#2-6 The quest for jobs [Sep 10th 2011]

#2-6 The quest for jobs [Sep 10th 2011]

Sep 18, 2011 10:00-12:00 Gaienmae Dean & Deluca Aoyama

Members: Ogawa, Ono, Tomozawa, Kurasawa, Saito and Goto

Article we discussed:

[Leaders] The quest for jobs

[Special report] The great mismatch

[Leaders] The new special relationship

[Middle East and Africa][Israel and Turkey] Can it get worse?

    A special guest came to join this week. Mr. Goto, who is elder than us, found our website weeks before and contacted us to join our group. He already read the newspaper for several years so he knew much about its style and opinion. He has joined another economist readers’ group held in Gotanda several times so he advised us about the management of our group comparing characteristics of the two groups. His advice was so helpful so we are going to improve our discussion based on his advice.

    We have a fewer articles this week so we could discuss each topic taking much time. But sometimes our discussion got lost because each of us spoke what we wanted. We should be aware what we are discussing now and a facilitator should control the discussion to find the way to our conclusion.

    The first topic we discussed about was joblessness of the West. The Economist on this week had a special report about the topic. Our discussion was based on two articles, one from Leaders and another from special report. “The quest for job” from Leaders makes several proposals that politicians should do for reducing high unemployment levels of the West. The immediately priority should be supporting demand. To strike a bargain with the bond market in medium term and to stimulate the economy in various ways in short term are what they are expected. The Economist also insists demand side policies are also important. It suggests that labor market policies themselves can make huge difference because the new technology and globalization change demand for skills. A focal point of our discussion was an evaluation of Obama’s “Green New Deal” as a demand stimulus policy.

    The next article, “The great mismatch” explains about high unemployment rate focusing on a key word, “a natural rate of unemployment”. The rate stays on a high level compared to a decade ago because of globalization and the new technology. Saito made his discussion paper for the first time and he putted several referendums on his paper. It was helpful for the discussion. We had better follow his example.

    As an impressive cover picture of a tiger and a bulldog facing each other shows, the second topic we discussed was about emerging-market firms and Britain. Around 4 centuries ago, British capital went to the East but now capital is flowing the other direction. Britain is attractive for firms in emerging countries for four reasons; relatively open economy, expertise, brand and easy access to the city of London. We mainly discussed the case of Japan. Japan is relatively closed economy for immigrant workers and foreign capital. But attractiveness of Japan is similar to Britain especially expertise and brand. An interesting episode Kurasawa showed us is that “Made in Japan” is valuable in cosmetics industry because it guarantees qualities of products. For such reason, they gather materials from over the world and produce cosmetics in Japan. This episode is a unique hint for the future industry of Japan.

    Lastly Tomozawa picked up Israel and Turkey issues. He said he paid attention to Turkey because of its geopolitical importance. We didn’t know relations between Israel and Turkey have worsened or even didn’t imagine there have been relations between the two countries. So his choice was impressive for us. W discussed mainly the geopolitical and economical position of Turkey. Turkey is located in the Middle East of Asia but also on the edge of Europe being close to Russia. Securities of this region do not only related to this region but also effect over the world broadly. The existence of NATO get the relations more complicated. 

    At the end of the discussion, we shared ideas to improve our discussion. First, we should read a lot. The quality of output comes from the quantity of input. Second, put discussion topic first. We already read the articles before gathering, so we should more focus on a discussion itself than summarizing it. Thirdly, we had better state why do we pick up the articles. This was a hot sunny day and there was a festival in Gaienmae. From the next day the climate changed to dramatically cool. So the day was the last day of this summer.

#2-5 Ten years on [Sep 3rd 2011]

#2-5 Ten years on [Sep 3rd 2011]

Sep 11th, 2011 Shinjuku Paul Bassett

Members: Iino, Ono, Ogawa, Ido and Kurasawa

Articles we discussed:

[Leaders][Infrastructure project] The great train robbery

[Business][Doing business in Brazil] Rio or Sao Paulo?

[Business][Schumpeter] Angst for educated

[Britain][Food prices and mergers] Hard to swallow

    Ten years have passed since the tragic terrorist attack hit NY and six months since the disastrous earthquake hit the north east of Japan. We gathered in Shinjuku on this memorable day. Kurasawa, who is a friend of Iino came to join us for the first time. She is working for a cosmetic company and lives in Gotenba in which her company’s factory is located. She comes back to Tokyo every weekend so she can join us. We discussed on four articles and talked on our jobs. I am going to review our discussion briefly.

    The first article picked up by Iino was “The great train robbery” from Leaders section. This article focused mainly on Britain’s high-speed train project, which connects London and northern Britain in a few hours. This newspaper’s opinion is presented clearly on its topic sentence; ”High-speed rail lines rarely pay their way. Britain’s government should ditch its plan to build one.” They opposed to the project. We mainly discussed whether it is only the case of Britain or also applicable to any cases we have heard over the world. This topic was sensitive and interesting for us Japanese because Japan puts up infrastructure exportation as a growth strategy and a high-speed railway is one of the most valuable strategic assets.

    Secondly, we focused on Brazil. The article “Rio or Sao Paulo?” showed us that Rio de janeiro became to be attractive for business for the first time in decades comparing with a well known business city, Sao Paulo. I have been to Sao Paulo and met several Japanese Brazilian managers. They all have a positive outlook on their country so I remember I was impressed from their attitudes. Such brightness we mainly discussed about. It looks similar to the atmosphere of Japan in 1960’s. Ono said it comes from economic growth. This was simple and persuasive answer but we have to keep in mind that brightness cast shadow at the same time. We should look at not only bright side but also dark side of the country.

    Third article was close to us because we all are university graduates and working on “white color“ jobs for several years. The number of people who are educated is growing especially in developing countries. They compete with Europe’s or American educated people who are working at medical, legal and finance companies. The educated also suffer from IT development. Professional tasks easily can be replaced by software especially data processing tasks. This kind of topic is picked up several times on this newspaper. Our discussion made us to reconsider the values of our jobs.

    The last article picked up by Ido is about food prices and mergers in Britain. She is working at Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries so she is interested on this issue. This topic is related to the issue of competition and fairness in a market. Mergers make a monopoly and intervene fair competition among players. This article considers the reason of food price inflation in Britain. The main two possible causes are an oligopoly and imported inflation. We discussed right and wrong an oligopoly market and price controllers of the market.

