took me to many places. I am very thankful.

We went to Ling Yin Temple (Photo2 and 3), Fei Lai Feng near it (Photo4) and then to Six Harmonies Pagoda (here, "Six" means heaven, earth, north, south, east and west ) (Photo5). Hangzhou is famous for producing tea and silk since long time ago. It is a sister city of Shizuoka city in Japan. We also visited museum of tea "Chinese tea museum." I felt relaxed in nature at this tea museum (Photo 6), it’s been a while since I had this feeling last time.

Photo2 and 3: At Ling Yin Temple with Dr. Shou (The frame "Ling Yin Temple" at the gate was written by Mr.Jiang Zemin)

Photo4: At Fei Lai Feng with Dr. Shou

Photo5: At Six Harmonies Pagoda with Dr. Shou

Photo6: Tea farm

Photo7: At West Lake with Dr. Shou

As like at Dalian last month, it is a pleasure to see an increasing level of exchange in academic and private sectors taking place between neighboring big countries.

The sites which I cited in my blog introduce many hands on blogs without limiting to official blogs. If you are interested, search for the sites which have good information.

I will be visiting Beijing again to participate in WHO meeting.

Am I “out of box”? “A stereotype breaker”?

Posted on 2007/09/202014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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In the morning of September 19th, I made a keynote speech at「BioJapan 2007-World Business Forum」 held at Pan Pacific Yokohama. The CEO of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Dｒ. Maraganore from USA (whom I’ve met 3 years ago at his company) started by talking about "Progress in development of a new class of innovative medicines." His speech was followed by the CEO of Novozymes, Denmark, Mr. Riisgaard who talked about "Bioethanol – A sustainable contribution to the future energy supply," then I talked about "Innovation of bio technology: where is it heading to?".

There were people from OECD and the 6 of us had a pleasant talk over dinner the previous night. There were 2 people whom I have known for a while. It’s quite a small world.

By the way, Newsweek Japan (September 19 edition) published a cover story titled "Confession of a Tokyo Correspondent." In this report, David McNeil writes his hope to tell about "the true Japan." He is a Tokyo correspondent of the British Independent newspaper, but also contributes articles to other foreign newspapers. He is also a coordinator of "Japan Focus."

In the headline "Japanese authorities prefer to introduce their exotic character," there is a phrase as follows:
"・・・And they like to introduce people who destroy the stereotype of a no face Japanese working like a working drone in Japan, a giant machine. There are a lot of unique and talented people in Japan like Kenji Kawakami who presides Japan’s Unuseless Invention Society, Special Advisor to the Cabinet Kiyoshi Kurokawa, designer Jun Takahashi, composer Kazue Mizushima, Japanese Taiko drummer Eitetsu Hayashi etc. I’m lucky that I get paid by writing about them. ・・・."

So am I different from ordinary Japanese? I don’t care that much, but I’m honored that they see me "decently."

At night I had dinner with the British healthcare authorities and people from the British media like "Independent."

To the World Chinese Entrepreneur’s convention from Kobe

Posted on 2007/09/202014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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The World Chinese Entrepreneur’s convention was held for the first time in Japan in Kobe, and I was invited for a panel about healthcare.

Participants were Dr. Ba Denian, Medical President of Zhe Jiang University from Hangzhou, China (he has studied at Hokkaido University and also a member of Institute of Medicine), Dr. Edmund Lee, Professor of National University of Singapore and the leader of clinical pharmacology from Singapore, Dr. Maggie Ng from Hong Kong of the Juliana Chan Program who ran the RENNAL with me and the MC was Professor Masanori Fukushima of Kyoto University. Time may not have been enough, but the discussion was good. Regarding nation’s competitiveness, if I may say, it is a pity that Japan lags far behind from other countries. What is most important is not only researchers but for each and everyone to act based on an "entrepreneur spirit." As I keep saying, this is the core message of "innovation."

