Managing Director, Sustainable Business Promotion at Mizuho Financial Group. In Mizuho Securities, Yasunobu Katsuki, Senior Sustainability Strategist and Adjunct Professor at University of Kyoto specializing in corporate finance and sustainable finance, provides his views. What Is Needed for Bold Leadership Finance Perspectives Ken Shibusawa, CEO of Shibusawa and Company, believes Japan will hold and be bold. He has a very personal perspective—his great-grandfather led integration of Western capitalism into Japan to promote a new era for the then-emerging economy. Shibusawa also lived in the US from elementary school through university. He is worried that “the founding spirit of what made America “Great”—freedom, tolerance, fairness—is being compromised.” 5 Shibusawa explains, “It appears the division between the US and Europe has deepened, and the division within Europe may well deepen in the future, as it has in the US. The past world war started in a similar fashion, a grave possibility I have not experienced in my lifetime.” He predicts that a new era is unfolding, which includes “a huge paradigm shift, in hundreds of years that cannot be only orchestrated by Western values and ideas alone. China is already a major player, but in a democratic framework, India will increasingly represent the Global South with an ever-growing population and a growing voice. The Middle East will also be increasingly represented by small but powerful countries with the money and the ability to implement quickly. And the continent of Africa, still fragmented but with a doubling of its population, will undoubtedly become more prominent.” Shibusawa is optimistic that “if Japan can successfully position itself in the current extremely difficult global situation, an interesting era will unfold. Japan is a non- aggressive pacifist. It is neutral, not imposing its political, ideological, or religious ideology on other countries. It is still a technological and economic superpower, though perhaps less so than in the past.” He explains, “Japan has been able to prosper in good overall shape over the past 150 years in the East-West relationship, in an ambiguous position, geographically placing itself in the ‘East‘ but belonging to the ‘West.‘ In addition, although geographically located in the ‘North,‘ Japan has not had a negative history with the ‘South‘ and has supported the economic development of various countries, especially in the postwar period.” Shibusawa continues, “It is inevitable that the world order in the coming era will not only be based on the ‘West‘ and the ‘North,‘ but that the presence and voice of the Global South will increase. Japan is neither ‘West‘ nor ‘South.‘ Yet, it is a country that has the 203
Ten Years in the Making
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