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Stanford e-Japan is an online course that teaches Japanese high school students about U.S. society and culture and U.S.–Japan relations. The course introduces students to both U.S. and Japanese perspectives on many historical and contemporary issues. It is offered biannually by the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE). Stanford e-Japan is currently supported by the Yanai Tadashi Foundation.

In Summer 2021, top students of the Spring 2020 and the Fall 2020 Stanford e-Japan courses will be honored through an event at Stanford University.

The three Spring 2020 honorees—Minami Matsushima (Senri & Osaka International Schools of Kwansei Gakuin), Yuna Naoi (Tokyo Metropolitan Hibiya High School), and Kenta Yoshii (Shukutoku Junior and Senior High School)—will be recognized for their coursework and exceptional research essays that focused respectively on “The Price We Pay for Men to be Men: Toxic Masculinity in the United States,” “Online Secondary School Education in Japan and the U.S. Amid the COVID-19 Crisis,” and “In Search of a Realistic Substitute for U.S. Extended Deterrence for Japan.”

Risako Nomura (Yokohama Senior High School of International Studies) received an Honorable Mention for her research paper on “How Untranslatability Between Japanese and English Fosters the U.S.–Japan Relationship.”

The three Fall 2020 honorees—Coco Kawaguchi (Keio Girls Senior High School), Sotaro Kunieda (Suwa Seiryo High School), and Yun-Tzu (Allison) Lin (Canadian Academy)—will be recognized for their coursework and exceptional research essays that focused respectively on “To Infinity and Beyond! National Survival in the Era of Venture Space Development,” “Fostering Social Enterprises in Japan: Lessons from the United States,” and “Nuclear Deterrence Theory: An Evaluation of Its Effectiveness in Preventing Future Deployment of Nuclear Weapons.”

Satoru Uchida (Tokyo Metropolitan High School) received an Honorable Mention for his coursework and research paper on “What the Japanese Government Should Do Immediately to Protect Children’s Human Rights.”

In the Spring 2020 session of Stanford e-Japan, students from the following schools completed the course: Aoba Japan International School (Tokyo); Clark Memorial International High School (Osaka); Hiroshima Jogakuin Senior High School (Hiroshima); Hiroshima Prefectural Junior/Senior High School (Hiroshima); Kaijo High School (Tokyo); Kamakura Gakuen High School (Kamakura); Katoh Gakuen Gyoshu Senior High School (Shizuoka); Keio Girls Senior High School (Tokyo); Kurume University Senior High School (Fukuoka); Meikei High School (Ibaraki); Municipal Urawa High School (Saitama); Musashino University Chiyoda High School (Tokyo); Nirayama High School (Shizuoka); Okayama Prefectural Okayama Asahi High School (Okayama); Seigakuin High School (Tokyo); Senior High School at Komaba, University of Tsukuba (Tokyo); Senior High School at Otsuka, University of Tsukuba (Tokyo); Senri & Osaka International Schools of Kwansei Gakuin (Osaka); Shibuya Makuhari Senior High School (Chiba); Shukutoku Junior and Senior High School (Tokyo); Tokyo Gakugei University International Secondary School (Tokyo); Tokyo Metropolitan Hibiya High School (Tokyo); Tokyo Metropolitan Ryogoku High School (Tokyo); Urawa Minami High School (Saitama); Waseda University Senior High School (Tokyo); Yokohama Senior High School of International Studies (Kanagawa); Yonezawa Kojokan High School (Yamagata); and Zero High School (Fukushima).

In the Fall 2020 session of Stanford e-Japan, students from the following schools completed the course: Canadian Academy (Hyogo), Doshisha International High School (Kyoto), Fukushima Prefectural High School (Fukushima), Hamamatsu Nishi High School (Shizuoka), Hiroo Gakuen High School (Tokyo), Hiroshima Prefectural Hiroshima Senior High School (Hiroshima), Fukuoka Prefectural Kaho High School (Fukuoka), Kaichi Junior/Senior High School (Wakayama), Kamakura Jogakuin (Kanagawa), Keio Girls Senior High School (Tokyo), Kyoto Prefectural Rakuhoku Senior High School (Kyoto), Miyagi Prefectural Sendai Nika High School (Miyagi), Musashino University Chiyoda High School (Tokyo), N-High School (Okinawa), Otaru Choryo High School (Hokkaido), Seikei High School (Tokyo), Seisho High School (Nara), Senior High School at Otsuka, University of Tsukuba (Tokyo), Shibuya Makuhari Senior High School (Tokyo), Suwa Seiryo High School (Nagano), Takada Senior High School (Mie), Tokyo Gakugei University International Secondary School (Tokyo), Tokyo Metropolitan Hitotsubashi High School (Tokyo), Tokyo Metropolitan Ryogoku High School (Tokyo), Tsurumaru Senior High School (Kagoshima), and Waseda University Senior High School (Tokyo).

For more information about the Stanford e-Japan Program, please visit stanfordejapan.org.

To stay informed of news about Stanford e-Japan and SPICE’s other programs, join our email list and follow us on FacebookTwitter, and Instagram.


SPICE offers separate courses for U.S. high school students. For more information, please see the Reischauer Scholars Program (online course about Japan)Sejong Scholars Program (online course about Korea), and China Scholars Program (online course about China).

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female student standing in front of Akamon in Japan
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Stanford e-Japan: A Turning Point in My Life

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Sakura (cherry blossoms); photo courtesy Tomoko Nakamura, Fukiai High School, Kobe City
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Congratulations to the eight students who have been named our top honorees and Honorable Mention recipients for 2020.

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This event is part of Shorenstein APARC's spring webinar series "The United States in the Biden Era: Views from Asia."

American politics, especially presidential elections, have always drawn significant attention from Japanese policy makers and the public, because of their enormous impact on Japanese politics. The recent developments in the U.S. – from the Trump presidency to the contested election and the unconventional transition of power that included a riot at the Capitol – have engendered an elevated level of curiosity and concern about the state of American politics in Japan. This webinar will examine how Japanese leaders and citizens have processed what unfolded in the U.S. and how it may have shaped their current views on US-Japan relations, featuring two leading experts on the topic, Keiko Iizuka (Yomiuri Shimbun) and Toshihiro Nakayama (Keio University). Moderated by Kiyoteru Tsutsui, Director of the Japan Program at APARC, the webinar will have a Q&A session, and the participants are welcome to submit their questions in advance using the registration form and at the event using the Q&A function of Zoom.

