Remarks in December 2006
Remarks of Mr. Shigenobu KATO, the Japanese ambassador to Jordan, at the opening of “Japan Week” at the University of Jordan on 12 December 2006
H.E. Professor Abdelrahim Al-Hunaiti, President of the University of Jordan, Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Good afternoon,
On behalf of the Government of Japan, it is a great honor for me to welcome you all here today to “Japan Week” at the University of Jordan.
Firstly I would like to express my sincere gratitude to H.E. Professor Abdelrahim Al-Hunaiti, as well as professors and students, for realizing this occasion, which would definitely further enrich the mutual understanding between Japan and Jordan.
I would also like to appreciate the devotion of Japanese language students and Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers to arrange this entire wonderful event. I am looking forward to attend the programs following the opening.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to take this opportunity to talk about, under the theme of “Sharing experiences”.
As you probably know Japan is the second largest economy in the world in terms of GNP without any natural resources. Only 20 % of our land is fit for agriculture. The cultivated area per person in Jordan is merely twenty five percent less than Japan. The Indian Nobel Prize laureate, Professor Amartiya Sen, said “the process of development is not primarily one of expanding the supply of goods and services but of enhancing the capabilities of people”. Having shared the same belief that the development of human resources is the key to national wellbeing, Japan and Jordan have worked together for decades to evolve education, higher education and training in this country.
As five years have passed since the beginning of the twenty first century, humankind is still under various kinds of threats. Not only the people in the Middle East but the people in other parts of the world are also confronted with difficult problems such as global warming, infectious diseases like HIV, terrorism, poverty, and so on. Those pose significant threats to all of us, and to future generations, too. Are professionals and intellectuals in a single field enough to tackle the problems which involve many subjects? In order to build a better future for children tomorrow, I strongly believe academics and university students must interact with the others over either national or academic borders. Common aspirations emerging from their dialogue would generate a guide into tomorrow and bridge between different people.
Academic background of the Japanese language students at the University of Jordan is very rich as Jordan is rich in cultural diversity. Some have a great long for the Japan’s edge in technology, and some for its pop culture, whereas some for its traditional culture. They started learning Japanese for nothing but intellectual curiosity. Having felt admiration since my arrival in Jordan this April, for people in this region are all gifted tremendously, particularly in study of languages, I can not help being surprised with achievement of the Japanese language students in Jordan.
Abundant in potentials and curious about the frontiers, the students who study foreign languages, the international students who study Arabic here, and those who came here today to know about Japan, have sufficient capability to contribute to the intellectual interactions and dialogues in various levels. I am confidence of this.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I do not want to conclude it saying that Japan is a success model to follow. It is no doubt the present Japan is through the long succession of successful and unsuccessful events in its history. If you look for example, a victory over Russia at the Japanese-Russo war in 1905 symbolized the rapid development of Japan which started its modernization in 1868. Yet, the same forces that had been considered as the most organized and efficient institution in Japan brought it a heavy defeat in 1945. The Middle Eastern people do not stint their praise for Japan’s postwar rehabilitation. Nevertheless, the driving force for it, the close partnership between the public and private sector, is now regarded as the main cause for the recession in 1990s.
“Kaizen”, a Japanese word for improvement, became the universal word in business and industry. Kaizen encourages each worker at the site to continuously review the present state and previous success in order to make a change for the better. A book titled “the True nature of the failure” has been a best seller in Japan since its publication in 1984. It took up six military operations of Japan during the WWII and inferred many points applicable to contemporary companies and government organizations from the failures at the time.
Of course, no country is perfect and I do not torment my country with self-hatred for having failed in many occasions. I would like to say Japan too went through ferment in its history and it was a result of reviewing those experiences that it has arrived at the calm stability and enjoyed economic prosperity. It is by no means to slip my memory of Jordan’s endeavor to bring stability and prosperity to the region, in addition to maintain its cultural diversity. Japan has paid its respects to Jordan for that matter, so that it willingly listens to the latter experiences. I believe every country or every person has experiences, which are lessons to the others under universal values that are commonly accepted in the world in general.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The difficult issues in the Middle East and the world that we are facing are formidable, but I do hope that a dialogue, intellectual interaction, or event for the mutual understanding such as this kind of event, will continue to learn experiences from each other in order to realize wellbeing of children today and tomorrow.
To conclude my remarks, I would like to express my heartfelt wish that the programs of the Japan Week be fruitful ones and enjoyable.
Thank you very much for your kind attention.
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