 So, I now have a real honor in introducing Ambassador Sasai, the Japanese Ambassador to the United States. He is a well-known figure here at CSIS. He is very generous with his time and insights, and we really appreciate that. He has been a great representative of Japan here in the U.S. for about 18 months or so now, and hopefully for much longer. You have his biographical information, and you will see all of his achievements. I always like to stress two things about Ambassador Sasai, one of which is that he has a distinguished background in economic affairs at the Foreign Ministry, including being the Director General for Economic Affairs, and that is important to me as an economics guy in a foreign policy environment. So, he brings real credibility on those issues. And the other thing I always stress is that he is not afraid to speak his mind. He is a good diplomat, so he will always be careful, but he also tells the things the way he sees them, and that is a terrific attribute in an official like him. So, we really appreciate his being here and look forward to his remarks. So, please join me in welcoming Ambassador Sasai. Good afternoon. Thank you, Mashura, for kind introduction. This morning, I believe that you had extensive discussions on Japanese economy and technology and so forth. So, I don't want to repeat the same stuff you had already heard, but, and you are eating at this moment, so you might feel like I'm taking nap rather than listening to me. But, you know, I recognize the presence of Dr. Hew Patrick, who is a good friend of ours, and I always treasure his presence and opinions about Japan, and also Mr. Ichikawa, and who will do a great work for the Mag Rev and high tech advancement. But this seminar, he's a very interesting one. The title of the seminar is 1964, Back to the Future, and most of you have probably seen the movie called Back to the Future, and as you may be called, Doc Brown's time machine car had to get up to 88 miles of power before it could break into the time travel dimension. At one point, Marty McFly said to Doc, hey, Doc, we better back up. We don't have enough road to get up to 88. And Doc Brown says, where we are going, we don't need roads. Perhaps some of you remember all these, you know, changes. But, you know, countries do need roads and road map, obviously. We can't move forward without roads and road map. We can't put ourselves on this, you know, car go to the future dimension. But back in 1964, Japan had a road map. In 1964, Japan joined the OECD the Sinkansen, the world's first high-speed train began operation, and we held the Tokyo Olympics. These were turning points in the post-war period. Japan was rebuilding and returning to the international community. Now, 50 years later, rather than OECD, Japan is focused on TPP. Some people might think that this is sad, but we think this is a great thing to do. Rather than Sinkansen, we have the Magrav now in visit. This doesn't mean that we get rid of Sinkansen. Sinkansen is still great, but we are looking into new one now. And rather than 1964 Tokyo Olympics, we are planning for the 2020 Olympics. So it really is back to the future in some ways. And I think it is good to stop once in a file at occasions like this. And I appreciate the progress and accomplishment of those who have gone before. And this is a good time for us to reflect what has done, what we need to do more to sustain our own future. But we all know that there are lots of questions we need to ask. Have we had lost decades? Have we had entrenched ways and traditions that limit the speed of change and improvement? Have we experienced a political turnover? And at the same time, political lethargy? The answer is obvious, yes. We have. But here is the important point. The foundation of Japan is solid. Most people, I know, experts, political leaders, average citizens, believe Japan can rise about obstacles in front of us, whether demographic, economic, cultural, and political. And I want to focus on several areas where I see reason for this optimism. Let's start with economics and more specifically, abenomics. I think that you debated on economics this morning. But I don't know whether you saw that article on Japanese reform in last week's economists. But I thought it was quite interesting. And the article started telling the well-known story of the Meiji Restoration, which in a little over 10 years reshaped Japan from top to bottom. The economist noted that last year, Prime Minister Abe showed up the first to allow the abenomics with quote, Meiji speed, quite rapid speed. Then it went on to say, quote, this week, Mr. Abe is back with a proper third hour. Part of his strength is its breadth. It is a less single arrow than 100 strong bundle of acupuncture needles, unquote. The economist says of the reform, quote, to gather all these represent coherent visions of more innovative and globally-minded society, unquote. So as you know, there is quite a good assessment. And you might think that economists, often the case is very cynical about the economic policy of Japan, even some security policy. But this time, economists is giving us a quite good score on what's happening in Japanese economic policymaking. So let me just go through, just in case you could reconfirm what is now going on. And as you know, the plan calls for several things. And cutting the corporate tax rate from 35.6 percent to some clear in the 20s over the next few years. This is on top of this April 2.4 percent cut. Someone asked me the other day, why not put an exact number on that? Well, like 25 percent. Why the 20s? Well, politics like diplomacy is not an exact science, as you know. I think the Prime