SPEAKERS

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Keiko Iizuka
Keiko Iizuka is Senior Political Writer/Editorial Writer at The Yomiuri Shimbun and lead commentator for the nightly news program “News in Depth (Shinso News)” on the BS4 channel. Her expertise is international relations specially focusing on Indo-Pacific, Japan-U.S. relations, and European affairs. Her U.S. experience includes working at the Brookings Institution as a visiting fellow (2008-2009) and a role of Washington Bureau Chief with Yomiuri (2013-2015). She has held several other positions at the paper including chief editor for international news department (2015-2017) and chief political correspondent at the Prime Minister’s office of Japan (2006-2007). She was posted twice in London as correspondent (2003-2006, 2017-2019).

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Toshihiro Nakayama
Toshihiro Nakayama, Ph.D, is a Professor of American Politics and Foreign Policy at the Faculty of Policy Management at Keio University. He is also a Senior Adjunct Fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA). He was a Special Correspondent for the Washington Post at the Far Eastern Bureau (1993-94), Special Assistant at the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations in New York (1996-98), Senior Research Fellow at The Japan Institute of International Affairs (2004-06), Associate Professor at Tsuda College (2006-10), and Professor at Aoyama Gakuin University (2010-14). He was also a CNAPS Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution (2005-06), Sir Howard Kippenberger Chair Visiting Professor at the Center for Strategic Studies, Victoria University in Wellington (2017) , Japan Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center (2018-2019), and an Advisor to the Ministry of Defense (2019-2020). He received his M.A.(1993) and Ph.D.(2001) from Aoyama Gakuin University. He has written two books and numerous articles on American politics, foreign policy and international relations. Recipient of Nakasone Yasuhiro Award (Incentive Award) in 2014.

MODERATOR 

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Kiyoteru Tsutsui
Kiyoteru Tsutsui is Henri H. and Tomoye Takahashi Professor and Senior Fellow in Japanese Studies at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University, where he is also Director of the Japan Program, a Senior Fellow of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and a Professor of Sociology. He is the author of Rights Make Might: Global Human Rights and Minority Social Movements in Japan (Oxford University Press, 2018), co-editor of Corporate Responsibility in a Globalizing World (Oxford University Press, 2016) and co-editor of The Courteous Power: Japan and Southeast Asia in the Indo-Pacific Era (University of Michigan Press, forthcoming 2021). 

This event is being held virtually via Zoom. Please register for the webinar via the following link: https://bit.ly/3sfxcVs

Keiko Iizuka <br><i>Senior Political Writer/Editorial Writer at The Yomiuri Shimbun</i><br><br>
Toshihiro Nakayama <br><i>Professor of American Politics and Foreign Policy at the Faculty of Policy Management at Keio University</i><br><br>
Seminars
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The Tokyo Olympics-Paralympics Games are scheduled to open in late July with various adjustments to address concerns about COVID-19 such as no foreign visitors to watch the game. The unusual Olympics has sparked heated debates in Japan and elsewhere, but what will it look like when it opens and what should the organizers seek to accomplish? In the process of planning for the Olympics, a number of issues around governance and gender in Japanese sports associations got exposed. How should we go about resolving these issues and create an environment that is most desirable for athletes? Our seminar features two prominent former Olympians who continue to wield significant influence in Japanese sports scenes, Yuko Arimori and Dai Tamesue, to discuss these issues and the future of the Japanese sports world beyond the Tokyo Olympics. Moderated by our program director Kiyoteru Tsutsui, the seminar includes a Q&A session featuring questions from the audience. Simultaneous interpretation will be provided. 

コロナ禍の東京五輪と日本スポーツ界におけるガバナンスとジェンダー

東京オリンピック・パラリンピックの開幕を7月下旬に控え、コロナ対策のために外国人観戦客を受け入れないなど、通常の五輪とは異なる大会へ向けた準備が進んでいる。日本国内でも世界でも様々な意見が交錯する今回の五輪はどのような大会になるのか、どのような大会を目指すべきなのか。また、東京五輪への準備の中で、様々な日本スポーツ界の問題点、特にそのガバナンスとジェンダー・バランスの問題が浮き彫りになってきた。頻発するこのような問題を解決し、アスリートにとって理想的な環境を提供するにはどうすれば良いのか。今回のセミナーでは、高名なオリンピアンで、日本スポーツ界で大きな影響力を持つ、有森裕子氏と為末大氏に御登壇いただき、これらの問題について考え、五輪後も見据えた日本のスポーツ界の将来を語っていただく。当プログラム所長の筒井清輝をモデレーターとして、両氏に参加者からの質問に答えてもらう質疑応答の時間も予定されている。

このイベントは日本語で行われます。同時通訳がついています。

This event will be held in Japanese. Simultaneous translation will be offered. 

SPEAKERS 

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Yuko Arimori
Yuko Arimori was born in 1966 in Okayama prefecture. After graduating from Nippon Sport Science University, she joined Recruit. She won silver and bronze medals in the women's marathon event at the Barcelona Olympics and the Atlanta Olympics, which marked the beginning of the “Golden era of the Marathon” for Japanese female athletes. She became the first professional marathon runner in the country after the Atlanta Olympics. After her retirement, in addition to her running and marathon activities, she has served as a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Sports and Active Social Committee, Director of the Japan Association of Athletics Federations, a Representative Director of the Heart of Gold, a president of Special Olympics Nippon, and Vice President of the University Sports Association (UNIVAS). In June 2010, she was the first Japanese to win the (IOC) Women and Sports Award.

有森裕子は1966年岡山県生まれ。日本体育大学卒業後、リクルート入社。バルセロナオリンピック、アトランタオリンピックの女子マラソンでは銀メダル、銅メダルを獲得し、その後に続く日本女子マラソン黄金期の幕開けを切った。アトランタオリンピック後、国内のプロマラソンランナー第1号に。現役引退後は、ランニングやマラソンに関わる活動以外にも、国際オリンピック委員会(IOC)スポーツと活動的社会委員会委員、日本陸上競技連盟理事、ハート・オブ・ゴールド代表理事、スペシャルオリンピックス日本理事長、大学スポーツ協会(UNIVAS)副会長などを務めている。2010年6月、国際オリンピック委員会(IOC)女性スポーツ賞を日本人として初めて受賞

 

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Dai Tamesue
Dai Tamesue, born in 1978 in Hiroshima, is the first Japanese medalist in a world competition for a sprint event.  He also participated in three Olympics and holds the Japanese record for men's 400m hurdles (as of April 2021). Dai currently serves as CEO of Deportare Partners. He is also the Director of Shin-toyosu Brillia Running Stadium, and the author of “Winning Alone” "The Philosophy of Running" "The Strength to Give Up," among other titles.

