speech – Page 10 – Kiyoshi Kurokawa.com

From Accra, Ghana – 2： Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize Symposium

Posted on 2010/03/142014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

‘Hideyo Noguchi Afriza Prize Symposium’ was held for one full day on March 9th. The venue of the Symposium is also within this hotel. http://www.gbhghana.net/la-palm/meeting-facilities

I am here as the Chair of ‘Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize https://kiyoshikurokawa.com/en/2008/05/hideyo-noguchi.html http://www.cao.go.jp/noguchisho/index-e.html Symposium’. Hideyo Noguchi Prize, as I have reported several times in this web site, was inaugurated two years ago as the first and only prize under the auspices of the government of Japan. We had the honor of the presence of HIH Crown Prince of Japan at the symposium. I understand that this is his first visit to Sub-Sahara. The winners of the inaugural Award, Drs Greenwood and Were also joined with us.

The program opened with my welcome speech, and speech by the Vice President of Ghana, Mr. John Mahama and HIH Crown Prince of Japan. After the speeches Drs. Greenwood and Were gave lectures. HIH Crown Prince and the Vice President left the venue at the end of these speeches and lectures.

In the afternoon we had a nice lively panel which closed with a presentation by two young people from UZNA foundation (founded by Dr.Were) of a “picture-story show of ‘Story of Hideyo Noguchi’” and recitation of a poem. The performance was quite moving. I asked Dr. Were to video-record this last session by all means and post it on the website of UZMA. I will post its URL once it appears on the web.

In the afternoon speakers and panelists were presented to HIH Crown Prince who has returned for this occasion. A reception followed as is reported (in Japanese) in the March 9th posting in the blog http://blog.canpan.info/sasakawa of Mr. Sasagawa, President of Nippon Foundation, one of the panelists.

HIH Crown Prince is following a very tight schedule, I understand. I sincerely hope that the Crown Prince will be spared from excessive fatigue during the rest of his travel.

In Ghana, Japan, and elsewhere, televisions, newspapers, on-line medias are covering the event. I assume that there are many more but here are some examples.
Ghana news coverage;
http://www.graphicghana.com/news/page.php?news=6722
http://www.graphicghana.com/news/page.php?news=6705
http://mobile.ghanaweb.com/wap/article.php?ID=176510
http://mobile.ghanaweb.com/wap/article.php?ID=178171
http://www.afriquejet.com/news/africa-news/japanese-crown-prince-urges-int%27l-effort-against-infectious-diseases-2010031045535.html

Japan：
<Japan Times Online>
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100311a7.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+japantimes+%28The+Japan+Times%3A+All+Stories%29
<Royal Family News (in Japanese)>　http://worldtimes.co.jp/today/photonews/100310/100310-1.html
< Daily Sports (in Japanese)>
http://www.nikkansports.com/general/news/f-gn-tp0-20100310-604410.html
< Sanin- Chuo newspaper (in Japanese)>
http://www.sanin-chuo.co.jp/newspack/modules/news/article.php?storyid=1030617011
<４７ News (in Japanese)> http://www.47news.jp/CN/201003/CN2010030901000989.html

From Davos – 3

Posted on 2010/02/032014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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On 29th, the 3rd　ｄay at Davos, I spent the morning in private meeting with a few VIPs. In the afternoon, I participated as a ‘Discussion Leaders’ in ‘Prepared for a Pandemic?’- a full two hour session with specialists on pandemics, academics, business enterprises, and insurance companies. It was a highly informative session with discussions covering wide range; lessons from H1V1 since last spring, role of government, arrangements/preparedness of the companies, risks to be considered, insurance, financial loss, employees and their family, impacts on economy etc., etc. I was impressed to know that the width of some business leaders thinking and also making effort to prepare themselves to the expected risks. It is such learning and knowledge sharings that makes this sort of discussions with the leaders of diverse sectors enjoyable and meaningful.

I came across Mr. Bill Gates and had an opportunity to talk with him for a minute on several things such as our encounter in Jakarta in 2008. In the evening at the main hall, I went to watch ‘Business Leadership’, ans‘The US Economic Outlook’ hosted by Charlie Rose, with Lawrence Summers, Director of the White House’s National Economic Council for President Obama. Charlie Rose, was wonderful in his soft ways of raising good focused questions in a very good timing and Summers’ response was also very persuasive and powerful. Please see them for yourself on the web.

