Re-imagining Japan Society New York: A Beacon of Hope at the Epicenter of the Pandemic
By Dr. Joshua W. Walker, President & CEO, Japan Society
New York is a beacon of hope for the free world. We are the beating heart, not just of the United States, but of the world and the global financial markets. The current moment defines our generation and the future world to come. Given that the days of the week have lost meaning to most of us, all we have is yesterday, today, and tomorrow. At Japan Society, whichever of these days we look at, we can stay true to our mission of bringing the United States and Japan closer together — which we have been doing since 1907 — along with reimagining what that future will look like.
In this moment of pandemic and crisis, with the enormity of the global changes unfolding, there are two paradoxical lines of thought. One, that we have never been closer. The other, that we have never been more isolated and frightened on a very deep and personal level. The trade-offs between the economy and public health are playing out in real-time just as those between data and privacy are accelerating.
It is not just about what we can do, it is who and where we are. The pandemic has made it abundantly clear that the future of the world lies in Asia. The good news is that as we increasingly shift from a transatlantic to a transpacific space, it is not a choice between America and Asia, it is really more of a Western or an Eastern perspective. While we may be part of the West, America has the luxury of being “sea to shining sea” and so we can more easily pivot to a transpacific partnership arena.
Our response now will be our generation’s call to action, which will define us forever. Unlike World War II, which pitted the U.S. and Japan against each other, this is an opportunity to fight against a common enemy. The battle is humanity against the virus, an enemy that ultimately takes no prisoners and cannot be reasoned with — we must defeat it by science and by working together. It is incumbent on each of us, while our leaders are struggling to come up with solutions, to come together as individuals, as societies, as communities, as businesses. Current politics and nationalism take us in the opposite direction.
I sincerely believe that the U.S.-Japan relationship is going to come through this pandemic even stronger than before, and will be further defined by it. Just as 9/11 forever changed the way we travel, the way we think about security, making clear the tradeoffs between privacy and security, the pandemic has already altered the way that we think about our own health. We are interconnected to everyone else in a way that we have never been forced to consider before.
Because Japan Society is located in New York, at the epicenter of the pandemic, we must be a beacon of hope as we serve our devastated community. People are going to look to New York just like they did after 9/11 to lead the way in terms of resiliency. What better place than Japan to look for resiliency, with the postponement of the Olympics, where the flames are kept alive at the epicenter of 3/11? With such a strong economic component to this crisis, when you have the first and the third-largest economies in the world coming together — the United States and Japan — that is a powerful opportunity for hope and inspiration. As fellow liberal democracies, our societies must emerge from this stronger in a way that many authoritarians cannot and will not accomplish. When the immediate public health crisis passes, the truth will emerge, showing how Japan was there for us despite their hesitance to promote their efforts publicly. The onus is on us to show why we need freedom, liberty, and privacy in the face of public health, security threats, or war.
In the past, good actions spoke for themselves. In today’s world of disinformation, Japan Society is a creditable organization that has withstood the test of time. Our programs and resources — for the time being located primarily in the digital realm — represent the best of their kind. I am optimistic about what the U.S.-Japan relationship has to give to this world, not just in the present crisis, but that we will continue to benefit from this relationship in new ways that we cannot even conceive of today. The Olympics will be held in Japan in 2021, and when the world comes together to celebrate next year it is going to be a party unlike any that we have ever seen before. We are ready and we hope you will join us.