1978年広島県生まれ。スプリント種目の世界大会で日本人として初のメダル獲得者。男子400メートルハードルの日本記録保持者(2021年4月現在)。現在は執筆活動、会社経営を行う。Deportare Partners代表。新豊洲Brilliaランニングスタジアム館長。Youtube為末大学(Tamesue Academy)を運営。主な著作に『Winning Alone』『走る哲学』『諦める力』など。

 

MODERATOR 

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Kiyoteru Tsutsui
Kiyoteru Tsutsui is Henri H. and Tomoye Takahashi Professor and Senior Fellow in Japanese Studies at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University, where he is also Director of the Japan Program, a Senior Fellow of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and a Professor of Sociology. He is the author of Rights Make Might: Global Human Rights and Minority Social Movements in Japan (Oxford University Press, 2018), co-editor of Corporate Responsibility in a Globalizing World (Oxford University Press, 2016) and co-editor of The Courteous Power: Japan and Southeast Asia in the Indo-Pacific Era (University of Michigan Press, forthcoming 2021). 

This event is being held virtually via Zoom. Please register for the webinar via the following link: https://bit.ly/3sfNNs2

Yuko Arimori <br><i>Two Time Olympic Marathon Medalist/バルセロナ・アトランタ オリンピック女子マラソンメダリスト</i><br><br>
Dai Tamesue <br><i>Three Time Olympian and CEO, Deporte Partners/ 元陸上選手・Deportare Partners代表</i><br><br>
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Kiyoteru Tsutsui
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This op-ed by Kiyoteru Tsutsui originally appeared in Nikkei Asia.


As the summer of racial unrest forced America to confront its racist past and present yet again, a book by Heather McGhee, The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together, which documents how racial division prevents Americans from uniting to lift everyone's lot, has attracted a good deal of attention.

From welfare to education to policing, Americans have generally supported policies that lifted the white middle class. But as the middle class has become more racially diverse, politics has become a divisive zero-sum game, with many whites seeing government spending as shifting money away from them toward minorities, even if whites also benefit.

This politics of racial division forecloses a social consensus that could boost the U.S. as a whole, leading to flagging social infrastructure, sputtering criminal justice system reform and challenges in offering broad economic support even to counter the pandemic.

This is not a problem unique to the United States. Social scientists have studied the relationship between racial division and low levels of public goods provision in multiple countries and established that ethno-racially heterogeneous societies tend to provide less in the way of public services.

Plagued by suspicions that some groups might benefit more than others, diverse societies tend to have greater difficulty in reaching consensus and working together on a strategy for economic and social development that would improve everyone's lives.

On this count, Japan is at the other end of the spectrum. More ethno-racially homogenous than most other advanced democracies, Japan has fared well when it comes to providing public goods such as efficient public transportation systems, low crime rates and universal health care.

Japan is often quick to reach a broad consensus about government spending on public services, since people generally feel that everyone benefits if they all support each other. Strong social cohesion, facilitated by the relative homogeneity of the population, enables this social consensus that supports spending on public goods.

The flip side of this coin is Japanese society's persistent resistance to diversity and disruption. Used to the comfort of living and working with similar people, Japan has been criticized for its reluctance to accept immigrants.

In response, the Japanese government has rather clumsily allowed immigrant workers in recent decades, first encouraging the migration of Japanese-Brazilians on the basis of shared ethnic roots that were supposed to make it easy for them to assimilate.

Learning that the reality of Japanese-Brazilians' life in Japan did not support this idea, Japan then adopted trainee programs to bring in foreign workers on a temporary basis. With the emphasis squarely on the temporary nature of their stay, those who came to Japan under this scheme could not contribute toward the country's long-term diversity.

Faced with a declining population, Japan needs immigrant labor, and its business leaders have consistently supported accepting more migrant workers. In addition to addressing the labor shortage, a more diverse workforce would likely stimulate innovation and facilitate adaptation to changing economic environments. Much social science research has demonstrated positive relationships between diversity and innovation.

Yet Japan's leaders are having a hard time pressing ahead. While it is easy for the public to come to a consensus for policies that boost all Japanese, it has proved difficult for them to support any policy that would undermine Japan's homogeneity.

Aside from ethnic diversity, Japan's consensus-oriented society is generally resistant to change. Valuing the protection of all members, companies have been slow to streamline and transform their operations to adapt to the changing economic environment, resulting in the prolonged economic decline since the 1990s.

While Brazil is home to the world's largest overseas Japanese population, many Japanese-Brazilians who moved to Japan discovered it was not easy for them to assimilate.

Urged on by American consultants, Japan imported America's neoliberal economic model to revitalize its economy through this period, and the lifetime employment and seniority-based salary system has given way to a rise in temp workers and various attempts to introduce a merit-based salary system. These efforts have not met with much success, leaving behind a questionable legacy, including the suppression of wages after the labor shortage of recent years.

In the U.S., racial division undermines the provision of public goods that would reduce economic inequality. But its acceptance of diversity contributes to innovation and economic revitalization that keeps the U.S. at the vanguard of a new economy.

In Japan, ethno-racial harmony facilitates public goods provision that prevents economic inequality from spiraling out of control. But aversion to diversity and dissent makes it difficult to accept much-needed immigrant labor and to adapt to changes in the economic environment.

In both countries, these characteristics are ingrained into their social fabric and resistant to change. However, the two largest economies with a democratic polity have much to learn from each other, and they should work together to find solutions for their problems.

Otherwise, China's nondemocratic model could become the dominant model for economic success, with its top-down forced consensus and suppression of diversity.

Democracies have long proven better at correcting their mistakes and adjusting to changes in their environment. As the two largest democratic economies in the world, the U.S. and Japan should be able to overcome the cost of racial division and the cost of homogeneity respectively even if it takes decades to achieve that.

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Protesters hold signs and chant slogans during a Black Lives Matters Peaceful March on June 14, 2020 in Tokyo, Japan.
Protesters hold signs and chant slogans during a Black Lives Matters Peaceful March on June 14, 2020 in Tokyo, Japan. | Takashi Aoyama, Getty Images
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Japan Program Director Kiyoteru Tsutsui explores the cost of racial division versus the cost of homogeneity by comparing the experiences of Japan and the United States.

