It gives me great pleasure to address you at the start of a new year. I hope that this will be a year of great development and advances for all of you.
We have entered the second decade of the 21st century, carrying with us enormous issues to address: the economy, national finances, jobs, the environment, and security. There are many who bemoan a decline in the energy and enthusiasm of our youth and see dangers in Japan's future, but in strategic systems engineering, we see this as a time to put our best foot forward and tackle new challenges and capture possibilities.
At the end of last year, Keio University was honored with a visit from US Ambassador John V. Roos, who gave us an encouraging message that I would like to share with you. The ambassador said that Japan is a country that shares the democratic value of the free market economy, has an educated population, has a culture that values work, and has enormous amounts of capital. There is no need to be even the slightest bit pessimistic. (Mainichi Shimbun, January 9, 2011) He went on to talk about the many tangible and intangible assets that we have, from our natural environment to our high ethical standards, and he encouraged us to open the way to a new future by giving strong incentives to young people, entrepreneurs, and women and designing policies and programs to help them make a difference.
This is the direction that the Graduate School of System Design and Management wants to go, and I'm confident that our presence and role will only grow in the future. The faculty at the school is as committed as always to taking on this challenge, and we look forward to your guidance and support.
Yoshiaki Ohkami
Director, SDM Research Institute
Dean, Graduate School of System Design and Management