Minister is waiting to see what he can get through. He also has proposed for healthcare and pension reform, specifically revising the asset mix of the Government Pension Investment Fund, the largest pension fund in the world, $1.2 trillion. I don't know how much stocks they will buy or not. I can't tell. If I would say that, I have to resign possibly. So I wouldn't tell it. But we expect that there will be a more energized market there. And also in the fact, there are various agricultural reforms, including the first ever reform of agricultural cooperative. And I hope that would also make Japanese, each and individual agriculture cooperative more active, independent, to assure in more market principles in Japan. Now, for farmers, I sometimes read the local real estate listings. I saw an ad the other day for farm in Virginia. What got my attention is that the farm had been in the same family since the 1700s. Farming is very often an occupation of tradition, especially in Japan. And then something is done a certain way because it has always been done this way. That is not so much the case in the United States with the big corporate farms, with fence row to fence row plantings, and harvesting by GPS. So although the United States answered this question, it has not yet been answered in Japan in full and gigantic way. And that question is how do you turn agriculture into a growth industry? For many years, Japanese thought that agriculture is something we need to defend all the time from the foreign competition. But for the first time, people are getting serious to make our agriculture industry, to make our agriculture more productive, competing even with American product. It is a very big dream, but I think that was decision taken that we would start it again. Let us see how this will be looking like after 20 and 30 years. Around the time I come to this town, I might be telling you that the dream came to be true. This is not really going back to the future, but this is a great thing to see. But these are the things. But the question is that how do you turn agriculture into a growth industry? Or another question, how does Japan provide for its food security? You know, when the average age of Japanese farmer is 70, and the children have not much desire to be in a small plot of land. Of course, these days there are some younger generations who are willing to do agriculture. For some years back, there was a pessimism about the younger generation to do agriculture. But we see more and more, even younger generations, the interest in agriculture. So there are the signs of having good younger generation to do agriculture. I think that's what policy matters. And that's what the Prime Minister is trying to do and what we expect that will be successful. Now, as you know, the new proposal also called for encouraging women to enter workforce and bringing in more falling workers. A couple of weeks ago, I spoke at the Womenomics Conference on Capitol Hill. Some of you might have been there. I think what a challenge this is itself. You know, represent for a Japanese ambassador to be out giving speech on a topic that was not on the radar screen just a few years ago. Then consider that a Japanese Prime Minister now actively promotes women's economic empowerment. In fact, he places womenomics at the core of his growth strategy. We must address the issue of women in the workplace if we are to unleash the power of women. And that is what proposed on encouraging women's workplace participation, including new afterschool facilities and looking at tax and benefit incentives. And these are what are all about and these are very important policy instruments Prime Minister is willing to go through. Last September, Prime Minister Abe declared to the world that he intend to create a society in which women shine. And what is now very clear is that Japan's economy won't shine unless Japanese women shine. I see here some Japanese women participating. This gasoline, 10 or 20 years ago, we didn't see much women coming to this gasoline passly. Even here in Washington, we see more Japanese women working. If you look at the chief bureau of the Japanese mass media, there are three chief bureau. They are women. It's a great thing to see. So if we could speed up this process, not only one or two years, five, 10 years, I'm sure that there will be more women to be in the forefront of advancement of the society. Well, Prime Minister's proposal contains other reforms in the labor market. Japan often worked long hours, but to what end? And those productive hours. Back in the 1990s, when I was director for American Desk, we are negotiating with American counterpart structural issues here and there. Then we were told that the Japanese, we know that Japanese work pretty hard, long hours, but not necessarily always efficiently. That was good and bad to hear, as you know. So it was good. We need to have more creative hours for men and women working hard, but very efficiently. City convoy startups would feel constrained, bringing their work culture to Japan because of the regulations. I think this has been addressed for some years, but we couldn't do it. Now, for the first time, Prime Minister is trying to change some of the constraints. And people are beginning to realize the importance of work-life balance, and it's not always good to work late at night and show to your superior that you were working hard all the time. And you need to show the result rather than the length of work time. And so people began to realize that we need the flexibility, and the companies also need the flexibility. So Japan needs more varied and flexible work practices, and that is what the Prime