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On March 11, 2011, Koide Hiroaki was in his laboratory in Kyoto, Japan. It was a gray, wet afternoon, and the 61-year-old nuclear engineer was hard at work when the earthquake hit. Fifteen miles beneath the surface of the sea, one tectonic plate rumbled beneath another. A slippery clay layer helped the great pieces of crust slide, releasing centuries of stress. The seabed rose up 16 stories, and slipped sideways 165 feet.

Read the rest at National Geographic

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CISAC Co-Director Rod Ewing tells National Geographic that, “In some cases, as we become more sophisticated, we’ve lost the ability to see what’s most obvious.”

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Across the world, societies are experiencing unprecedented demographic shifts as migration and aging reshape population landscapes. At the forefront of this global transformation is the Asia-Pacific region, particularly the countries of East Asia. Demographics and Innovation in the Asia-Pacific — a new book edited by APARC Director Gi-Wook Shin, Deputy Director Karen Eggleston, and Joon-Shik Park, a professor in the Department of Sociology at Hallym University in Chuncheon, Korea — provides a multidisciplinary examination of the demographic challenges facing East Asian nations and possible solutions.

At a virtual book launch held on March 2, 2021, contributing chapter authors James FeyrerJoon-Shik Park, and Kenji Kushida joined Karen Eggleston to discuss their findings.

[Subscribe to our newsletters to get updates on our experts' latest research.]

Published in APARC’s in-house series, the book is the second volume resulting from APARC’s Stanford Asia-Pacific Research Innovation project. It collects the research findings of participants at the project’s third conference that was held in South Korea in June 2019.

James Liang, a research professor of economics at Peking University and a leading scholar of demographics and social studies, opened the event by situating the discussion about population structure in the context of the U.S.-China technology race. China is quickly catching up with the United States in the quality of its talent pool and the number of its labor resources. It will continue to outpace and surpass the United States in talent and innovation power in the next 10-20 years, Liang says.

China, however, is on a demographic cliff, facing severe population aging and low fertility rates. Its population of young workers aged 25-44 year-olds is projected to decline much faster and sooner than its overall population, leveling out against the labor and innovation gains the United States makes through the inflow of international talent into U.S. universities and entrepreneurial ventures. To sustain its long-term growth in labor quality and innovation, China will need higher birth rates and additional talent gains through migration, argues Liang.

James Feyrer’s book chapter examines the macroeconomic relationship between workforce demographics and aggregate productivity in Asia. Feyrer confirms that the high-income Asian nations like Japan and Korea, and even some middle-income countries of the region, will no longer enjoy a “demographic dividend” boosting aggregate productivity. However, he finds that the negative consequences of shifting to an older population structure may be less severe than previously projected, and even weakening with time. Feyrer believes this may be a result of improved food security and better overall health experienced by old cohorts in childhood, reinforcing the long-reaching impacts of healthcare on societal well-being.

Joon-Shik Park focused on the specific challenges facing Korean society, where birth rates have dropped severely. These historic declines continue to contribute to rising social and political unevenness across Korean society today. Initially seen most visibly in rural areas and smaller villages, Park’s now sees this unevenness affecting the dynamics of medium-sized towns and more urban areas as well. Korea and other aging societies must find viable solutions to address these issues if they are to prevent demographic divides from hobbling development and innovation, Park says.

Closing the book launch event, APARC Research scholar Kenji Kushida offers perspectives from rapidly aging Japan. where the challenges of shrinking and aging populations, rural-to-urban population distribution, and labor shortages spur advances in technology and innovation. Kushida documents this trend across multiple sectors.

He shows that drone technology has increased the productivity of short-staffed surveying firms, while AI-assisted industrial machines allow a broader range of laborers to work in manufacturing. Even in traditionally human-dominated environments like nursing homes, staff increasingly use robots to help improve the physical and mental well-being of elderly patients. Rather than strictly retarding growth, Kushida makes the case that demographic challenges serve as a catalyst for the development and implementation of new technologies.

As the research collected in Demographics and Innovation in the Asia-Pacific demonstrates, the challenges facing aging Asian societies are complex, but there is reason to look to the future with optimism. As the editors of the volume state in their introduction to the book, “Few concepts are as critical for sustained improvement in living standards as innovation.” New technologies and solutions will be foundational to addressing the challenges of the new demographic frontiers many societies are now approaching.

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Demographics and Innovation in the Asia-Pacific
"Demographics and Innovation in the Asia-Pacific" examines the impacts of Asia's demographic challenges on the development of new technology and innovation.
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Contributing authors to the new volume 'Demographics and Innovation in the Asia-Pacific' convened for a virtual book launch and discussion of the challenges facing aging societies in East Asia and the roles technology and innovation may play in rebalancing them.

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Book cover showing a robotic hand holding an older human hand.

Demographic transition, along with the economic and geopolitical re-emergence of Asia, are two of the largest forces shaping the twenty-first century, but little is known about the implications for innovation. The countries of East Asia have some of the oldest age structures on the planet: between now and 2050, the population that is age 65 and older will increase to more than one in four Chinese, and to more than one in three Japanese and Koreans. Other economies with younger populations, like India, face the challenge of fully harnessing the “demographic dividend” from large cohorts in the working ages.

This book delves into how such demographic changes shape the supply of innovation and the demand for specific kinds of innovation in the Asia-Pacific. Social scientists from Asia and the United States offer multidisciplinary perspectives from economics, demography, political science, sociology, and public policy; topics range from the macroeconomic effects of population age structure, to the microeconomics of technology and the labor force, to the broader implications for human well-being. Contributors analyze how demography shapes productivity and the labor supply of older workers, as well as explore the aging population as consumers of technologies and drivers of innovations to meet their own needs, as well as the political economy of spatial development, agglomeration economies, urban-rural contrasts, and differential geographies of aging.

Desk, examination, or review copies can be requested through Stanford University Press.

Table of contents and chapter 1, introduction
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Karen Eggleston
Gi-Wook Shin
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Shorenstein APARC
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Gary Mukai
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Stanford e-Kawasaki is an online course for high school students in Kawasaki City, Japan, that is sponsored by Kawasaki City. Launched in fall 2019, it is offered by the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) in collaboration with Kawasaki City. SPICE is grateful to Kawasaki Mayor Norihiko Fukuda whose vision made this course possible. 


