Junior Chamber International

2006 President's Statement

Let the City of Osaka Be Filled with Citizens’ Pride!
- Reflecting dreams of 2.6 million citizens who will not give up or compromise -

Tadashi Hano, President
Junior Chamber International Osaka

Introduction:

The city of Osaka filled with citizens’ pride” will present a place that allows each citizen to carry a dream for the future of Osaka and to feel proud of taking action for the city.
There is a Japanese hit song by BORO, entitled “A Woman Born in Osaka”. The words read, “As I’m a woman born in Osaka, I can’t leave the town behind. As I’m a woman born in Osaka, I can’t follow you to Tokyo.” Just like this song appeals to listeners, people naturally feel love and pride for their hometown where they were born and grew up. Such pride for one’s own hometown develops roots among those whom we grew up with sharing a similar environment. When we try to grow trees with leaves and wide-spreading branches, we need to nurture their roots so they can absorb various types of nutrition. It requires fertile land and soil, and in our case these can be found in the prosperous city of Osaka.
Let’s reenergize Osaka and create bright prosperous local communities! To accomplish these goals it is vital to further advance each citizen’s pride for Osaka, generate their desire to contribute to the city and enhance their initiatives in taking　action for the further development of the city. When people are involved in city development with their own will, their own identity as well as the city’s originality will be defined. This adds to their dreams for the future of the city and develops pride in taking action to contribute to the city. When we can promote everyone’s pride to generate determination for creating the future of Osaka with our own hands, Osaka will be filled with the pride of its citizens. In this process it is important for the citizens to pursue their own dreams, not giving up on them or settling for anything else.
“Once we are determined to do something, we should not easily give it up even if we face difficulty or fail. As long as we see 1% possibility left, we should not give it up until the very last moment,” said Mr. Kounosuke Matsushita, founder of Matsushita Electric Company.
Mr. Kounosuke Matsushita started an electrical appliance business in Osaka in the early 20th century and expanded it to a major brand (NATIONAL/PANASONIC), based on his belief in providing everyone with inexpensive home electrical appliances. He pursued and accomplished his dream with his strong will.
Dreams develop our life stories which show how each one of us may carry out our visions for the future. We shall appeal to 2.6 million citizens living in Osaka to pursue their dreams without giving them up and compromising for anything else.
In 2006, the JCI Osaka is determined to pursue our dream by creating the “city of Osaka filled with citizens’ pride”. We will be courageous to take the necessary action and will not give up or compromise.

Challenge of Rebuilding a Society Led by Citizens’ Initiatives
- Creating Osaka Filled with Citizen’s Pride-

Osaka was originally an autonomous city, led by people’s initiatives. Osaka people used to say, “We don’t depend upon governments.” It was not a government but Osaka merchants who developed Dotonbori　(a popular dining & entertainment district) and built Yodoya-bashi Bridge and a number of public institutions such as Nakanoshima Library and Central Public Hall. People in the private sector contributed to local communities with enthusiasm and pride for further developing the city.
The Osaka people, however, recently lost their pride in their autonomy led by people’s initiatives and now tend to depend on others and governments. It is vital to revive energetic Osaka and its originality by encouraging the citizens to take an active approach to governments with their own initiatives. We should discourage the dependent spirit of, “Governments will take action to help us.”
The JCI Osaka will actively present its requests, proposals and policies to local governments, reflecting citizens’ voices. By writing and publicizing a citizens’ manifest, “Our Ideal City”, we will aim to reform the dependent society and build a citizens-led society.
We will also challenge the election systems and administrative services, and reexamine the local re-development plans. For example, at the time of the mayor’s election or municipal parliament election, we will make it possible to compare and examine candidates’ policies and visions by using the Internet and organizing public discussions. We will pursue rebuilding a society based on citizen’s sovereignty by supporting citizens’ ability to seek information, obtain disclosure and transparency in governments and evaluate them from their point of view.
Furthermore, we will aim at safe city development to allow every citizen to live with safety and security. “A city filled with citizens’ pride” should be equal to “a safe and secure city”. We will propose to the citizens to reinforce the city’s risk management system in view of its safety management policy, such as preventing crimes and maintaining safety, and work on the city development jointly with the local communities.
It is urgently required to develop a city based on citizens’ sovereignty that coexists with governments and to firmly establish local autonomy supported by the citizens’ sense of responsibility. Each one of us as a member of the JCI Osaka will take an active part in our projects and take on the challenge of creating “Osaka led by citizen’s sovereignty and filled with their pride”.