Minister seeks to address. Now, beyond these measures for economic growth, let me come to the second reason. Japan will progress over the next 50 years, and as it has over the last 50 years, and that is advanced technology. This subject, also you people discussed this morning, but once again, I will repeat. Back in 1964, Shinkansen was the world's first high-speed train, and I was a country boy. I didn't know much about all this high-speed train. I didn't know Tokyo either, you know, up until high school. The first time I went to Tokyo, I took this Shinkansen. It was a dream trip to me. But now, a six-hour trip between Tokyo and Osaka was cut to three hours, which in turn supported Japan's economic growth. In my children's days, my father told me after coming back from Tokyo, it was a 17-hour she said, you know, change the train, going up and down. So we have come a long way. It's not only three years, three hours from Tokyo to Osaka, even to Okayama, where I was born. And Japan's other technological advances also supported growth, as you know, in the electrical appliance, the automobile, the semiconductor, and other industries. Although these days, you know, all these semiconductor industries and so forth were relegated to other emerging economies, we know, but that's inevitable. You know, in every country, there is a different cycle of development. So we need to go further advance. We will, you know, this semiconductor continue to be important. But obviously, we have to move ahead beyond that. So this MAG-REV, they plan to begin building a MAG-REV line between Tokyo and Nagoya this year, as you all know, possibly, that Prime Minister called this a dream technology. And he's very interested in introducing it in the United States, North East Corridor, which would be a game changer for the region. And he has been promoting the MAG-REV to President Obama, who speeds up to 311 miles per hour. It would be possible to shorten the trip between DC and New York City from six hours to two hours. The great thing is that this environmentally friendly technology revitalized city. It's not simply making the traffic speedy and, you know, let the people move fast. But when you set up the lines, there will be cities in between, and there will be a huge opportunity for getting all the business, including service industries and so forth. So this would revitalize the cities, societies around them and the economy. Even though Japan has been a slump for the past two decades, great new technology have arrived during this period. When the President was in Japan recently, most of you probably saw the photo of him talking to Robert. I was there and watching him, and he was, you know, kicking a soccer ball at this robot. And he was trying to be nice to Robert as he was trying to everybody else around there. But the point is that, you know, these technologies go beyond Robert. To big data, to environmental energy, water treatment, you name it. So great things are happening. This surprise is most American, but in 2012 Japan had more patents granted than any nation in the world. 343,484 patents. Well, this is a meticulous number, but that is like money in the bank for the future. It's great to see that. The last thing I want to talk about is Japan's leadership in the world. Back in 1964 we had the Tokyo Olympics, as I said it, to show that we had risen above the desperate situation in which the war had left us. So when we go and think back, the Tokyo Olympics was more or less the starting point of our growth after the war. But as you know, Japan was still trying to catch up with the rest of the world, not just economically, but also in terms of being a leader in the society of nations. Japan received fans from World Bank to build Shin Kansai. So we had a great technology, but we never forget that we were supported, helped by the others. And that's what we need to remember when we think about the future. We did our own, but not simply by our own. We were supported by the others. Now we are, as you know, a large donor to the World Bank. Last week I want to sign a ceremony at the World Bank for ITER, the International Development Association. Japan's total contribution to ITER is the second largest among all donors countries after the United States. So 50 years later, Japan is expanding its sense of how to contribute more as a nation. We can do this through a strong economy, through advances in technology, through a contribution to organization like the World Bank, and we can do it through being a good ally. When President Obama was in Tokyo, he voiced strong support, U.S. support, of Japan's right of collective self-defense. For nearly 70 years, we have been a democratic, peace-loving nation. The government of Japan believes that by developing a more solid security structure that gives us the flexibility to respond to the future challenge, peace and stability will be strengthened, I'm sure. There was a good decision, as you know, taken by Abe cabinet, Abe government this week to introduce new security orientation, you know, introducing this collective defense for Japan. We are ready to play an even larger and more responsible leadership role in Asia and beyond, including a winner of the security. It is our common interest for Japan to be the best ally possible of the United States, and this new orientation is exactly envisaged in that objective, and we are ready to do that together with the United States. Now, let me start bringing this to a close. Back in 1964, it was a good year for the Beatles. With the number one song of the year, I want to hold your hand. By the way, this is my wife's favorite song. She was chasing Beatles in high school days, but