Well, in what language should I speak in this panel? I was a little concerned, so I attended the reception the previous day and asked for advice to the organizer of the panel, and decided to speak in Japanese with English slides. Of course there was simultaneous interpretation in Mandarin, English and Japanese. One of the participants, Dr.Ryuichi Morishita has quickly updated his blog about the Convention.

In the reception held the previous day, I met Mr. Yoichi Funabashi, former executive of the Nikkei Newspaper; Mr. Akira Kojima, former President of Philippines; Mr. Ramos; and friends and people related to Genron NPO. Ms. Kanae Yamamoto, Ministerial aid of Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry also showed up. I also met with First Secretary Mr. Liu from the Chinese Embassy who is temporarily transferred from the Chinese Health Office. Mr.Ramos wears glasses since he was President, but it doesn’t have lenses, it’s just fashion. Also, he says that he always has cigars with him although he doesn’t use it recently. This is not to actually smoke, but to give an "impression." Quite a man.

Photo In Kobe with friends. From left, Mr.Kojima, myself, next to one is Mr.Ramos

Next morning, I met with the mayor of Kobe, Mr.Yada and listened to Kobe’s future bio plans. They have built the groundwork, but how to make full use of it, that is the issue. I would like to extend my gratitude for President Yan Hao and Executive Director Kyo of EPS which is becoming one of Japan’s largest clinical service provider. Thank you very much.

I am leaving for Hangzhou from the 20th.

Am I afterall ‘Henjin (out-of-box)’, ‘a breaker of stereotype of Japan’?

Posted on 2007/09/202014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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In the morning of September 19th at Pacifico Yokohama Convention Center, I delivered a keynote speech at ‘BioJapan 2007-World Business Forum.’ The first speaker was Dr. Maraganore, CEO of Alanylam Pharmaceuticals (I met him about 3 years ago), the title of his speech was ‘Progress in development of a new class of innovative medicines.’ Next speaker was from Denmark, Mr. Riisgaard, Novozymes CEO, who talked on ‘Bioethanol-A sustainable contribution to the future energy supply’ and then I spoke under the title of ‘Innovation in Biotechnology: where is it headed to?’

People from OECD were also there and I had dinner with five of them at the night before. I knew two of them from long time ago. It’s a small world, isn’t it?

By the way, the latest Newsweek Japanese edition (September 19, 2007) is published with its cover story, ‘A Confession of Foreign Correspondent in Tokyo.’ Mr. David McNeill wrote an article, ‘I want to tell about Japan as it truly is.’ Mr. McNeill is an English correspondent of ‘The Independent’ at Tokyo but also writes for several other newspapers around the world. He is also the coordinator of ‘Japan Focus.’

Under the subtitle of the article, ‘Although Japanese officials prefer stories of exotic Japan,’ I found a statement as below.

“・・・I also like to find and introduce such individuals who breaks the stereotype of Japan as a huge machine and that Japanese people are working there like honeybees without faces. There are many original and talented individuals in Japan such as Kenji Kawakami who presides ‘the Society of Chindogu (a unique instrument)’; Kiyoshi Kurokawa, a special advisor to the cabinet; Jun Takahashi, a designer; Kazue Mizushima, a composer; Eitetsu Hayashi, solo Taiko drummer, and so on. I feel very lucky that I am paid for writing about their works in articles.”

Am I different from average Japanese after all? It doesn’t particularly bother me, rather flattered to be seen so ‘properly.’

At the night, I had dinner with some British people involved in health policy and from media such as ‘the Independent.’

Speech at a wonderful young people’s meeting “Project 13%”

Posted on 2007/09/192014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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Ken Shibusawa is one of my friends. He is a businessman who studied at UCLA Andersen Business School and is recently popular known as Eiichi Shibusawa’s 5th generation. The amount of information he sends out is substantial as in his blog "Alternative investment diary" (Japanese title:「オルタナティブ投資日記」) and "Thinking of Eiichi Shibusawa’s 『Analects and abacus』" (Japanese title:「渋沢栄一の『論語と算盤』を今、考える」). Also he has recently published several books related to Eiichi Shibusawa’s philosophy. Please look it up at Amazon.