    After the discussion we ate lunch at the restaurant on the top of the nearest building. The view from there was splendid and the place was comfortable to eat together. We talked about our daily life and work. What we enjoyed most was the talk of love affairs. 

#2-4 Going, going... [Aug 27th 2011]

#2-4 Going, going... [Aug 27th 2011]

4th Sep, 2011 Marunouchi DEAN DELICA

 Members:

Ono, Ogawa, Iino, Nagao, Tahara, Tomozawa, Sotani, Kanno, Shimada and Saito. 

10 people gathered this week.

Articles we discussed:

[Leaders][Immigration] Let them come

[Briefing][Libya] The birth of free Libya

[Asia][Politics in Japan] Sixth time lucky?

[Middle East and Africa] www.africa.slow

[International] Moving out, on and back

[Finance & Economics][Alternative indicators] Behind the bald figures

[Finance & Economics][Economic focus] Changing target

     We gathered at Marunouchi on this week for the first time. Marunouchi is the most refined business district in Tokyo on weekdays and also fashionable place especially on weekend. People gather there to eat fine meals, go shopping, enjoy arts and do exercises. We had two new comers on this week’s study group. Kanno who is working for a foreign-affiliated financial firm, found our study group by net surfing. He searched a group of reading the economist and checked over 20 websites and finally reached our website. Saito is a friend of Ogawa and Shimada. We joined a student organization named AIESEC during our college life. He is good at English because he went to do an internship in India for a year.

    We picked up and discussed 7 articles on 6 topics. Follow up our discussion briefly. First, we discussed two articles about a new trend of immigration. In the economic crisis like we are suffering right now, emigration declines because economic decline takes their jobs. The opinion of the article is clear on its title, “Let them come”. They insist that even economic crisis continues to burden their nation’s employment, immigrants bring skills, energies, ideas and willingness to work that boost productivity and encourage innovation. Especially because immigration becomes temporary and there is global competition from the East for them, the article insist that the West should be more welcoming to migrants. We first brought international students’ case we experienced in our life one by one. But that’s not a serious case because they don’t take many jobs from local people but bring merits much more. So we shifted to discuss the matter of workers.

     The next topic politics in Japan was written before Noda was elected as a prime minister. What were interesting on this article were phrases for introducing candidates of the election. Mr. Maehara was called a train spotter. Mr. Kaieda was a cabinet minister who burst into tears in parliament. Mr. Noda was somebody who exonerates war criminals. We enjoyed such ironical ideas.


     Then, we changed a topic and discussed the issue of African poor Internet access reading the example of Sierra Leone. Our discussion tends to incline to Japan’s case because we are Japanese but I think we should focus on foreign issues much more. To focus on foreign issues and discuss is hard to do because we should imagine things that have nothing to do with us.

     Lastly, we picked up two articles from Finance & Economics section. “Behind the bald figures” is a humorous article aiming to find another BicMac index. Many unreliable but innovative ideas that indicate economic outlook are presented on the article. “Changing target” is a more serious article focusing on the policy of a central bank. They set inflation target on their monetary policy. The article presents the idea of changing the target to nominal GDP and verifies it. They conclude the idea is questionable but such a challenging idea is interesting to know.

     The café we gathered this week opens at 10 am so some of us waited outside in a few minutes. Inside the café was comfortable and relaxing. We ate lunch together in Marubill near from the café. Most of us are strangers each other so we introduced ourselves during lunch. My aim is to manage this study group properly and attract enthusiastic people to make a positive impact on a society. 

#2-3 Asia's lonely hearts [Aug 20th 2011]

#2-3 Asia's lonely hearts [Aug 20th 2011]

Aug 28, 2011 10:00-12:00   Iidabashi Café Di Espresso

Members: 8 people
Ogawa, Ono, Iino, Nagao, Tomozawa, Tahara, Sotani and Yokoyama

Articles:

[Leaders] Asia’s lonely hearts

[Leaders] [Intellectual property] Patent medicine

[Business] [Google’s takeover of Motorola Mobility] Patently different

[Finance & Economics] An unpalatable solution

    This week’s our study group was an innovative experience. 8 members came to join and it was the maximum size we have experienced thorough our group. 3 new comers came to join this time. Tahara is my old friend and works for a hedge fund, which headquarter is located in Singapore. He sent me a message on twitter that he wants to join with us. Sotani is a friend of Tomozawa and she is investment analyst. Yokoyama is a dietitian working for a hospital. They each have a very clear-cut personalities and I had a fun discussing with them.

    The first article Ogawa chose was a sensational one especially for Asian youngs like us. “Asia’s lonely hearts” points out “a flight of marriage”, instead of a divorce or a late marriage, is more common among Asian young people. The article insists that burdens that Asian women carry is heavy, and then they don’t want to or hesitate to get marry. We mainly discussed about what politics can do for the issue. Japanese legislation doesn’t acknowledge de-fact marriage as a normal one and a legitimate child is inferior to a normal one when it comes to inheritance and legal issues.

    Secondly, we discussed about patents on two articles from leaders and business section. Both articles focuses on Google’s recent takeover of Motorola Mobility. The attraction for Google is its portfolio of 17,000 patents, with another 7,500 in the pipeline. The article insists that the patent system has been stifling innovation rather than encouraging it so our discussion mainly focused on how to overcome this dilemma. Iino gave us an example of a pharmaceutical industry. He explained us that pharmaceutical manufactures were turning to be investment companies because it took huge cost to make a new medicine. Someone gave a good idea of two-story patent system, which is to separate patents of short term investment and long term one.

    Last article “An unpalatable solution” that Ono picked up is from Economic focus on Euro fiscal crisis. It verifies the possibility of issuing Eurobonds. We already picked up this issue last week so this week we more focused on concrete possible solutions. The Economist was skeptical about the idea of Eurobonds. It was more like bold bond reorganization. Other solutions are financial transferring and centralization of fiscal policy but both of them are inconsistent with reality because countries such as Germany and France would have an acute pain by these policies.

    We gathered in Iidabashi for the first time. An aiming café was closed so we had to change the place to discuss thirty minutes before start. Takase was registered on this study group according to our spreadsheet but we all didn’t know him so we couldn’t contact him. The café had a large space so we easily prepared our seats. 

#2-2 Time for a double dip? [Aug 6th 2011]

#2-2 Time for a double dip? [Aug 6th 2011]

14th August 2011 10:00-12:00  Shinjuku Ranbure

Ono, Fujisaki, Shimada, Ogawa

Articles we discussed:

[Leaders] Time for double dip?