The two key themes of Stanford e-Kawasaki are entrepreneurship and diversity, and Stanford e-Kawasaki Instructor Maiko Tamagawa Bacha invites guest speakers with these themes in mind. Most guest speakers address one of the themes. However, when Victoria Tsai—a Taiwanese American entrepreneur who is the founder and CEO of Tatcha—agreed to speak, Bacha noted that she could not imagine anyone more qualified to share her insights on both themes. Tatcha was founded by Tsai to share the geisha’s wisdom with modern women everywhere, and to further the belief that true beauty begins with the heart and the mind. Launched in 2009, Tatcha is now one of the biggest skincare retailers in the United States.

While listening to Tsai’s guest lecture on February 5, 2021, Bacha and I were especially struck by her resilience, approachability and gift for empowering youth, openness to diverse perspectives, and respect for traditional culture. We both quickly realized what a great role model she is for all of the Stanford e-Kawasaki students but for the girls, in particular.

Resilience
While sharing her experiences as a young professional on Wall Street, Tsai mentioned that she was 21 and was next to the World Trade Center buildings when they were hit by a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. She recalled, “We saw lots of people jumping and dying and then my husband got very sick and it made me question my purpose in life. And at that time, I didn’t know anything about ikigai [a Japanese concept that means “a reason for being”] but I knew that if I was going to spend the hours that I am awake working and not with my family and not playing, that I wanted my work to mean something.” After experiencing various jobs and going to business school, which “looked good on paper,” she decided to seek work with a greater purpose.

This led her to establish Tatcha. Tsai mentioned to the students that she hadn’t taken a salary at Tatcha for nine years. This prompted a student to ask about her motivation, to which Tsai replied, “When I think of my life’s purpose, I don’t expect it to be easy, but I do hope that it’s worthwhile. This work is my life’s purpose, so even when it gets hard, I just think, ‘that’s part of life.’” During the pandemic, I imagine that Tsai’s resilience really resonated among the students.

Approachability and Gift for Empowering Youth
I knew from articles about Tsai that she is a Harvard Business School graduate and an extremely successful CEO. Yet, by accepting the invitation to speak to the high school students in Kawasaki—some of whom are aspiring entrepreneurs—she demonstrated her desire to pass on her wisdom to the next generation. Prior to Tsai’s guest lecture, Bacha had sent her a list of questions that the students had written based on their reading about Tsai’s background. In her opening comments, Tsai noted, “You are much more advanced than I was. I could not compete with you.”

This comment seemed to quickly put students at ease. One of the students commented, “I think it’s wonderful that you found purpose in life and help people… A lot of young people like me and my friends feel lost in life, don’t have a dream or long-term vision of our lives, so I want to know how can we find our own purpose in life or dream.” This comment prompted Tsai to describe an activity that was devised by Harvard Business School’s Dr. Tim Butler, who has noted that as youth, they actually already have a hunch about what they want to be when they grow up, but just don’t know the specific names of the jobs. Tsai continued, “then, the problem is when you get older, you start hearing your friends, parents, and teachers saying, ‘oh, you should do that.’ And then in your head you can’t tell anymore if you really want to do something, or if you simply think you should do it because everybody else thinks you should do it.” The activity that Butler recommends is in two parts: (1) read articles that interest you, and identify patterns (specifically, areas of interest) in them; and (2) while keeping these interests in mind, write about what you envision yourself doing in ten years as you are the happiest that you have ever been—that is, completely focused and engaged. Tsai encouraged the students to try this, and some already have.

Openness to Diverse Perspectives
When a student asked Tsai about overcoming gender- and culture-related differences, she reflected upon three experiences: one on the trading floor on Wall Street and two in Kyoto with a taxi driver and geisha. Concerning her Wall Street experience, Tsai recollected, “When I first worked on Wall Street and I walked onto the trading floor, I was so scared. One, there were no women, and I couldn’t even understand what they were saying because they were speaking financial language… I remember being so intimidated. Then one year later, I could understand everything.” She came to the conclusion that “These people are not smarter than me. They’re just older, and the harder I work, the faster I can close the gap in knowledge. I have a great education, I have a decent mind, I have a very strong work ethic, I’ll just keep asking questions. So I figured it out.”

Concerning her experience with a taxi driver in Kyoto, Tsai noted that he is the one who taught her that there’s a difference between a job and a purpose. Through his actions, the driver taught her that his job is to be a driver but that his purpose is to make people happy. When he met Tsai for the first time, she was not feeling well and thus didn’t seem happy. After dropping off Tsai at her hotel, he went home to make CDs of images of Kyoto and delivered them to the hotel, thinking that the images would make her happy. They did and he felt only then that his job had been completed. Tsai reflected, “… and that just stuck with me and I did not know what omotenashi [hospitality that goes above and beyond the expectations of the person receiving the service] was back then, but then I felt it in my heart.”

Lastly, concerning her experience with geisha, who inspired Tatcha’s skincare products, Tsai noted “People in America don’t understand what a geisha is. The importance of a geisha is they were trained in a lot of the classical Japanese arts, such as dance, music, flower arrangement, and the tea ceremony. These are classical traditions that have very important meanings. I think that if you forget where you come from, then you don’t know where you are going. And so I try to hold on to tradition, because it matters. I just thought that’s a beautiful thing… I learned so much from geisha about entrepreneurship and about women’s empowerment through Japanese traditions.”

Respect for Traditional Culture
Her emphasis on Japanese traditions prompted a student to comment, “I was surprised that you made an innovation from old Japanese culture. However, there is a trend to discard old customs. So, how can we get a balance between new trends and old customs?” Tsai shared that what is so interesting about ancient civilizations like China and Japan is that “there is a lot of wisdom in this and something to learn from the past. What we try to do [at Tatcha] is to innovate within tradition, so I never tried to change the core of the tradition, because if it lasted 1000 years, there’s a very good reason for its continuity.”

What Does It Mean to Be a Global Citizen?
One very interesting part of Tsai’s presentation was to learn about Tatcha’s work with Room to Read, which seeks to transform the lives of millions of children in low-income communities in Southeast Asia and Africa by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education. A percentage of each Tatcha purchase is donated to Room To Read. Despite the enormity of some of the challenges that these youth face, Tsai noted that “they have a dream and they show up every day and they study hard and they work hard because they want that dream to come true. Nothing that I will ever face in my life will compare to what these little girls are going through, but then I think if I do my job and I don’t give up, then I can make sure thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of those girls can have a different life, and then my life meant something.” This really resonated in Bacha, who is very familiar with Room to Read as her husband works for the organization.

