Professor Yuichiro Anzai, President of Keio University, delivered a lecture at Japan Society in Manhattan, New York on September 6th. Japan Society was founded in 1907, in commemoration of a visit to the United States by General Tametomo Kuroki and Admiral Goro Ijyuin, to promote understanding of Japanese ideas, arts, science, industry, economic environment and amity among people in the United States. The nonprofit organization has contributed to expanding non-governmental exchanges between the two nations since its establishment nearly a century ago.

Prof. Anzai discussed the potential for using advanced information technologies to nurture independent thinkers who thrive on collaboration and who will have the skills to succeed in today’s modern society, in which diverse values and high-speed communications exist. Many valuable comments and questions were raised by the audience after the lecture.

Hugh Patrick, R.D. Calkins Professor of International Business Emeritus of Columbia Business School, presided over the lecture. The event was sold out with nearly 100 people attending, including Prof. Helen Hardacre of the Reischauer Institute at Harvard, Mr. Jiro Okuyama, Deputy Consul General of the Consulate General of Japan in New York, members of the New York area business community, Keio alumni, and staff from the Keio Academy of New York. The issues presented were actively discussed by those gathered at the reception held after the lecture.

On the day of the lecture, Keio University and Japan Society signed an agreement for a new, comprehensive partnership. Prof. Anzai’s speech introduced some of the cutting-edge research currently going on at the university’s Research Institute for Digital Media and Content (DMC), and outlined ways the new partnership with Japan Society, which includes plans for a DMC Global Studio to be built on its premises and join 5 others in Tokyo, Beijing, Seoul, California and Cambridge, will benefit communities in New York, Tokyo and around the world. Keio University and Japan Society will collaborate in the fields of education, culture, and nurturing people in the future, and plan to cooperate in commemorating their upcoming 100th (Japan Society) and 150th (Keio University) anniversaries.