Kiyoshi Kurokawa's blog （en）

'SURVIVAL', a new TV series on global health by BBC

The British Embassy hosted a panel session and reception to introduce BBC program 'SURVIVAL'  focusing on global health.  This is a set of eight (8) one hour documentaries on eight major global health issues, which include malaria, maternal health, child survival, HIV/tuberculosis, sleeping sickness.  The program will be on air in October thru November.  It is planned to produce a 50 minutes program edited from the set of these 8 series, which will become open to public access.  The objective is to raise the public awareness on global health.  This is a collaborative project with Imperial College, Rockhopper and BBC supported by the Gates Foundation.

The evening began with a welcome opening speech by Ambassador Warren followed by 10-15 min each of 4 films.  I participated the panel moderated by Ms. Doden of NHK, a well known TV caster, with 3 women, each representing corporate (Ms. Chino of Itochu), NGO (Ms. Aoki of SHARE) and university (Prof. Ohnishi of Nagasaki University), and two 'senior' men (Mr. Tadashi Yamamoto of JCIE and myself) as panelists, seemingly an unusual 4:2 gender balance in Japan.  I enjoyed the film show and the panel very much.

In the reception, two remarkable young man and woman showed up and told their own stories on Africa.  Power of Bicycle!

A man is Kohei Yamada, worked in Mali, Africa, as a member of JICA; he wrote a song 'Love You' in a local language a message to his friend who died of AIDS, which became number one hit in the chart.  In the reception he sang this song in local language with an African percussionist.  He continues his work on HIV/AIDS and Africa.  Visit his web site.

A woman is Mio Yamazaki, told her story with her slides of bicycling sub-Saharan Africa; while in College, she bicycled 6,000km around Japan, another 5,000km Africa.  What's a girl she is!  She published a book on her African bicycle tour, organized NGO 'Cow-Way' for 'social change by cycling'.

The youth power!  That's what we need much more in Japan for CHANGE!

The evening was full of enthusiasm with a recognition of and sense of engagement to global health.  Thank you all for joining the evening and for the Ambassador Warren and the British Embassy to host this event.

Crans Montana, Swiss

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Crans Montana is a beautiful small town in a valley two hours drive from Geneva.  Here, I came on September 10th, from London to participate World Knowledge Dialogue.  This was its second, the first was in 2006 in the same town as you see in my earlier (sorry, but only in Japanese, but many pictures), and indeed, my third time to Swiss this year, Davos in January, and St. Gallen in May.

The meeting was for four days and this time I was honored to meet with Prof. Edward O Wilson of Harvard University, one of the most respected scholars of our time, who wrote many epoch-making, sometime controversial books such as 'Sociobiology', 'On Human Nature', 'The Ants' with the latter two received the Pulitzer award.  He is a cheerful and admirable person and we share a good time together over his thoughts including 'fairy fly'.  By the way, you could see his lectures at Harvard on the web, too.

It was very good that quite a number from Japan including Prof. Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, participated and our contributions were thought significant.

The details of the program can be seen thru its websites for 2006 (I appear at a panel) and for 2008.  And you see many pictures and if you find me, let me know.

This year, I appeared in Day 1 at the Opening with Dame Julia Higgins (we know each other well since her days as Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society), and as Chair of the entire Day 4, thus you could see my commentaries and interactions through the webcasts.  In particular, the Day 4 is tough, the number of participants are less, everyone getting tired, some have to leave before the end, etc, thus I tried to make the entire session more interesting but casual.  I thought it went well and stayed on time and in fact ended 9 minutes earlier than the schedule.  Enjoy the website and webcasts.

I really enjoyed the conference itself and meeting with many interesting people, old and new friends.  Nonetheless, the format required as we discussed, certain strategic goals, participatory processes, and some outreach deliverables and actions.

There is a great champion golf course here and the Omega European Masters was played one week earlier.  I managed to play a round of 18 holes starting 7am finishing 10am.  I enjoyed it very, very much.

In the afternoon of Day 4, we moved to Geneva, visited some historical sites.  One was University of Geneva campus where John Calvin founded in 1559; he was the one who converted the city to Catholic to Protestant community in mid-16th century, and we wondered in front of a large Reformation Wall of Calvin and other three (see at 'Reformed Geneva' at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Calvin).

This visit gave me quite a moving feeling since in the Opening speech I mentioned on 'Incunabula' and commented Internet is the incunabula of today, that is to lead an unexpected consequence which may change the world. In fact, I said to the audience, because of incunabula of printed Bibles since Gutenberg of mid-15th century to year 1501, the religious revolution ensued almost 100 years later.  This message has been my recurring theme of some of my keynote speeches of 'flattening and connected world' as you may see in my blogs (refer 1 , 2 , 3 ) and elsewhere.

By a mere co-incidence, I was just standing there in front of such a consequence of major magnitude by John Calvin.

Again from “Asian Youth Exchange Program”, High Motivation and Power of Japanese Women

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Recently, I have talked about "L'Oreal and women in science", and "Asian Youth Exchange Program", which started in Okinawa.

In the column of "L’Oreal and women in science", I wrote how Japanese women players came out demonstratively different than Japanese men in the sports activities such as softball, baseball, soccer, Judo and wrestling in Beijing Olympics.

"Asian Youth Exchange program" is an excellent policy planned and newly started by the Former Prime Minister Mr. Abe and cabinet minister Ms. Takaichi as part of "Innovation 25" policy which I was also involved.  It would be nice if it expands and gets carried over nationwide.  The funds for this program do not necessarily have to be the public funds but can be collected through different schemes such as tax systems.  I hope that the schools, local communities and enterprises will make spontaneous contributions and participate actively.  That is  what I call "Society Innovation" and "Talent Innovation".

By the way, you can see various photos at http://flickr.com/.  Have fun! Thanks to Mr. Ivannanto, an international student from Indonesia who had participated from Asia Pacific University, for creating this site.

