An Invitation to a Dialogue with Yoko Ishikura

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The 16th International Conference for Women in Business will be held on Saturday July 23rd at the Grand Pacific Le Daiba. The theme of this conference is “Acting and connecting beyond borders.”

This event is the brainchild of Kaori Sasaki who is the CEO of eWoman, Inc.  Keeping in mind the need to save electricity, the doors to the conference rooms will open at 7:00 a.m. and the conference itself will start bright and early at 8:00 a.m.  There will be a networking lunch with the conference ending at 2:00 p.m.

You can take a look at the program here. The conference itself promises to be extremely thought provoking and I will be participating in the form of a dialogue with Yoko Ishikura in a session entitled “Connecting beyond borders”.  She has recently published a book entitled Global Careers (in Japanese). She has also moved over to Keio University in April and is taking on new challenges.  I anticipate that my dialogue with Professor Ishikura will be fun and lively.

Participation is not restricted to women and Japanese/English simultaneous interpretation will be provided.  I look forward to seeing you there!

You can sign up via the conference website.  However, I must say that the conference fee is just a little on the high side.

 

Kuala Lumpur – Pacific Science Congress

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I had the honor of being appointed eight years ago to the Presidency of the Pacific Science Association (PSA) and we held the 2007 Pacific Science Congress in Okinawa and then the 2009 Inter-Congress in Tahiti (Ref 1, 2, 3).  I have already, as you may know, talked about these gatherings on this site.

The Pacific Science Congress also has a committee within the Japan Science Council and belongs to the International Council of Science (ICSU).  This organization has a long and illustrious history of 98 years.

The Congress was held this year in Kuala Lumpur from June 14th to June 17th, and as the Immediate Past-President, I was invited to give a Keynote address.  I departed on the 13th for Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia is a country that is vibrant and growing and it is pouring its energies into policies designed to promote education along with scientific and technological innovation.  Many local researchers who receive backing from the government were in attendance at the conference making for a really excellent gathering.

The title of my Keynote address was “Age of Uncertainty: Have We Become Wiser?” and my objective was to be as stimulating and thought provoking as possible.  Of course, many in the audience also expressed their support, concern and condolences regarding the recent tsunami and the subsequent events in Fukushima.

Everyone present seemed to find my address interesting and it prompted numerous questions from the audience.  The next day I even sat down for a live TV interview that lasted approximately 25 minutes. I was pleased to find out that Greg-san from Nagasaki University observed on his blog that the spirt in the room during my address heightened.

The Japan Science Council’s Hatai Medal was awarded this year to Professor Katsumi Tsukamoto (Ref. 1) for his research on the origin and migration of Pacific eels.  Professor Tsukamoto picked up his award in the company of his wife and I want to offer him my heartfelt congratulations on receiving this honor. 

I also was able to meet up with Dr. Robert Underwood (left photo below) who is the President of the University of Guam and had served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 to 2003.  He talked about the far-flung Pacific Islands including the problems they grapple with in the areas of education and health care as well as their unique relationship with the United States from an extremely interesting perspective. He extended an invitation to me to visit Guam and I think that I would like to take him up on his offer sometime within the next year.  The Congress was an overall enjoyable experience which allowed me to see many old friends, make some new ones and meet young up-and-coming researchers.

With underwood Group photo 

I have previously talked about the Global Science and Innovation Advisory Council (GSIAC) which operates under the Malaysian Prime Minister, and I also had the opportunity to meet for around an hour with Dr. Zakri, who is the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor, and his staff. The members were truly an impressive lot and I was honored to be able to participate in this confab.

The next Inter-Congress meeting is scheduled to be held two years from now at the University of the South Pacific (Fiji).  How about joining us then??

 

 

Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Government Visits GRIPS

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I have written several times here(in Japanese)(Ref.1)on the Chief Science Advisors to the UK Government.  As the representatives of the scientists of the United Kingdom, they are well trusted by the science community and have great responsibilities to the government in giving advices in their policy makings.  

