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Visit to India [2011年09月21日(Wed)]
Visit to India


I will leave for India today, September 21.

The main objective of my work in India is to fulfill my most important work of having not a single leprosy affected person in India to have to beg for their living.
I will be meeting with state officials and the media, and visiting leprosy colonies

In Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, I will meet with the State Minister for Health and other state government officials in addition to a visit to a health center. In Raipur, the state capital, I am scheduled to have a meeting with the State Minister for Women and Child Development and Social Welfare, Sports and Youth Welfare and attend the Media Workshop.

In Hyderabad, the state capital of Andhra Pradesh, SILF (Sasakawa India Leprosy Foundation) micro credit presentation ceremony, visits to colonies and meetings with state officials, Leprosy Human Rights Conference and the opening of the Chetana Office are scheduled.

In Delhi, I will be giving a welcome speech at the WHO Global Leprosy Programme Managers’ Meeting, visiting to a leprosy colony, and meetings with the Minister of Law and Justice and Minister of Health and Family Welfare as well as visiting the Indian Medical Association.

I am scheduled to return to Tokyo on September 30.
Posted by Y.Sasakawa at 09:00 | LEPROSY | URL | comment(0)
The US-Japan Alliance After March 11 [2011年09月21日(Wed)]

At the Willard Hotel where the Japanese delegation stayed 150 years ago to sign the US-Japan Treaty of Amity and Commerce



Inaugural Tokyo/ Washington Dialogue
-The US-Japan Alliance After March 11 -


There is no question that Japan's peace and security is ensured by the US-Japan alliance. To be honest, the Japanese side does little to nurture and maintain it.

The primary reason is the unstable political situation in Japan, but that is not all. It is only with constant nurturing of relations in broad areas, including business, university, students and culture, that mutual trust crucial in any partnership is established.

In the past, scores of individuals and organizations have perspired to establish trusting Japan-US relations. And over a long period, we had good relations that did not cause concern that drove me to act.

Recent relations, however, are nothing but poor. It can hardly be said that we have an alliance based on solid mutual trust. Last year we marked 150 years of the US-Japan Amity and Commerce Treaty, and the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Peace with Japan (commonly known as the San Francisco Peace Treaty), but there were no ceremonies conducted by the governments.

Given the state of affairs, I decided to act truthfully to the teachings of Confucius: To see what is right, and not do it, is want of courage or of principle. So we organized a symposium at the Willard Hotel in Washington D.C. where the Japanese delegation stayed 150 years ago, with the cooperation of the Ocean Policy Research Foundation (Chairman: Masahiro Akiyama) and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, our partner organizations.

Following on the event of the last year, this will be the first of the five-year dialogue in building strategic network of players for Japan-US relations as well as discovering researchers on Japan- US relations, financially supporting such research and nurturing the talents.

I must repeat, that an amateur person like me has to act speaks of the tragic extent of our present relationships.

I attach a gist of my speech on the occasion. I hope you will be good enough to read it.


***************

Inaugural Tokyo-Washington Dialogue
– The US-Japan Alliance After 3/11 –

Yohei Sasakawa, Chairman
The Nippon Foundation

It is a great pleasure and honor to be given this opportunity to speak before you today at this inaugural dialogue to consider the U.S.-Japanese alliance in the wake of the tragedy of March 11th. I wish to express my sincere appreciation to everyone whose efforts have enabled this symposium to take place: especially The Stimson Center, the Ocean Policy Research Foundation, the Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA, and all our friends both in Japan and here in the United States.

As many of you know, this symposium was originally scheduled to take place in May; then the disastrous events that occurred in Japan on March 11th forced its postponement. Nearly six months have now passed since the disaster. During this time, we Japanese have learned a great deal; and we have come to look differently at various things. Among them, the most significant, I believe, is the vital importance of good relations between Japan and the United States. The speed and scale of the disaster relief activities undertaken under the American military’s “Operation Tomodachi” made many Japanese aware of the importance of maintaining close ties with the U.S. Also, the donations raised by the U.S. – from the grass-roots level to the industrial sector – are contributing greatly to recovery in the affected regions. I would like to take this opportunity to express my deepest appreciation to the people of the United States for your generous and warm support.

Since March 11th, the average Japanese citizen has come, in this way, to realize once more how vitally linked our two countries are. However, at the same time, there is concern that positive dialogue between our two governments often breaks down. Important agreements supposedly reached between our two countries last year – concerning national security, economic issues, and cultural and personal exchanges – have apparently failed to go forward. Moreover, issues relating to the reorganization of U.S. military bases in Okinawa and to our Economic Partnership Agreement have been put on hold. Allowing these matters to remain in limbo is of benefit to neither side.

Unfortunately, discussions toward resolving these various issues have made no headway, especially because of Japan’s unstable political situation. I sincerely hope that with the formation of a new Cabinet under Prime Minister Noda, efforts will now resume quickly toward resolving these matters.

As you all know, global society today is undergoing structural changes of historic proportion, symbolized by the emergence of China and the other developing countries. Too little discussion is taking place today, however, concerning what new roles the U.S.-Japanese partnership should play globally in such times, from a medium to long-term perspective. This is a situation that causes me even greater concern. These are times when the U.S. and Japan should be working together to draw up a new blueprint for establishing a solid partnership that will continue long into the future. What’s needed today, I believe, is for the private and public sector to come together to create a framework that will enable ongoing discussions from a long-term perspective, even as immediate issues are being addressed.

In 2008 and 2009 the Nippon Foundation organized three sessions of the U.S.-Japan Sea Power Dialogue, convened in Tokyo and Washington. Last year, we held a symposium marking 150 years of amity between Japan and the U.S. and the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between our two countries. As organizer of these events, we gave much thought to U.S.-Japanese relations. And the feeling we came away with was that seeking ways to resolve specific immediate issues is not enough. What’s also needed are opportunities for taking U.S.-Japanese relations forward to a new stage through wide-ranging discussions within a greater, global context. Your gathering here today, as leaders who can impact U.S.-Japanese relations today and tomorrow, and your engaging in free and open discussions, will unquestionably serve as a first step toward achieving that goal.
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Posted by Y.Sasakawa at 09:00 | URL | comment(0)
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