As I was searching the data of this "Asian Youth Exchange Program", I realized that out of the 30 participants from overseas, there were 15 men participants and 15 women participants.  Of the 45 persons who participated from Japan, there were 30 women and 15 men.  Oh!, I thought, and when I inquired about the number of applications to the secretariat, the number of applications from women was overwhelmingly more and as a result the female participants were having higher competitive rate. The points related to the qualification, considering the competency to some extent, are written on the application form but still the motivations towards the participation is fairly different.  Isn't it?  Why is it so?

I am expressing my opinions in this blogs frequently but please think about it.

Brilliant Female Researchers with Red Roses

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As I had introduced before, the well-known cosmetics company, L'Oreal, presides over a program called "For Women in Science" (As this website is very pretty, browse it) in collaboration with the UNESCO and appeals its existence to the world.  This year the program has celebrated its 10th anniversary at Paris in the spring.  The prizewinners until now were invited and Congratulatory meeting was held.

3 years ago, Japan has also launched a program to award young female researchers living in Japan.  I attended the commending ceremony and congratulatory party last year.  Also this year, wonderful people were commended and their family members, teachers and fellow researchers attended the ceremony.  It was a very splendid gathering and I was glad to see it.

4 brilliant people were selected for this year. We shared a cheerful, pleasent time together.

A women's magazine, Marie Claire, has also participated in this activity and presented red roses (Photo) to all the winners.  I met Dr. Noriko Osumi, whom I worked with 2 days ago in Okinawa and her mother who is also a famous scientist.

Photo Ms. Bando and 4 winners

Ms. Bando, a chief of gender equality bureau of cabinet office, mentioning that percentage of female scientist in Japan is the lowest among OECD countries, encouraged the audience for further effort.  I was responsible to propose a toast and spoke on various topics like, though, Gender Development Index of woman in Japan is within top 10 in the world, Gender Empowerment Index of woman is as low as about 40th in 70 countries in the world.  This difference is due to the male oriented society which is not competency based.  There may be some hint is understanding the basic difference between male and female in Japan in what we saw of (male) baseball and (female) softball at this year's Beijing Olympic, in that sense soccer, wrestling and judo, etc. as well. Please think about it.  I think actually here lies the problems of Japanese society.

I would like to express my appreciation to all the winners, family members, fellow researchers, people involved in the selections and all related people for their hard work.

At any rate, we can see a strategy of a world class enterprises when such prizes are awarded.  Each winner, over a period of years, will act as an ambassador of L'Oreal and will fulfill wonderful duty of moving the mind of men and catching the hearts of women in the world and act as advertising tower of the sponsor enterprise.  I think there is no such a splendid and beautiful advertising media as this.  I expect Japanese enterprises to think more strongly about social contribution from this viewpoint.  This is what social responsibility (CSR) of the enterprises is all about.

Medical students from Asia: Cheers for young people and 3 speeches

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There is a gathering of medical students from Asia known as AMSC (Asian Medical Students Conference).  This conference is held annually, and I was invited for the last 3 years.  I enjoy this event every time.  I like to be a part of such conference of youth organizations since they are pillars of the future human resource.  This was the 29th year and the conference was held at Tokyo.  I talked in the closing ceremony.  I heared that about 400 students have participated.  The point of my speech was the tremendous change that had occurred in these 29 years and about the globalization era.  I also talked about on "3 speeches."

The 3 speeches were, the speech given by Steve Jobs at commencement ceremony of Stanford University in the year 2005 (I told the students that "I hope and look forward that this 1 week conference become a "dot" of your career."),  speech given by Bill Gates at commencement ceremony of Harvard University in 2007 (It was about recognition of and consciousness for "Inequality" in the world and society.) and the "Last Lecture" of Randy Pausch at Carnegie Mellon University (About the childhood "Dream."  Even if you face many problems, do not forget that you all had a "Dream" to become doctors.  Refer 1, 2 ).

You can have a look at these speeches on YouTube.  Each one of them is a wonderful speech.  The "Last Lecture" of Professor Pausch became a book and Japanese translation was published just a few days ago.

It must have been a lot of work for staff students who organized this conference.  It was really a wonderful conference.

MBA students in pharma-business from Philadelphia

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Philadelphia is my American home-town where I started my professional career in US at the University of Pennsylvania.

The University of Science in Philadelphia is unique and it offers various programs focusing on pharmaceutical and pharmacy sciences and businesses: it also offers courses for MBA program in this area.  The MBA program offers students a summer course to visit Japan and this year it includes a visit to GRIPS where I am a member of faculty.  I hosted a seminar taking an interactive dialogue style posing a wide range of subjects relevant to these future professionals in healthcare and global health issues.

Photos  Group photo and the session at GRIPS

As I did for Harvard students of School of Public Health, I began asking them how many know and watched on the web of the commencement speeches of Steve Jobs at Stanford in 2005 and of Bill Gates at Harvard in 2006.  The background of about 10 students was quite diverse, which made the session a very interesting and rich.  I enjoyed very much the exchange.

G8 Science Ministers' Meeting in Okinawa

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On June 15th, Science and Technology Ministers' meeting was held for the first time in G8 summit history, in Okinawa.  The host was Minister, Mr. Kishida.

The informal G8+5 Science Advisors' Conference was held on June 13th and 14th and the main topic was "Brain Circulation."  This is the extended version of Erasmus program of EU.  There is awareness that for the challenges of coming global era, it is necessary to develop mutual understanding between the young people who are the pillars of the country's future.

Photo 1  Dr. Nina Fedoroff, science adviser of U.S. Department of State

Photo 2　Dr. Wan, Minister of Science and Technology, China

Everyone is aware that short-term mutual exchange program of 1 year or so is necessary in the universities, graduate schools or at even younger ages.  This is especially an important issue for Japan.  I have repeatedly mentioned in the blog, that I think the biggest problem is that Universities in Japan are isolated even in this era, and young people are not aiming for overseas opportunities.  Also the number of Japanese student studying abroad is decreasing.

On 14th, after a presentation related to clean energy by Dr. Steveｎ Chu from The Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST)  in the evening, there was a reception ceremony by Mr. Nakaima, a governor of Okinawa, and arrival of Minister Mr. Kishida.