This post is currently served by Sir John Beddington from three years ago, if I remember correctly.  He is a wonderful person.  I happen to be especially close to his predecessors Sir David King, and Robert May (later the President of the Royal Society, Lord May of Oxford); we trust each other and get along quite well.

This is one of the most highly respected positions in the British Government　(Ref.1) (both links are in Japanese), and therefore a person is carefully and well selected to assume the responsibility.  This background is observed clearly in the healthy relations between the science community and legislators – particularly the Prime Minister (although the distance varies depending on the Prime Minister of the time.  Tony Blair, for example, is said to have been quite eager and used to have discussions with the Chief Scientific Adviser almost weekly… I think that, in the end, it is a matter of the level of insights of the top of the administration how they use these wonderful advisors….)

Taking the opportunity of Sir Beddington’s visit to Japan, GRIPS invited him to give a lecture and a panel, and the event was moderated by Mr. Akira Ikegami, a well known journalist/TV broadcaster. The main topic was “3.11 and Fukushima”.  It was a quite nice conference, with lots of participants, good Q&As from the audience and twitter.

I was invited to ask first question to Sir Beddington after his speech.  Its video record is uploaded on Youtube (part 1)(part 2) and summary document is available at these links (Ref.1 in Japanese) (Ref.2 in English) .

His presentation was very clear and good.  I understood very well that he was speaking with full sensitivity to political issues and process.  I hope you will learn a lot from his lecture on how to communicate/work with governments.  On the other hand, I think it would be interesting also to imagine what Japanese people in such a position would say or act if they were in a similar circumstance.

My question appears right in the end of Dr. Beddington’s presentation (I urge you to listen to this…), after a comment by Mr. Ikegami, the host.

Fukushima is a global issue and the lecture was given at the timing when we were waiting for the results of the investigations by the IAEA. 

Good questions were raised from the floor, too.

 

Drs Iiyoshi and Ishikura of the Open Education

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The weather was beautiful on May 31st, and from 8am, I gave a speech to a group of young legislators of Democratic Party and Liberal Democratic Party focusing on the 3.11 disaster under the title “What’s Now, a Step to Take” (Ref.1). The meeting was held at a conference room of the Office building of the House of Representatives (Syugiin Kaikan).  We had a good discussion, but on the other hand, since there was an imminemt issue of non-confidence motion of Prime Minister Kan, I felt uneasiness in the air.

I am deeply concerned about the state of our nation and wish to do whatever I can.
 
From 10 am, I ran a meeting at Ministry of Health, and I arrived late at a meeting over lunch with Drs Yoko Ishikuara (photo is here also) and Toru Iiyoshi (Ref.1) on the role of Open Education in Japan and the trend of education in the world.  Our table was outdoors, faced a cozy garden, with bright sunshine, so we very much enjoyed passing of the time.  I felt urge to start a new project, a new move.  I hear that Dr Ishikura is starting her new work aggressively at Keio University.

Then, I went on to join in a board meeting of an educational institution which I am part of.  The relations between education reform and conventional power is difficult anywhere.

In the evening, after a brief stop at my home, I headed to Haneda to take a flight to Paris that will take off shortly after midnight.  By coincidence, Mr. Tsuchiya, who takes charge of Japan program at the Davos meeting, was on the same flight.  We are both visiting the headquarter of the World Economic Forum in Geneva.

It was a busy day, but with the help of the nice lunch time with Ishikura-san and Iiyoshi-san, I managed to take off in a good spirit, boarding on the night flight to Paris departing at 0:35 am, June 1st.

 

TEDｘTokyo 2011

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We began TEDｘTokyo in 2009 (Ref.1).  This year is their 3rd year.

I reported to you several times also about TED, its home organization (Ref.1, 2, 3 ), here in this site.

This year, however, we quickly changed the theme to respond to the ‘3.11’ disasters.  And it turned out to be a wonderful gathering.

Participants seemed to enjoy the event very much, and I felt that the expectations for the future Japan gradually fermented.

