Ritsumeikan Inamori Philosophy Research Center held the second international symposium entitled “Realizing a Society Based on Inamori Philosophy” at the Ritsumeikan Ibaraki Future Plaza on December 8. 184 scholars, industry leaders and students from in and outside Japan participated in the symposium.
The Inamori philosophy on management is already widely known among entrepreneurs and senior corporate officials in Japan and China. The challenge for the future is to make this philosophy better known in the United States and European countries and promote international academic research.

At the outset of the symposium, Kazuo Inamori, the center’s Director Emeritus, made the opening address. He said, “The modern society is plagued by many problems resulting from human desires and ambitions. Inequalities have also been widening in today’s capitalist society. In order to live in harmony and to co-exist, it is essential to spread the concept of altruism. I hope we will have active discussions today on the creation of a society based on the notion of altruism.”

Following the keynote address and the presentation of four research results by Professor Takahiro Nakajima of the University of Tokyo and others in the morning, discussions were held in the afternoon on “Challenges and Approaches to Realizing Good Management and a Good Society Based on the Inamori Philosophy .”

Taking part in a panel discussion moderated by the center’s Chief Director Atsushi Aoyama were Professor Emeritus Ikujiro Nonaka of Hitotsubashi University, Visiting Professor Leslie Hannah of the London School of Economics, Professor John Yang of Peking University, Professor Yoshinori Hiroi of Kyoto University and Professor Takahiro Nakajima of the University of Tokyo.

Professor Nonaka, a leading scholar on management in Japan and known throughout the world as the father of the theory of knowledge creation, said, “The innovation of the Inamori philosophy lies in morality and altruism. This turns the conventional idea of management completely upside down. The Inamori philosophy considers the market not as a confrontational structure such as a place for competition, but as a place for innovation and an eco-system. It is a philosophy for creating things anew that are not merely knowledge and for implementing them speedily.”