This weekend, I was invited by JCI to the Kanazawa Conference 2018, where its members from Asia-Pacific region discussed the “Global Goals (SDGs)” and beyond. I was given an oppotunity to deliver a keynote speech. The speech text is shown below. Here you are.
////
“Mobilizing for the Global Goals”
A Speech by
Takeo HARADA
CEO and Representative,
Institute for International Strategy and Information Analysis, Inc. (IISIA))
on the Occasion of
JCI Kanazawa Conference 2018
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is a great honor for me to be allowed to deliver this speech, entitled “Mobilizing for the Global Goals”.
I really appreciate you invite me to such a historical event as the keynote speaker.
My name is Takeo HARADA.
I am CEO and Representative of my own think tank and global consulting firm called “Institute for International Strategy and Information Analysis (IISIA)”, which is located in Tokyo.
First of all, let me introduce myself and my career so far very briefly.
In 1993, I joined the Japanese diplomatic service as a career diplomat.
My professional foreign language in the ministry was German.
And I was intensively educated to serve as the consecutive interpreter for VIPs such as His Majesty Emperor of Japan AKIHITO, His Highness Prince AKISHINO, and Prime Ministers of Japan as well.
Besides that, I was in charge of some significant issues related to Japan’s diplomacy like DPKR issues.
At the very last stage of my diplomatic career, I particularly dealt with nuclear and abductee issues of DPRK.
Having heard this, almost everyone including you, ladies and gentlemen, immediately begin to wonder why I voluntarily quitted my job and career in the ministry.
Well, this question is completely legitimate, I think.
And it is closely related with what I’m about to tell you with this speech.
Allow me please to be a little bit provocative.
The main topic all of you have been discussing in this conference, JCI Kanazawa Conference, is “Global Goals”.
They were unanimously adopted by this conference so far, as you are fully aware.
However, I still have one simple but extremely important question to you:
“Are you really sure that we shall reach the global goals?”
The Global Goals for Sustainable Development are listed up with 17 titles:
– No Poverty
– Zero Hunger
– Good Health and Well-Being
– Quality Education
– Gender Equality
– Clean Water and Sanitation
– Affordable and Clean Energy
– Decent Work and Economic Growth
– Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
– Reduced Inequalities
– Sustainable Cities and Communities
– Responsible Consumption and Production
– Climate Action
– Life below Water
– Life on Land
– Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
– Partnership for the Goals
This list sounds great and is obviously comprehensive.
No one can reject it, as long as he/she wants to remain “human”.
Simply saying, it’s good.
Nevertheless, I’m wondering why the human civilization doesn’t step forward to this direction at all.
Look at the realities we all face together.
Everyone knows there are thousands and thousands people on the globe, who are not able to get enough nutrition.
Everyone knows there are thousands and thousands people in the world, who are not in a good health and rather suffer from severe illness.
Everyone doesn’t expect education in general to be equally footed.
Nobody can deny men and women are indeed treated inequally.
Not everyone can get clean water and sanitation on the globe.
Look at Fukushima.
Are we really reaching “affordable and clean energy” at all?
Are you really confident your company provides every single employee “decent work”?
Are we really innovative enough to maintain economic growth forever?
You can easily find out a lot of heavily polluted mega-cities particularly in emerging countries.
Are they really sustainable?
Nobody is sure how we can consume and produce appropriately.
Climate Action?
Nobody cares it except for business opportunities and tentative fashions.
Nobody prefers the nature to the human being.
The global community is still suffering from total injustice.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I’m afraid to be the minority here.
But please take a little bit time and try to think about what I’ve just asked you.
Again, my question is:
“Are you really sure that we shall reach the global goals?”
From my viewpoint, the situation still remains “NIMYBISM (Not in my backyard”).
Why?
Why can’t the human civilization step forward to the “Global Goals” without any exceptions?
To overcome this historical challenge, I’d like to show you the realities beyond “noble lies”.
As company executives, you immediately understand what this expression means to say.
To evade any unnecessary panics, you’d better keep silence sometimes to both the employees and public.
For leadership of companies, the only task is to reach goals you set.
And to go straightforward, you have to block any nuisance factors by keeping secret what you need not to say to stakeholders.
This is what I meant to say by the expression “Noble lie”.
Now, you’re surrounded by various “noble lies”, such as “global warming”, “digital economy” and “singularity”.
-Major scientists still stick to express “global warming” in the context of “climate change”.
Nevertheless, we all know it’s getting colder and colder in this winter, especially in the northern hemisphere.
Are you really sure that we’re heading to “global warming”?
-Digitalized world and digital economy are highly recommended. “FANG”, Facebook/Amazon/Netflix and Google, let the NYSE rocket. Bitcoin and blockchain follow.
Still, I’m wondering the trend is ambiguous.
Ambiguous, because everybody knows ISIS, the Islamic State, only through Youtube.
Ambiguous, because digital economy divides old and young generations all over the world.
Ambiguous, because digitalized world accelerates volatilities in the financial market, as we’ve just seen with the crash of Bitcoin.
