On 11 June, 2018, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan (FCCJ) kindly hold a press conference where I’ll be given an opportunity to express my own opinion and analysis on DPRK issues and the future of East Asia. Those who have interest to join us, click this link and ask the FCCJ.

Just uploaded a short video of my statements given on the occasion of this year’s St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), which I reall enjoyed. Besides all the other (few) Japanese speakers and panelists, who are “officially” dispatched by the Government of Japan, I was the only speaker who voluntarily raised the hand to speak out to the audience as the voice of the Japanese civil society.

Well, guys, I’m extremely interested in how you’ll respond to my thought to compare “Gesellschaft and Gemeinschaft” with the on-going transition from knowledge economy to trust economy. Your comments are kindly requested. Many thanks indeed in advance for your swift replies.

On May 3, I was given an opportunity to join the public debate event held by the Cambridge Union, one of the leading debate socities by talented students in the global community. I’m confident I was picked up as one of the speakers for the Oppisition because the society found out my authorship of the book “Pax Japonica. Resurrection of Japan”, which was publiched in the last summer in UK.

I was etremely pleased to be given such an opportunity in Cambridge, where the best and brightest young people still get together. With eternal memory I’ll never forget, I’m now on the way home…. See you again.

Honestly, I can not explain to you in detail how blockchain works technologically. Nevertheless, I can at least make sure it’s one of the issues everyone on the globel should take into account at any time from now on. And the point is the technology as such has been innovated in an accelerated manner while its marketing (that is to say, “becoming popular und understood among the ordinary people on the street) obiviously needs to be followed up much more. In this regard, I’ve been recently supporting a Bahama-based blockchain venture company called “LaunchPAD” in connection with Lancier Corporation.

Today, the company “LaunchPAD” proudly announced its first distribution of the token called “LNCH“. Check out the following press release and join us by clicking its website.

In short the new era of blockchain technology has just get started. Don’t miss it.

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Bahamian Blockchain Company LaunchPAD Inc. Announces Development of LNCH Blockchain Operating System and Dark Pool Protocol Decentralized Exchange Infrastructure

NASSAU, Bahamas, Tuesday, April 24, 2018 – LaunchPAD Inc. (http://launchpad.services), a publisher of blockchain technologies for the development of businesses, products, and services that encourage communities to engage in different ways with cryptocurrencies, today announced it is developing an open source software for LNCH (https://lnch.org), a new blockchain operating system designed to facilitate consumer-grade applications that support a robust infrastructure for the secure, anonymous, peer to peer transacting of data and information.
The open source technologies being developed for LNCH plan to adopt the asynchronous communication and parallel processing of delegated proof of stake (DPOS), which has been in development since 2014, combined with smart contracts and lightning network engineering in order to support a consolidated array of blockchain applications and millions of transactions simultaneously.
The software behind LNCH is also being designed to make possible applications that will not require blockchain users to pay fees when making transactions. Such applications would include decentralized dark pool exchanges, distributed data services, decentralized search engines, and peer to peer microcredit services that make possible anonymous transacting across incompatible blockchains and cryptocurrencies without trust in corruptible third party custodians. These applications will also enable users to create and scale applications of blockchain technology that eliminate the friction involved with traditional blockchains while also providing secured data exchange privacy and other enhanced blockchain privacy features. This enables new blockchain users to get involved without having to navigate the complex process of purchasing a cryptocurrency and managing a digital wallet.
“It is quite like Windows / Linux / MacOS with built-in cryptonomic incentives for the purpose of supporting the shared and distributed infrastructure of Decentralized Exchange utilizing shared ledger blockchain technologies. In short, an open source Operating System with its own version of a frictionless Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System known as Lightning Cash (LNCH). It will be the infrastructure able to host any sort of frictionless Decentralized Exchange transactions asynchronously, just like the list of operations running ‘at the same time’ in your computer, that can be observed in its Task Manager,” states an article outlining the technology development stack posted February 28, 2018 to the official Medium web blog of LaunchPAD, the Bahamian company developing the open source software for third party users to launch.
Currently the LaunchPAD team is comprised of over 30 personnel with a global footprint, including talented entrepreneurs and advisors:

• Niaoniao Ma, Chief Emissary and Chief of Staff: Tech Entrepreneur, Private Equity and Venture Capitalist.

• Takara Satone, Chief Digital Product and User Interaction Designer: Student at UC Berkeley, majoring in Computer and Cognitive Sciences.

• Takeo Harada, Chief Global Strategical Intelligence Analysis Advisor: CEO of IISIA, President of the Research Institute for Japan’s Globalization (RIJAG), President of the Global Rescue of Initiative for Innovative Humanity (GRIFIH), President of the Platform for Japan’s Contribution to Global Economic Development (PJG), Member of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the B20 Entrepreneurship Taskforce, Author of PAX JAPONICA.

• Mike Onghai, Chief Venture Advisor: CEO of LookSmart and Snowy August Capital, Independent Director of MGT Capital Investments, founder of AppAddictive, DailyStocks.com, and StockSheet.com, Entrepreneur, Hedge Fund Manager, Venture Capitalist, and Chartered Financial Analyst.

• Dr. Ken Mayers, Chief Creative Advisor: PhD in Comparative Literature, Teacher at Bergen County Academies since 1994.

• Jai Krishnani, Global Partnership and Development Advisor: Who joins through partnership with Bahrain based development company, UrbanSoft.