A while ago, in the afternoon of Sunday, September 9th, I was invited to talk at "Project 13%" which is run by Mr. Shibusawa and went to International House of Japan, a historic building in Roppongi. About 150 people gathered mostly young people at a glance, and a lot of women. Most of them were entrepreneurs which is something unique for a lecture in Japan. I found it a different society from the Red Herring which I recently introduced, but most of them seemed to share the same spirit.

The lecture began with my keynote speech. I started by asking "Please raise your hand if you are 40 and above." Around 30% of the participants raised their hand and about 40% were women. I began to talk about innovation referring to this point.

Photo1: My speech. Casual Sunday afternoon.

After my speech was Kaoru Iokibe (University of Tokyo) followed by Naoko Nishizawa (Keio University) and Masakazu Shimada (Bunkyo Gakuin University). It was a panel by young energetic 3 scholars. Dr. Iokibe talked about "Shigenobu Okuma", Dr. Nishizawa talked about "Yukichi Fukuzawa" and Dr. Shimada talked about "Eiichi Shibusawa." They each introduced the great predecessors, shared their opinion and went into panel discussion (photo2). It is very encouraging to see such young and passionate scholars. Dr. Iokibe who talked about Shigenobu Okuma turned out to be the son of Dr. Makoto Iokibe, Professor of Kobe University who later became the President of National Defense Academy in Japan whom I introduced in my blog in August. No wonder, they have an uncommon surname and their academic field is similar. They were all wonderful, but time was not enough.

Photo2: Panel. From left, Dr. Iokibe, Dr. Nishizawa and Dr. Shimada. MC was Mr. Shunichi Ozasa (Bloomberg TV)

The last part of the lecture was a talk session between Mr. Shibusawa and Dr.Hiroshi Tasaka, Professor of Tama University Graduate School whom I have recently introduced on several occasions.

Photo3: Dr. Tasaka (left) and Mr. Shibusawa

It was a wonderful sunny Sunday afternoon. It’s been a while since I had a nice meeting, seeing a garden surrounded by shiny sunlight and refreshing nature. I met a lot of people. They all seem to have spent a happy afternoon.

There are a lot of blogs introducing this seminar of Project 13%, so let me introduce some of them (in Japanese only).

　「クロスワイズ代表取締役です☆」 (I am company executive of Crosswise corp.)
　「港区ではたらく女社長のblog」 (A blog of a female CEO in Minato-ku)
　「Capriのゆる～い日記」 (A loooooose diary by Capri)
　「team_yama with Toshi」 etc.

It’s exciting to see a lot of people full of energy.

Take care, to all the participants!

See you again!

From Dalian – attending New World Champions

Posted on 2007/09/142014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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I’d been to Dalian from 5th to 8th September.

It was a conference of “New World Champions" that the so-called Davos Forum (World Economic Forum－WEF) over. I have attended 7 consecutive years of Davos Forum that is held every year in January and I have also attended other conferences that the WEF preside over. I think they are considerably familiar for the readers of my blog. Davos Forum of this January and conference at Singapore in June etc are as I have reported. The conference hall in Dalian was a very big one.

The conference was a large successful meeting where about 1,700 people had gathered from 90 countries mainly from Asia. Especially, the participation of young people and new enterprises was great, and was very much crowded. From Japan, politicians like Jyunko Kawaguchi, Motohisa Furukawa and Keiichiro Asao, university people like Heizo Takenaka, Director Nagata of Ritsumeikan University, and Yoko Ishikura etc. were present. Also, stakeholders from wide range of society, mainly business people such as Yoichi Funabashi, chief editor of Asahi Newspaper and Tamura, Administrative Vice Minister of the Ministry of Environment were there. I also met Hiroshi Tasaka and Kumi Fujisawa whom I have introduced on this site recently.

