Following a 6 a.m. wake-up call, we ate breakfast and gathered at 7:30 a.m. to receive our assignments. This became our routine for the next four days.

Participants in the project were divided into seven teams, i.e. the restroom team, classroom team, kindergarten team, tennis basketball court team, open classroom team, library & staff room team, and orphan team. Each team had ten people. My eldest son, second son, third son and I were assigned to the same classroom team. Meanwhile, my wife, fourth son and fifth son were grouped together into the kindergarten team.

I found a project notice, “International volunteer activities in Africa for an extreme school makeover project,” on the website of a global business presidents’ network called the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO). The project was to run from August 5 to August 10. This was just after a national Go tournament for my children. I mailed the website address to my wife and asked for her opinion. She responded, “It might be a good idea for our family to take part in a program like this.” So I promptly registered all my family members for the project.

The seven of us left our house at 4 p.m. on August 3, the day after the Go tournament concluded. From Narita, we flew seven hours south to Singapore, spent two hours in transit there, and then took an eleven-hour flight to Johannesburg across the Indian Ocean. After waiting four hours in Johannesburg for a connection flight, we flew to an airport in Zimbabwe. We arrived at the Zimbabwean airport just past 2 p.m. local time, and reached our hotel shortly after 3 p.m. Taking the seven-hour time difference into consideration, the journey took us 30 hours, door-to-door.

The ASKA Meeting finally begins today. It’s an overnight conference designed for students and alumni of GLOBIS (the Graduate School of Management, Globis University). We closed all three campuses in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka for the weekend. Students, faculty members and administrative staff were to learn from guest speakers in the mountains. The ASKA Meeting, which has grown into an annual GLOBIS event, was once again scheduled to bring together a brilliant team of speakers on this occasion.

Held for the sixth time, the ASKA Meeting evolved from an idea I conceived while bathing on Mt. Koya, which I climbed with students in the winter immediately after my return from the Davos Forum. (Refer to my earlier essay “ASKA Conference No. 1- From Idea to Reality” )

I received an e-mail from Vice President Iwase of Lifenet Insurance Company the morning after the session where the controversial statement was made. He found Mr. Mark Du Ree’s e-mail address on the World Economic Forum website and forwarded it to me. I sent the following e-mail to Mr. Du Ree immediately.

It was raining in Ho Chi Minh City. Slowing to a crawl, motorcycles sounded their horns loudly. Examined closely, many of their riders were couples. The way the women rode behind the men suggested their intimacy.

The East Asian Economic Summit, sponsored by the World Economic Forum (WEF), the organization that runs the Davos Forum, was being held in this city. I checked into a hotel, admiring female hotel employees with the brilliant sky-blue ao dai , and headed for the venue. I shook hands with close friends to celebrate our reunion and exchanged bows with other participants from Japan. The venue was on the 3rd floor at the hotel. In this relatively compact space of the Summit, a major controversial statement was made.

Upon completion of the World Economic Forum, I got into a car. I slipped out of my suit, took my necktie off, and unbuttoned my shirt. In the car, I changed into shorts and a polo shirt, and put on casual shoes. The change of clothes was in exactly the opposite direction from the switch I had made on my way from the Dar es Salaam Airport to the Forum the previous day. My talk at the panel discussion was a success. With the combined effect of the casual clothes, a feeling of achievement and a sense of release, I inadvertently tweeted, “It’s over! It went well!! The speech was well-received!!! I’m happy!!!!”

My destination was Bagamoyo, a city that faces the Indian Ocean. Until the 19th century, this port city had functioned as a center for Arab trade in African slaves. Captured Africans are said to have cried out, “Bagamoyo,” meaning “Leave my soul here,” as they left this place to slave markets in various parts of the Arab world via nearby islands of Zanzibar. My mood become bleaker, as I pondered about the lives that awaited those Africans sold into slavery.

“I’m leaving my hotel now. I will finally take part in a panel discussion in Tanzania organized by the World Economic Forum today. I’ve completed my preparations. All I need to do now is to speak with confidence on the panel. I am the only panelist from Japan, however, I’d like to do it in a relaxed manner.”

I left my hotel room after making this tweet in Japanese.(By the way, if you tweet in Japanese language with 140 characters, you can convey meaningful messages). I had mobilized Globis research staff members since yesterday to gather the data I needed.

I would have felt more at ease, if I were to talk about how to start a business or how to educate people, which are my areas of specialty. But on this occasion I needed to talk about something else. I had no experience in “Growth Strategies for Companies in Developing Nations.” This was my first trip to sub-Saharan Africa. I had to discuss the subject in English. More than half of the people in the audience would be Africans well-acquainted with local circumstances. Though I’m not someone who becomes nervous easily, I began to feel the tension arising inside me.

I arrived at the venue for the World Economic Forum on Africa. After having gone through the security check point, I stopped at the reception. I presented my passport and picked up my name tag, a program and a list of participants there.

I went in partway through a session on African Economic Growth. Following a break, I joined another session on Electric Power Infrastructure. I skimmed through the program and the list of participants with my eyes, while listening to the panelists with my ears. I studied the outlines of discussions that I missed, and confirmed the timetable of subsequent events. I noticed my brain started to function properly, as I began to understand the circumstances.

I woke up in the morning in the heart of African soil. It was still dark outside. I had planned to meet the driver at 6 a.m., went on safari early that morning. The sky gained light and the earth added colors as the Land Cruiser drove on. The billowing clouds over the horizon were a marvel with their red coloration.

Dazzling sunbeams traveled skyward from the horizon opposite the red clouds. The sun started to rise. As a Japanese, I could not stop my feeling to pray towards the rising sun. I stood up in the second row of seats as the Land Cruiser drove down a bumpy road. Feeling the crisp morning air from the gap below the raised roof, I closed my eyes with my hands pressed together in prayer.

I woke up in a hotel overlooking the crater at Ngorongoro. I quickly wrote a column, took a brief rest and then opened the curtains. It was already bright outside. The sky was cloudy. Clouds covered the rim of mountains on the crater’s edge. The clouds were so closed that it gave me a sense of oppression, a feeling as if they were crushing me. But there were also several beams from a sun that lit up the paradise of crater. The bright golden sunlight against the lake was so beautiful that it seemed unreal.

After the breakfast, clouds are clearing away. Stray clouds trailed and wandered over the paradise. I stood for a while looking at the beautiful sight, closing my eyes and feeling thankful for the opportunity to visit this place and feel at one with nature. I left the room when the time for our departure came.