ISSUE 44: DECEMBER 2006-FEBRUARY 2007

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PROFILE

A Large Community, Heading For New Diversity

Hans J.A. van Ginkel – Born 1940 in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Citizen of the Netherlands. Acquired his Ph.D. from Utrecht University in the Netherlands and was appointed Rector Magnificus of Utrecht University in 1986. Awarded four honorary doctorates from universities including the California State University in the US. In 1997, appointed fourth Rector of the United Nations University, the only United Nations agency with its headquarters in Japan.

Globalization will create a new generation that bridges “global” and “local”

The United Nations University in Shibuya, Tokyo. From the Rector’s Office on the 12th floor, Rainbow Bridge and airplanes departing and arriving at Tokyo International (Haneda) Airport can be seen from afar. With a large build, Rector Hans van Ginkel speaks with a mild manner reflective of his position as top of the “sanctuary of knowledge.” He speaks passionately about the state of world civilization and Japan, as if forgetting the constraints of time.

While the pessimistic outlook tends to dominate when discussing the impacts of globalization, Mr. van Ginkel started off with this straightforward explanation: “If you open up a map, distance is measured by geographical length, in other words, in kilometers. But if you look with the perspective of time and cost, the world takes on a different shape.”

Mr. van Ginkel was born in Indonesia. When he went to the Netherlands in 1946 at age six, it took a month by ship. Now by airplane, it takes just 14 hours. Further, the development of information and communication technology is accelerating globalization. Its impact on world civilization is immeasurable.

“Although the physical travel of humans has been shortened, a computer can send a message, albeit one-way only, to several places all over the world in an instant. This is the core of the benefits of globalization. As distances shorten around the world and movement of people, assets, and information become active, we start to live in a large community never experienced before. This will greatly increase the opportunities to meet people and learn new ideas.”

At the same time, it’s true some are pointing out that world culture is becoming standardized and frankly, Americanized. In response to this perspective, Mr. van Ginkel brought up the world civilization perspective expressed by his acquaintance and former President Khatami of Iran. Mr. Khatami apparently compared world civilization to a “great river.” With countless river branches, all kinds of water such as warm water and cold water flow in, for a very diverse and full-flowing large river. Mr. van Ginkel concurred with this analogy and added on to this, commenting to Mr. Khatami, “At deltas near the river mouths, large rivers send water into a number of river branches. Those flow into even smaller river branches to lead to new diversity, don’t they?”

Having fought the great powers for supremacy in the past, there are many regions around the world that have “Holland” in their names. In Japan, the sciences, culture, and technology came in as Western learning in the Edo period via Holland. Culture originating in Holland was poured into the great river and served as power and color for the river branch of Japan afterward. Mr. van Ginkel views the US culture after the war and the recent Korean boom as serving the same type role in Japan.

Those who speak English as their native language will be at a disadvantage

As the world becomes smaller, the sharing of an awareness of issues and values is one aspect of globalization. Yet aren’t the Japanese way too indifferent about global issues such as environment, poverty, and human rights? Asking this with the purpose of self-reflection, Mr. van Ginkel responded, “That’s not true.” However, he did point out that the Japanese have two issues. One is their closed nature.

“This is similar to Great Britain, which is also an island country. If the Channel Tunnel were closed, Great Britain would be isolated. Yet Great Britain would view it as Europe being blocked off instead.”

Another issue is language. “This is very similar to Germany. In the past, I was a council member for a scientific conference in Germany by invitation. Although this was an international organization, most of the members could only speak German. Foreigners were also only people who could speak German. I was really surprised.”

It’s true that these two areas are the weaknesses of the Japanese. It will likely take some time for this to change.

“The closed-off nature is already starting to change. The Japanese, who only used to go on group tours, will now backpack to the Amazon. The language issue is also crucial, but at the same time, it’s important to understand that there are people in the world with different perspectives. In that sense, the English and Americans who natively speak English lack flexibility. Japanese who struggle with English recognize the existence of other cultures on their own and may just be a very lucky and privileged class in that sense.”

The Japanese focus too much on themselves

We want to anticipate that Japanese will open their hearts more to the world. What is needed for this to happen?

“Not only the Japanese, but many people ask themselves ‘Who am I?’ ‘Where do I come from?’ and ‘what I can do to help society?’ I think these answers are becoming easier to find with globalization. With the information we have and the many people we meet, it has become easier to confirm our own position.” On top of this given, he identified education as something that the Japanese need.

“Although I say education, there’s more to learn outside than inside the classroom. I was in the Boy Scouts, but there’s plenty to learn through ballet, music, or volunteer and non-governmental organization activities. Schools today focus on the technical areas, such as computers and math, but don’t seem to teach ethics and philosophy”

Mr. van Ginkel was very talkative during this interview, but at one point only, he became reticent.　This was when I brought up the fact that when he was one-year old, his military officer father was captured and he, his mother, and his older brother were put into the Imperial Japanese army’s concentration camp. After a brief moment of silence, he continued as follows.

“The past is the past. It’s unfortunate that this happened, but no matter how much we analyze history, nothing much will come out of it. What’s important is to create a common future for the next generation.”

His quiet smiling face, focused on the world, left an impression on me.

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