Yamato Aoki: This is I believe
I believe that Japan will get rid of one quadrillion yen worth of government bonds and become the leader of the world as a developed country full of social issues.
I went to study in the Unites States of America when I was 15 on my own. It was an eye-opening experience for me especially because I only spent my time studying and playing sports in Japan. Many of the same generation was passionate about politics. There was a discussion about American military base in Okinawa during one of the classes I took. One of the students asked me what I thought about it and I couldn’t say a word. My English wasn’t good but more than that, I didn’t know anything about that issue. Afterwards, I had many opportunities to participate in social movements. One of them was the presidential election that Obama was in.
After Obama got elected, I came back to Japan. I realized there were not many young people who were interested in social and political issues. Therefore, I started a non-profit organization to make young people more involved in politics. As the leader of this organization, I got to discuss with lot of local government workers about the future of this country. They all said that Japan faces declining birthrate and aging population.
I believe that only the young can solve these problems. Considering that I may live in this country for the coming 60 years, we must reconsider the mindsets of local and federal governments. They seem to believe that national tax will allocated to local governments in the form of subsidies as if they fall from the heavens. Hence, they do not live in the framework in which they must raise the money for themselves. I believe that even these local governments must take the responsibility to raise the money to solve the problems that they face.
Only after accomplishing this will Japan solve its quadrillion yen bond problem, and truly become a global leader. I believe that I will be a member who can contribute to realizing this dream.