it was a good year for the St. Louis Cardinals, which won the World Series at the time, and was a good year for Japan. So in fact, the last 50 years have been good ones for Japan. We are determined to see that continue. We are determined to use Japan's economic and technological strengths to help the rest of the world. And one thing is much stronger today than in 1964. In our sense of who we are, Japan and the United States share a vision to lead the effort toward global stability and order into the next half century. And that is why I came here to affirm. So thank you for inviting me, and thank you for your kind attention. So thank you very much, Ambassador Sosai. Wonderful capstone to our event, and really clear and comprehensive presentation. We really appreciate that. Ambassador Sosai is willing to take a couple of questions. So if you have a question, please raise your hand and again, wait for the microphone and identify yourself, and we will be happy to answer questions. Okay, Jeannie, you've had two questions today, but I'll give you a third. Okay, go ahead. Thank you, Ambassador. My name is Jeannie Nguyen with Voice of Vietnamese Americans. I remember last time when Prime Minister Abe was here in CSIS at the office, he said Japan is back. So thank you. Welcome back. And I thank Japan for taking the leadership in the Asia Pacific. So I will ask you two questions regarding the TPP and also regarding the role of Japan in the region, in the area. The TPP Vietnam is also a member of the TPP, and I'm very happy that Japan is joining. So you think that we will come to conclusion sometime this year and next year to push the regional prosperity forward? I hope that Japan will take the leadership in that. And I congratulate you for talking about the agriculture industry, because that will be tremendous. The second question I'm asking is about the regional security, and you mentioned that Japan is ready to go to move beyond, to take the leadership to protect, sustain the security in the area. So we're asking if Japan would join ASEAN to enforce the international law in the sea, especially the uncross, and if we ever had the COC side with Japan held to support and enforce, the enforcement is important. And to that, I have asked if Japan would propose to have a seat at the UN Security Council. I have asked that many different leaders, and the other day I think was yesterday at the Heritage Foundation, I raised the question to a few leaders in the UN, and they said they have proposed that. So I would strongly suggest that Prime Minister Abe move forward and asking for Japan to have a seat at the UN Security Council. It's important for the Asia Pacific. Thank you. All right. We have asked many questions. Let me start by this TPP. Yes, I think, first of all, let me say this. This TPP is obviously a great opportunity for the countries in the region, not on the United States and Japan, but the other countries, including ASEAN and other members. Eventually, this exercise should be merging into wider Asia Pacific free trade regime. We welcome China to come into orbit as a member of a free trading system. That's what we need when we work on the future regional economic order. But having said that, you know, this arrangement and free trade agreement is very strategic in many ways, not only in terms of economic meaning, job and growth and investment, new rules, but also in the sense that people and nations, including Japan and United States, are committed to the future of Asia Pacific. So political message is very important. We are not really going back to the protectionist regime, protectionist way. We will continue to make advance to open the country and advance liberalizations, although it is always difficult, you know, whether it is domestic political or societal impact. And when we try to go for the reform and making progress, there is always resistance in any countries. So having said it strategically, this is important for the future. And also the Japan-U.S. context, if we are not being able to succeed in getting this TPP taking off, it's a great damage, even to our leadership. I'm not talking about Japan-U.S. because, you know, President and Japanese Prime Minister Abe committed. They said that they would do it. So we need to do it. And that involves enormous commitment and effort of both parties. If both government and country could do that together, that's an enormous history-making achievement. In that way, this is very much strategic. That's what I want to say. Now, you were asking, could this be concluded? My answer is yes, we could, and we should. And as you know, there is going to be a chief negotiator's meeting taking place soon in Canada, early this month. And I hope that negotiators would work hard day and night and try to close more or less the chapter. We know there are some remaining difficult issues when it comes to rule issues, whether it is intellectual property issues, environmental issues, whatever the issues remaining. But often the case, you know, the most difficult part is try to end the game. So we are now coming into that phase. And I hope that this agreement should be worked out as soon as possible. And because I think this is not simply the engagement of trade negotiators. This involves the whole country. Now, you are second question about Japan's role in security and wider Asia Pacific and also beyond. I talked about these, you know, introductions of new orientation decided by the Prime Minister to make ourselves possible to participate in the collective defense. We, the countries in close relationship, it is not defined, you know, specifically, obviously, the United States will be a foremost