In the evening, I stopped by at the reception of Harvard University and exchanged a few words with President Drew Gilpin Faust （President Faust is female – I suppose you know? ) I understand that she will be visiting Japan this March. Since Minister Sengoku and three other Ministers were scheduled to arrive after midnight, Dr. Heizo Takenaka, Mr. Yoichi Funabashi of Asahi Newspaper, myself, with several others, had an opportunity to get together at a Chinese restaurant and talk about the new Administration, an opportunity we haven’t have had among ourselves for some time. When I returned to the hotel, I came across Dr. Yunus of Grameen Bank at the lobby –just like we did last year. I talked about the group of Japanese students who went to Bangladesh (Ref.1, 2, 3) (Ref.2 and 3 are in Japanese) this January and last year. They also had an opportunity to see Dr. Yunus several times at Bangladesh. This year, Professor Seichiro Yonekura (Ref.1 in Japanese) of Hitotsubashi University, a leading expert on innovation, accompanied them to Bangladesh. Dr. Yonekura is a wonderful role model as mentor/teacher and I admire his activities as Innovator (=Entrepreneur, Change Agent or ‘a nail that sticks out’) ; the way he supports young people, and make things happen.

Photo 1-3: ‘Toward an East Asia Community?’ Panel.

Next morning on the 30th, I checked out from the hotel to be at ‘Toward an East Asia Community?’ where Minister of Trade, Economy and Industry (METI), Mr. Naoshima were among the panelists. The panel was moderated by Dr. Kishore Mahbubani (Ref.1), Dean of Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore. I was seated at the front raw with my friends, Hiroshi Tasaka-san and President Ninami-san of Lawson (Photo).

Photo 4: From left, Mr. Ninami, Dr. Tasaka, and myself

Then, after listening to the former half of ‘Global Economic Outlook’ in which Minister Sengoku participated as a panelist, I left the venue and headed to Zurich airport to catch my return flight. Please see this session on the web. A well known columnist of Financial Times, Mr. Martin Wolf moderated the panel in his keen and insightful style. In the afternoon, NHK hosted ‘The Great Shift East in the Global Agenda’ moderated by Ms. Aiko Doden, with Vice Minister Furukawa as a panelist. Report on web is available, and also TV broadcasts are scheduled on February 6 (Sat), and 13 (Sat) in Tokyo and elsewhere in Japan.

Photo 5: With Dr. Takenaka

From Zurich, I returned to Narita via Paris. I was able to sleep only a bit during the flight, thus a bit tired. Somehow a feeling of concern about the future of Japan made me awake. This theme appears repeatedly in my web-site, and I hear that‘Japan in Transition’ in the afternoon of 30th wrapped up the session in a comment like my view.

The web-site of Davos meeting is apparently quite packed with good information. Please enjoy according to your interest. Tons of information, backgrounds, interpretations, and thoughts are introduced and I am sure that they will open up your minds to the world.

From Davos – 2

Posted on 2010/01/292014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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Cover Photo-Front of Venue covered with snow.

Today is January 28th, a slight snowfall, but pleasantly refreshing. At 7:30 in the morning I moved to the other end of the town of Davos to have conversation over breakfast with about 30 or so of Japanese participants. I was happy to hear that 70 or so Japanese participants are expected this year.

By the way, reports ‘From Davos’ are posted on the website of Professor Yoko Ishikura (linked in my blogroll) also, so I recommend that you visit there. Dr. Ishikura is one of the few Japanese who are highly valued as effective moderator/facilitator in Davos Meetings. Her hard work and philosophy is clear in her blog, and I feel there is much to learn from her.

By 9 am, I returned back again to the other end of Davos to participate in the session ‘Asian Brainstorming’. The rather small room was fully packed with people, a large proportion of them were from outside Asia. Interests in Asia are pretty high these days. I think that one of the characteristics of Asia is variety: variety in ethnics, nationals, cultures, economies, religions and others. However, the variety of religions in Asia is not the same as the difference we see in ‘three major religious sectors in one and the same God; Judaism, Christianity, and Islam’ that continue to be one of the major causes of conflicts in our world. It is no surprise that Asia is attracting attentions from people when we think of its functions as the center of world economic growth especially after the recent global financial crisis. The discussion in this session was very active whici I enjoyed very much.