[United States] The debt-ceiling deal

[Europe] Hot, hot August

[Business] Robots don’t complain

   This week another new member came to join for the first time. Fujisaki reads The Economist from her  college time, long before this study group started. She took a class in which members discussed economic issues on articles of the magazine. She seemed to get used to reading it and made so much contribution to our discussion. We hope that she will join us continually when she backs to Tokyo from Hiroshima.

    We discussed roughly on 3 topics of 4 articles from both macroeconomic and microeconomic points of view. Ono and Fujisaki picked up articles about America’s economic and political sufferings that are cleared after debt ceiling deal. “Time for double dip” from Leader focuses on uncertain economic restoration of US economy. Ono showed us several important discussion topics on this issue: “false dawns” of US economy, a possibility of QE3 during a zero interest policy continuing, a necessity of adjustments of the national balance sheet and so on. The article criticizes a large slug of austerity and poisonous politics of the past few weeks and concludes avoiding recession depends on accurate political leadership.

    Second article “No thanks to anyone” focuses the political dysfunction that is threatening its chances of economic recovery. Fujisaki picked up the article because it presents us America’s structural political defects clearly. She explained to us about “polarization” of American politics. She also mentioned characteristics and historical transition of American politics. Why a third party couldn’t gain power in America and how the size of constituency influences outcomes of elections was interest topics of our discussion.

    Ogawa picked up third article “Hot, hot August” from Europe. In August, something important has happen in our history. Wars have odd tendency to break out in this month. Signs of economic crises we could find in August. The meaning of “Hot, hot…” on the title comes from this awareness of August. The article is about the crisis of EU and euro leaders’ attitudes to fight against it. Our discussion focused on “a momentous decision” that euro zone leaders could face very soon; should they allow countries to default and break the currency or should they try to save the euro by creating unpopular fiscal union with jointly backed Euro bonds. Ogawa said that Euro, the integrated currency of Europe, is their dream so they would never throw it away. Fujisaki mentioned from history that they would not make such a decision and might reach a vague conclusion because they always did in such a way.

    Lastly, we discussed on “Robots don’t complain” which reports FOXCONN’s latest decision of mechanization in their plant. Shimada explained why this decision is worth watching. It is because this company has their assembly plants located in China and their advantage is that they can use cheap labor forces there. We discussed several case of mechanization for a while. Ono presented automation of cars. Cars can be driven automatically by using latest technology but carmakers don’t step in because of the issue of responsibility if an accident happens while automatic drive.

    We gathered a nostalgic café in Shinjuku. It was hot, hot August day and was Fujisaki’s birthday. She left to have lunch with her family earlier so we couldn’t do anything for her. Ono and Shimada and Ogawa went to Lumine to have a lunch and talked mainly about our common friends.  

#2-1 Turning Japanese [July 30th, 2011]

The Economist Study Group 2011 summer-autumm launched

#2-1   Turning Japanese [July 30th, 2011]
Aug 7th 2011 10:00-12:00 Sendagaya GoodMorning Cafe

Ono, Iino, Ogawa, Goda, Shimada, Ido, Tomozawa 

Articles we discussed

[Britain][Manufacturing] A tale of two industries

[Business][Schumpeter] The trouble with outsourcing

[Business][French newspaper] The revolution at Le Monde

[Finance & Economics] [Economic Focus] Beefed-up burgernomics

[Leaders][Debt and politics in America and Europe] Turning Japanese

This week we started second season of the study group and surprisingly 4 new members came to join with us. Iino invited 3 of them and Ogawa invited 1 of 4. They are smart and have passions to contribute to our discussion. New members are necessary for our group to be continuing. We very appreciate it.

    We discussed 4 articles and commented 1 article. The cover picture of this week was sensational particularly for Japanese people. American President Obama and German Prime Minister Merkel both wear kimonos that have their flag-like patterns. The title of a cover article is ”Turning Japanese”. This illustration implies that both Europe and America turn to be like Japan, which suggest both fall into the absence of leadership. I feel ashamed because they probably think it is a “fact” of the world that leadership doesn’t exist in Japan and readers also know about it. Moreover, this article does not focus on Japan itself. Japan is like a lure to discuss their greater matters of concern such as US debt ceiling and EU debt issues. We should bear in mind that world sees us .

    Let’s follow our discussion briefly. The first two articles are about corporate strategies mainly on an aerospace industry. Britain’s article compares two Britain-located manufacturing company Ralls Royce (an example of succeed) and Bombardier (failure). The keywords are “service revenue”, “globalization and standardization” and “diversion”. We mainly discussed characteristics of the two industries. Second article Iino chose is “the trouble with outsourcing”. Unique example on the article is Boeing 787 Dreamliner. We mainly discussed “core values” of aircrafts industry. The core values we think of at first are technologies of engines and wings but Iino said they are not. He said “integration know-how” is the core value in this industry. That was an interesting point of the discussion.

    On third article about French newspaper, we also discussed core values of media industry. Goda chose the article and he proposed to discuss the role of journalism mentioning a current issue of Fuji TV. We focused how to prevent journalistic impartiality from influence of capitals and unions. Current TV companies have not only news sections but also entertainment sections. We should discuss the issue separately. Goda said the core value of journalism is to make good articles without any influence.

    Last article is about the famous BicMac Index. Ono presented the summary in English for the first time. This was challenging but necessary to improve our English skill. We mainly discussed why BicMac? Various reasons can be imagined but we focused two. The first is that BicMac is a consumer good that we can find globally. The second is that it is a food that is made by local harvests.

    We gathered at Good Morning Café in Sendagaya. We were 8 (large group) but seats were available fortunately. We have used the café four times already. Location and atmosphere are nice so I like there but BGM was loud so a little difficult to hear their voices. If members will gather more than 5 like today, we should find more comfortable space.

San Francisco Trip

夏休みを使って今年やりたいことにあげていたSan Francisco旅行を敢行できた。
一人旅行だったが、ひとまず実現できたので良しとする。

一週間まるまるSan Franciscoのみ！
初日はSan Francisco GIANTS!

Bay Area名物のclam chowder

UC berkeleyとStanfordの二大学を訪問してきた。実はそれが最大の目的であった。

2nd season will launch soon...