Photo 3　With Minister Mr. Kishida and Dr. Baughman (OIST)

Photo 4　Show in reception

TICAD4 Yokohama and Asahi newspaper chief editor Bono

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A large number of achievements were released from Japan at TICAD4, held in Yokohama, I can say.  Having heads from 40 countries in Africa to the conference, the Prime Minister Fukuda met and talked personally with them almost every day.  In addition, he talked with Dr. Bono as well as Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, UN Secretary-general Adviser.  Japanese Government certainly worked hard and did a good job. I feel that the Prime Minister strengthened his recognition of the importance of the activities of NGO.

Photo 1  From left, with my staff members Hara kun and Ms. Sugiyama, Dr. Pablos-Mendes at the TICAD Conference

I also attended the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize ceremony and lectures of the prizewinners at the United Nations University on the next day, participated in the panel of "Action Wave" organizer Mr. Koji Omi, with the President of Rwanda and Professor Juma of Harvard University.  Since I had just received the photograph of a lecture by Mr. Ito Ken of Tokyo University in Rwanda, I was inspired to start this panel with his story.  Here also, many Japanese young people are working hard.

Photo 2  Dr. Ito teaching at Rwanda

In the excellent project of "one day chief editor" of Asahi Newspaper, Dr. Bono edited the newspaper of May 31, and discussed various topics such as Africa and TICAD and it was sparklingly different from regular newspaper.  In addition, he wrote about Africa support program budget of Japan that was announced at TICAD.

Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize

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The inaugural ceremony of "Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize" was held in the evening of May 28th, the first day of TICAD 4, in the presence of Emperor and Empress.

Dr. Greenwood and Dr. Were, the winners of the award, are great people who have embodied the spirit of Hideyo Noguchi.  They are both very modest and friendly.  Such a great work performed by husbands and wives, supporting and helping each other in Africa for a period of more than 30 years is very respectable.  As a selection committee chairman, I am happy from the bottom of my heart that we are able to present to the world with great pride this excellent selection result.

Photograph 1

The head of states and chief of government of more than 40 countries from Africa have participated in this celemony and it was really a refreshing and pleasant reception that reflected the personality of both of them.

Photograph 2

Photograph 3

Photograph 4

Photograph 5

Photograph 6

Former Prime Minister Mr. Koizumi, as a founder of this award, greeted everyone and said, "It seems that, today the spirit of Dr. Noguchi has come down over all the people in this assembly hall."  We came to know afterwards that this was an improvisation and was not in the original draft.  It's a good expression, isn't it?  There really was that sort of an atmosphere in the entire assembly hall.

Next day in the afternoon, Dr. Greenwood and Dr. Were both gave speech at the United Nations University at Aoyama.  Ms. Doden of NHK led panel of three (myself and the two) which was also good.  After that, they went to visit Inawashiro, the birthplace of Hideyo Noguchi.  There was a grand welcome in Inawashiro.  Details are written in the Blog of Mr. Kanke, Mayor of Aizu Wakamatsu city (29th May, 30th May).  I imagine that they learned something new about Hideyo Noguchi at the actual place of his upbringing.  The winners and their family enjoyed the visit, I hear.  For a moment, I felt much closer to Africa again.

From St. Gallen

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Mt. Santis （2503m）located in south of St. Gallen

As you can see in my earlier column, I participated last year, and also this year at the St. Gallen Symposium.  It is a project started by the students of St. Gallen 38 years ago, and even today the planning and administration is performed by the students.  Isn't it wonderful?  About 200 students around the world and 400 persons (mostly from Europe) from various fields such as business, participateed.  For the first time in its history, 20 students are participating from Japan this year and they were selected from nearly 500% of competitive ratio.  They are not just Japanese students, 50% of them are international students.  The selection was performed by reviewing English thesis.

This year's topic is "Global Capitalism - Local Values."  It is a very timely theme, isn't it?  The opening session started with the wonderful opening addresses of President Pascal Couchepin of Swiss and President Dr. Heinz Fischer of Austria.

Besides the regular members, this year, Mr. Yoshimasa Hayashi, a Diet member, participated in plenary of day one and Dr. Yoko Ishikura of Hitotsubashi University participated as a faculty and took lead in the workshop on the same day.

Photo1 Lord Griffiths (on the right), Martin Wolf of Financial Times (on the left).

Photo2 with the students participating from Japan.  Mr. Suzuki (Credit Swiss Japan president, 3rd from the left) and Dr. Ishikura (right end).

Photo3 with Mr. Suzuki, Mr.Hara, my staff member (left end), Mr. Philipp Kuhn-Regnier of St. Gallen (right end).

I attended the workshop on the second day.  Last year, when I participated in the first Plenary Panel, the speech and message I delivered to the students were very good (said Lord Griffiths of England), so this year they planned that I should act as a commentator, hosted by Mr. Peter Day of BBC, and comment to a South American student honored in the essay contest, Rhodes Scholar Mr. Cillier (will pursue studies in Oxford University from September), and Mr. Klaassen, student of St. Gallen who wrote contradicting opinions to the views of the former two.  The topic is "Global Capitalism and Local Cultures of Innovation."  It was fantastic.  Please look on the conference site.

Photo4 with Mr. Hara and Mr. Philip.

Photo5 with Mr. Y.C. Deveshwar, a wonderful Social entrepreneur and Entrepreneur.

Photo6 with Mr. Owada, Ambassador Abe, Mr. Akashi, Energetic student Ms. Imai.

Photo7 with Mr. Cillier, Mr. Klaassen, Mr. Bay of the Panel.

The reception was held in the evening of 14th.  On 15th, we went a dinner at Der Gupf, the same restaurant I came last year (this restaurant is known for its wine collection and wine cellar). It is a place that offers a view of Lake Bodensee and I was able to take a look at the surrounding scenery for the first time, since weather was good this year.

Photo8 with Dr. Ishikura in Gupf.

Photo9 with Mr. and Ms. Owada, Mr. Akashi, Ambassador Abe.

Higher Education in the Global era-Hitotsubashi Business School

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As reported before, the first half of the Golden Week passed restlessly as always.

