How can Japan continue to grow as its demographic crisis deepens? The answer may well be hiding in plain sight. Japan must work harder than ever to make the most of the skills and talents of all its people.
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Leprosy victims still face legal barriers to travel, education, and employment. In some cases, discrimination makes it impossible for people to marry and raise a family. The Nippon Foundation and the International Bar Association recently launched an international campaign to get rid of these unfair laws. Paul Melly reports.
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The following article is based on a speech made by Wang Haibo, a prominent Chinese economist and honorary member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Wang describes the reasons for his view that there is a bright future ahead for relations between Japan and China.
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Forty years ago, in 1972, diplomatic relations between China and Japan were normalized. In order to commemorate that historical event, a workshop was held in Beijing on March 14–15, 2012. The participants, who included Ogoura Kazuo and Zhao Qizheng, engaged in a discussion focused on the complex duality of Chinese-Japanese relations.
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On March 15, 2012, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and China, a workshop on public diplomacy was held at the Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs in Beijing. Leading the discussions were Ogoura Kazuo, former president of the Japan Foundation, and Zhao Qizheng, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conferences. In the first of a three-part series, we present a summary of the dialogue at the workshop.
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Washington DC-based journalist Massoud Hayoun offers his reflections on attending the 2012 WANA Forum held in Amman, Jordan. From his perspective as an Arab-American, he emphasizes the need for the Arab diaspora to play an active role in encouraging growth in the Middle East and North Africa and for the region to learn from the success of Asia.
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The Forum 2000 is held in Prague every year. In 2011, the subject of the conference was “Democracy and the Rule of Law.” Nippon.com talked to Fujiwara Kiichi, a professor of international politics at the University of Tokyo, who gave a keynote address on “The Rule of Law in Asia” during the panel discussions.
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Every year, the city of Prague hosts the Forum 2000 international conference, established to promote global dialogue on the key challenges facing human societies around the world. Last October was the fifteenth conference—and for cofounder Václav Havel, it was also the last. The democratic activist and former Czech president died in December, but his moral legacy lives on.
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On September 11–12, 2011, six months after the Tōhoku earthquake, an international expert symposium took place at Fukushima Medical University. The symposium featured active debate on the radiation and health effects of the disaster among 40 experts and researchers from Japan and abroad.
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The Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA) administers and manages Sasakawa Global 2000, a program to bring about food security in sub-Saharan Africa. It celebrated 25 years in November 2011. A symposium to mark the event took place on November 2–4 in Bamako, the capital city of Mali. Malian president Amadou Toumani Touré and Sasakawa Yōhei, chairman of the Nippon Foundation, were among those in attendance. British journalist Paul Melly was on hand to report for Nippon.com.
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