「今後の進め方：しばらく夏季休業し、８月７日に仕切り直しの第１回。メンバーの充実や、コンテンツの見える化を通じて、持続可能な会にしていきたいと思います。」

7月に入りだんだんと毎週のサイクルが確定してきた。７月後半の夏休みをはさむし、同じ３人で何週間も続けてきたので、ここで仕切り直しにしようという話になった。ということで１シーズンは、全１１回で終了、８月以降２シーズン目で進めていくつもりだ。


ポイントは「持続可能性」
前期の反省として、３〜４人だと深い話ができる反面、日曜に誰かが予定が入っていると２人での開催や、開催中止という事態がよくあったということがあった。毎週やると決めたにもかかわらず、２人だからといって休んだり、延期したりすることはこの勉強会の趣旨からしても好ましくない。当初から、頭にあったのは早い段階で勉強会の「型」を固めてしまって、会の運営に関して属人的要素を排除しようということだった。そうすることで、メンバーが入れ替わっても集まりは存続できる。そのためには、人を集め、毎回のプロセスを「見える化」する必要があった。２シーズン目に突入するにあたっていくつか施策を用意したので、ここで紹介しておこうと思う。




（１）Facebook
「グループページを開放します。興味がある人が自由に閲覧・参加できるようにしておきます。並行して、毎回のレジュメやレビューのアップロードをしていきます。」


Facebookに投稿するのはいまのところ一部のみだが、参加者同士のコミュニケーションおよび、勉強会当日以外でのディスカッションの場としてグループページを活用しとうと考えている。メーリングリストの代わりでもある。


グループページの良い点は、
・参加者の顔とプロフィールがわかること。
・参加者同士がつながってコミュニケーションがとれるようになること。
・話し合った内容がのこること。それを全員がフォローできること。
・リンクやドキュメントを共有できること。
等があげられる。


一方で欠点は、
・Facebookに登録していないメンバーは参加できないこと。
・プライバシー設定と公開のバランスをとるのが難しいこと。
・ファイルの共有には力不足なこと。
・MLに比べて連絡事項の周知徹底に不安が残ること。
である。


一長一短はあるものの、Facebookを見たよというまだ未参加の友人の声もあり、グループページを作成すること自体は一定の効果があると考えている。上記の欠点を補完していくことが今後の課題になるだろう。




（２）Webコンテンツの充実
「参加者の１人である飯野氏が、７月１０日の回のレポートを上げております。雰囲気を掴むご参考まで。　http://d.hatena.ne.jp/fukudakitchou/20110710」

Webページに上記リンク掲載したところ、リンクをたどって２人から参加の希望メールが来た。やはり、口コミというか会の内容が具体的に分かり、かつ宣伝のような主催者の回し者
でない人のコメントは信憑性があり、インパクトがある。小野君の作成した紹介文自体もとてもよくまとまっているので、これからも折にふれ定期的に更新していくべきだろう。ちなみに「２０代　勉強会」といったキーワードで検索すると上位に出てくるそうなので、知らずうちに多くの人の目に触れることになっているかもしれない。すべての玄関口という意味でもWebページの中身は気をつけていたい。


（３）声かけ
８月７日の第１回をめがけて、友人で興味がありそうな人を中心に声かけをすることとなった。結果４人が初参加、それ以降も新たなメンバーが加わり良い感じだ。友人の友人から世界が広がっていくことは、Facebookなどのソーシャルメディアで多くの人が実践していることであり、メディア上に限らず、勉強会というハコでもそれは機能する。懸念としては無秩序に規模が拡大し、収拾がつかなくなることだが、そうした懸念よりも新たな出会いの方にメリットを感じているので、限定することはせずにいたいと考えている。




（４）ESG出欠確認シート
Googleドキュメントを活用して、誰がいつ参加するのか、どこでやっているのか、人数は何人か、などを「見える化」する為に共有のスプレッドシートを作成した。どんなメンバーが関わっているのかもわかりとても良い施策として機能している。このスプレッドシートをマスターデータとして位置づけ、リンクやデータをその他のソーシャルメディアやサイトに転用していくことで、無秩序に広がる懸念のあるデータのひもづけに使っていきたい。ただ、若干見づらいことと、1枚には全て収まりきらないことから、定期的に改善していくことを考えている。

#11 The end of the space age (July 4th, 2011)

#11　The end of the space age (July 4th, 2011 Full edition)

July 11th, 2011 (SUN) 10:00~12:00 Shinjuku Rejiig
ONO, OGAWA, IINO

[Leaders][Space exploration] The end of space age

[Leaders][China abroad] Welcome, bienvenue, willkommen

[Finance & Economics][IMF's new head] wanted: a French revolution

#10 Rising power, anxious state (June 25th, 2011)

#10　Rising power, anxious state (June 25th, 2011)

July 3rd, 2011 (SUN) 10:00~12:00
OGAWA, ONO, IINO Shibuya Freshness Burger

[Asia][Banyan] Neither a picnic nor a Switzerland

[International][A new row about the IPCC]A climate of conflict

[Economics & Finance][Economic focus] Degrees of democracy

六本木勉強会

勉強会ひとまずの終止符

　同期の勉強会が挫折しかけている。いやもうすでに挫折したと言ってもいいかも知れない。４人で去年の１１月から始めた勉強会、今まで月1〜２回開催で順調にやってきた。回を重ねるにつれ、この半年間の間で劇的におかれている状況が変わってきた。新人として支社に配属された直後の１０月、まだ格付の何たるかも分からず、現物の開け閉めに追われる日々、私たちはもっと財務の勉強をしたいと心から感じていた。折しも研修では財務分析に時間が割かれ、短いながらも同期と議論を交わし「面白い」と素直に思った。それから半年、私たちは４人で集まり、計８回にわたって勉強会を続けてきた。その間すでに一人はRMとして何社もの取引先を担当し、私も課内で欠かせない存在としてなりつつあるなど勉強会の内容がますます日常業務に身近なものになりつつある。

　しかしながら、そのような状況でますます財務や市場動向に関心が向くメンバーがいる一方で、そうでないメンバーもおりそれぞれの方向性が揺らぎ始めた。発案者である私自身としても、この勉強会に素直に注力してきたとは言いがたく反省する点も多々ある。ここでひとまずピリオドを打って、私がこの会で何を目的としていたか、これからどういうことをしたいと思っているのかをまとめておこうと思う。