After this Asia session, I went to the main venue for some more sessions. Dr. Fareed Zakaria (Ref.1, 2) (Photo 1) whom I have introduced to you in my past posting, appears as moderator in several sessions, especially political ones.

Photo 1; Dr. Zakaria with President Zuma of South Africa

Mr Bill Clinton, the former President of the United States (Photo2) is UN special envoy to Haiti. He is working hard to support Haiti after the recent earthquake and delivered special appeal for help. I learned much from his speech and panelists, various backgrounds of Haiti and its current situation. Did you know that Haiti has a potential of high economic growth and therefore is a good investment target? I think such point of view is also important especially in crafting the ways for support of private sector.

Photo: Mr. Clinton speaking on support to Haiti

In the afternoon, I attended ‘Brainstorming’ of ‘Governors of Global Chemical Enterprises (in Japanese)’, a closed session. I had an honor of being invited to join this session for 4 consecutive years, and have learned much from this experience, especially the thinking of executives of global enterprises. Presence of Japan is strong in this sector as well. This year, the regular member of this meeting, Chairman Yonekura of Sumitomo Chemical, was absent since he had to leave for Japan after just one day of stay in Davos due to his recent appointment to the next leader of Keidanren. However, Chairman Kobayashi of Mitsubishi Chemical participates every year, and President Sakakibara of Toray Industries was here two years ago. My long time friend Sir David King of the United Kingdom, and China’s leader, Mr. Siwei were also present as invited guests. This year, Dr. Brian Baird, member of the House of Representatives of the United States, joined and made valued comments on policy making process, which was very thought provoking. After the Brainstorming, I had an opportunity to talk with him person to person for about 20 minutes, which was a great pleasure. He is a very good man.

By then, I have had traveled from one end of Davos to another end of Davos a few times times today.

I spent the remaining time of the day attending sessions at the main venue. Those events are reported at the web site of WEF so please visit and enjoy.

Photo; President Lee of Korea

The photo isPresident Lee of Korea　（I have written total of 6 reports: 5 on UAE Nuclear Power Plant and 1 on visit to India on my web site in January. He is moving very actively as the leader of his nation), who will be hosting the G20 this year. His speech in Hangul delivered a clear message that was well received.

Special Addresses by the First Vice-Premier of China Li Kequiang, Prime Minister Harper of Canada, host of the G8 this year (though he focused mainly on G20…), and a Panel with the head of 6 countries hosted by Fareed Zakaria etc; each and every one of them was superb. In the last session, the first question from the audience was raised by Mr Bill Gates.

Photo; At Japan Night (from right) Ms. Doden of NHK, President Hasegawa of Takeda Pharmaceutical (was well received at Panel), Mr. Okabe, editor-in-chief of Nikkei.

After these sessions followed ‘Japan Night’ (Photo) which has now become an annual event. The host of this year was JETRO. We had a very enjoyable time with quite a number of guests. I understand that over 70 participants gathered from Japan this year, unheard of in the past. Korea and China seems to have sent more participants, though…..

Davos Annual Meeting -1

Posted on 2010/01/282014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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President Sarkozy

On 26th, I left Narita to Davos to attend the World Economic Forum, which has now become an annual event for me. This time the flight was to Zurich via Frankfurt. Drs. Jun Murai (Internet) of Keio University, Takeshi Natsuno (iMode) Heizo Takenaka (Economy) were on the same plane. I arrived at the hotel in Davos at about 10:30pm, a bit tired.

Leaders of a number of Asian nations were scheduled to come this year, but I was somewhat concerned about political leaders from Japan since the timing always overlaps with the Diet session, and moreover the ‘politics and economy’ are catching people’s attention especially as a hot topic this year. But in the end, I was relieved to learn that 3 Ministers may come.

The programs and details of the meeting are available at the web site of WEF.

On 27th, I attended the morning, session ‘Germs and Globalization’ and afternoon, session ‘Arts, Culture and the Digital Age’. In ‘Arts…..’, I was particularly impressed by the presentation Dr. John Maeda (Ref.1) (Photos below), a Nisei, former Professor of the Media Lab of MIT, currently the President of Rhodes Island School of Design. He is highly accomplished and loved by everybody, and appears in many sessions this year’s WEF.

