Since the Japan Bubble began both substantially on 13 and officially on 19 December, the task of my institute called “IISIA” was slightly changed. So far, it aimed at persuading the Japanese of the bubble of their own national economy. From now on, the IISIA will focus on thinking of brandnew rules for the human community beyond the financial capitalism, which will come to an end with the Japan Bubble till around the latter half of 2015. Intuitively, I’m firmly confident of that the Japanese will play an extremely important role for this world shift. Why?

During this historical world shift, all of us will be faced with accelerating volatilities in every sphere of our lives. Therefore, it will become more and more difficult to anticipate what will occur in the near future. That will lead to the age of uncertainty and anxiety. We will begin to give up bridging between “now” and “future”. Instead, we will concentrate rather on surviving at this very moment.

The age of anxiety and uncertainty, which will begin in this manner, will highlight the importance of being future-oriented paradoxically. And in order to be future-oriented, we always need to freely imagine our own future. No imagination, no future.

You may now ask yourself, “Just to imagine the future is not sufficient to realize it.” Yes, of course. You’re are quite right, but only partially. Why?

The point is not whether we imagine or not, but how we imagine. From my view point, the solution to get out of anxiety and uncertainty is as follows:

-First of all, concentrate on “backcasting”. That means, we must learn from the past intensively. Only from that, you can acquire historical rules of causality, which never changes and is applicable even to the future.

-When you will have got these rules or “framework of thinking” to a certain extent, the next phase will begin without any prior notice: You might suddenly become aware of the meaning of something or someone you will encounter then. This phenomenon called “synchronicity” always leads to unintended forecasting. Simply saying, you might foresee the future.

-Because this will occur only in the world of your imagination, nobody except for you will be able to understand what you will mean. Under this circumstance, you will then need explain “logically” to your friends and colleagues what you will have anticipated by imagination.

-At this moment, the true “leadership” will be launched. After you will have set a target for the future you anticipate, you will have to formulate strategies to reach it. Besides that, you will continue to persuade your friends and colleagues of the future you will have anticipated, since they will still doubt it sometimes. In an extreme case, nobody will be helpful at first, and only you will have to move forward. A strong and decisive will and capacity will be needed. However, don’t be afraid to be alone. In German, they say, “Wenn der Wille ist, setzt er sich durch.” While you will continue to make efforts to reach the goal you will have anticipated, the reality will be changed gradually. Some day, the “moment of the truth” will surely come, and everyone will praise you for having grasped the future correctly in advance. The leadership will be then completed.

Well, this is the arcanum of imagination. As long as you stick to your own interest and happiness, you’re never capable of moving forward. Once you understand the destiny, you may not pay attention to yourself. The only thing to do for you is to step forward in accordance with your own imagination or sense of unity with the universe.

You might know “Kadou (“Tea Ceremony” or “Way of Flower Decoration”)”, “Sadou (Way of Tea)”, or “Judo” in the Japanese traditional culture. The word “DOU （道）” means actually this sense of unity with the universe.  Based on that, the Japanese are potentially most capable of showing the above described leadership, although their majority don’t practice these “DOU”s or “Ways” any more. In this mean, it’s urgently important to let them recall their own predominance to grasp the future thanks to the traditional sense of unity with the universe.

The goal of my institute, the “IISIA”, from the next year is to somehow form a platform to revitalize this original capability of the Japanese. Now that the agenda is fixed, I’m really excited to reach the future step by step.

Last but not least…”I wish all of you a merry Christmas from Sapporo!”