Dalien20070908001_2 Photo1 With Ms.Tsubouchi in charge of Geneva headquarters of WEF Japan at hall entrance.

Dalien20070908002 Photo2 From left, Director Lee of WEF Asia meeting, Tsuchiya in charge of Geneva headquarters Japan, Ishikura, I and Takenaka.

Dalien20070908003 Photo3 From left, Toru Takanarita the editor of Asahi Newspaper, I and Yoichi Funabashi the editor in chief.

I participated in two panels as a panel member. First panel was “The Transformative Potential of Science and Technology in Asia”. Mr. Graves, the chairperson of this session is related to the production of the program that used as its anchor Ms. Nonaka who later became Chairman of Sanyo electric and was a topic and Ms. Yoriko Koike, one of the star politicians of today. I exchange E-mails with him even after the meeting. Wan Gang, the Minister of Science and Technology of China, is originally a scientist and also was the president of a university. His opinion was also excellent. Look it up on the site of weforum.org.

Moreover, the PR activity for “Table for Two” project which was planned by James Kondo our colleague, Furukawa a Democratic Party congress member, Nakata the Mayor of Yokohama, Chino of Itochu corporation and Young Global Leaders of WEF of Japan is also active and during this meeting Press Release to the world was also conducted. Excellent! It is a practical program based on groundbreaking idea of offering the surplus of the intake of nutrition which cause the obesity and diabetes in advanced countries to the malnourished children in developing countries through WFP (World Food Program). I would encourage all domestic companies as well as international companies to participate and please introduce us to any interested companies. Please read also my support message of this program.

Dalien20070908004 Photo4 Furukawa the congress member of Democratic Party and I in front of a “Table for Two” poster.

On the second night of reception, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao came to greet and then excellent shows with good tempo in large numbers were performed one after another.

Dalien20070908005 Photo5 “Thousand Armed Avalokiteshwara” by deaf young people in reception. Really excellent! Some of you may have seen it on television in Japan.

Dalien20070908006 Photo6 A scene from the reception shows.

The second panel during dinner, in which I participated, was a session on Energy. It was so nice. I met Lady Barbara Thomas Judge, former Commissioner of (Unites States) Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), who had visited Tokyo Stock Exchange many times about 20 years ago and who strongly supported my opinion related to nuclear energy, almost after one year. I participated with her in BusinessWeek CEO Forum performed in Beijing last November in the same panel.

Dalien20070908007 Photo7 Lady Judge, I and Ishikura.

Dalien20070908008 Photo8 Prof. So (From Dalian. He used to teach in the Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University), Director Nagata, I and Tsukamoto the Director of JETRO.

There were various new encounters and reunions. Friend’s circle extended and I also got dynamic energy, it really was stimulating three days. Gained much more encouragement. Our involvement in these activities also seems to have stimulated young people who participated from Japan which is very good. As I always say, future is in the hands of young people.

Dalien20070908009 Photo9 Dr. and Ms.Professor Schwab, Chairman of WEF and I at Japan reception.

Dalian is a very beautiful city. Japan has constructed its infrastructure which is maybe the reason for the hearty welcome. They show us the headquarters of Manchuria Railways, the laboratory of Manchuria Railways, and so on. They are maintained beautifully and are located at the center of city. About 4,000 Japanese enterprises are now operating in Dalian, and I think the contribution of Japan to expand its economy, employment etc. is considerable. Most local staffs speak Japanese in the hotels etc.

I woke up at 5:30 in the morning on 8th and went to Chubu International Airport by 8:00 a.m. flight. From Chubu International Airport travelled to Nagoya railway station by Meitetsu railway and then again travelled to Tokyo by Shinkansen. I arrived at the assembly hall of Japanese Society of Nephrology at 3 o’clock and did the memorial speech for its 50th anniversary. After that, I immediately headed to Science Council of Japan and participated to the 2nd day of international conference “Sustainable Society” held every year. I gave the last (closing) speech from 6 o’clock.