Dr. John Maeda

In the afternoon there was ‘World Economic Forum Brainstorming; Redefining the Global Commons’. It was quite an interesting theme, but too many participants caused the session to become somewhat not well focused, at least that was the impression I had. The Ideas Lab of MIT was too packed and I regretfully had to miss the event.

President Nicolas Sarkozy (Top Photo) gave plenary speech in the evening delivered with a lot of enthusiasm. After the speech we listened to the piano by Lang Lang , a beautiful performance.

In the evening, I participated in the panel ‘The Rise of Asia’ with Mr. Kuroda, President of Asian Development Bank (ADB) and a few others. The challenge in these panels (and of course elsewhere and anywhere) is how you connect with people; send out messages with wit, in a short and clear manner.

The meeting of this year was again filled with many new encounters.

Nobel Peace Prize Speech by President Obama, My concerns about Japan

Posted on 2009/12/212014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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The whole world was watching and paying attention to President Obama’s speech on his Nobel Peace Award ceremony ?　what he will say. After all, there were great controversies about awarding him the Nobel, and USA has just decided to send troops of 30,000 to Afghanistan.

Unlike the days when television was the only live visual media, now we have tools to see the lecture on our computer screen (Ref.1), repeat it as we like, read the text, examine how it is treated on variety of major newspapers of the world, or editorials.

Although the awarding committee’s decision was controversial, and the timing of the award speech was very challenging, I think that the script was very good, very much effort was put in. I can well imagine the difficulty and effort the President and his staffs made for this. Especially, President Obama has been pressed particularly hard with issues such as sending additional troops to Afghanistan, its poor economy with high unemployment rates, handling of financial institutions, healthcare policy reform, etc…so challenging that the polls were indicating declines in the support of the President. In such circumstance, the words of the Leader matters so much.

I happened to be in Washington DC at the occasion. In the Washington Post in its December 11th issue, the President speech in Oslo was well received (Ref.1, 2), as the ‘President of America in wartime’ and the role of USA in these several decades, in accord with the philosophy and ways of thinking of President Obama. In our age, many people express their opinions through new tools such as blogs, but the weight of the words of the leader of a nation is incomparably heavy.

Articles on the New York Times (Ref.1) can be taken also as good references.

Comments before the ceremony by ‘experts’ on what they thought President Obama should say at Oslo just was also an interesting collection.

By the way, I found another interesting article on the same day’s Washington Post titled ‘Does Japan still matter?’ . The message was to ask readers not to forget Japan, a country which is forgotten now. It ends by saying ‘So far, Japan’s new government has not defined policies that could restore economic growth and lift the country out of its funk. But America should be hoping that it can. And if it wants to regain some confidence, it makes sense to treat Japan as though it matters. Because it does.’

On the other hand, the New York Times of the same day has a column with a title ‘Obama’s Japan Headache’

I am sad – no, worried about a series of unsteady messages from the leaders of Japanese government. They continue to be insular minded and lack enthusiasm or energy to send out messages to the outside world. However, the fact is that the words of Prime minister or ministers even in many seemingly insignificant occasions are followed and read by the rest of the world, even when they are addressed to domestic audience. But the problem is that many abroad (or even in Japan) cannot see what Japanese policy makers are actually thinking. It is dangerous to under-evaluate the impact of the spoken words of the leaders. You cannot take back what you have said.

The problem lies not only in government. The other day, a team of guests from a well known ‘Think tank’ in Washington DC visited me and during our discussion they asked me, “Why did Keidanren close their Washington office early this year?” Does everyone in Japan know this? I imagine so. I knew it, too, but was so embarrassed in answering.

Anyway, the age of Internet is convenient but also provides you risks. Your ability, words, actions, or thoughts will be known to the world often in seconds, and be mindful it is hard to convince people abroad with reasons that work just for Japanese people. The leaders of this global age, admitting that each has their own situations and problems to face, carry very, very heavy responsibilities.

GEW-2:　The Main Event ? Global Entrepreneur

Posted on 2009/11/262014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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An event which I might call the special program of this year’s GEW was held at GRIPS on 20th.

It took place at the timing of 3 weeks before the ‘COP15’ on Ｃlimate Ｃhange in Copenhagen, new administration of Japan having announced its epoch making target of ‘cutting 25% of CO2 emission by 2020’, and 1 week after President Obama’s visit to Japan. The focus is perfectly clear if you just take a look at the program.

