I participated in the One Young World 2019 London summit (October 22 to 25) when I was a third-year student. Following the declaration at the World Economic Forum, known as the Davos Forum, in 2009, the One Young World summit was launched in 2010, and has since been held annually as one of the world’s largest youth summits in which young people aged between 18 and 30 from more than 190 countries meet together to discuss global issues focusing on the SDGs with a view to finding solutions through industry-government-academia collaboration. I participated in the summit because I wanted to broaden my horizons by connecting with people with different backgrounds from various parts of the world and to learn what we should do to address global issues and what initiatives are being taken by young leaders. In so doing, I hoped to take the first step to become part of the process to change the world. During the summit, many events on a diverse range of themes focusing on the SDGs were held from early in the morning till late at night, including sessions, workshops, social events, and lectures by international leaders including a Nobel Peace Laureate. While participants were allowed to spend time as they liked during the summit, I attended as many sessions and events as possible to maximize the opportunity of learning within the limited time and meet people with different thoughts. Especially, people who had gone through unimaginable hardships left an indelible impression. For me, a person born and raised in Japan, their experiences were so overwhelming and shocking that I felt helpless, not knowing how I could be part of solutions to their problems about which I knew little. Listening first-hand to them talk about hardships experienced, such as poverty, terrorism and discrimination, I could imagine their sufferings vividly. Still, their problems were so far removed from my life in Japan that I could not put myself in their positions to tackle the problems.
 I was also impressed by the talk by a British author, Ms. J.K. Rowling, who asked us not to volunteer at orphanages or make donations to orphanages if we want to save the children living there. Her talk taught me that our conduct, even if done with good intentions, could be damaging if we don’t understand that children are exploited to make money by the people running the orphanages. This made me realize the difficulty of solving the problem, but also that we should not all take the same action towards problems on an equal footing, and that each person and country has a different role to play. For example, the SDGs emphasize the principle of “No one left behind,” which, as everyone knows, means tackling problems to address the needs of everyone who is suffering, wherever and whatever the circumstances and reasons. But I think these words can have a different meaning in Japan where many people live peacefully without taking a serious interest in global problems. In this light, “No one left behind” in Japan could be interpreted to mean involving all such people in global efforts to tackle these problems.
 As shown in the case of orphanages, our good intentions may exacerbate problems if we have only a superficial understanding of the situation. It is therefore important to fully understand the reality and background, and then consider what we can do and take action. This will help to achieve the goal of “No one left behind” in the true sense, by every person taking action for all sufferers. This is what I learned from the One Young World summit. The summit was a great opportunity to absorb diverse ideas and develop my critical faculties. The four days at the summit were the most meaningful in my life so far.

As of November 2020