On the 6th, the Ambassador of Finland and I participated in Prof. Yoko Ishikura's class on "competitiveness" held at Hitotsubashi University business school.  In the beginning, Prof. Ishikura raised the key important issues and then we discussed the issues.  The students were raising their hands and expressing their views enthusiastically.  They were expressing their own variant opinions and it was really a constructive and good time.

All lectures here are in English and around 70% of students are from overseas.  The faculties can view typical businesses in the world through the internet, by using "Harvard Business School" as a hub and the evaluations of the faculties are also done in common way.  Given such open evaluation, it would be hard for the faculties but they can be motivated by referring to the lectures conducted by many faculties all over the world.  Though challenging for the faculties they have no reasons to complain.  It's true, this is the scary part in the internet era, but it is also a pleasure to compete with global standards.  Are there any such universities elsewhere?  If not this way, universities in Japan cannot gather brilliant youngsters from all over the world since information is shared by everybody in this "flat" era.  University faculties, I beg you all earnestly to work hard.

After the class, we spent time on lounge, enjoying wine happily and talking with the students of various countries, such as India, US, Bangladesh, Russia, Myanmar, Poland, Uzbekistan, Thailand, and Vietnam etc..  I wish to express my gratitude for the wonderful hospitality.

An article with full of suggestions and a recent comment by Prof. Ishikura about the ideal way and the evaluation of the higher education in the global age is available on her blog.  Chairman of the institute, Mr. Takeuchi Hirotaka, his policy is very strict from the beginning, however it's really remarkable.

By the way, a follow-up on this is available(in Japanese) in Prof. Ishikura's blog.  Please go through it.

ACP Japan Chapter annual meeting

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As introduced number of times in this blog, American College of Physicians (ACP) has branch office in Japan and is supported by Japanese Society of Internal Medicine.  It is the first branch outside the American Continent, working on the mission to bring up proper physicians in the global era
Professor David Dale (University of Washington, Seattle), President from the headquarters visited to Japan with his wife this year also and we had a delightful dinner together on April 11th (Photograph 1).

Photograph 1
Dinner with Professor Dr. and Mrs. Dale.
From left Professor Dale with Mrs. Dale, Dr. Hiyama, Ms. Miyamoto (Secretary General) , Dr, Ueno and me.

In the annual meeting on April 12th, various ideas were put into in the program.  "Britain-U.S. style case discussion" was conducted for the medical students and residents, and there was a "female doctor's activity" research presentation and discussion by the medical students in the afternoon session.  This is a program of the committee being organized by female doctors.  The main topics of this year were problems of female doctors, leadership, mentor and there was a powerful lecture by Guest Dr. Heshiki (former professor of Saitama Medical College radiation department who also worked at Johns Hopkins etc.).

Moreover, "Ichimoku Ryozen: self-explanatory" by Professor Gremillion of Kamogawa Hospital in Chiba Prefecture which is well known for its good clinical training is becoming popular every year.  It is a presentation with the well-designed cases that feature examples that are characteristic in Japan also.  Please consider it as model.

Neary 100 members of the branch are doing activities of translating the articles of Journals such as "Annals of Internal Medicine", quickly loading it onto the web-site and informing about it via mail.  This year, they were awarded with the Evergreen prize from head office.  The credit goes to all who participated. I hear that it is utilized by lots of members and used at the actual sites of diagnosis, treatment and clinical education.  Requesting you all to become a member.

Professor Ide who is expanding the activity of "Psychiatry in Primary Care" won the Volunteer Award.

It is an activity also important from the perspective of current state of Japan especially where "depression" is increasing in these 10 years.  Congratulations and expecting increasing activities in the future.

In the end, a reception was held as usual and it was an enjoyable event with the participation of Dr. Hinohara and much more students and residents this year (photograph 2).  Afterward I received many thankful mails from students.  I would like you to experience the world widely and pursue a suitable career in the global era.  The future is for young people.

Photograph 2

With students at the reception. I enjoy this most.

(Photographs from Mr.Hirayama who had sent me a mail)

Visit of Minister of Higher Education and Research of France

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On  April 10th, Fillon, Prime Minister of France and Ms. Valerie Pecresse, Minister of Higher Education and Research arrived to Japan, and Ms. Valerie Pecresse visited me on April 11th in the morning.  I met her in June and December last year.  She has studied Japanese when she was a student, and has worked about two times in Japan previously.  She entered the room and suddenly asked "How are you, Kiyoshi-san ?"  in Japanese.

The focus of the discussion was the G8 Meeting of Ministers of Science that is going to be held this year in June in Okinawa before G8 Toyako summit and the discussion about scientific policy and higher education policy.  France is in the midst of major reformation of universities and national research institutes and is struggling hard with the demonstrations of students and people related to the universities(on the other hand, it seems that the Japanese do not have energy to demonstrate).  Her activities are wonderful considering that she is still 40 and upbringing two children.

Photograph 1 With the Minister Ms. Pecresse

In the evening, I attended the welcome party organized by the Prime Minister Fillon at the France Embassy.  Danjyurou (a Kabuki actor) greeted in fluent French language and he showed the performance of "NIRAMI"(Kabuki movement of driving away bad vibes) and "GANRIKI"(Kabuki's strong expression of eyes).  After the welcome speech of Prime Minister Fillon, I went to Swiss ambassador’s residence to attend "Thank you" reception of Davos Forum held this year.  After that, went for dinner with the Professor Dr.and Mrs. Dale (Chairman of ACP, American College of Physicians).

Announcement of Winner of Noguchi Hideyo Africa Prize

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Prime Minister Mr. Koizumi announced "Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize" during his visit to Africa in May 2006.  The prize is granted in 2 sections, the prize for the medical contribution for health problems of Africa and other one is contribution for health care, which attracts the attention of not only Africa but also the world.  The award ceremony is held in this end of May joining with TICAD.  On this occasion, 2 winners were decided and announced.  Although I had played a role of the chief of selection committee member, I was very glad for getting out the unanimous conclusion. 

Mr. Greenwood from England was awarded in the medical field had played an active role in the medical field for 30 years in Africa as a doctor and contributed for the various measures against malaria and infective diseases.   