At first, Denmark Ambassador Mellbin to Japan opened the session with his remarkably wonderful speech ‘From Kyoto to Copenhagen ? the smart way!’ His speech manifested expectation to Japan and strong message.

After the panel hosted by Professor Seiichiro Yonekura on; ‘How to reduce CO2 emission 25%’, Dr. Gunter Pauli delivered, as always, another wonderful speech on totally new and nice industries return to the nature ecosystem, that is beyond our imagination with explanation of the theory and presentation of examples.

At lunchtime, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a message in video. Following this was a dialogue on ‘Entrepreneurship’ between the new US Ambassador to Japan, John V. Roos and Ms. Aiko Doden of NHK. After this, Deputy Prim Minister Naoto Kan talked to the audience through video.

Part of the content is reported in ‘The Japan Times’as well as on the website of US embassy in Japan at the‘news archives’ of Nov. 24.

Among the 3 sessions in the afternoonI thought that ‘The Foreign Entrepreneurs' Perspective on Japan’ was especially interesting because the audience was exposed to a variety of completely fresh and different views. As ‘The Japan Times’ reports in its article, the views of foreigners who know Japan very well but think differently must have been a sensation to many of the Japanese who participated. I have to say that most Japanese lack ability to perceive this kind of difference (Ref.1) when Japan viewed from outside, instinctively. But on the other hand this ability is the basics for the ‘diversity’ and ‘heterogeneity’ which is so highly important for innovation in this global age. Since I saw former Ozeki ‘Konishiki’ of Ozumo https://kiyoshikurokawa.com/en/wp-content/uploads/typepad/200738.pdf(in Japanese) in the audience, I made some comments in this context about my opinion ‘the Ozumo-nization of Universities (Ref.1) (in Japanese) ' (Ref. 2).

The closing speech was given by Norway Ambassador Walther to Japan by the title ‘A Rhapsody in Green’ which was again very attractive. However, to my regret, I had to leave the venue in the midst of his speech to head for Haneda to take a flight to Dubai.

By the way, a part of the programs of 16th and 20th which I have introduced to you in my columns ‘GEW-1’ and ‘GEW-2’ is scheduled to be reported on Nikkei so I will link to them then. Please look forward to it

APEC Business Summit, Dialogue with Mr. Lee Kwan Yew

Posted on 2009/11/222014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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Chaingi airport

After returning from Singapore on November 6th, I spent a busy week giving lectures and attending meetings and then rushed back to Singapore again on 12th forCEO Summit, a part of APEC, where I was invited to attend. Quite a number of companies were participating. As you may see on the web, the program was very nicely organized; there were many speeches and panels by the political leaders of the participating countries. Of course, the official meetings by the government of each member country are scheduled separately. It was a pity the President Obama’s arrival had to be delayed, affecting a number of events. Videos of lectures and summaries (Ref.1) are available for your reference.

The theme inevitably was focused on current economy status and the policies crafted by each government focusing on the region covered by APEC. Each leader delivered strong message (how do you evaluate them after hearing and watching the videos?) but I would say that Thai, Malaysia, and Korea were among the most impressive. Of course the words of Mr. Hu Jintao naturally had strong impact since China is the “engine” country that drives today’s world economy. Prime Minister Hatoyama also sent out firm words in the ending of the two day conference. Japan will host the next APEC conference in 2010, followed by the United States in 2011. I expect everyone in charge of our government to develop, for the coming months, a clear vision of transformation of “Japan in global age” showing high the flag of CHANGE, build a truly good agenda, and carry them out to 2011.

PM Hatoyama giving speech

Among the panels, the one on Sovereign Wealth Fund was impressive (Norway is the 2nd in the world in size and their investment selection has high reputation because of their criteria that focus on how much clean and green the companies are and to become). Secretary of Commerce of the U.S. was also very good. Although it was a great chance for Japanese industries to demonstrate their vitality I regret to say that I saw only few executives from Japanese companies , thus their presence was weak. However, Mr. Mikitani of Rakuten talked in a good high spirit at a panel. Enjoy visiting the sites of this meeting.