【そもそものきっかけ】

　思い返せばそもそものきっかけは、「志の高い同期を集めたい」というものだった。もちろん、私の会社に集まっている同期は、それぞれに個性があり能力が高く尊敬する人間ばかりである。しかしながら、そのベクトルは様々である。体育会系でスポーツをばりばりやってきて、休日も練習に追われつつ日々の業務ではチームで結果を出すことに長けたものもいれば、大学院までファイナンス理論の研究を追求してきて、就職後もそれを続けるものもいる。海外勤務を目指し語学学校に通うものもいる。飲み会や合コンで社交力を磨いているものもいる。そんな同期に囲まれて、私がやりたいことは何か、それを考えた結果、考え至ったのが勉強会だった。大学で所属した学生団体では、複数人でチームを作って、社会問題や開発の課題を議論したり、企画を立てたり、事業運営をしたりとしたことをやってきて、そういった活動が好きだった。そういった自分の強みを生かして、同期なり組織に貢献したい、あわよくば自分と言う存在をアピールしたいと考えていた。そして胸襟を開いて将来のことを語り合える友人ができたらと思っていた。４人が揃うまではそれほど時間はかからなかった。顔ぶれが揃い、最初に神谷町のスタバに集まってこの勉強会は始まった。

「財務分析」と「市況分析」

　勉強会を２本だてにしたのは、私が一銀行員として、企業財務とマーケットどちらも興味をもっているからである。そもそも私が金融機関で働こうと考えた理由は、金融と言う分野が、どんな産業にも関わる業界であると同時に、地球の裏側で起こる出来事を常に踏まえながら目の前の仕事に取り組む、俯瞰的でありかつダイナミックな業界だと考えたからだ。目の前の企業と向き合うことと、地球の裏側の出来事に目を配ることは、相反することのようで、じつは車の両輪であると考えている。だからこそあえて２つを柱にした。裏の意図としては、どちらかに偏るであろうメンバーの興味を補完する目的もあった。ベースとしては「藤戸レポート」と「大津本」を用いた。どちらも私たちのレベルと興味に合致する内容であり、この選定は間違っていなかったと思う。

【反省点】

１．会の趣旨はしっかり共有できていたか？

　上記のような経緯と目的で始めた勉強会だったが、結果として会の趣旨は十分に達成されなかった。半年で収束しつつある状況を考えると、惹き付けるなにかが会としては不十分だったと言わざるを得ない。

２．取り上げたテーマは適切だったか？

　同期として共通のテーマを設定したものの、会が進むにつれて微妙な方向性のすれ違いもあり、満足のいかないメンバーもあったようだ。大津本についてはもちろん課題図書自体として良書であると認識しているが、（１）間延びしてしまったこと（２）準備ができていない時があったこと（３）誰が仕切るのか曖昧であったこと、といった運営面でその可能性をフルに生かしきれていないと言わざるを得ない。藤戸レポートについては、レポート自体は面白いものの、毎回関連テーマを議題として直前に提示するのみで、感覚としては単発、最後の方は流し読みでそれほど議論が盛り上がらなかった。体系だっていないがために、面白い議論が始まることもあれば、堂々巡りで終わることもあり、狙いの市況分析はできていなかっただろう。

３．運営面での足かせはなかったか？

　まず、メールの一斉送信では限界がある。話し合いも盛り上がらないし、そもそも不便である。Facebookのような場所で早めにプラットフォームとなるものを作っておくべきだった。私がおっくうな性格のため、他にウェブ方面に明るいメンバーが不在だったことが、反省点である。また、メンバーのスケジュール調整にも毎度頭を悩まされた。私は取りまとめ役だったので、誰が足を引っ張っている訳ではないことが把握できるのだが、他の参加者にとっては自分の都合で延期になるとあたかも自分が足を引っ張っていると感じていたかと思うと、申し訳なく思う。その意味で、もっと運営をシームレスにしておくべきであった。次に再開する時は、はじめからブログかグループページを作っておこうと思う。

４．開催日時、場所は適切だったか？

　休日のみの開催で土日の午前に設定したのはまずまずであった。夜は各自予定があるだろうけれど、午前であれば集まれるし、なにしろ時間を有効に使える。欲を言えば朝食を一緒に食べながら、といった会にしたいものだ。場所は、ほぼ六本木のTSUTAYAスタバ併設店を使った。これには賛否両論ある。確かに雰囲気がよく休日を過ごすにはもってこいの場所であったが、同じ場所を使いすぎたきらいはある。席も狭く本を広げるには不十分だった。一番の反省点は、定期開催ができなかったことだ。次の日程を決めるのを忘れたり、欠席者がいたりすると、主催者がスケジュール調整を担う必要が生じ、正直億劫であった。このような状態だと、早晩スケジュール調整がいきづまり定期開催が難しくなることは明らかで、事実その通りになってしまった。調整については、「ちょーすけ」やGoogleカレンダーを使う等もっと工夫する必要があるように思う。早急なカイゼンが必要だ。

５．参加者の範囲は限定的しすぎだったろうか？

　４人で十分だったか、確かに議論は活発化した。しかしながら、結果を思うとなんともいいがたい、苦い感じである。もっと広くオープンにしても良かったのではないだろうか？　どちらにせよ同期であるし、休日は皆予定があり、広く声かけしても、会の趣旨が満たされぬほどの人数が集まるとは思えない。それよりも広く同期の間に自分たちの集まりの存在を知らせた方がメリットになるのではないか。運営面でしっかりと定期開催ができるようになれば、人数は４人以上でもうまくいくはずである。ただし人数が多いと、議論の積み重ねから生まれるある種の共通体験を共有できないこともあり、議事録等で議論の積み重ねを共有することが課題である。

６．ファースト・フォロワーを大事にできたろうか？

　私が一人で主催するような形にせず、最初の４人をうまく企画側として同じ立場で協力をあおぐべきだった。たとえば、告知を輪番にするとか、テーマ設定を他に任せるとか。一から十までお膳立てしたことで逆に自分が動かなければ会が回らないと言う状況になり、それではうまくいかないことがはっきりした。これからは、この点に気をつけようと思う。

【結びとして−結局のところ何がしたいのか】

　勉強は一人一人が個人的にするものである、という考えは大学生を筆頭に世間一般に広まっている考えだと思う。こういうと反論があることは承知の上であるが、およそ勉強と言うものは、受験にしたって語学学習にしたって、人様の目に見えないところで個人的に努力するもの、と言う意識が私達にはあるのではないだろうか？　事実私自身がもともとそういう考え方だった。小学校から始まった受験勉強は、塾の友達とつるむということは極力避け、静かに勉強し、家では黙々と問題に向かい、テストで誰もたよりにできない場所で結果を出す、ということを繰り返してきた。中学受験に限らず、高校受験や大学受験を経験した人にとってはそういう感覚が大きいのではないだろうか。つまり、勉強しているなんて姿を友人に見せるのは愚の骨頂で、スポーツ等学生生活を謳歌しながら、人知れず勉強し結果を出すこと、それこそがカッコいい。特に、東大生などにはそうして入学してきたものも多く、勉強が得意でありながら、そういった姿を人に見せたがらない人が多い。私もそういうタイプだった。