In the health care field, Dr. Were of Kenya was awarded.  Despite many objections, ｓhe also built the fundamental sanitation environment over 40 years keeping focus especially on females and children and continued it steadily.  She has great contribution in promoting the health in Kenya as well as in Africa.

This news was reported all over the world especially at Rockefeller University, WHO(which very much supported Dr. Noguchi as his centers of activities), UZIMA Foundation and World Bank(which are the center of activities of Dr. Were). 
I think this is a good opportunity to give momentum to Japan leadership towards TICAD in May and G8 summit in July though.

Following sites are the news reports and responses from various countries. Please refer it.

British Embassy in Japan
Ministry of Foreign Affairs

<international organization>
WHO
World Bank
Rockefeller University
Gates Foundation
Rockefeller Foundation
Roll Back Malaria Partnership
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
PEPFAR
AMREF
Medicines for Malaria Venture
Association of School of Public Health
Global Health Council
USAIDS
Society for International Development
UN radio
University 500 news

<press coverage inside Japan> (English version. There were many articles in Japanese.)
Japan Today

<press coverage outside Japan>
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation
Breitbart
Capital FM
Africa Science News Service
Apanews
Africa News Source
Africa News
The Nations (Kenya)
Medical News Today
Medical Health Articles
Health Care Industry
a2 media group
Med Store News
Latin America News Agency
Kinhua PR Newswire
Institute of Medical Infomation/Medical Library in China
YNCDC in China
Korean Healthlog

However, still Japan's Overseas Aid has declined remarkably.  In the 1990's, it was world's No.1, having great contribution in revival of Asia and also in growth.  Now Japan, still the world's 2nd country in GDP, is
on the 5th place and it is assumed to be distanced by US, Germany, France and also by UK.  It is predicted to be distanced one after another by Holland, Spain etc.  Although it is the financial condition, it is regrettable.  It becomes a national reliance and trust problem.  Japan has difficulty in changing its policies.

Though the world has changed rapidly, Japan is too focused to domestic issues to change.  Isn’t it?  The leaders respectively from government, bureaucracy, industry and academia have to contribute definitely.  Anyone can give reasons for not doing something.  Responsibility is the behavior.

Welcoming Leaders-to-Be on Global Health

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One of my former associate at Health Policy Institute, Mr. Ban-no (see blog on Aug. 2007.～sorry, but this is in Japanese on my visit to New Delhi), who now studies at Harvard University School of Public Health.  He brought with him some 30 classmates to Japan and I was invited to give a welcome speech for their Day 1.  I began by asking them whether they read or listened to the 2007 Commencement speeches at Harvard by Bill Gates and another one at Stanford 2005, by Steven Jobs.  Surprisingly or not, a handful knew about these speeches, thus I strongly recommended them to read and view them on the web, benefits of our connected world.  Mr. Gates and Jobs both delivered quite passionate and moving messages to these selected small number of students what they could think of in their future career.

I discussed the issues on global health, MDGs, and related matters they would and should challenge.  It was a very enjoyable one hour for all and all students seemed enjoy our interaction.  One student from Iraq later sent me a moving email which reflects the status of his country and his career and I replied with encouragements toward our common goals.

photo1　Our group picture

They then will visit a couple of places over a week.  But when I was told that they will visit Hiroshima with a visit to A-Bomb memorial, I strongly suggested them to try to see Ms. Nassrine Azimi, Director of UNITAR in Hiroshima.  She is one of the most intelligent and most inspiring persons I met.  So I called her office, but she was out in Thai, then, but just back in time to greet them later in the week in Hiroshima.  I received an email from Mr. Ban-no to tell me how fortunate they felt they were to see her even for a short time to discuss various matters including A-Bomb and also a ‘thank you’ email from her, too.  Unexpected encounters are often a step for something new of significance and I am sure this could be such one for some of students.

L’Oreal-UNESCO 10th Award “For Women in Science” - from Paris

I flew from Narita to Paris in the evening of March 5th to attend a memorable 10th anniversary event of L’Oreal?UNESCO “For Women in Science” Award.  There was also the year 2008 Award presenting ceremony.  Laureates in the past 10 years count up to over 50 and if we include International Fellowship and National Fellowship, nearly 500 women scientists have been awarded and supported in the past 10 years.  This is a wonderful contribution to the society.  Almost 40 Laureates participated to celebrate the 10th anniversary event.

After arriving in the morning of 6th, I had some rest. In the afternoon, there was an event at UNESCO headquarters.  First, there was an introduction of L’Oreal-UNESCO Charter for “For Women in Science” and its 10 Commitments followed by signing of the 40 Laureates.  Please refer to this site for detail of the 10 commitments. This is with full of good intention.  I hope that my blog readers will also practice it.  I was invited to take part of the event since I served as a member of the jury for 2008.  It was a 1 week event, but I could only attend the award presenting ceremony.

After this introduction, there was the award presenting ceremony of this year’s Laureates. Mr. Koichiro Matsuura, Directeur-General of UNESCO and Sir. Lindsay Owen-Jones, Chairman of L’Oreal and the L’Oreal Foundation both gave a welcome speech in fluent French.  Dr. Gunter Blobel of the Rockefeller University, who received the 1999 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, was the 2008 Chair of the L’Oreal-UNESCO Awards jury.  Laureates were introduced one by one.  To introduce each, a short, well edited movie of each of the Laureates was shown which was filmed by visiting them, and a very clear introduction by Dr. Blobel about their scientific achievements followed by a speech from the Laureate.  All of the 5 Laureates were introduced in this manner. Then Mr. Matsuura and Sir. Lindsay presented the award, it was quite an impressive stage.

Laureates representing the Asia Pacific region include Dr. Tsuneko Okazaki(2000), and Ms. Fumiko Yonezawa(2005-she was absent for this anniversary event and we missed her) from Japan. Also, Dr. Fang-Hua Li(2003) from China, Dr. Nancy Ip(2004) whom I’ve known very well from Hong Kong, China, and this year’s Laureate was Dr. Narry Kim from Korea.

