Reporter: K. Kuroda
The keynote speech was addressed by Dr. Kiyoshi Kurokawa, President of the Science Council of Japan. The theme was 'Social responsibilities of scientific community: a perspective of the Science Council of Japan'. He stated why social responsibilities of scientific community are necessary, explaining 'what is Nature?', 'what is Universe?', 'what is Matter?', 'what is Life?' with a great passion. He mentioned the milestones of science with 113 names such as Newton, Einstein, and others. A remarkable opinion of his was that there should be more focus on matters of a majority of people than on specific and detailed issues about few people. He said both governments and researchers should do so in their work respectively.
It was one of the most impressive presentations I have ever had. He explained what we are doing and where we are in the history of human. He mentioned many famous greatest scientists and connect their achievements with our age. His technique of presentation was also remarkable; tones of voice, delivery, jokes, and gestures. He sometimes clicked his fingers during presentation, which attracted the attention of audience effectively. Above all, his passion was the most attracting.
After a short break, Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of IPCC, gave a speech titled 'Global Sustainability and the Asian Challenge' He cited the words of Lester Brown, 'Communism has faied because it did not tell the truth on economy. Capitalism may fail because it does not tell the truth on ecology' and cited ecological footprint. He wanted climate change to be the theme of AGS 2008. He also underlined adaptation of climate change, as well as mitigation, because rising of seawater level will continue for one thousand years.
Finally came a speech by Kentaro Ogawa, Chairman of the Board, Zensho Co. Ltd. titled 'A global standard for food safety'. ZENSHO is the 3rd largest restaurant chain company in Japan with $1.5 billion in sale. He presented 'Food safety: BSE to vCJD: Variant Creutzfeld-Jakob disease' He explained the symptoms of BSE and vCJD; brain becomes sponge like and loses its function, loss of body function, abnormal behavior, change of personality....with the death rate of 100%. He explained the countermeasures of distribution of BSE, which will be a big issue so far. He underlined prohibition of MBM(Meat and Bone Meal, which contain Prions of BSE disease), implementation of BSE Test, Setting of Global Standard. as conclusions.
Every speech and presentation was very interesting and moving. We learned what the current leaders are thinking as well as their presentation techniques. After all, it was a great experience for us to hear speeches from such big names.
The keynote speech was addressed by Dr. Kiyoshi Kurokawa, President of the Science Council of Japan. The theme was 'Social responsibilities of scientific community: a perspective of the Science Council of Japan'. He stated why social responsibilities of scientific community are necessary, explaining 'what is Nature?', 'what is Universe?', 'what is Matter?', 'what is Life?' with a great passion. He mentioned the milestones of science with 113 names such as Newton, Einstein, and others. A remarkable opinion of his was that there should be more focus on matters of a majority of people than on specific and detailed issues about few people. He said both governments and researchers should do so in their work respectively.
It was one of the most impressive presentations I have ever had. He explained what we are doing and where we are in the history of human. He mentioned many famous greatest scientists and connect their achievements with our age. His technique of presentation was also remarkable; tones of voice, delivery, jokes, and gestures. He sometimes clicked his fingers during presentation, which attracted the attention of audience effectively. Above all, his passion was the most attracting.
After a short break, Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of IPCC, gave a speech titled 'Global Sustainability and the Asian Challenge' He cited the words of Lester Brown, 'Communism has faied because it did not tell the truth on economy. Capitalism may fail because it does not tell the truth on ecology' and cited ecological footprint. He wanted climate change to be the theme of AGS 2008. He also underlined adaptation of climate change, as well as mitigation, because rising of seawater level will continue for one thousand years.
Finally came a speech by Kentaro Ogawa, Chairman of the Board, Zensho Co. Ltd. titled 'A global standard for food safety'. ZENSHO is the 3rd largest restaurant chain company in Japan with $1.5 billion in sale. He presented 'Food safety: BSE to vCJD: Variant Creutzfeld-Jakob disease' He explained the symptoms of BSE and vCJD; brain becomes sponge like and loses its function, loss of body function, abnormal behavior, change of personality....with the death rate of 100%. He explained the countermeasures of distribution of BSE, which will be a big issue so far. He underlined prohibition of MBM(Meat and Bone Meal, which contain Prions of BSE disease), implementation of BSE Test, Setting of Global Standard. as conclusions.
Every speech and presentation was very interesting and moving. We learned what the current leaders are thinking as well as their presentation techniques. After all, it was a great experience for us to hear speeches from such big names.