I had the good fortune to meet Miho Walker and Amy Moyers-Knopp from Living Dreams at last year’s TEDxTokyo. Their passion and tireless efforts on behalf of the orphans of Japan, along with Burton’s interest in providing an opportunity for all kids–no matter what their family status–led to a day trip for 19 kids from a local Tokyo orphanage, getting them out of the city and into the great mountains of Japan for their first snowboarding experience. Living Dreams handled all the Tokyo logistics, while Burton provided clothing and made the contact with North Star/Norikura, one of the great snowboarding locations in Japan. Kids who would have had very little chance of experiencing a full day of lessons and fun at a real snow resort got to do just that as a result of the 2009 TEDxTokyo event.
Bill Werlin
General Manager
Burton Snowboard Corp.
Considered one of the world’s savviest financial strategists, JP Morgan’s Jesper Koll has made Japan his focus for over a quarter of century. Consistently upbeat about the country’s economic prospects even when the situation looks bleak, he sees Japan’s strong technology base, low financial leverage, savings levels and smart and industrious labor force as reasons to predict upturns rather than downturns. Earlier this decade, Koll wrote two books in Japanese—Towards a New Japanese Golden Age and The End of Heisei Deflation—that underscored his faith. He also frequently presents his views at high-octane forums and in articles for major publications in Japan and abroad.
But one non-economic expression of Japan’s collective mindset gives Koll pause. While students from regional economic rivals like Korea, China and India spar for spots in U.S. undergrad and graduate programs, more and more of their Japanese counterparts turn away with a shrug. They’ve become “grass-eaters”—content to stay local and avoid risk and close encounters of the international kind.
According to the latest depressing statistics, Japanese undergrad enrollment has plummeted 52 percent since 2000, and 27 percent for grad school. By contrast, South Korea has two and a half times more students in U.S. colleges. In the same decade, China’s student population in the U.S. rose 164 percent, and India went up 190 percent. And U.S. grad schools welcome close to twice as many grad students from South Korea—and over three times as many from China and India—than they do from Japan.
“Clearly the crucial value of an international education goes well beyond the coursework assigned, whether it is in bio-engineering, financial accounting or anime filmmaking,” Koll commented in the November 2009 edition of the ACCJ Journal. “Rather, it is the people with whom you live, the friends you make while studying, and the shared experience of becoming an adult that are priceless, that are a value that no on-the-job training at a closed-circuit Japanese company will ever be able to provide.”
Will Japan lose out economically because of this passive and shortsighted sakoku (seclusion)? Koll thinks so. “I am worried that this may turn out to be the biggest fundamental challenge for Japan Inc. to be able to maintain its global leadership and sales-champion position.”
Doug Jackson
TEDxTokyo Storyteller
ブルー・エコノミー日本チームでは、「The Blue Economy」の著者であり、ZERI 財団の創設者であるグンター・パウリ博士の講演会にご招待させて頂きたく、ご連絡させて頂きました。ブルーエコノミーは、持続可能な経済を実現する為のエコシステムを創ることを目的とした新興の世界的なムーブメントです。ローマクラブ 、国連環境計画（UNEP）、TEDxTokyoの協力によって、ブルーエコノミーは、自然から発想を得たイノベーションを用いて、現在は廃棄物となっている物質を利益が得られる商品に変えていくアイデアを展開させています。 著者本人からブルー・エコノミーについて聞いて頂き、ブルー・エコノミー日本チームがこのムーブメントをどのように日本に広めていこうとしているのかを知って頂く最良の機会になります。
開催日: ２０１０年４月１２日（月曜日）
開催時間: 7 pm – 9 pm
会場: テンプル大学、麻布校舎２０６号室
東京都港区２－８－１２南麻布
アクセス: クリック
予約制 （５０席）予約はこちらから
A talk given in Session 1 “How Can We Organize Ourselves To Make A Difference?” of TEDxTokyo 2009, held on May 22 at National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation.