About LaunchPAD Inc.
LaunchPAD Inc. is a developer of technology solutions including blockchain software development. With consultants and advisors based around the world, including in Asia and the U.S., the company focuses on consumer-grade technology solutions that are free for everyone to voluntarily launch, including LNCH, an open source blockchain operating system. For more information visit the official company website, launchpad.services.
Disclaimer
All statements in this press release, other than statements of historical facts, including any statements regarding LaunchPAD Inc.’s business strategy, plans, prospects, developments and objectives are forward looking statements. These statements are only predictions and reflect LaunchPAD Inc.’s current beliefs and expectations with respect to future events and are based on assumptions and are subject to risk, uncertainties and change at any time. We operate in a rapidly changing environment. New risks emerge from time to time. Given these risks and uncertainties, you are cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements. Actual results, performance or events may differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Some of the factors that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained herein include, without limitation: market volatility; continued availability of capital and formation of capital, financing and personnel; product acceptance; the commercial success of any new products or technologies; competition; government regulation and laws; and general economic, market or business conditions. Any forward-looking statement made by LaunchPAD Inc. speaks only as of the date on which it is made and LaunchPAD Inc. is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or alter its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, by request, subsequent events or otherwise.
SOURCE LaunchPAD Inc.
For further information: http://launchpad.services/

Will appear as one of the discussants in a debate of the Cambridge Union, one of the prominent debate society in UK, on May 3, 2018. The debate will focuss on the issue “The future will belong  to the east”, while I’ll be invited to argue on the opposition.  Stay tuned.

After my speech in London, UK, I was just given an opportunity to speak out publicly on “Pax Japonica” in another place: This time, it was in Shanghai, PRC. Check out the following video. Where to go next time?

Someitmes, you feel totally isolated from others. Even your “lovers” or “wife/husband/children” don’t seem to understand what you mean to say and are wiling to do. From the depth of your heart, you can’t then help from getting angry and never stop blaming others who are, from your viewpoint, not doing the right things. Even though they tend to say, “Yes, we’re all lonving you”, you’re quite confident they aren’t, since they’re not capable of understanding you fully. Whenever you talk to them, you feel as if you talked to animals which can’t speak any languages…

You feel this loneliness, or rathr, are born to do so, because you’re extremely special. Why? You don’t know. But just one thing is clear to you: Nobody around you loves you, but you’re determined to love all the people on the globe. You never abandon them, because you’re quite sure you were born to change the world for the sake of not youself, but all the human beings. Why? You never know, but only few people with extraordinary senses and talents can automatically grasp you’re someone extremely special. Whenever you encounter with these people by chance somewhere in the world, you’re given the opportunity for feeling a little bit satisfaction. And thanks to the network built opon this encounter, you’re stepping forward towards your vision, for the better world.

The contradition is, nobody loves you, but you’re determined to love all the people. In principle, you’re humble and remain so. You never seek any wealth, social status, or even power. The only thing you’re keen to see and realize is the better world. The better world where everyone is allowed to live his/her own life decently.

The enemy is not your people. It is rather the anger you can’t somtimes defeat in your heart. The only way left for you to get rid of the situation is to look up into the sky and pray for the future. The feeling you have during praying must reach someone who is born to help you in the next step and will unconsciously come closer and closer to you in the very near future. Only this will change your life and make your dream true. Your dream to make the better world happen.

Well, boys, it never matters that nobody loves you. The entire history of the universe keeps on wathing you. Never stop loving others on the globe. It’s your destiny only YOU can enjoy. Just hold on. The day of victory you’ve been dreaming of will be soon coming. Go ahead.

Since the South Korean envoy surprisingly announced the day before yesterday Trump had agreed to meet Kim Jong-un by the forthcoming May, the world community never stops talking about this issue. “When”, “Where” and “How” will the first summit be made happen, is the very issue they are talking around.
However, I wanna make sure exclusively to you, my dear readers, that it will never made happen. NEVER EVER. According to the deepest throat I’ve been contacting behind the door, it will turn out to be soon a fake promise, and the regime in the North (and South) will be totally shocked and shaken as well so that Kim Jong-un won’t be able to remain at the throne of “Kim-dynasty”.
Well, let’s see and never forget “Truth is stranger than fiction”. Because D. Trump promises and does stick to the “PLAN A”, he’ll be completely rewarded and keep his power even beyond the mid-term election of the Congress. Finally, he succeeded to persuade his Chinese partner, Xi Jinpin, how valuable and desireble it is to keep the conventional (historical) flow of global money by all means for the sake of the human beings as a whole. Since it’s the “Kim’s dynasty” that has tried to blocked the flow from 1980s, the regime has to be destructed at all and replaced by another, which can go along with the RULE.
Again, Donald never meets Jong-un. NEVER EVER. Instead, the former has just made up his mind to give the final command to do the righ thing. Stay alarmed.

After an unforgettable success in the last event in London, UK, my team’s tour “Pax Japonica” never stops. Our next target is Shanghai, PRC.
From 15:00 on April 11, 2018, the second event “Pax Japonica” will get started in the city center of Shanghai. Don’t miss the opportunity to get involved in the accelerating movement towards “Pax Japonica” by clicking “Pax Japonica” event in Shanghai, 2018
Well, guys, see you soon in Shanghai! Cheers.

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.

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“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/