I would definitely say that the most moving event during these two days was the last panel on 13th, a Dialogue with former Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kwan Yew (he currently holds the title of Minister Mentor). Mr. Lee is now 86 years old, but briliant and just awesome. His thoughts, understanding and insight of world affairs today, perspective about the future is overwhelmingly impressive. I was very much moved just like others who were there. Ten days earlier, he had a meeting with President Obama at the White House. The moderator touched on this upon introducing Honorable Lee, and from then on everything was dialogue. Mr. Lee’s response to the questions from audience was also impressively outstanding. I met with many high officials of Singapore including a few ministers, all having worked with Mr. Lee Kwan Yew, and when asked everybody replied with a feeling of affection and respect saying “A person like Minister Mentor is very rare even in this whole wide world”. A young Japanese entrepreneur CEO whom I met at the venue told to me ‘I was so moved I had goose flesh !.’

When a nation has a great leader we know it. Such a nation nurtures great number of leaders. This is true not only in the field of politics but also in universities, industries, and government offices. In current Japanese society, it is important that everybody (especially those who are in high positions) reflect their own responsibilities of the posts and think objectively and rationally whether their performances are truly deserve the posts. You should not come up with any ‘excuses for being unable to do’. The core issue is what to do and act upon it in this rapidly changing global age.

I am truly grateful to the government of Singapore for inviting me to such a wonderful conference.

STS Forum, Science and Technology Ministers’ Meeting, Session with Young Scientists

Posted on 2009/10/102014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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STS Forum （Science and Technology in Society Forum） was held in Kyoto. I have been involved in this Forum since its start. It is a daring attempt to bring together people in politics, business, science and other fields from all over the world to discuss about issues we all share in common.

My role was to give a keynote lecture at the Science and Technology Ministers’ Meeting (Photos 1-4) with Dr. Philip Campbell, Chief Editor of ‘Nature’. Ministers from 24 countries (9 from Africa) participated The meeting was chaired by Mr. Keisuke Tsumura, Science and Technology Vice-Minister and a young and bright legislator iand one of future leaders of the Democratic Party of Japan. After our keynote lectures, ministers at the audience talked actively about the policies and issues of their home countries.

1 2

3 4

Photos 1-4 With participants

On the 2nd day, I co-chaired the session of ‘Proposals from Young Scientists’with my old friend Prof ohamed Hassan, Executive Director of TWAS and other places. It was a long session of 2 hours or so, where 8 young scientists introduced themselves and split to 4 tables of 8-10 guests and had 1 hour discussion. In the end, each table presented summary and recommendations based on what they discussed. The summary of the session is available, too. Some people teased me and said that I belonged to the young people.

Photo 5: With Young Scientists at the Forum. Front row, at the center is myself, Mr. Ono of JSPS, the sponsor institution of this Forum, and Professor Hassan.

Mr. Ellis Rubinstein, President and CEO of NYAS told me that he would participate at some point of the meeting, but he was unable to make it because of some other responsibility. For NYAS, I serve as an advisory council member of ‘Scientists Without Borders’ .

Communication with students, a new friend through blogs, an encounter from the past

Posted on 2009/10/092014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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It is always a pleasure to see and talk with students. The day after my return from Paris, October 4th, I went to Osaka.

Professor Kurachi, an old friend of mine and director of the Division of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology at Osaka University, took initiatives in organizing annual forum for students from 5 universities in Osaka and invited me as a speaker this year. Core message of my talk was almost the same as what I write in my blog, and I enjoyed greatly talking with the students at the reception afterwards.
It is always my impression, as I point out in every occasion, that female students are more lively and active. (Ref.1, 2) Male students standing around wouldn't easily respond even if I urged them to come and join in the conversation. There was one very outgoing male student however, and he apparently had a concrete vision on what he want to do. Why? Answer to this question is again the　‘3 speeches’, especially the ‘Last Lecture’ by Randy Pausch and in this case not the speech by Steve Jobs.
I also had the pleasure of seeing Dr. Inoue at the reception. She had written in her blog that she was looking forward to coming to my lecture. This kind of unexpected encounter is another example of the power of sending out messages in this ‘flattening’world. You experience connecting to people in an unimaginable way.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　On 5th, I went to a session of STS Forum in Kyoto with ‘Young Scientists’. This was also something very nice. I will post a separate column on this later.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　On 9th, I went to Mie University to give a lecture at its 60th anniversary. My message was focused mainly to the students, but the President and professors seem to have enjoyed it as well. There were also guests from Thai and Spain to congratulate the occasion. Students entertained audience by their brass band performance (I learned that this band is well known as a topclass among Japan college bands), chorus, and dance. Some students came up to me with my book in their hand and asked for my autograph. This made me very happy.
I met a lady in the eaudience who once had visited my house in Los Angeles when she was an elementary school student. I vaguely remembered her, but a memory came up more clearly after some time. Time flies so quickly.