　しかしながら、浪人時代を経てそれが大きく変わった。浪人時代も黙々と勉強していたものの、その姿は隠さずにいた。つまり、がむしゃらな姿を友人に見せつつ勉強したのだ。高校の同級生には格好の悪い奴にみえたに違いない。彼らはクラスの後ろに座り、なるべく目立たず、授業後もさっさと帰り、家で勉強することで結果を出すようなタイプだったから。その点、私は予備校の閉まる最後まで居座り、朝もなるべく早めにくるようにしていた。そういう姿をみせていると不思議なことに友人が徐々にできるようになった。もちろん、試験で好成績を出せたことも大きかったものの、人は素直にひたむきな人間とか自分と志を同じくする人間に惹かれるということを肌で感じることができたのだ。浪人時代の後半では、そういった仲間と励まし合い、教え合ったり、センターの模擬試験を一緒に解いたりといった形でとても楽しく過ごすことができた。結果としても、目標の大学に入学でき、今でも一緒に集まるかけがえのない仲間ができた。

　結局、勉強もスポーツと同様、共同作業なのだ。高校生の頃までの自分には、勉強が共同作業であるとは考えもしなかった。それは友人に限らず、先生や両親、そして試験の先にいる見えない出題者まですべてをひっくるめての共同作業なのだ。

　こうした成功体験を経て、勉強を一緒にやることへの楽しみが自分の中に染み付いた。さらに大学におけるゼミや、学生団体での活動を経て、それが非常に大きいものになっていった。浪人時代、一足早く大学生になって友人が、「シケプリ」とよばれる試験対策資料や試験の点数ばかりを気にする姿を見て「点数ばかりを語る大学生にはならない」と手帳に記した。社会人になった今も、同様のことを考えている。「学歴や資格ばかりを語る社会人にはならない」。確かにそれらは社会的に重要であるのは事実である。しかし、結果としてそれが与えられれば十分であって、目指すものでは決してない。私はそれに至るプロセスの方を重視したい。一人真面目に静かに参考本に向き合うより、仲間と集まり議論しながら勉強する方が、はるかに自分にとっては重要で、チャレンジングである。これから様々な困難や、芳しくない出来事が突きつけられようとも、ここは一つ頑張ってみたい。

#9 The end of AIDS? (June 4th, 2011)

#9　The end of AIDS? (June 4th, 2011 Full edition)

June 12nd, 2011 (SUN) 10:00~12:00 Sendagaya GoodMorning Cafe

OGAWA, ONO, IINO

[Leaders][Brazil's economy] Too hot
[US] Excuses, excuses
[International][Genocide] The uses and abuses of the G-word

Dive into the unknown!

友人３人で勉強会を始めることになった経緯は以前書いたが、
GWを境にWebサイト（http://tesg.web.fc2.com/index.html）
を作成してより広く声かけしようと言う話になった。
開設にあたって仲間募集の文章を書いたので、ここに掲載しようと思う。

同士求ム！！！
最高を希求する知的好奇心、野心にあふれた不確実な時代の航海者たちよ

東日本大震災の余震が収まらない。これだけの揺れを日々感じていると、もはや私たちが立つ地面は堅くどっしりとしているとは到底思えない。部屋にいるとき気がつくと揺れているこの状況は、まるで大洋に浮かぶ小舟の上にいるかようだ。そしてフクシマの原発事故は電力不足に対する危機感と放射能に対する恐怖を私たちの日常生活にもたらした。震災のあと日本を覆ったあの自粛の静けさを奇妙に思いながら、小舟の上で、いつまた火を噴くとも知れぬ壊れた動力源に不安を抱きつつ、私たちは日々を過ごしている。

世界地図を思い浮かべてみても、私たちの生きる日本列島はまるで太平洋に浮かぶ小舟のようだ。西のユーラシア大陸では中国をはじめアジアの新興国がますます存在感を増し、東のアメリカ大陸では今も世界をリードする産業や企業が生まれる。そんな両地域にはさまれて、世界第２位の経済大国の地位も譲り渡し、ますます薄れゆく存在感に沈まぬよう必死にもがいているのが日本である。

そんな小舟に生きる私たちは何処へ向かおうとしているのか。The Economist誌は震災前にSpecial Report on Japanとして日本特集を掲載している。その記事の見出しは”Into the unknown” (未知の領域へ)。少子高齢化が進み、世界のどの国も経験したことのない人口減少社会に突入した日本。戦後史に残る政権交代を成し遂げたにもかかわらず毎年代わる首相の顔と混迷した日本政治。かつて輝きを誇った産業経済にも停滞の影がにじんで久しく、毎年積み上がる巨額の国債といまだ低迷する日本経済の出口はみえない。そんな日本の状況を評して同誌は“Into the unknown”としたのである。

同誌のこの洞察は、震災を受けてますます的を射たものになりつつある。日本にはこれらの課題に加え、２万人を超える犠牲者を出し広範囲にがれきと化した地域の復興や、未曾有の原発事故によって白紙に戻った原子力エネルギー政策をはじめ、世界が経験したことのない頭の痛い課題が次々とふりかかる。未知の課題に直面する「課題先進国」日本、これが私たちの生きる国の姿である。

私たちはこうした不確実性に満ちた未知の環境下において確とした態度を決めなければいけない。それはリスクや孤高を恐れず、先頭に立って不確実性の海に飛び込む勇気ある態度である。不確実性の領域においては、次に起こることを誰も予測できない。だが、その中で私たちは少しずつであっても、もがき泳ぎ、確とした本質をとらえていく他はないのだ。揺らぐ小舟にいつまでも居座り、いつ沈むとも知れない不安な時を過ごすより、今は少しでも前に進むべく動くべきではないか。正解のない課題を目の前にして世界は私たちの一挙一投足を注意深く見ている。

