I paid a very interesting visit to Akita, in the north of Japan, in September, to talk to students at the Akita International University there - a high-quality, but still quite small, institution. The working language on campus is English, and all the degree students complete one year of study abroad (and about a quarter of their graduation requirements in this way). There is a long list of one for one student exchanges with many of the world's best universities, including ten in the UK (with Leeds at the top of the list in terms of numbers at the moment).
The University have been kind enough to invite a number of foreign Ambassadors to talk about the role of Japan in a changing world, and I kicked off the season with a talk mainly on climate change. You can read the full text here. It followed the new Prime Minister's commitment to the new medium term emission reduction target of 25% by 2020, which we strongly welcome. Prime Minister Hatoyama made this a key message in his appearances at the UN General Assembly last week.
We had a lively and friendly Q and A discussion. One man asked me why I was saying all this in Akita, which has a beautiful rural environment (it does), when whenever he'd been to London, he'd seen precisely the opposite! (I hope I responded diplomatically.) On the other hand, another questioner asked whether there were ways in which UK industry could help get the message across to Japanese business that the target was achievable. Yes, people worry about what the economic effects of the new policy will be. But the reality is that Japan has the technology to make this work. And making it work will help get the economy moving again.
I was also fascinated by the emphasis on agricultural self-sufficiency - not just with this audience, but when I saw the Governor and the Mayor the following day. What Japanese see as a low level (around 40%) is a worry here, and particularly in a very rural area like Akita - much more so than in the UK where the emphasis is different. I make the point that the price of Japanese rice is still much higher than on the world market. In Europe, there is a much greater sense of how wrong it is to subsidise food prices when farmers in developing countries have difficulty making ends meet. And in the UK the issue is now seen as one of food security - secured through diverse sources of supply and open trading relationships - rather than as being purely about domestic production.
And it's great to meet the British students at the University, and some of the young British teachers working here on the JET scheme, and to be stimulated by their enthusiasm and energy, as they settle into what is for many an unfamiliar but very exciting environment.
Posted at 11:52 06 October 2009 by David Warren | Comments[0]
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