Whew, I am hopping here and there busily.

From Helsinki

Posted on 2007/08/312014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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When it comes to Finland, I remember my friend Mr. Aho. He was the President when USSR dissolution took place in 1991 and the country was in its worst condition. In the springtime this year, I received a sudden unexpected phone call from him saying that he wanted me to participate in the annual conference of SITRA where he is acting as President. I accepted the invitation with pleasure. He is one of the leaders in the world, whom I have seen also at a conference at St. Petersburg in June. I came to Helsinki this time for the SITRA conference.

Photo1　The garden in front of hotel

My visit to Helsinki is after more than 10 years, since the conference of International Union of Physiological Sciences. At that time, Mr. Miyagawa was the ambassador of Finland and Mr. Matsuda was the ambassador of Denmark. I remember this because I have visited them after receiving their invitation. When I was working at UCLA, both of them were Consulate Generals of Los Angeles so I was quite acquainted with them. Helsinki is a beautiful calm town. There are big rocks around here. The population of Helsinki inner city is 5, 00,000 and one million including suburb. In the evening of the day I arrived, His Excellency Ambassador Honda invited me for a dinner with first secretary Mr. Sakamoto at his residence.

Next day I visited the University of Art and Design Helsinki and The Theatre Academy (photo3), where subjects such as art, design, drama are being taught, with Mr. Teppo Turkki (photo2) . Mr. Turkki has come to Tokyo in June with his family (his wife and two children. Mrs. Turkki is a professional ballet dancer and she seems to be busy in creative dance show along with her studies in the ethnic backgrounds) for one month to participate in the workshop of "Global Innovation Ecosystem" that was introduced in the Blog of June 29. The people in Finland are fond of activities such as design, drama and it seems to be a very important part of their life. They are very popular. I am told that tuition fees are exempted in the colleges, even for the International students. Isn’t it a nice environment? There are students from Japan, China, and South Korea also.

Photo2　With Mr. Turkki

Photo3　With the President of academy (Of course, poster behind was our topic.)

Mr. Turkki posts several reports on his visit to Japan to SITRA Website. Unfortunately, the current reports are still in Finnish, so I cannot read it. I have requested to convert them into English so that I can read them. He also wrote a book about Japanese culture such as latest magazine “Cool” but this is in Finnish, too.

In the late afternoon, we had a discussion about the next day’s conference. It’s theme this time is “Issues with Asia: India, China, Japan” and speakers are Dr. Ramasami (Secretary to the Government, Department of Science and Technology), Dr. Jun Yu（Beijing Genomics Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences）and myself.

In the evening, we had a very delightful dinner watching the sunset at a restaurant on an island that was at the distance of approximately 5 minutes by ship. (Photo 4 – 6). Boiled "Crayfish" which was approximate 10 centimeters in size were served, Mr. Aho taught me the way to handle it and so I was able to eat 8 of them by “cutting it into pieces”.
Dr. Erkki Ormala (Vice President of Technology Policy) of Nokia was also with us. In the business world of cell phones, Nokia holds 38% of the share while Motorola 14%, Samsung 13% and Sony-Ericson 11% respectively, and Japanese manufacturers having just one digit share even if 10 companies are combined. In addition, calling rate is the highest in Japan. Can you see where the problem is? Really one should think about it.

Photo4　With Mr. Aho at the restaurant

Photo5 and 6　The view and the twilight from the restaurant

Next day in the morning, I was taken to sightseeing in Helsinki (Photo7 -10). At the conference that started in the afternoon, I talked for 30 minutes first and then heard lectures of other two persons. Due to the departure time of my airplane, I was not able to hear the next panel and I went to the airport for my return journey. I think that everyone enjoyed my lecture.
Contents of the meeting can be seen on the website of SITRA. It is already posted on the web cast, isn’t it fast? Here, you can feel the impact of information era. Whether you use it or not determines your success. This is my message to you.