I sincerely wish that each student grasp their bright future. ‘Go out and see the world, make lots of friends in this wide world ? this is the way things should be in this global age’; this was my core message. My message remains the same anywhere, anytime. Universities must open up their doors to the world. They should also mind their great responsibility in educating and nurturing young students because our future is in their hands. I made several suggestions on what they can do.

Now, a year later, what will be happening here? I will be expecting a lot from every and each one of you!

World Economic Forum Japan meeting in commemoration of the opening of Tokyo Office, then to New Dheli, Taipei, and Summer Davos in Dalian

Posted on 2009/09/112014/10/01 by kiyoshi kurokawa

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WEF annual meeting in Davos may be described as the world famous place for the so-called “Track II” dialogue by members of the global society. On the year of its 39th anniversary WEF opened Japan Office in Tokyo. I understand that the Tokyo office is the fourth office of WEF in the world. How exciting! But then, why? Might it be because of their high expectations for Japan? Then, we certainly must do our best.

On September 4th and 5th, a meeting to announce the opening of Japan office was held in Tokyo. Large number of people gathered making this meeting very lively. As the election of the Shugi-in (i.e. House of Representatives) just ended with the implication of the possibility of establishment of historical new administration, Mr. Hatoyama, the head of Democratic Party of Japan (and Davos meeting caucus) joined to deliver a reassuring message. I also participated in the panel afterwards.

In the afternoon of the opening day of this meeting I left for New Delhi. Arriving early next morning via Singapore I went straight to the meeting titled “India and Japan of Clean Energy Technology”(Ref.1, 2). The conference opened with the keynote lectures of Dr. Pachauri of IPCC (it’s been a year) and myself followed by a number of presentations from Japan introducing ecological technologies through which they seek “Win-Win” partnership of India and Japan. Ambassador Domichi also came to greet, and we had an honor of having him at the reception party in the evening.

India has a population of 10 million with expectation of annual 6-8% growth in economy for many years to come, but to my regret, Japanese business people residing in India are only 3,300 in total. Isn’t this sad? Although high potentials for establishing “Win-win” partnerships exist, we have such few Japanese doing business in India. I think this is such a waste of opportunity, as I always say. (Ref.1) Chinese and Korean industries are making quick moves into India. I did point this out clearly to people participating from Japan.

At Sotokufu, the office of governor-general of Taiwan. The bust behind us is Sun Yat-sen.

Next day, I went to Taipei to join in with my colleague at GRIPS, Dr. Sunami and others. Here again, the topic is “Japanese clean energy technologies” but it seems that the world does not know how good Japan is in this field. Japan’s existence is not prominent. Why? I discussed on this, too. In this global age, it is important to recognize your advantage or weakness about global issues and collaborate with others so that you can quickly spread into the society or the world. This “Creation of new social values.” is what the innovation of the 21st century is all about.

After Taipei, I went to Dalian via Shanghai to participate in the “New World Champions”, the so called ‘Summer Davos’ organized by WEF. It’s a bit busy travel, but this is diplomacy, making friends world wide. The first New World Champions took place in Dalian, the second in Tensin. Participants included many young business people so naturally the event was quite energetic.

From the very first day I attended 3 sessions. I was happy to hear that as many as 80 people came from Japan and was participating actively. I saw many friends from the day 1. Dr. Yoko Ishikura’s Blog also reports on this event so please take a look. Premier Wen Jiabao of the People’s Republic of China delivered a speech as in the first and second meetings. He talked about the policies China took to respond to this global economic crisis, explaining how their outcomes were, how the current status is, and sent out strong confident message that China is ready and willing to continue taking up responsibilities.

In the evening, I attended several receptions including Japan dinner hosted by Taiyokeizai no Kai.