Challenge of Revitalizing the Economy
- Development of Social Producers -

During the Edo Era (17th - 19th century) Osaka merchants generated prosperity in Osaka, including those rice salesmen who established the Rice Auction Institution in Dojima, downtown Osaka. Independent and proud Osaka merchants took initiatives in managing the city, called the “kitchen of the nation”.
The Osaka economy now needs social producers, who can create businesses to meet the local communities’ needs by combining new ideas and networks, just like those merchants did in Osaka during the Edo Era. We, the JCI Osaka, will generate a business environment and develop human resources that will help people from various fields collaborate freely and achieve better results benefiting each other. Our efforts will aim at economic development based on people’s energetic vitality.
In today’s local communities we can see the growth of new types of solution-based “community businesses”, which can be compensated for their work in helping needy people in the community. Developed through face-to-face relations, such community businesses tend to hire even senior and disabled people. If citizens, corporations and NPOs can initiate and keep running such businesses, an economic infrastructure will be built to support financial independence and the local communities will be reenergized through the circulation of people, goods, money and information. Should investment funds become available to enrich local communities, another business model could be created utilizing a larger amount of the fund. We will aim to nurture social producers who can contribute to the revitalization of the local economy and the creation of new employment.
Today, internationalization does not occur only when one goes abroad. People can be affected by international economic trends even inside their own country. In order to rebuild an independent commercial city of Osaka it is critical to foster “GLOCAL” corporations which can embrace global perspectives yet act locally to revive the local economy (Think globally, Act locally). For the future of Osaka we will enhance the growth of social producers, who can be successors to the proud Osaka merchants and pioneers with their excellent international sense and efficient business abilities.
Grand visions are clear in our minds on how the commercial capital of Osaka can be in the 21st century. We will pursue the creation of an “economic city Osaka filled with citizens’ pride” by fostering social producers who know how to generate new community-based glocal businesses.

Challenge of Educating Young Generations - “Respect Others”
- Coexisting with diverse values -

　When visiting elementary schools in the USA, we often see a sign, “Respect Others”. The sign teaches students to respect other people who may have different cultural backgrounds, highlighting the importance of coexisting with those who possess different values.
Such education is crucial in the process of raising our children today, who will become responsible for civilian diplomacy in the future international society. We can offer our children the best opportunities while they are still young and flexible enough before reaching the senior high school age to encounter different cultures and learn international understanding. With endless potential in their hands, they are equipped with flexible thinking, adaptability and　adjustability. We will start with our children to nurture the concept for multi-cultural coexistence. We plan to organize experience-based and solution-based classes for the children to participate in and feel the diversity of our international society while they experience and learn different values. At the same time, they will also learn the importance of friendships.
The city of Osaka as a whole needs to further grow as an international city. It is imperative to revitalize international exchanges not only in the economic field but also in many other fields. Despite some controversial differences existing among Asian nations concerning how to evaluate historical incidents in the past, we should share a common ground observing history from the viewpoint of all mankind rather than from nationalistic perspectives. It is necessary to look into historical development for the future perspectives by deepening our mutual understanding and respecting each other’s viewpoints on an individual basis.
If one intends to be a survivor in today’s borderless world, he/she must be free from prejudice and flexible to accommodate diverse values. “If you are a human being, do not hate another human being,” said Japanese scholar Yukichi Fukuzawa (1835 - 1901) in his book, “Encouragement of Learning”. He emphasized how important it is for each human being to communicate with others through their hearts and grow friendships.
Our goal is to foster Osaka people with confidence and pride as global citizens. We will deepen mutual understanding with our neighboring nations and promote international understanding. We will enhance international education based on multi-cultural coexistence of diverse values and teach young children, who will carry our future on their shoulders, the spirit of “Respect Others”.

Challenge of Improving Our Qualities
- Let the JCI Osaka Members Be Filled with Pride -

　We, the JCI Osaka, take the challenge of creating “the city of Osaka filled with citizens’ pride”. We should make our own organization reliable in the local communities by transforming our awareness and improving our qualities. Each one of us will make efforts to foster our leadership and perseverance, become leaders in the local communities, take actions with courage and develop our abilities in decision-making and expressing oneself. We will integrate each member’s pride and extend it further as our organizational pride to present the whole JCI Osaka as an organization filled with its members’ pride.
We need to follow 3 steps to turn our visions to reality: 1) We will set a schedule to accomplish our visions, 2) We will define our visions by writing concrete scenarios, and 3) We will talk and appeal to people to share our visions. When we can take a step at a time, we can get closer to our goals. When our activities are accumulated, they will generate a mountain that could be large enough to move our society.
Let’s not be afraid of a failure! Let’s keep up our belief with a strong will!

Be proud of yourself !

Never give up or compromise!
Let our courage take the first step forward …
…… the first step forward …………