Singularity?
Top digital engineers triumphantly declares it’s about to come true.
Maybe, within 10 or 20 years.
But they do not refer to the fact “Godel ‘s incompleteness theorem” or Gödelscher Unvollständigkeitssatz.
According to this theorem, there are indeed facts, which we can’t calculate mathematically at all.
In short, singularity is determined to fail.
At this point, I stop to show you how your daily life is totally surrounded by this kind of “noble lies”.
Instead, from now on, I want to show you what the real problem is, which all of us just get started to face inevitably.
Every single change on the globe is actually rooted in the irregularity of solar activities we can observe since 2012.
The irregularity of solar activities, which are irreversible.
The typical phenomenon we can find there is the sunspots’ number is dramatically decreasing.
Since the last November, the number has been obviously decreasing, from 26 to 4 and keeps extremely low.
Some of leading scientists point out that the number of sunspots effects the climate tremendously.
Particularly in the period when you have only few sunspots, the climate in the northern hemisphere except for the north pole tends to cool down.
This phenomenon is being caused of drastic changes of ocean currents, which are triggered by changed space rays due to irregularity of solar activities.
Once the temperature is getting lower, your body temperature is simultaneously getting lower.
If it cools down step by step, your immune system is also damaged increasingly.
Eventually, every human beings never survive.
Never ever.
To keep your body warm in spite of the global cooling, you become awfully reluctant to go out.
That is, of course, very harmful to the sound development of global economy.
However, nobody can stop the trend.
Because it’s the sun that matters.
Now, you finally understand such “noble lies” as “global warming”, “digital economy” and “singularity” are widely spoken in the global community.
“Global warming”, because ordinary people shouldn’t be terrified.
“Digital economy”, because you can continue economic activities even in Siberia, where the temperature is now under minus 45℃.
“Singularity”, because you have to keep on believing in your own innovativeness, to reach the future world.
I personally feel “fed up” with these noble lies.
To combat the unprecedented crisis for the human beings as a whole, we all shall get to know the realities and facts we’re now facing.
No insight in reality, no progress and survival at all.
Ladies and gentlemen,
as the only Japanese member of G20 CEO Advisory Group within the framework of International Chamber of Commerce, I’ve been repeatedly trying to wake the audience in this regard by taking various opportunities.
I have nothing at all against the “Global Goals”.
I never oppose to the goals.
What I want to do is rather involving all the human beings to reach the goals.
To do so, we have to face up to the realities of the global world.
From my viewpoint, we should keep on forecasting together and prepare for the future.
If we stop to stick to each of our own interest, objectivities allow us to think about what to do.
My think tank, IISIA, and I continuously release strategic and risk scenarios of the whole world.
Based on that, I’d point out some issues all of you are about to face either immediately or within a few years:
-Massive inflation is about to get started soon in the global market.
Accelerated stratification will lead us to battle against each other.
You’ll remember a phrase in the Bible:
“The rich grow richer and the poor grow poorer”.
-Global Cooling in winter in the northern hemisphere will highlight migration issues.
Limited capacities of appropriate land and nature will increasingly motivate us to fight against each other.
-Hyperinflation will be inevitable. It’ll be followed by domino effect of default.
The unprecedented phenomenon in the global economy will be surely triggered by default of Japan’s sovereign debt, unless something significant against that would be done ASAP.
-The global cooling never stops.
A plenty of infectious diseases damage our human bodies and even life.
Artificial intelligence and robots replace conventional jobs of workforce, which will cause total dissatisfaction in the human society.
Antagonism will become dominant.
I quitted my diplomatic career in 2005, voluntarily.
Because I felt my back were pushed by invisible wind.
I can not describe even now what really was.
But one thing is clear to me:
“In 2005, I couldn’t help from starting something new by myself, because I was born to tell the truth to the people going beyond the barrier of recognition”.
Let us think outside the box together.
Think globally, while anticipating the very near future.
Don’t miss compassion to each other.
Don’t forget the future generation.
To do so, we’re urged to remind ourselves of the “Global Goals for Sustainable Development”, ladies and gentlemen.
It’s not specific interest of our own economy and company, but collective wisdom of the human beings as a whole that now matters.
Currently, I published a book entitled “Pax Japonica” from London, UK.
What I meant to say with this book is not “patriotic” at all.
Rather universal, because Japan, my country is the place where all the modern issues and difficulties begin to hinder the human society from going forward.
Aging society, accumulated sovereign debt, stagnated economy etc.
If we Japanese, particularly company executives and entrepreneurs of younger generations like you, will succeed to get a breakthrough despite of all the difficulties together with global friends and colleagues, that will provide the best model to all the other countries with similar difficulties in the very near future.
For me, “Pax Japonica” is exactly this kind of opportunity for the young generations beyond borders.
Now, I hope you completely understand why we, young leaders in the economy , urgently need to discuss much more intensively and reach the “Global Goals for Sustainable Development”.
The time left is limited.
Thank very much for your attention.
/END of TEXT/