EDITORIAL: Kan at Davos Conference

Each January, world political leaders, business managers and academics gather at a Swiss resort and discuss the issues facing the world. Prime Minister Naoto Kan has attended this year's meeting of the World Economic Forum at Davos.

The Davos Conference is a long-standing international forum with a history going back to 1971. But Kan is only the fourth Japanese prime minister to attend, in the footsteps of Yoshiro Mori, Yasuo Fukuda and Taro Aso.

He is also the first to go since the change in government. Kan's visit was a hurried affair, only a six-hour stay as he tried to juggle his Diet schedule. But as a rare opportunity for a Japanese political leader to directly address the international community, this is an opportunity not to be missed.

Kan made a speech titled "Opening Japan and Reinventing KIZUNA," stressing his determination to achieve "the Third Opening of Japan" by promoting free trade and deeper economic partnerships with other countries.

Kan also stressed the need to create a "new Kizuna," or interpersonal bonds, to prevent widening social disparities and to have the entire society embrace and prevent individuals from falling into isolation as social reforms are carried out.

For those of us living in Japan, these are familiar words from the prime minister; these are his pet themes. People might criticize his speech for lacking anything new and being nothing but abstracts. But the importance of the speech is hardly small by any measure.

These days, the international community unfortunately considers Japan a "country with an invisible face." So it is important for Japan's top leader to send out a substantial message to the world about his principles and goals as he implements his many policies.

The best aspect of the Davos Conference is that it is a forum for the best minds of the world to develop relations through official and unofficial meetings, mingle and get to know each other better. It was good then that Kan was able to join that circle, even if he was not there long enough.

He invited 10 or so notable experts to his meeting, including former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate in economics and Columbia University professor, and Lawrence Summers, former director of the White House National Economic Council who oversaw the economic policies of President Barack Obama.

Kan also met one-on-one with U.S. investor George Soros, and confirmed his cooperation in the protection of Indonesian forests.

It is important for politicians to meet and converse. But the exchange of ideas with world opinion leaders was an opportunity for the prime minister to get a feel for the attitudes of the international community on various issues. It provided an opportunity to gain a hint on how to break the gridlock Japan finds itself in.

Despite the ongoing globalization process, Japan's society is increasingly looking inward, as evidenced by fewer students wanting to study abroad.

Kan is said to be not good at handling diplomacy. But as Kan advocates the opening of Japan, he should be at the forefront in dealing with international society.

It will be a boon for Japan's diplomatic capabilities if the foreign minister and other ministers, not just the prime minister, along with ruling and opposition leaders, become more active in getting their message out to the world and increase their interaction with the international community.

To this end, the ruling and opposition parties should seriously consider a new set of rules that alleviate the obligation of the prime minister and other ministers to attend the Diet session, thereby making it easier for them to make overseas visits even while the Diet is in session.

--The Asahi Shimbun Jan. 31