Overview of the 11th "Asia Pacific Forum, Awaji Conference Japan" International Symposium

Following an opening address from Representative Director Satoshi Iue, a welcoming tribute from Governor of Hyogo Prefecture Toshizo Ido, and the Asia Pacific Research Prize giving ceremony, an explanation for the purport of holding Awaji Conference was provided by Makoto Iokibe, President of the National Defense Academy and Professor Emeritus of Kobe University.

This was followed by commemorative lectures from Dukmin Yun, Professor, Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security in Korea, Kazuko Mori, Professor Emeritus, Waseda University and Toshihiko Hayashi, Professor, Doshisha University Graduate School of Policy and Management, which were coordinated by Yutaka Katayama, Professor, Kobe University Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies.

In his lecture titled "Korea's Foreign Strategy; Japan from Korea's Perspective," concerning the people of Korea, Professor Dukmin Yun of the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security in Korea spoke about the routine use of pari, pari (Korean for "quick, quick") and the rationalization of business and government services yet the fiercely competitive society where suicide frequently occurs. He stated that Japan oppositely "had become introspective after becoming a mature society, and was losing its dynamism." He also pointed out that "mature societies tend to become 'aged societies', and Japan needs to recover its vigor as the youth of the country are losing the will to challenge."

He explained that Korea has actively pursued market liberalization such as FTA and has pioneered markets in Russia, Eastern Europe and South America. He also introduced the slogan of the Lee Myung-bak administration "Global Korea = Korea that contributes to the world." He stated that "with globalization, it is important to be outward-looking, and it is important for the United States, Japan, Korea and China to cooperate in global governance" and spoke of the need the Korea and Japan to share markets as an engine for future growth. He furthermore pointed out that "there is a need to build a new relationship between Korea and Japan to contribute to the expansion of world peace by Korea's support of Japan to be a permanent member of the Security Council, and Japan's support of Korea to become a member of G8, and so on."

Next, in her lecture titled "China as number one: How should we interact with China?", Waseda University Professor Emeritus Kazuko Mori pointed out that China, which is already No. 2 in terms of purchasing power parity, will take over Japan's position as having the second largest GDP in the world during 2010, and is No. 1 in terms of population, growth rate and energy consumption. Regarding the degree of freedom, however, it lags behind the other countries of Asia, and is "not free" in terms of political rights and civil liberties. She stated that the political structure of China is the trinity of communist party, state and military. Chinese capitalism is state capitalism where the state is committed to economy. She also explained that whereas total assets of state-owned businesses account for 37.4% of the GDP, and four Chinese state-owned companies rank in the top 100 companies in the world, there are social conflicts involving underdog groups such as the Lhasa incident and the Urumqi incident, there are many lobbies, and while that objective of Chinese leaders is "democracy," they also fear it.

She then said that Japan-China relations consist of the three-tiered structure of profit, power and value. While problems involving territorial land/waters and history are particularly difficult, Japan is becoming more economically dependent on China. She pointed out that in cooperation with ASEAN, Japan, China and Korea should create a model equivalent of the EU for the common benefit of East Asia in the future.

Finally, Toshihiko Hayashi, Professor at Doshisha University Graduate School of Policy and Management and Director of Research, Hyogo Earthquake Memorial 21st Century Research Institute provided a lecture titled "Future of Japan: Toward a Japanese Model of Human Development and Well-Being Nation."

Along with explaining the structure of Japan's growth economy up to now, Professor Hayashi explained that, concerning the country's aging and declining population, in 2053, 40% of the population of 90 million will be elderly, and if the population were to decrease by 30%, it is predicted that the GDP per person will drop 58%. He also talked about the various social impacts of a declining population.

A new possibility, however, the area per person will expand, with the population density becoming that same as that of the United Kingdom and Germany. He pointed out that, in the future, we must consider switching emphasis from economic development to human development that raises the value of each individual to realize a society that offers human beings the most happiness. He stated that public social expenditure on par with Western Europe is needed to realize a contented society (well-being), and that international goodwill such as revival of ODA, technology licensing and enhanced collective defense will also be required.

The audience of 237 people listened to the lectures attentively.