The response of the principal members of the study group was an overwhelming "yes," and as a result, a meeting was set on November 23, 1999 for a Shabushabu dinner at Budo Restaurant in Kichijyoji, Tokyo in order that the would-be board members can visit with Mr. Peter Rigs, the Asia Program Officer of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund who happened to be in Tokyo at the end of his extended Asian tour.
(In the picture to the left, from left to right of the upper raw, Messrs. T. Nakamura, S. Ichikawa, Y. Okamoto, and the front raw from left, Messrs. T. Ichimura, Y. Okamoto, P. Riggs, and T. Kitagaki)

Earlier during November, Mr. David Rockefeller Jr., who happens to be on the RBF board, visited Japan, and I had the opportunity to spend some time with him in Tokyo going over the activities of the Virtual Foundation Japan through the first few years of the 21st century.
David was particularly interested in the idea of helping the people of the Samarga river basin develop an eco-tour plan, as are the people in Japan who run a substantial distribution business working directly with producers and consumers, which will enable the interested outside public to take part in a breathtaking Samarga river tour fishing and camping in the pristine wild environment yet untouched by material civilization of the 20th century.

Yutaka Okamoto Virtual Foundation Japan December 3, 1999

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"Yaraino Kai Group"
- An Emerging Group of Publicly Minded Citizens -

formerly called the Semlar Benkyo Kai-Kagurazaka Forum

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At the corporate headquarters of the Shinchosha Publishing Co. of Tokyo, one of Japan's very best publishers, we used to hold monthly study meetings open to the public. It was first started in 1996 as a support project of the publishing of the Japanese version of a new business book "Maverick," or "Semlerism" in Japanese, an all-time Latin American best seller by a rising Brazilian star and industrialist Ricardo Semler. But, it has taken deeper roots and continued to function at irregular intervals with a shifting membership over the years. The group's focus of interest has also shifted from business management to current political and economic subjects affecting the Asia-Pacific region, especially the direction Asia's economic growth is taking and the prospect of emergent "civil societies" in Asia of the 21st century.

Will the "economic globalization" do more good than harm to Asia?

The Kagurazaka Forum has thus grown out of being a mere study group during the latter half of 1998, and as we move into 1999, is being reorganized into a new citizens action group tentatively called "Usquebaugh Club" with the following project ideas in mind.

PROJECT I
We continue using as the main reference book Jeremy Rifkin's 1996 international best-seller "The End of Work," with a shared interest in looking into the roles and functions being played by the rapidly multiplying NGOs and other citizens' groups in the developed, as well as the developing, countries. We will also examine, and on occasion, participate in the Virtual Foundation's projects in Asia.

PROJECT II
For understanding the background of the Asian issues of the 21st century in greater historical perspective, a new page called "EAST ASIA - A Japanese Perspective" has been opened, which is directly linked to the Usquebaugh Club's bulletin board open for all visitors to participate in cyber dialogue and discussion by posting their views and opinions.

Anybody interested in finding more about the Usquebaugh Club should contact the Secretariat by yokamoto@sbpark.com for more information.