Reflecting upon the session, Tsai noted “I learned about the concept of sekaijin [global citizen] when studying the writings of D.T. Suzuki, and I fell in love with the idea. As people who live between cultures, we have the opportunity to share the best of both worlds to advance society and uplift individuals. It was an honor to share my story of cross-cultural entrepreneurship with the students, who were inquisitive, earnest, and wise beyond their years. I believe that Stanford’s e-Kawasaki program is helping to nurture tomorrow’s sekaijin.” When I consider the question, “What does it mean to be a global citizen?,” Tsai immediately comes to mind, and believe that Tsai’s talk really encouraged the students to aspire to become sekaijin as well.


The SPICE staff would like to express its appreciation to Tsuyoshi Inoue of Kawasaki City and Hisashi Katsurayama from the Kawasaki Board of Education for their unwavering support of Stanford e-Kawasaki.

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The entrepreneur and businesswoman spoke to students about how certain key experiences in her life influenced her path.

Authors
Noa Ronkin
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Technological progress boosts productivity and has made societies wealthier, but the impact of new digital technologies could be different from anything seen before. Some experts predict a future with robots and other forms of automation increasingly replacing workers, contributing to stagnant income, and worsening inequality. Yet it is difficult to pinpoint the net impact of advanced technologies on labor. There is anecdotal evidence that robotics and automation reduce manufacturing employment and wages, but evidence from the service sector remains scant. Collaborative research by APARC experts is now starting to fill this gap.

The researchers — including Karen Eggleston, APARC deputy director and director of the Asia Health Policy Program (AHPP), Yong Suk Lee, the deputy director of the Korea Program, and University of Tokyo health economist Toshiaki Iizuka, a former AHPP visiting scholar — set out to probe the impact of robots on services provided in nursing homes in Japan. Their study, one of the first investigations of service sector robots, offers an offset to the dystopian predictions of robot job replacement.

Published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, the study suggests that robot adoption has increased employment opportunities for non-regular care workers, helped mitigate the turnover problem that plagues nursing homes, and provided greater flexibility for workers. It is also published in AHPP's working paper series and is part of a broader research project by Eggleston, Lee, and Iizuka, that explores the impact of robots on nursing home care in Japan and the implications of robotic technologies adoption in aging societies.

Since we are currently still in the early phase of robot diffusion in the service sector, researchers and policymakers need to continue to monitor and assess the extent to which robots complement or augment some types of labor while substituting for others.
Eggleston, Lee, and Iizuka

[Subscribe to APARC's newsletters for the latest analysis from our experts.]

Japan has been on the front lines of a demographic crisis, grappling with a declining overall population, increasing proportion of seniors, and aversion to large-scale immigration. It has also been an early adopter of robots to address the shortage of care workers relative to a growing demand for long-term care services. Japan’s experience is especially instructive as more countries face aging populations, helping shed light on how demographics interact with new automation technologies.

In a VoxEU.org article, Eggleston, Lee, and Iizuka describe their study, its findings, and its implications. Examining the relationship between robot adoption and nursing home staffing in Japan, they find that robot-adopting nursing homes had between 3% and 8% more staff than their non-adopting counterparts. The increases in staffing occurred entirely among the non-regular employees. Nursing homes with robots also appeared to have higher management quality and were better able to reduce the burden on care workers. The results suggest “that the wave of technologies that inspires fear in many countries could help remedy the social and economic challenges posed by population aging in others.”

The Financial Times Magazine has recently featured the study by Eggleston, Lee, and Iizuka, calling it “groundbreaking in several ways but perhaps most clearly for setting its sights not on manufacturing but on the services sector, where robots are only just beginning to make their mark.” The great value of the study, the article notes, is that it lays the foundation for an empirical debate “on a subject that will be deluged with human emotion as robots continue their march into the services sector.”

You can also listen to a Financial Times podcast that features the new study (the segment starts at 4:52).

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In one of the first studies of service sector robotics, APARC scholars examine the impacts of robots on nursing homes in Japan. They find that robot adoption may not be detrimental to labor and may help address the challenges of rapidly aging societies.

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This event is co-sponsored with the generous support of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), the Japan Society of Northern California, and the Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Northern California.

Simultaneous interpretation (English <=> Japanese) will be offered. 同時通訳があります。

Ten years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake devastated Japan’s northeast. As a country that has experienced a variety of natural disasters throughout its history, Japan has developed various preventive and remedial technologies and social mechanisms, especially since the 1995 Hanshin Earthquake and the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. California has had similar experiences with natural disasters, particularly earthquakes, and it has developed its own preventive measures. On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake, this conference features two keynote speakers who have directly dealt with the aftermaths of recent earthquakes in Japan – Makoto Iokibe, who was the Chairman of the Reconstruction Design Council in Response to the Great East Japan Earthquake and is the author of The Era of Great Disasters, and Ikuo Kabashima, who as the Governor of Kumamoto led the recovery efforts from a major earthquake in 2016 and flooding in 2020. The conference will also provide a forum for speakers from Japan and California to learn from each other the cutting-edge approaches toward reducing the damages of natural disasters. 

大災害の時代における防災の最前線:東日本大震災から10年を経て

東日本大震災が関東・東北地方に大被害をもたらしてからすでに10年が経とうとしている 。その歴史の中で、多くの自然災害を経験してきた日本は、特に1995年の阪神大震災と2011年の東日本大震災以来、様々な防災・減災のための技術やシステムの開発に取り組んできた。一方で、地震など同じような自然災害を多く経験してきたカリフォルニアでも、独自の災害対策が進められてきた。東日本大震災から10年の節目に当たって、このコンフェレンスでは、東日本大震災復興会議議長として、復興への道のりをリードしてきた五百旗頭真氏(近著「大災害の時代」)と、熊本県知事として、2016年の地震と2020年の水害という大きな災害からの復興を指揮してきた蒲島郁夫氏の二人に基調講演をお願いし、日本の災害と復興の歩みについてご報告いただく。さらには、日本とカリフォルニアそれぞれから防災・減災の最前線で活躍する識者を招き、双方の取り組みについての理解を深め、新たな災害対策の道筋を探ることを目指す。

AGENDA (Pacific Time)

4:00 – 4:15 PM Opening remarks and Greetings from Gi-Wook Shin (Director of Shorenstein APARC, Stanford University), Ambassador Eleni Kounalakis (Lieutenant Governor of California) and Toru Maeda (Consul General of Japan, San Francisco)

4:15 – 5:00 PM Presentation from Cal OES, Keidanren, Fujitsu Laboratories, Research Institute for Earth Science Visualization Technology and JETRO

