It was memorable that Robert Berg, a senior fellow at the Stimson Cent…
At the meeting with parliamentary members of the National Diet of Japan, ACUNS President Lise Howard explained the ACUNS and its Annual Meeting held in different parts of the world. This year, more than 425 scholars and practitioners have come to Tokyo to discuss their works in person, and more than 100 will attend by Zoom. In concluding her remarks, she emphasized the importance of power by saying: “Knowledge is power.” While “We used to live in a world of ‘might make right,’ the United Nations brings us closer to a world where ‘right makes might.” (19/6/2024)
At the meeting with parliamentary members of the National Diet of Japan, ACUNS’s New President, Professor Franz Baumann, stated the importance of remembering the genesis of the United Nations and working towards reviving its original spirit by recounting how the Second World War was started, and the United Nations was established. (19/6/2024)
OHASHI Mitsuo, Chairman of the World Federalist Movement of Japan, greets the participants along with Messrs. ETO Seishiro and FUKUYAMA Tetsuro, senior members of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan and the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, at the opening of the meeting between the parliamentary members of the Diet of Japan and ACUNS and UNU officials. (19/6/2024)
Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee of the National Diet of Japan for World Federation, Mr. ETO Seishiro, welcomed the arrival of ACUNS Presidents Lise Howard and Franz Baumann as well as Professor Tshilidzi Marwala, Rector of the UN University at the opening of the meeting of the members of the Parliamentary Committee with UN officials. (19/6/2024)
In “Japan in Their Own Words (JITOW)” published in the June 4, 2024 issue of the official magazine of the Japan-English Language Exchange Association, SHINYO Takahiro, Special Advisor to the President of Kwansei Gakuin University and former Ambassador to the UN, explains that many UN member states believe that Security Council reform is necessary to strengthen the UN’s conflict resolution capabilities and proposed a “quasi-permanent member” with a longer term of office than the existing non-permanent members (two-year term). The creation of “quasi-permanent members” (long-term members of the Council), whose terms of office are four to eight years long and who can be reelected consecutively. The number of permanent members with privileges should not be increased further, and their veto power should be abolished or limited. For more information, click here. (08/06/2024)
Ambassador Tadamichi Yamamoto, who has been involved in peacebuilding from the standpoint of Japan and the United Nations, stated that the basic principle of Japan’s foreign policy is “national interest,” but beyond the pursuit of Japan’s national interest, “building international order” is now an inevitable task.
For more information, click here. (31/05,2024)
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) representative to Japan, Hideko Hadzialic, explained at the 75th-anniversary meeting of the Japanese Parliamentary Committee of the World Federation that technology is one of the key issues at the UN-sponsored “Summit of the Future,” but it is important to promote human-centered technology from the perspective of human security. She said that promoting technology based on human security meant not only about technology but also about promoting non-technological aspects such as governance, regulation, and eliminating online harassment. In other words, technology is a means, not an end. The purpose, UNDP believes, is to promote women’s employment and dignity through technology, for example, and to use technology to promote health care and education, as well as to avoid misunderstanding and promote peace. Also, at the “Summit of the Future,” the future of youth and women will be taken up as an important issue, but UNDP considers it important to act today to support the Five-Year Plan and the SDG Action Plan in the field. The recent developments include advances in behavioral science, visions of the future, and future-based planning, such as a project in which children talk about the weather forecast for 2050. At the TICAD with African countries, African and Japanese students work together to develop a vision of what will happen 30 years from now. (Reporter Koki Imon) (23/5/2024)
Mitsuo Ohashi, president of the World Federalist Movement of Japan, stated at the 75th anniversary general meeting of the Japanese Parliamentary Committee for World Federation that 80 years have passed since the end of World War II and that we are currently in the greatest crisis since the war ended. For more information, please see the full text of the article. (23/05,2024)
I was a student of Masataka Kosaka when I was in college, so I have a realism-based way of thinking, and I was involved in diplomacy from that perspective when I was Minister of Foreign Affairs. However, I am sure you know that diplomacy cannot be improved by simply maintaining the status quo or focusing on reality. To borrow a phrase from Mr. Kosaka, “Diplomacy is about attaching the wings of ideals to the politics of reality.” I would like to work together with all of you to achieve this firmly.(2024,23/05)