CICC TOKYO DAYORI vol.77

When I was a kid, one of the Children's literature that impressed me was
"Grandfather's Lamp".
It's a little long, but the main synopsis is as follows.

"A long time ago, there was a boy in a village. He was a complete orphan
with no parents or relatives. One day, the boy who left the village for
the first time in his life and went to the town first learned about the
lamp. Impressed by the brightness, he wanted to brighten his village, so
he managed to get a lamp and bring it to his village. From there, he
gradually expanded his hand and began to make a living as a lamp seller.
　
Successful as a lamp shop, he was at the height of happiness. However,
when he went to the town for purchase, a new " electricity " was drawn
in the town. The "Electric Light" is much brighter than the lamp, and he
is surprised and afraid of its existence. There is talk of drawing
electricity to the village someday. If the electric light is lit, the
useless lamp will be expelled. The boy who lives on the lamp stubbornly
opposed the introduction of electricity, but in the end it was decided
to introduce electricity to the village. He resents the village mayor
who decides to introduce electricity and tries to set fire to the
village mayor's house. However, even if he tried to set fire, there was
no match at hand. The flint stone he brought in instead couldn't make a
fire, and he was frustrated and cursed, saying, "Old things are useless
in an emergency." At that moment, he realizes his mistake. The lamps are
also old-fashioned now. It is against the way of people, such as
sticking to this and setting fire with a resentment. He turned back to
his house, lit a fire in all of the sale of the lamp in the house, and
threw the stone to them with his weeping. It was his truly farewell to
the lamp. "

Listening to the discussion about the introduction of digitalization in
Japan over the past year in the Covid19 Pandemic, I remembered this
Children's literature for the first time in decades. You've probably
heard the following discussions many times over the past year.
・IT is not possible for the elderly to apply for benefits .
・ When digital is introduced into medical care and education,
inequality will occur in areas where it cannot be introduced.
Is that so? How many people in Japan are particular about "lamps" and
vested interests that are particular about "lamps" business. It is a
common understanding in the world that digitization will correct the
disparity without bringing up this fairy tale. Exactly 15 years ago,
there was a movement by Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab, to close the
global poverty gap with a $ 100 PC.
It goes without saying that it is the government's job to remove the
economic, infrastructure, and legal barriers to the introduction of
digitalization, but it is also important to change the mindset of those
who refuse to digitize.

How can we make those rejecters realize that the "lamp" has turned into
an "Electric Light", like a boy? Isn't it necessary to have more
educational activities that mix hard and soft for such digitalization?
We CICC may can do something to change such rejecter’s mind.

By the way, my old mother, who is over 80 years old in my hometown, uses
a PC effortlessly and enjoys playing games with my son. When I see my
grandmother and grandchildren enjoying themselves, who were far away
from each other until I dealt with games, I realized that the goodness
of digitization is familiar to me.

Hirokazu Morita(Mr.)

<<Topics of Government>>

(1)Guidelines on Assessment of AI Reliability in the Field of Plant Safety Revised
https://www.meti.go.jp/english/press/2021/0330_001.html

(2)Webinar on Potential for Deployment of Open Source-Based Digital ID Platform to be Held
https://www.meti.go.jp/english/press/2021/0302_001.html

(3)Memorandum on Inauguration of Japan-Thailand Smart Industrial Safety Consortium Signed
https://www.meti.go.jp/english/press/2021/0225_004.html

<<Topics of Industries>>

(1)NEC and Sumitomo Mitsui Construction develop DokoMinaPhone, a multi-lingual
　Speech translation app with simultaneous message broadcast function
　https://www.nec.com/en/press/202103/global_20210330_02.html

(2)NEC to provide facial recognition system for new "Face Express" check-in to
   boarding process at Narita and Haneda Airports
　https://www.nec.com/en/press/202103/global_20210325_02.html

(3)JR Kyushu and Hitachi Launch a Joint Project to Automate Train
Operation Re-planning Work by AI
　https://www.hitachi.com/New/cnews/month/2021/03/210325a.html

(4)Hitachi Establishes Lumada Innovation Hub Tokyo to Accelerate the Lumada Movement
Through New Collaborative Creation With a View to the Post-COVID-19 World
　https://www.hitachi.com/New/cnews/month/2021/03/210322a.html

(5)RIKEN, Fujitsu Launch Collaborative R&D Center in Japan in First Step
Toward Realization of Superconducting Quantum Computers : Fujitsu Global
https://www.fujitsu.com/global/about/resources/news/press-releases/2021/0401-01.html

(6)Fujitsu Launches Private 5G Network to Realize ‘Smart Factory’ at its
Oyama Plant : Fujitsu Global
https://www.fujitsu.com/global/about/resources/news/press-releases/2021/0330-01.html