possibility of doing that because we have very vital security arrangement and allies, each other. But I have to caution you that often we talk about greater role and more responsible role. I think we are pretty cautious, to be honest. You know, often you see all this, you know, Prime Minister's statement and so forth. And there are basically three conditions. One, this has to be necessarily minimum. Number two, this should be mobilized, where there is no alternative means. And number three, this is a new one, very important one, is that, you know, there has to be a create dangers of harming the Japan survival. So unless there is a serious situations surrounding us, threatening us, and we are not really, you know, easily sending the force to engage any use of the force. And the Prime Minister said some time ago that he's not really envisaging the sent troops for fighting in other countries, you know, like Iraq and other places. So I think our step is basically to strengthen the deterrence, you know, not really try to show off. And it's a very modest one, so that we wouldn't give the wrong impression that we would continue to be stuck with ourselves when there are some uncertainties evolving around us, including some of the increasing threat from North Korea, for example. I don't define the China as a tremendous, you know, security issue at this moment. And I have to be careful in talking about this one, because China is a great country, great country. We need to have a constructive relationship. At this moment, yes, we have some tensions evolving around Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea or its China Sea. But that need to be settled, and by talking. And I detect some signs, even on the parts of China, try to, you know, expand its exchanges of communications on various level, business people and some of the political level. So let us see how this will be going. And I want to see there will be more dialogue coming so that we could have a better and constructive and peaceful relationship. But in having this one, we have to make sure that there is a rule of law that needs to be given respect. And you know, the ASEAN, you talk about ASEAN countries, has its own concern. You know, President expressed his understanding that those countries enabling China has a concern about Chinese economic rise and military reach these days. So putting all this together, I think, yes, there are some uncertainties and things that we are worried about. But that doesn't mean that we have to get into a more serious situation. I think throughout the Cold War, you know, there was some conflict and so forth. Basically, we didn't have a very serious arms conflict and so forth. Why not for another 50 years? This is our obligations, the current people, to leave all this region very peaceful way. And this is a common interest, including China. And so in doing so, I think ASEAN would play a very important role. And we appreciate ASEAN cohesion, ASEAN solidarity. ASEAN is rapidly becoming democracy and advancing its, you know, middle class people's welfare and so forth. So there is a future. And those things will be a very promising factor when we shape up the future of Asia Pacific. Now, what was your third question I forgot? Oh, UN Security Council, right. Yeah, this is a very important issue, to be honest. And most of the countries willing to reform Security Council, except possibly for P5, I'd say. You know, it depends. But P5 country has its own prerogative and beater. And so some of them are afraid that there will be more members coming in, maybe more difficult to reach a decision. If they are given veto, there will be more vetoing around. At this moment, it's not, some people criticize, it's not really working fully, as fully expected because of some of the difference of views between, for example, US and China and Russia, for example, when it comes to very essential matters pertaining to individual interest. So it is not easy, even at this moment. So the concern is that what we do if there are more members coming in, and there are some this and that proposal, but having said it, I want to say that Japan is qualified to be a member of Security Council. We are not giving up. We continue to advocate the reform of the Security Council. And they need to be adaptive to the new realities of the world. And only Security Council cannot be out of date, to be honest. But you know, this has been on agenda for some time. But Japan, although willing to be a part of that, but we have to do our own work, share the work, economic and development, even democracy, and even security as I just mentioned. If people of the nations, I mean, around the world think that Japan will be qualified enough, even the all this existing P5 will not be able to resist. That's what we need to do. So we are hoping for it, but still we have to be humble about what role will be given by the world opinion, and we shall go on the road. We wish to be the best for that. I told you that he speaks his mind. And I think that was a really fantastic answer to some complicated questions. We are falling back on Amtrak time here. We're seven minutes past the time. We promised we would get you to Osaka Station. So I think we're going to wrap it up here. And I would like everyone to join me, please, in thanking Ambassador Sassai for a fantastic ending to our summer. Thank you. And thank you to all of you for coming today again on a hot day, and at least it's cool in here, and for participating. And we really appreciate your patience and staying. And look forward to the next event, which, as I said, Womenomics in September for my program. So I look forward to seeing you then. Bye-bye.