Dive into the unknown 飛び込もう！未知の領域に！！

April 2011
Yoshi Ogawa

震災の３週間後に結成された私たちのStudy Groupは、様々な分野のExcellentを目指す仲間が毎週日曜の朝に集まり、英国発信の国際情報誌であるThe Economist誌を題材に、記事の内容を発表・議論しています。扱う記事は地域も内容も様々、未知の話題も多く知的刺激にあふれた集まりです。少しでも興味がある方は、一度ご連絡ください。仲間になりましょう。

#8 The world's most dangerous border (May 21th, 2011)

#8　The world's most dangerous border (May 21th, 2011 Full edition)

May 28, 2011 (SUN) 10:00~12:00

At HIBIYA

ONO, OGAWA, NAGAO

[Britain] [The profit motive] Where lucre is still filthy

[Economic & Finance] [Japan’s post-quake economy] Casting about for a future

[Economic & Finance] [Indian stock markets] Barbarian near the gate

[Economic & Finance] [Stock exchanges] Maple fig-leaves 

#7 The new tech bubble (May 14th, 2011)

#7　The new tech bubble  (May 14th, 2011 Full edition)

May 21, 2011 (SUN) 10:00~12:00

At SENDAGAYA Good Morning Cafe

OGAWA, YAMAGATA, IINO

[Leaders] [Silicon Valley and the technology industry] The new tech bubble

[Business] [Multinational manufactures] Moving back to America

[Asia] [Rethinking nuclear energy in Japan] Japan unplugged

[Middle East & Africa] [Africa’s growing middle class] Pleased to be bourgeois

[US] [Shale gas extraction] The need to be seen to be clean

   A new member came to join this week. Yamagata invited Takuma Iino who works in METI to our study group. He has a great passion to study so it may create a new atmosphere to our group. Ono was absent because of his dating with a girl and two more members planned to come at the first time but they didn’t. So this week we mainly discussed three topics by three members.

   The first article Ogawa chose is about an economic bubble in IT industry. Leading sentence is a bit exciting: irrational exuberance has returned to the internet world. Investors should be aware. It might be a fresh memory for us that IT bubble was taken place in the early 2000s. In 2010s, new kind of big branded companies, such as Facebook, twitter and LinkedIn with customers all over the world, come to be famous and taken notice of by investors all over the world. The article says this boom will become to be a new bubble but it looks like a different boom from 2000s. For example the population of netizens is wider, broadband speed is faster and investment situation is changed widely. I picked up the article is because I don’t think it already becomes the next bubble. Iino and Yamagata said it’s a bubble because SNS is not so innovative as some people passionately insist. I think this technology has a potential to change our world more than expected. The article the new boom does not have influence on wider infrastructures. I think it has a potential to innovate on media industry and publishers.

   The second topic was interesting for me. As the title “Moving back to America” already shows, the article shows that American manufactures are changing their mind to “stay at home” not for a patriotic reason but for economical reasons. Companies are thinking in more sophisticated ways about their supply chains. They will build plants in a variety of places including America. The current movement was called “Manufacturing Renaissance” on this article. We discussed not only America’s situation but also Japan’s one. The earthquake and tsunami shows us a huge global supply chains connect all over the world including Tohoku rural areas. There is a hidden cost, which up keeps the chains.

   The third article is about Japan’s energy policy and political situation. Every time I thought The Economist have a good insight into political atmosphere of Japan even though this newspaper comes from the UK. Prime minister Naoto Kan was a social activist when he was young. His political attitude is like a social movement. He catches “Setsuden” saving energy feeling and anti-nuclear movement of the nation and declared his new policy in front of world leaders like a social activist leader. 

#6 Now, kill his dream (April 30th, 2011)

#6　Now, kill his dream (April 30th, 2011 Full edition)

May 14, 2011 (SUN) 10:00~12:00

At SHINJUKU

ONO, OGAWA, NAGAO

[International] When others are grabbing your land

[Briefing] Law firms: A less gilded future

[Asia] China’s population: The most surprising demographic crisis

[Finance & Economics] Cutting it fine

   This week we gathered in Shinjuku. Nagao was the first time to join our group. He loves to discuss social issues so his join is, so to speak, “innovation” by Ono. We discussed about 4 articles and had a short talk about Osama bin Laden.

   The First article was “When others are grabbing your land” from international that Ogawa chosen. It is about acquisition of farmland in poor countries. We picked up the issue because it is the typical development issue we have to keep on looking. The article insists that such an acquisition is more like “Land grabs” than “development opportunities” showing facts of hot land deals. This phenomenon itself is not a problem because it is the case of supply and demand. However in Africa, there are unfair relationships between foreign investors and local elites and corruption. We discussed about the solution and concluded transparency of contracts and establish of law institution are the goals.

   Second is from Briefing “Law firms: A less gilded future”. The photo on the top of the article is a beautiful lady sitting and tearing her hair out in front of a legal book. As this image shows this article focuses on a structural change the legal business has undergone. Ever-growing profits are no longer guaranteed in their business. Nor, for some firms, is survival. We discussed profession and business. Qualified professions such as lawyers and doctors are considered as “good” professions if they can pass the high level exams. This is because these professions don’t suffer from cutthroat competition other workers are confronting. However, the environment around them is changing so they also are confronting competition. We mainly discuss about doctors. Development of IT makes easy to build a huge database on the Internet. We can compare doctors and choose suitable one much easier than previous period. That is why professionals like doctors and lawyers are in severe situation.

   Third article picked up by Nagao is about China’s population. As we know it, China has put up “One child policy” since 1979. This policy is successful in decreasing the population growth. However, the article shows that there are three surprising demographic problems China confronts now.

The first problem is dramatic aging of population. The ratio of over 60s increased to 13.3% in 2010 from 10.3% in 2000 while the ratio of younger generation below 14 is decreasing from 23% in 2000 to 17% in 2010. The second problem is an imbalance between male and female population. Parents especially in rural areas of China want to have a boy as their inheritor so the number of boys is larger than girls as a result of abortion and infanticide. As a result, 20% of males cannot get married in the future by an estimate. Third concern is about a penalty to get more children than two. Rich couples can pay for it easily and it enlarges a gap between rich and poor. We discussed about right or wrong of One-child Policy, effectiveness of population controls by governments and how to conquer aging population issues that Japan already confront.

   Final article is from Finance and Economics, picked up by Ono. It’s about mismatches of the length of funding of European banks that were suffered by the current economic crisis. Short funding looks much attractive compare with long one because of the difference in interest rates considering risk premium of long term funding. But the crisis gives us a lesson: Long term investment / lending by short term funding has a big risk. Regulators in Greeks or Spain may want to prevent another crisis by lengthening bank funding. But they are finding it much harder than they expected because of Basel III or Solvency II regulation. We shared ideas related with these issues and talked about the words from Mr. Edano about credit renunciation of banks.