Photo1 With Dr. Tsuneko Okazaki

Photo2 With Dr. Nancy Ip

In selecting the candidates, juries focus on the creativity and the quality of their achievements based primarily on their publications and professional achievements, but the most important factor is “whether it is an achievement as an independent scientist.” This year’s award winner, Dr. Kim is 37 years old, studying MicroRNA and is Assistant Professor at the Seoul National University.  With her outstanding achievements, all of the juries unanimously chose her out of many outstanding candidates from Asia Pacific. I wanted to know how she could have made such an eminent achievement as an independent researcher, so a week after the selection committee, I took advantage of scheduled visit to Seoul to meet her.

Photo3 With Dr. Blobel and Mr. Matsuura

She earned her master’s degree at the Seoul National University, PhD. at Oxford University and Post-doctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.  When she returned to Korea as Assistant Professor at the Seoul National University, as she told me, her Professor strongly supported her providing her a part of his research budget for a few years until she became independent, allowed her to use whatever equipments necessary in his laboratory, and had 2-3 graduate students from his program to work with her.  But when coming to writing the research paper, the professor declined to be a co-author, saying that it was her own work.  She said that in that process, she was able to become independent in pursuing her research and was very grateful for the support she received from the professor.  This professor must have really wanted her to become an independent researcher to pursue her career; it is wonderful, but may not be ‘norm’ in Seoul National and I wonder why.  One day, I would like to meet this professor in person to ask this question.  In Japan, young people are not encouraged to become independently early, nor going through an open process of competing, so it is hard to see from the outside who are showing great potentials with creativity as a newly rising future stars. It is often the case, you have to become a professor to be able to compare as an individual scientist with peers to see a potentially promising scientist.  This is not a way of nurturing creativity. As we say, spare the rod and spoil the child.

Photo4 Ms. Narry Kim

Upon the award accepting speech, she said that she once considered giving up research career because she had to take care of two children.  She appealed that it is important for the society to support women scientists, particularly mothers, like the day-care center. I totally agree.  I met her child, too. I hope that in Japan too, we can expand the opportunity for younger talented people and women, and give them chance to enhance their ability to be independent in their field of study.  You don’t necessarily have to become a professor to be an independent researcher, becoming a professor must be just a result of academic achievements.  It is important for professors to support nurturing the younger generation’s talents and potentials and to give them opportunities to become independent early in their career to become someone different. Our future is indeed on the shoulders of the younger people.

The hotel was Sofitel, located near the Japanese Embassy, Concorde Plaza and St. Honore.  The location was magnificent, but too bad that I did not have much time to spare. In the afternoon of the following day, I had to return to Japan.  At the airport, a cinema screen size photo of each of the Laureates were exhibited everywhere; Nicely done.

From New Delhi part 2

My 2nd and 3rd day in New Delhi was mainly visiting Honda and local business leaders. First visit was Honda (Honda Siel Cars India). I met with President & CEO Mr. Takedagawa and Vice President & President of the Manufacturing Facility, Mr. Matsuzaki. Mr. Takedagawa shared his experience about the tough times, the current business situation and future plans. Mr. Matsuzaki established a manufacturing facility in America in 1982 and stayed in the U.S. for about 15 years. After America, he worked in various parts of Asia and set up this manufacturing facility in India. The facility was very clean and the employees were very polite. This must have been a painstaking effort.

Photo1 My visit to Honda Siel Cars

Photo2 In front of their entrance

After Honda, I visited the local office of Dentsu Inc. and the New Delhi campus of ITT. In the evening, we had dinner at the Japanese Embassy with Ambassador Domichi, Dr. Sunami of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies and First Secretary, Mr. Seto. Ambassador Domichi was assigned this post from the Japanese Embassy of Iran and Mr. Seto is the person who helped organize the SCA (Science Council of Asia) 2 years ago in India.

Photo3 At the New Delhi campus of IIT

Photo4　At the Japanese Embassy from left: Dr. Sunami, Ambassador Domichi, myself and First Secretary Mr. Seto

The following day I visited the local office of Mitsui & Co, Ltd, Mr. Munjal of the Hero Group, Mr. V. Krishnamurthy, Chairman of National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council and one of the leaders of Indian business (Photo5), and the Confederation of Indian Industry (an organization similar to the Japan Business Federation?!). The main topic was about business. India is especially keen to have technological alliance with Japanese companies, but the Japanese way of business is slow and they insist on getting the majority share. No wonder the Koreans and Chinese outdo us. I also heard that the European and American businesses are becoming more active in the Indian market.

Photo5 With Dr. Sunami and Mr. Krishnamurthy

During the meeting with Mr. Munjal at the Hero Group, I was told that the JV negotiation with Daimler has been launched and that he just received a letter from the French President Mr. Sakrozy yesterday. In the past two years, I have met the Indian Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Minister of Technology and Science, they are all unique and intelligent in their field of business and science technology. Of course there maybe some “challenges” special to India, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we have to let it go. There are various ways to do business relevant to the local business tradition and strength. In that respect, Mr. Suzuki, Chairman & CEO of Suzuki Motor Corporation is admirable as a business leader. Suzuki has become somewhat a local brand. You have to be the first comer and work up a sweat to get the fruit. Understanding local customs and incentives to the local staff may also be important. All my best wishes for the people involved in business in India! I hope that our economy flourishes together with growth of India and Asia. I remind you all that Japan is the only OECD member country that has not grown their GDP in the past decade…Wonder why?

From New Delhi part 1

After successfully ending the 3-day Global Health Conference on February 17th, flew to New Delhi the following morning. Upon arrival at New Delhi Airport on time at 17:30, I went directly to the city of Noida in the suburbs. The objective of my visit was to attend the commendation ceremony of YES（Young Engineers and Scientists） by The Honda Foundation. This is to recognize the top 5 outstanding students atIndian Institute of Technology（IIT）, now well known to the world as one of leading technology institutions. It is a wonderful project. That is Honda, or so to say the spirit of Mr. Soichiro Honda. There was one other guest aside from myself who just appeared at the last moment of the commendation ceremony, and that was Dr. R K Pachauri. I have known him very well through the SCA (Science Council of Asia) and other conferences that we have attended in the past few years. Even 3 years ago in Bangkok, we did the keynote speech together at the AGS-Global Alliance for Sustainability conference. Last year in 2007, as IPCC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize together with Mr. Al Gore, we can say that Dr. Pachauri became globally known as being the Chairman of IPCC. But he was already widely reputed as the leader of global warming issues among scientists.