5:00 – 6:30 PM Keynote speakers: Kumamoto Governor, Ikuo Kabashima

Talk title: Dreams in Adversity & Making the Impossible Possible: The Politics of Disaster Response. 逆境の中にこそ夢がある ~不可能を可能に 災害対応の政治~

Makoto Iokibe, Chairman of the Reconstruction Design Council in Response to the Great East Japan Earthquake

Talk title: On Reconstruction from the Great East Japan Earthquake. 東日本大震災の復興について

6:30 – 7:00 PM Q&A Session 

SPEAKERS

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Ikuo Kabashima
Ikuo Kabashima, previously a Professor of Law at the University of Tokyo, became the Governor of Kumamoto Prefecture in 2008 and is currently serving in his fourth term. He displayed his leadership and creative thinking skills when he led the recovery efforts following both the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake and the 2020 Kyushu Flooding disasters. After graduating from high school in Kumamoto he worked at a local agricultural cooperative. Ikuo Kabashima moved to the United States in 1968 as an agricultural research student and enrolled in the faculty of agriculture at the University of Nebraska in 1971, where he researched preservation techniques for pig semen. He entered a Master’s program at the University of Nebraska in 1974. Following this he pursued a Ph.D in Political Economy at Harvard University. After returning to Japan he became a professor at the Institute of Policy and Planning Sciences at Tsukuba University, and eventually became a Professor of Law at the University of Tokyo in 1997 where he specialized in political process theory and quantitative methods in political science. He was named a Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo in 2008. Kabashima has also served as the chairman of the Japanese Association of Electoral Studies and the vice-president of the International Political Science Association (IPSA). Under the guidance of Samuel P. Huntington, he is also credited with achievements for his empirical research on voting behavior and political development theory surrounding political participation in the United States. 

2008年4月、東京大学法学部教授から熊本県知事に就任し、現在4期目。2016年の熊本地震、2020年の豪雨災害などで、災害対応の陣頭指揮を執り、創造的復興に手腕を発揮。熊本県の高校を卒業後、地元農協に勤務。1968年に農業研究生として渡米し、1971年ネブラスカ大学農学部に入学。豚の精子の保存方法を研究し、1974年、ネブラスカ大学大学院修士課程に進学。その後、ハーバード大学大学院博士課程に入学。政治経済学を研究し、博士号を取得。帰国後、筑波大学社会工学系教授などを歴任した後、1997年から東京大学法学部教授に着任。専門は、政治過程論、計量政治学。2008年、東京大学名誉教授。日本選挙学会理事長、世界政治学会副会長などを歴任。アメリカではサミュエル・ハンチントンなどの指導を受け、投票行動の実証的研究や政治参加に関する政治発展理論において業績をあげる。

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Iokibe
Makoto Iokibe is Chancellor of the University of Hyogo and President of the Hyogo Earthquake Memorial 21st Century Research Institute. He is also Professor Emeritus of Japanese political and diplomatic history, Kobe University and Former President of the National Defense Academy of Japan. After the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, Professor Iokibe was appointed Chairperson of the Reconstruction Design Council in Response to the Great East Japan Earthquake, a government-established advisory panel of scholars and experts for formulating governmental reconstruction guidelines. Following the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake, he served as Chairperson of the Expert Group for Reconstruction and Recovery from the Kumamoto Earthquake. Among his many publications, his volume Nichibeikankeishi (Yuhikaku, 2008) has recently been translated by the Japan Library and published as “The History of US-Japan Relations: From Perry to the Present” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017). His most recent book is “The Era of Great Disasters: Japan and Its Three Major Earthquakes” (University of Michigan Press 2020), a translation of Daisaigai no Jidai(Mainichi Shinbun Shuppan 2016).

1943年兵庫県西宮市生まれ。京都大学法学部卒業。同大学院法学研究科修士課程修了。法学博士。専門は日本政治外交史。神戸大学法学部教授、防衛大学校長、熊本県立大学理事長などを経て、現在(公財)ひょうご震災記念21世紀研究機構理事長、兵庫県立大学理事長。この間、日本政治学会理事長、政府の東日本大震災復興構想会議議長、くまもと復旧・復興有識者会議座長なども歴任。文化功労者。主な著書に「米国の日本占領政策」上下(中央公論社、サントリー学芸賞受賞)、「日米戦争と戦後日本」(講談社学術文庫、吉田茂賞受賞)、「大災害の時代」(毎日新聞出版)ほか多数。

PRESENTERS 

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Gi-Wook Shin
Gi-Wook Shin, (Stanford University), is the William J. Perry Professor of Contemporary Korea in Sociology and Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.  He established Stanford’s Korea Program in 2001 and has been directing the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford since 2005.  His research concentrates on social movements, nationalism, development, and international relations, with focus on Korea and broader Asia. Shin is the author/editor of over 20 books and numerous articles, including Divergent Memories: Opinion Leaders and the Asia-Pacific WarOne Alliance, Two Lenses: U.S.-Korea Relations in a New EraCross Currents: Regionalism and Nationalism in Northeast Asia; and Ethnic Nationalism in Korea.  Shin’s current research initiatives include Global Talent Flows and Rise of Populism and Nationalism. Before coming to Stanford, Shin taught at the University of Iowa and the University of California, Los Angeles. He holds a B.A from Yonsei University in Korea and M.A and Ph.D from the University of Washington.

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Eleni-Kounalakis
Ambassador Eleni Kounalakis, (Lieutenant Governor of California) was sworn in as the 50th Lieutenant Governor of California by Governor Gavin Newsom on January 7th, 2019. She is the first woman elected to the post. From 2010 to 2013, Kounalakis served as US Ambassador to the Republic of Hungary and in 2015 published her acclaimed memoir, “Madam Ambassador, Three Years of Diplomacy, Dinner Parties and Democracy in Budapest” (The New Press). Prior to her service, Kounalakis spent 18 years as an executive at one of California’s most respected housing development firms, AKT Development. Throughout her career, she served on numerous boards and commissions including California’s First 5 Commission, the San Francisco War Memorial, San Francisco Port Commission and the Association of American Ambassadors. Eleni Kounalakis graduated from Dartmouth College in 1989, earned her MBA from U.C. Berkeley’s Haas School of Business in 1992 and holds an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the American College of Greece. She is married to Dr. Markos Kounalakis and the couple has two teenage sons, Neo and Eon.