Programs are posted on the web  (for example, search by the key word ‘TEDxTokyo2011’ in the here…)

People have different likings and what you like may be different from mine, but personally, I enjoyed for example;

Black A Yo Yo
Dr Ueno
Gunter Pauli
Kathy Matsui
just to mention a few…

I urge you to visit the site and have fun.

Todd and Patrick were the producer and organizer of this event.  More than 100 wonderful volunteers helped.

Thanks to every and each one of you for your support.

 

 

 

First Step Towards Structuring New Japan

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 ‘3.11’ disaster attracted global attentions not only by its huge impact but also by the importance Fukushima has in the world.

However, this attention lasted just for the initial 1 to 2 weeks.  Japan has exposed its strength and weakness clearly to the world, as I have pointed out for several times in this web site (Ref.1, 2, 3 )   
or in other media such as newspapers (in Japanese) (Ref.1)

News coverage of Japan is altogether minor in international media.  If you follow the world news, it is perfectly clear that any comment by Japanese government is taken as nothing but excuses.; that is to say the credibility and trust of Japanese government have fallen.

Then, how can we recover the international credibility of Japan?  This is the keypoint.  As far as browsing through the domestic news coverage, I could hardly find any opinions or comments by the Japanese ‘leaders’ on this issue.

At a time like this, when the nation is at the brink of losing its trust, it is good to learn lessons from the past.  However, that being said, the point is how much the leaders have profound insights, are capable of making good judgments, know what they must do.  Self-centered ‘pride’ means nothing here.
The one and only thing that matters is how much you care about the people (of Japan).  It goes not just for the government but also for the major business enterprises like TEPCO.

This means, in case of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, that the government or the Diet must launch an ’International’ task force that is completely ‘independent’ from the government. I can assure you that unless this is done, the world’s trust in Japan will never even start to recover.

Such idea/reasoning is also presented in the document which the Natural Resources Defense Council submitted to President Obama dated March 25th.

Also, unfavorable rumors or misinformation about agricultural produce or industrial products, thus harming credibility of Japan, are difficult to tone down unless the steps I described above do not materialize. There are lots of lessons to be learned from the process of recovery of the reputation of British Government that took more than 20 years when the BSE started in 1886. 

What we need is a special committee that is ‘independent’ and ‘outside’ (i.e. internationally trustable) of the government.  Equally necessary is a quick and total information disclosure.  This again, is very unsatisfactory at this stage.  Transparency is the foundation of trust and credibility.

Recently, I had an opportunity to present this idea using this figure at a meeting (open to media) organized by legislators of the Democratic Party of Japan.  I learned that many members of the Diet share this idea with me (in Japanese).

Mind you, the whole world is watching.  They are questioning whether Japan has no intention of turning the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster to lessons to share with the rest of the world.

 

Golden Week is Over, Now to Washington DC and St Gallen

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My Golden Week, I must say, was no holidays at all, packed with meetings with people even on Sunday, the 8th.

Next morning on Monday, the 9th, I left home early in the morning to take a flight from Narita to Washington DC, had meetings with various people in the afternoon right after the arrival, and then went on to the reception in the evening.  Quite busy, at least I wish I had a bit more of free time.  What keeps me going on is the notion that it is important to do such activities for Japan, especially in this circumstance.  I am, in a way, working as a sort of ‘Permanent Global Part Timer (permanent part timer’ (‘freeter’ in Japanese) is a popular word in Japan which refers to a person who takes a succession of casual jobs in preference to steady full).

On 10th, the 2nd day at Washington DC, I was at the Brain-storming of a think tank on Ageing and Health, where I also gave a presentation of 30 minutes or so.  Right after the meeting, I rushed to the airport to fly to Zurich via London.  My visit to Zurich is for the St Gallen Symposium (in Japanese)　(Ref 1).

To see the forecast of good weather seems to be the only pleasure I have at hand.  My trip this time is so packed with schedule.

