Governor Koike Attends the 13th Regular Roundtable Meeting with Universities

Governor Koike called for continued input from academia to help shape Tokyo’s long-term strategy on July 16 when she attended a consultative meeting between the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and universities based in the capital city.

The Regular Roundtable Meeting with Universities, the 13th since its inception in 2018, was held at the Taisho Kinenkan hall at the Kyosumi Gardens 

“The pace of population decline is ever accelerating,” the governor told the meeting. “This has been high on our country’s agenda in recent years.　For its part, Tokyo has taken upon itself to respond to the situation by pursuing a ‘children-first policy’,” she added. “At the same time, AI has been rapidly growing. We have to keep a close watch on AI as it continues improving day by day.”

The governor pointed out that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) has formulated the “Tokyo 2050 Strategy” this year to serve as a new compass at a time “when the world is at the turn of ages and its trends are undergoing major changes.” “It is extremely important to envision the future with unprecedented ideas, and we will thoroughly refine this strategy,” she said.

“Proposals from this roundtable forum have been incorporated into our budget for this fiscal year,” the governor said. She cited as examples the initiative to employ doctoral students in research undertaken by TMG-related organizations and the assistance to young people on overseas exchange programs to help them challenge themselves globally.

“Currently, battles for ‘knowledge’ are intensifying across the world. This trend provides a chance to enhance the presence of Tokyo—and Japan at large—where people can live with peace of mind,” the governor told the university administrators. ”Tokyo has plenty of hubs of ‘knowledge.’  The diverse range of research at your institutions has been helping Tokyo further refine itself. We hope to continue refining our human resources and refining our town.”