The day began with the Keynote Speech by Dr Hiroshi Komiyama, Chairman of Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc.
In his speech, Dr Hiroshi talked about Environmental issues by beginning to share about the expansion in the 20th century in this finite Earth. He noted that the year 2050 would mark the crucial time for human civilisation due to the shrinking Earth, aging society and exploding knowledge.
An author of the book, Vision 2050: Roadmap for a Sustainable Earth [read the book for free at Google Books], Dr Hiroshi said that by 2050, energy efficiency would increase 3-fold. The use of non-fossil energy would be doubled and recycling system of materials would be well established. These contribute to the resolution of the crisis of global warming, environmental issues and the depletion of natural resources.
He envisioned the saturation of artifacts in developed countries in terms of the number of automobile ownership and the number of houses and households. For instance, he predicted that saturation would come to China in 10 years, basing his calculation on the production of cement per person.
He believed that with technology transfer, the emission of CO2 can be vastly reduced. For instance, cement production is endothermic (requires energy) and Japan has a high cement production efficiency, which could be transferred to developing countries. To him, "growth is a right, but efficiency is duty".
Japan also has one of the best technologies in the world in preventing water leaks, and achieves 80% efficiency in heat-to-use water heaters.
He also talked about the Platinum Society, one that is ecological, participated by seniors, with lifelong learning, abundance in job opportunities and one that is sustainable.
The Discussion Group Activity kicked off immediately after the keynote speech. The common theme for the Discussion Programme of 37th SSEAYP is "Youth Participation in Social Activities".
One of the Discussion topic: "What is the an ideal society to live in? What are the important factors for becoming a better society?"
Lunch was Bento!
"What and how can we as a youth (individually or in a group) do in promoting a better society for the people?"
At about 5pm, all the Discussion Groups returned to the International Conference Room for the Summary Presentation by Discussion Group.
Youth Development Discussion Group presents our Summary Presentation
We then changed into our Attire A1 for the Completion Ceremony for Local Youth and the Farewell Party at the Reception Hall.
Representatives from the 11 participating countries and Local Youths read out the Summary of Discussion.
The Local Youths prepared a surprise dance item - Aitakata!
Time flies, and at the blink of the eye, the 3D2N YLS was over.
Had an interesting encounter with a Local Youth. As dinner was served in buffet-style and the queue was long, we dug our way in and grabbed food in the commando-style and managed to feed our stomachs. The first day we meet was the day that we said goodbye.
With Sakiko (Local Youth) & Nisa (Indonesia)
Immediately after the Farewell Party, we had a check-out orientation.
YLS Staff teaching us how to fold the bed sheets...
And then we had the Immigration Orientation...
Filling up all the Customs forms for the countries we are visiting
Embarrassingly, one of my jacket's button was loose and got lost over dinner. Fortunately, Sijie had brought along spare buttons (whew!) and he was super kind to help me sew it back on.
Sijie, the "Handy man"
At night, we intended to exit the premise to explore outside, but unfortunately was stopped by the Administrative staff....
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