Our Collaboration with Project Hope Continues

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Click here for the photos of the disaster stricken area the doctors visited

I reported to you in my recent posting that our HGPI (Health and Global Policy Institute) and Impact Japan have been collaborating in a project with Project Hope since ‘3.11’.

 

Two teams joined us already and had been to the stricken zones of Sanriku several times.  Dr. Shimabukuro returned to Japan again (but then went back to UCLA right after…) to join for the second visit.  Several other Japanese doctors working in the U.S. are also participating in our Project Hope team.  They all are a great help.

 

At the breakfast meeting of HGPI, consisting mainly of the member companies, I  quickly reported how this project is going on.  Then, Drs Frederic Gerber and Darrel Porr introduced the background of the Project Hope, followed by an explanation of some of their activities of this joint project.

I closed the meeting with a brief comment on the basic ideas  on how to make plans for the health care in future.
 
The meeting was very well received by the participants.  Given the situation of the disaster hit area, we think this project will continue for quite a long period of time and therefore are planning another breakfast meeting for larger audience, and ask the members of this Project to give briefing sessions in the future..

 

Drs Garber and Porr left Tokyo off to Iwate Prefecture immediately after our breakfast meeting.

 

Then, 4 days after their return to Tokyo, we had another De-briefing.  This time, they met the governor of Iwate Prefecture, with an extensive discussions sessionwith the administration of Iwate Prefecture. Drs Hayashi (in Japanese), Kaku (in Japanese), and Yoshida also participated in this De-briefing.  I became acquainted with these three doctors at the PCAT who joined our re-briefing session, and George who just arrived Tokyo from Project Hope to join us.

Dr. Gerber told me that he was leaving for South Africa the next day to participate in the inauguration of planning of Nelson Mandela Children Hospital  (Project Hope is playing a leading role here, too).
Dr Hayashi is working in international settings (in Japanese) including MSF (in Japanese), Dr Kaku (in Japanese) is working in Haiti and other places, Dr Yoshida is currently working at Harvard School of Public Health and also is a mother to 4 children.

 

They are all working, thus thinking, globally, so their conversation resonated very well. Good Thing.

 

 

TED -5: Who Decides the Sites that Appear On the List After the Search? The Potentials of iPad Books

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Aren’t the titles attractive?  Both are very TED.  They are from the presentations I enjoyed this year.

One is about the sites that are displayed on the list when you make a search on Google.  What sites will be displayed?  What problems exist there?

This question is relevant to the ongoing media coverage or public relations of Japan on the great Tsunami disaster and Fukushima nuclear power plant problems.  It is a 9 minutes presentation by Eli Pariser

Another is about a book.  What sort of books could be created by using iPad?  It is a 4 minutes presentation by Mike Mata.

Enjoy!

 

Science and Technology Policies in the Mid East: Lecture at The Middle East Research Institute of Japan

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There is a membership organization by the name of The Middle East Research Institute of Japan (MEIJ).  The Chair is Mr. Mikio Sasaki, former chairman of the board of Mitsubishi Corporation, and the President is HE Tatsuo Arima  (in Japanese), former Special Representative of the Government of Japan who had done a significant job for many years.

I was invited to give a lecture at its breakfast meeting on current status of higher education and science and technology policy in the Middle East.

MEIJ supported the Japan Arab Economic Forum held in Tunis last December, and I was invited there also.

Most of the members are from business sector, so I thought that my contribution on this theme would be somewhat limited, but I tried to speak as open mindedly and straightforwardly as possible based on my personal experience.

I assume that you already know from my postings on this web site about my activities in the Mid East/Islam such as Egypt, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, or Qatar (please search within this site by these key words..)  I focused my lecture on those activities, their relations with Japan, the revolution that took place one week after my departure from Tunis, and issues between the Mid East and Japan in coming years, particularly after the revolution.

I always appreciate such opportunities, since I learn a lot from exchanging open and straightforward views with people that are in very different areas than myself.

I would be more than happy if I could have other such opportunities.