Photo7　In front of the statue of Nurmi, best-known long distance runner (He is the legend runner who received 9 gold and 3 silver medals in Olympic long distance)

Photo8　Sibelius statue and monument

Photo9　At the Rock Church

Photo10　In front of the cathedral at the plaza of the town central

Next morning I arrived at Haneda via Kansai airport and in the afternoon, participated in the hearing of "World Premier International Research Center (WPI) Initiative" organized by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. In the evening, there was a dinner at the German embassy with Ms. Merkel who was visiting Japan. The hearing of WPI will continue tomorrow.

From Pacific Science Association (PSA), Okinawa

Posted on 2007/06/142014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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Pacific Science Association(PSA) is an association established in 1920 having 80 years of history. It is an association involving various scientific fields in the geographically wide area of Pacific. Congress is held once in 4 years and InterCongress Conference is also held during that period. It is an assembly including not only the natural science experts but also many from social science.

The Congress was held in Okinawa during 13th June～18th June. Last time it was in Bangkok and there I was elected as chairman of the next Okinawa congress. Therefore, I have the background of helping them during these 4 years. However, it was not possible without the support of various people like President Morita of Ryukyu University, Dean Tsuchiya of the Science department, members of Okinawa university union, and Science Council of Japan, that we finally reached to the point of opening this gathering. Thanks to their assistance we could also organize a 3 days joint meeting with Asia Science Council which was very good. This Congress is growing to a fantastic meeting as His Royal Highness Akishino no Miya delivered a lecture and the chairperson of IPCC, Dr. Pachauri who is recently known world wide for his work on the climate change participated in the meeting. I met Dr. Pachauri at various places and he has been invited for about 3 times in these few years for the meetings related to Science Council of Japan.

Her Royal Highness, Takamado no Miya also participated in the 3 days PSA congress where she addressed an opening ceremony with fluent ‘British English’ (She is a graduate of Cambridge university) (Photo1). Her Royal Highness is also an honorary president of BirdLife International and has deep knowledge on wide fields. I heard that her Keynote Lecture at the Biodiversity session held on 15th was very impressive. Unfortunately, the lecture was given after I had left Okinawa, so I could not attend it in person. At reception after the opening ceremony, this openhearted person was surrounded by many participants to talk about vast fields related to nature and life (Photo2).

Photo1: Her Royal Highness, Takamado no Miya addressing an opening ceremony. Dr. Doi, vice chairman of Science Council of Japan at my right.

Photo2: At reception of opening ceremony. From right, Her Royal Highness, Dr Shigeru Omi, Director of West Pacific Bureau of WHO, myself, Prof. Calestous Juma of Harvard university.

Board meeting of PSA and council meeting was held on 12th. New directors were decided peacefully and next InterCongress Conference, 2009 was scheduled to be held in March at Tahiti of French Polynesia. The Minister of Education of French Polynesia was also present at InterCongress Conference (Photo3). I had reunions with many friends and also participated in ‘Science Policy’ panel co-cosponsored by United Nations Institute of Advanced Studies (Photo4).

Photo3: French Polynesia, Minister of Education and its group. 3rd from left is Minister of education, 1st is Mr. Burke Burnett of PSA Bureau, On my right is Ms. Nancy Lewis, Director of PSA Bureau.

Photo4: Me just before leaving from Okinawa and my friends. From left, Mr. Rao of Science and Technology Department, India, Mr. Hassan, Director of Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS), Mr. Zakri, Director of United Nations Institute of Advanced Studies, myself, Prof. Juma of Kennedy School of Harvard university and Dr. Cassim, President of Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University.

Regretfully, I left the meeting in between on 14th afternoon and took flight from Okinawa to attend G8 science advisor meeting to be held at Slovenia.