   The place we gathered this week is a café in front of a main street of East side of Shinjuku. Yamagata was in a business trip to Swiss this weekend. Ono and I had a lunch in Lumine building. We chose Sushi bar at the top of the building. It was clean, simple and beautiful bar. Sushi Neta looked so delicious in a showcase in front of us. I decided to invite friends from abroad to a Sushi bar like there.

#5 What’s wrong with America’s economy? (April 30th, 2011)

#5　What’s wrong with America’s economy? (April 30th, 2011 Full edition)

May 7, 2011 (SUN) 10:00~13:00

At YOTSUYA RENOIR

ONO, YAMAGATA, OGAWA, YAMAMOTO

Articles we discussed:

[US] Life in the slow lane

[US] Still full of ideas, but not making jobs

[Business] Areva: Gauging the pressure

[Finance & Economics] Botox and bean counting

[International] Dead man’s talking

   This week we discussed about (1) Two problems of the US (2) French nuclear power plant company, Areva (3) America’s cosmetically enhanced official statistics (4) WTO and Doha round. All of us prepared summaries this week for the first time. A guest, who Yamagata invited, came to join. His name is Yamamoto and he is working for Minister of Defense. We want to make this study group expand gradually.

   Two articles from US that Ogawa picked up are about concern of that country. The areas of concern are 

transport infrastructure and innovation. In the first article “Life in the slow lane”, they show us a puzzling situation of transportation in America. Not only well-known poor railways but also highways and airways are concern. We shared the experiences related with the issue and discussed the best way that has to be done. They suggested several ways to solve the issue so we checked the possibility of each way. Second article ”Still full of ideas, but not making jobs” shows a dilemma that the innovation essentially has. They brought up a passage of Obama’s speech and explain why his speech is flawed and the fact rising innovation spending would not produce many jobs. We discussed how to overcome the dilemma. This topic is interesting because we approached to the essence of innovation.

   Next Areva’s article is an interesting report that shows a situation that a nuclear power plant industry is confronting after Fukushima. Areva’s third generation reactor, EPR is costly but safer than generation 2 reactors. In the short term, this is good for Areva, but in the long run, the situation is challenging because many developed countries halted their construction. We focused on competitiveness of both French and Japanese companies.

   Third article is about America’s official statistics. Why this topic is interesting is that the article insists that official statistics in the US cosmetically enhance America’s economic appearance. They picked up (1) public sector debt, (2) budget deficit, (3) relative performance on productivity growth, (4) the way GDP quarterly are published and (5) method of measurement of GDP growth compared with EU’s case and how the US exaggerated their numbers. They also show a relief fact that history shows America’s measure is a front-runner. Ono explained us about “hedonic pricing” from his experience.

   Last article we discussed was “The Doha Round: Dead Man Talking” from international which Yamagata picked up. This title comes from a film “Dead Man Walking” by Tim Robbins about a prisoner to death (1995). The title implies Doha Round is also like a talk of a dead man. Doha Round began in 2001. They insist 10 years of trade talks don’t have reached to meaningful agreement but have sharpened divisions. What we discussed about the article was (1) a meaning of Doha Round (2) how to reach the next step such as NTB (Non Tariff Barrier) agreement. Yamagata commented that it might be difficult to make full agreement in a world level and that we already reached certain level of agreement in Uruguay Round already. Lastly he mentioned WTO’s future and the possibility of extinction of the organization.

   The place we gathered this week was Yotsuya. Every week Ono came first on time but Ogawa was a little late and Yamagata came lately. I thought this difference comes from busyness of each job. Yamagata works hard till late night every weekday so for him, weekend is the time to sleep. Nevertheless, he comes every weekend. He is so enthusiastic. Yamamoto joined for the first time. He will get used to the study group and will take an active part soon.

Visions of this study group

仲間と話していくうちに、この集まりをこういう方向に持っていきたいねという話になったのでまとめておく。つまりはVISONだ。

この集まりのVISIONは２つ考えている。

一つは、社会人交流会。

モデルケースは東大の中原教授が実践していて、著書も出されている「Learning Bar」。

知的好奇心は、大学だけでなく社会に出てからもずっと持ち続けているもの。

ただ、それを実践したり共有する場がない。私たちの周りからそういう試みを実践したい。

二つ目は、国際政治経済の「レビュー」を実践する冒険的試み。

先日、小山登美夫「現代アートビジネス」（アスキー新書）を読んでいてヒントがあった。

アートの世界において、海外のアート雑誌は非常に権威がある存在として認知されている。

たかが雑誌なのになぜ権威があるのか？　なぜ海外の雑誌なのか？

それは海外のアート雑誌は「レビュー」を実践しているから。

日本のアート関係の記事は多くが「プレビュー」である。それは展覧会に客を呼び込むマーケティングや宣伝目的であって、真にその作品を批評しているとはいいがたい。

一方、海外のアート雑誌は、その記事の寄って立つPrincipleに沿って、作品に批評を加えているため、マイナスの評価も載せる。そうした態度が、信頼を生み、権威をもたらすのだと。

同じことが、The Economistにも言えるように私は思った。

つまり、この雑誌は単なるニュースの紹介や、日本のビジネス誌によくみられる

好調なビジネスの紹介、経営者のインタビューといったものは皆無である。

そうではなく、依って立つPrincipleに立って、世界各地の政治、経済、技術、ビジネス様々な分野の出来事について「批評」を加えているのだ。
だから深く、世界のリーダーに愛読される雑誌なのだ。

そうした雑誌の記事に接して、単に経済英語の勉強に使うだけではもったいないと感じた。

むしろ、彼らの記事に向き合い、彼らの批評に「対峙」することこそが、

真摯な態度ではないかと。

そう考えると、私たちも自らの依って立つPrinciple―これは必ずしもこの雑誌のものとは

一致しない―に沿って、彼らの主張に向き合い、自分たちの視点から批評（「レビュー」）を加えることが必要だと考えている。これは、知識も経験もまだまだ乏しい我々にとっては冒険的な試みだ。だが、世界経済の潮流にのまれ揺らいでいる日本に生きるものとして、

自らのPrincipal何なのかを見定める「自省」の良い機会

なのではと思う。