This year Hiroshima will host the G7 Summit, making it an important year for Japan to raise its profile in the world. This month is also a turning point for a safe and secure "new normal" in Japan as Covid-19 is downgraded to a Class 5 infectious disease.

In the Chinese sexagenary cycle, 2023 is a Water Rabbit year. This corresponds with great leaps, endings, and beginnings. The last one, 1963, was a heady time in Japan, in the midst of the high-growth period and filled with anticipation to host the Olympics for the first time the following year. The one before that, 1903, was a time when Japan was eagerly modernizing and striving to join the developed world. Each was a transformational time when people were looking forward optimistically to a bright future. Nearly half of 2023 has passed, and it is indeed turning out to be such a year.

Japan's prolonged deflationary period is finally drawing to a close as signs of inflation are seen. In the global economy, the worst banking crisis since 2008 has emerged, while economic blocks are forming in response to geopolitical risks and considerations for economic security. Corporate management is shifting emphasis from tangible assets to intangible assets such as intellectual property, while traditional seniority-based promotion and lifelong employment of generalists are being supplanted by performance-based evaluation and the lifelong growth of specialists. The biggest groundswell, though, is how the pandemic has changed people's values and ways of working, and even changed industrial structures.

To achieve sustainability in these uncertain times referred to as VUCA, we need to remember the essence of Darwin's theory: It is not the strongest that survive, but the ones best able to adapt. In addition to building up each individual's strengths, it is necessary to gain innovation from various connections. These are challenging times, but we must strive for a carbon-neutral circular economy, where people can lead safe and secure lives in health and comfort. Achieving this will require the business community to work in concert with government and academia, fulfilling our role to solve the world's important issues. I look forward to this being a year of great progress.