Photo1　At the commendation ceremony. From left Mr. Takedagawa, President & CEO of Honda Siel Cars India Ltd., myself, Dr. Pachauri(**）, Mr. Ban from The Honda Foundation

Photo2　From left Dr. Pachauri, one of the awarded students and myself

**Dr. R K Pachauri arrived from America the day before and is wearing a hat to cover his blotch on his head.

After the commendation ceremony, Dr. Pachauri and myself each gave 20 minutes’ speech to congratulate and encourage the award winning students. I touched upon Mr. Soichiro Honda’s sprit and wished the students to inherit his spirit to contribute and play an important role in the global agenda we all face. I will introduce my speech on another occasion. People from The Honda Foundation, executives and members from local Honda and the families of the award winners were also present and they all looked very happy. Also, Mr. Brijmohan Lall Munjal, the Chairman of Hero Honda Motors Ltd. was attending this ceremony. Hero Honda is a joint venture with Honda since 1982 doing production and sales of motorcycles. Mr. Lall’s son, Mr. Sunil Kant Munjal is leading the Hero Group and we both serve as a member of the President Council of the University of Tokyo.

Photo3　this is me giving speech

Photo4　With the award winners and staff （5th from left is Mr. Brijmohan Lall Munjal, Chairman of the Hero group）

At night I had a drink with Dr. Sunami of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, and Ban-san and Ishihara-san of The Honda Foundation. Meeting bright young people, it was a pleasant and wonderful evening.

From Davos, part3

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The morning of the 25th was busy. I had an early morning meeting with Dr. Tachi Yamada from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to discuss about the upcoming February conference in Tokyo and other meetings that I had arranged. In the afternoon, I attended a session related to innovation and joined the beginning of plenary session “New Drivers of Development” chaired by Ms. Indra K Nooyi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pepsi Co. Participants were Mr. Bill Gates, Mr. Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Mr. Robert B Zoellick, President of World Bank, Mr. Michael Treschow, Chairman of Unilever and Mr.Trevor Manuel, Minister of Finance of South Africa (photo1,2).

photo1 From left: Mr. Gates, Mr. Brown, Ms. Nooyi, Mr. Zoellick, Mr. Manuel and Mr. Treschow

photo2 Ms. Nooyi

The reason for attending only the beginning was because I had a session with Ms. Sadako Ogata, Bono(photo3) and some big figures who represent Japan. We discussed how Japan can show their initiative globally to make a move on development in Africa, TICAD and G8 summit and respond to the expectation from the world. Other participants were Mr. Okuda, former Chairman of Toyota Motor Corp, Mr. Yasuhisa Shiozaki, Ms. Yoriko Kawaguchi, Mr. Matsuura, Director General of UNESCO and Dr. Komiyama, President of the University of Tokyo. I met with Bono and his staff yesterday and I think we will continue to work together in the future. Bono respects Ms. Ogata very much. He is well aware of Japan’s successful and long ODA history in Africa which is different to that from Europe and America. This year is an important year for Japan and he is seriously considering how Japan can show its presence. I was surprised at how much we can do. I learned a lot. He also said that during the 3-day concert in Japan, 120,000 fans gathered, which I later heard that he tried several attempts to send his message to the world through the crowd. He feels the passion that everybody is considering what they can do to make a change, but with the current political level, it is not well communicated inside and out.

photo3 With Bono before the meeting

Also, John Gage from Sun Microsystems joined. He supports Bono and Al Gore’s activities and I’ve been meeting him every year in Davos for 4 years. I hope my blog readers give consideration to what we can do and expand our will to the vast world to realize it. Then, I ran into Larry Page(who is very interested in climate change and global health and established the Google Foundation), the founder of Google which I introduced in last year’s report with some photos and Steve Grove from YouTube (photo4,5).

photo4　With Larry Page and Steve Grove

photo5　With Dr. Hirotaka Takeuchi from Hitotsubashi Univ, Mr. Tsuchiya from the World Economy Forum Secretariat, Larry Page and Steve Grove

（Mr. Tsuchiya studied with Steve Grove at Harvard Kennedy School. Isn’t that interesting, it’s the value of each individual in this global era.）

Tonight, Prime Minister Fukuda will arrive at Zurich. He will arrive at Davos the following morning and meet with Tony Blair, Mr Bono, Bill Gates and will deliver a speech. After that, I heard his schedule is full with luncheon meetings with the business community. I wonder whether the Prime Minister is really satisfied with his speech draft, but the speech writer must have worked hard to prepare it. The world’s opinion will show us the result. How will Japan be reported? How do the foreign media see Japan? What is the real opinion that doesn’t show up? At night, I met a lot of people at the ASEAN reception, but ended up with the usual members, Victor Chu (He is well known everywhere. He said that he travels 250 days a year for business. Wow, what an energy!) and John Gage. We had a drink at a bar at the hotel next door. Dr. Michael Porter from Harvard Business School joined and we had a great time together. This is the excitement of Davos.

photo6　With Mr. Chu and Mr. Gage

I am invited to a “Bollywood Party” hosted by India from 23:00, let’s see…

From Davos, part2

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The last keynote speech on the first day was by the US Secretary of State, Ms. Rice.  She delivered a clear and firm message about the current role of the US and the responsibility for the US and the world.  Then, the political and business leaders from the world, such as Mr. Blair, Mr. Kissinger, Mr. J Dimon(JP Morgan and Chase), Mr. KV Kamath(ICICI Bank, India), Ms. IK Nooyi(CEO of Pepsi Co, she graduated from the famous IIT in India…. Can you imagine this in any Japanese company?!), Mr. DJ O’Reilly(CEO, Chevrons), Mr. Wan Jianzhou(China Mobile Communications Corporation) etc, went up the podium for a Q&A session.  Ms. Rice handled this session very nicely.  This is indeed world class. Answering to tough questions in front of a big crowd.