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Toru Maeda
Toru Maeda, (Consul General of Japan in San Francisco), began his career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan in 1985 and has been in the foreign service for the last 35 years. Prior to his arrival in San Francisco in February 2020, he served as Minister / Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of Japan in Myanmar. Over the past decade, he has held several senior positions in both overseas and domestic assignments, including Director General and subsequently Senior Vice President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Minister / Head of Chancery of the Permanent Mission of Japan in Geneva, and Minister in charge of economic affairs of the Embassy of Japan in Indonesia. His other postings in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs include Director positions in the International Cooperation Bureau and Intelligence and Analysis Service. He received his B.A. in Law from the University of Tokyo and M.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.

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Ichiro Sone
Ichiro Soné, (Executive Vice President, JETRO), was appointed Executive Vice President of the Japan External Trade Organization in October 2019. Previously, Mr. Soné served as Director-General of JETRO Osaka, overseeing the Kansai and Hokuriku regions. Before Osaka, he served as Chief Executive Director of JETRO Chicago, where he oversaw the office’s activities designed to facilitate trade and investment between Japan and 12 Midwestern states. Mr. Soné  joined JETRO in 1988 after graduating Doshisha University in Kyoto with a bachelor’s degree in art and aesthetics. He has a deep knowledge in international business through working in the Trade Fair Department and Invest Japan Department at JETRO Headquarters in Tokyo, and the North America Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His previous overseas postings were JETRO offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago.

Yasuhiro Uozumi, (Executive Director of Keidanren USA), 

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Yasuhiro Uozumi
has been Executive Director of Keidanren USA since June 2018. Mr. Uozumi joined Keidanren more than two decades ago. In the course of his career there, he is noted for his expertise on such issues as accounting, taxation, industrial policies, transportation and emerging markets, especially in Southeast Asia and Latin America. He also served as Secretary to the Keidanren Chairman. Mr. Uozumi earned his B.A. in Economics at the University of Tokyo and his MBA from Said Business School at the University of Oxford. He also conducted research on accounting at the Program on U.S.-Japan Relations of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. He is a Certified Public Accountant. Keidanren is committed to the realization of Society 5.0 for SDGs. 

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Lori Nezhura
Lori Nezhura, (Cal OES Deputy Director of Planning, Preparedness, and Prevention), has worked for the State of California since 2006. She is currently the Deputy Director of Planning, Preparedness, and Prevention, a role which includes oversite of the agency’s seismic hazards branch, dam safety, radiological preparedness, and statewide all-hazards emergency and continuity planning efforts. Additionally, she oversees the California Specialized Training Institute, a statewide enterprise with responsibility for supporting training, exercises, and education in wide variety of areas including, but not limited to, emergency management, public safety, homeland security, hazardous materials, disaster recovery, and crisis communications. Prior to her current role, Lori spent almost six years as the Legislative Coordinator at the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and nine years at the California Student Aid Commission as Legislative Director, Program Manager, and various Analyst roles. Lori received her baccalaureate degree from Arizona Christian University in Phoenix and her post-baccalaureate teacher certification at Arizona State University in Tempe. After receiving her teaching credential, she moved to Saitama Prefecture in Japan for two years to teach English as a Second Language. Upon her return to the United States, she taught elementary classes at Carden Christian Academy for ten years before going into state service.

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Akihiro Shibahara
Dr. Akihiko Shibahara, (CEO, Research Institute for Earth Science Visualization Technology Co.,), is a geologist, paleontologist, and 3D-CAM (computer-aided manufacturing) engineer. He received a Doctorate degree of Science from Tsukuba University, and he worked as a curator at the Geological Museum in AIST.  His recent research has focused on the visualization of earth science, such as underground data or hazard maps using 3D modeling techniques.  In 2016, he established the Institute for Earth Science Visualization Technology as an AIST Start-ups to implement his research activity. He is also working at the Institute of Dinosaur Research Investigation in Fukui Prefectural University as a Visiting Professor to visualize the spatial relationship between geology and paleontology. Earth Science Visualization Technology established several techniques of building up finely-detailed 3D miniatures to visualize geological information and hazard maps. 

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Yusuke Oishi
Dr. Yusuke Oishi​, (Fujitsu Laboratories LTD.), is a project director of Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at Fujitsu Laboratories LTD. Since 2014 he has also been a specially appointed associate professor of International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS), Tohoku University. He joined Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. in 2007 and has been engaged in research on simulation, high performance computing, and artificial intelligence. From 2010 to 2014, he was a visiting researcher at Imperial College London, where he was engaged in tsunami research using 3D fluid simulation. In collaboration with Tohoku University, the University of Tokyo, and Kawasaki City, he and his collaborators started a joint project in 2017 for disaster mitigation utilizing cutting-edge ICT such as artificial intelligence and supercomputing. The project aims to realize effective disaster mitigation by repeatedly implementing technology development, technology evaluation by citizens, and technology improvement.

MODERATOR 

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Kiyoteru Tsutsui
Kiyoteru Tsutsui, (Stanford University), is Henri H. and Tomoye Takahashi Professor and Senior Fellow in Japanese Studies at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University, where he is also Director of the Japan Program, a Senior Fellow of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and a Professor of Sociology. He is the author of Rights Make Might: Global Human Rights and Minority Social Movements in Japan (Oxford University Press, 2018), co-editor of Corporate Responsibility in a Globalizing World (Oxford University Press, 2016) and co-editor of The Courteous Power: Japan and Southeast Asia in the Indo-Pacific Era (University of Michigan Press, forthcoming 2021). 

This event is being held virtually via Zoom. Please register for the webinar via the following link/登録はこちらから​: https://bit.ly/3s7hAnl

 

 

Ikuo Kabashima <br><I>Governor of Kumamoto Prefecture</i><br><br>
Makoto Iokibe <br><I>Chairman of the Reconstruction Design Council in Response to the Great East Japan Earthquake</i><br><br>
Gi-Wook Shin <br><I>Stanford University</i><br><br>
Ambassador Eleni Kounalakis <br><I>Lieutenant Governor of California</i><br><br>
Toru Maeda <br><I>Consul General of Japan, San Francisco</i><br><br>
Ichiro Sone <br><I>Executive Vice President, JETRO</i><br><br>
Yasuhiro Uozumi <br><I>Executive Director of Keidanren USA</i><br><br>
Lori Nezhura <br><I>Cal OES Deputy Director of Planning, Preparedness, and Prevention</i><br><br>
Akihiro Shibahara <br><I>Research Institute for Earth Science Visualization Technology</i><br><br>
Yusuke Oishi​ <br><I>Fujitsu Laboratories</i><br><br>
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