This year, there were especially a large number of participants including 20 or more Presidents and Prime Ministers.  Even only on the first and second day, Mr. Karzai(Afghanistan), Mr. Musharraf(Pakistan), Mr. Yushchenko(Ukraine), Mr. Simon Perez(Israel), Al Gore and Bill Gates were there.

From Japan, ever since Prime Minister Mori attended in 2001, Prime Minister Fukuda will attend. As a hosting country for TICAD and G8 Summit, the world is watching Japan’s leadership of global agenda.  What kind of message will he give to the world? Let’s hope it will be a high toned, powerful speech that reflects as a Prime Minister of the second largest economic power, not something drafted by bureaucrats.  Regardless of domestic circumstances, ‘it’s spoken message that counts as politician.’ It is important to strategically communicate to the overseas press.

Needless to say, Ms. Sadako Ogata, President of JICA, is a global figure representing Japan, but also the global minded professors from Hitotsubashi University School of Business Administration, Hirotaka Takeuchi and Yoko Ishikura as well as Heizo Takenaka of Keio University are taking an active role in various panels and acting as session leader. In a brainstorming session called WorkSpace, Prof. Takeuchi showed his amazing ability as moderator by entertaining the participants while pursuing the subject on track. Wow, this is something inimitable.

Photo1 With Mr. Hatoyama and Ambassador Fujisaki at the conference room

At night, there was Japan Sushi Reception jointly hosted by University of Tokyo and Keio University, supported by Teijin Limited and Sojitz Corporation.  Many guests from the political, academic and business world attended.  I would think this kind of party should be led by the business community.  In fact, it’s the World “Economic” Forum.

Photo2 At Japan Reception with Mr. Hasegawa from Takeda Chemical, my friend and famous Indian political scientist, Mr. Challaney, Mr. Sakurai from Japan Association of Corporate Executives or Keizai-Doyu-kai

Photo3 With Ms. Kuniya of NHK, moderator of ‘Today’s Close-Up’

Photo4 With the President of Peking University

Just to list a few of the big names that attended from the political world, Mr. Hidenao Nakagawa, Mr. Koji Omi, Mr. Yukio Hatoyama(to substitute Mr. Ichiro Ozawa, the leader of DPJ who could not make it), Mr. Yasuhisa Shiozaki, Mr. Motohisa Furukawa, Ms. Kuniko Inoguchi etc.  From the business world we had Presidents, CEO’s and Chairmen from various companies like Mr. Okuda of Toyota Motors, Mr. Yonekura of Sumitomo Chemical, Mr. Sakurai of Ricoh and Japan Association of Corporate Executives, Mr. Nagashima from Teijin, and Mr. Hasegawa from Takeda Chemical, etc.  Ambassador Fujisaki, Mr. Kono the G8 Summit Sherpa and Councilor to the Foreign Ministry, Imai-san and Kuniya-san from NHK, Mr. Xu Zhihong, President of Peking University, Dr. Tachi Yamada of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Global Health Initiative also joined and we discussed about Japan’s contribution. Mr. S Brim, Founder of Google also showed up briefly.  Also Dr. Yamanaka from Kyoto University, who is gaining fame by his research in iPS cells, was also there.

Photo5 With Takenaka-san, Dr. Yamada and 2 of Bono’s staff

Photo6 With Dr. Yamada, Prof. Yoko Ishikura and Prof. Anzai, President of Keio University

As Prime Minister Fukuda will participate this year, there is a mixed emotion of expectation and anxiety among us, as to how much he can communicate a high vision and powerful political messages expected of as one of the world’s political leaders.

From New York City

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Here I am in New York City.  I came to visit The New York Academy of Sciences which is the first Academy of Sciences established in the United States.  I have been working with this organization for several years now and decided to visit their new office which was moved to a new site last year.  The office of the President and CEO, Mr. Ellis Rubinstein (photo 1), is located at the 40th floor of a building that stands next to Ground Zero of September 11.  I did an interview with him for 45 minutes from 8:30 am.  From 10:00am, attended a board meeting of a new project called “Scientists Without Borders” (photo 2).  Sounds familiar?  Yes, the naming comes from “Doctors Without Borders.”  Its mission is about the same.  Twelve (12) people are working as its Advisory members including myself.

Photo1　President Rubinstein and myself at his office
(Today, his wife, Dr Joanna Rubinstein is in Ethiopia with Dr Jeffery Sachs.  She works as Executive Director of a program run by Dr Sachs )

Photo2　Together with Advisory members and NYAS staffs

Dr. Wakhungu from Kenya is also an Advisory member.  Kenya has just gone through a presidential election and now is in great confusion because of the doubt of injustice.  Especially I was concerned about Kibera slum which was reported to be in terrible chaos, and Dr. Wakhungu told me that the situation is really bad.  Olympic Primary School which I mentioned in my blog of June 2006 and October 2007 was burned.  I hope the school will be rebuilt somehow quickly.

Also, Prof. Victor Zhau at Duke University, whom I met yesterday at Washington DC and introduced in my blog is in the Advisory board. We are working together again.  Dr. Seth Berkley of Int'l AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), whom I introduced in my blog in October 2007 is also with us and he gave us many suggestions based on his own experience.  We did brainstorming for full 3 hours covering issues such as registration, potentials, management, funding, etc.  There are many problems addressed and to be solved, but it certainly was a good learning opportunity.  A MD-PhD candidate at Columbia University School of Medicine (moved from India with his/her parents) is joining our session, too.  Developing a new project like this inviting such young people is nice.  I certainly hope that this project will get started no matter how much time it may take.

Photo3　In front of the bust of Charles Darwin at the reception of NYAS with Ms Miura, vice consul of Consulate general in New York

In the afternoon, I went to the Council of Foreign Relations known by its outstanding journal “Foreign Affairs.”  To my amazement, the day before, Dr. Tachi Yamada of Gates foundation, whom I wrote about in my blog was here to give lecture on “Global Health.”  It is an interesting