What is Tokyo JC?
What is Tokyo JC?
Junior Chamber International Tokyo (Tokyo JC) is an organization that engages in various activities toward the realization of a delightful and prosperous society. With firm ideals and a vision for the next generation, Tokyo JC takes the lead in conducting activities in collaboration with local citizens, corporations, the government, and various organizations. Tokyo JC takes a multi-faceted view of society, undertaking activities for social progress and development with comprehensive measures. Junior Chamber International Tokyo is an organization where youth (ages 25 to 40), the leaders of tomorrow, get togather.
By bringing together youth with shared ideals and a sense of purpose, friendships are born, people influence each other, and draw out in each other the sense of unlimited possibility that comes with youth. Through its daily activities, Tokyo JC also nurtures leadership capabilities in its members as social and regional leaders.
The Mission of Junior Chamber International Tokyo
“Re-building new Japan is a task for us, the youth.”
This spirit is nothing if not the DNA of Tokyo JC and the starting point for the JC movement in Japan. Our activities must make way for the future of this country. We must also not limit our activities to a specified region as the Junior Chamber of Tokyo in the political and economic center of the country, but be the first to conduct activities and undertake development that has the ability to permeate other areas. We must look to discover what it is that we can do as Tokyo JC, as a new economic civic group (*2) with a clear citizens’ perspective. It is our mission to take the initiative in acting with a sense of noblesse oblige (*3) and a sense of self-awareness without conceit about individual social positions (stature).
The Goals of Junior Chamber International Tokyo
Junior Chamber International Tokyo has promoted double-pronged activities involving the reform of individual awareness and the reform of social systems. Based on our experiences, we have come to a realization that new social systems must be proposed and put into practice in order for society to change substantially. Going forward, we will implement activities to promote the active social participation of the citizens of Japan, ensuring that regions and citizens take initiative. We will center our activities on “the reform of individual awareness through the creation of social systems”.
Creating a New Social System
It is imperative that each and every citizen of this country take an interest in the state and in society, and that we foster an awareness of active social participation with a social mechanism that fosters this awareness. We must create a society where citizens can feel that they have created the society themselves and that they as citizens have chosen the future path of this country.
We will propose and put into practice model systems and methods and develop our activities into major civic movements through ties with other organizations and other LOM *4 and collaboration with the government. By transferring control to organizations that have given their support and working to establish regional rules, amend laws, and formulate regulations, we as an intermediary *5 will promote the social participation and social choice of citizens.
Reform Individual Awareness
In addition to promoting the participation of citizens in the creation of a new social system, raising self-awareness in citizens as subjects, and raising an awareness of social responsibility and moral responsibility, we will conduct activities that aim to reform individual awareness with an eye to fostering consideration and mutual respect.
In order to foster the awareness of citizens as subjects, they must experience participation, choice, and evaluation. We must implement activities that promote civic participation, activities where citizens can expand their options, and provide opportunities or vehicles for citizens to evaluate. Through these activities, we will first give citizens a sense of urgency and realization and indicate a path for putting these things into action, promoting the reform of individual awareness that citizens might transform from ordinary citizens into spirited citizens *6.
Cycle of Activities
Activities must not be considered completed after the limited period of one year, but a cycle of plan, do, check, and action must be established. With a longer-term perspective of several years on activities, we must continuously implement improved activities for the next fiscal year. We must create an evolved system where are our single year system is not an obstacle but rather a catalyst for our activities. As part of this process, we must actively incorporate external evaluations and constantly re-evaluate ourselves to ensure that our activities do not fall into the trap of becoming purely self-satisfying endeavors.
The Intended Direction of Junior Chamber International Tokyo
In order to implement the reform of individual awareness as mentioned above, Junior Chamber International Tokyo will create a new social system through ties and collaborations where citizens participate in the formation of society. At the same time, we must move away from the existing social customs that prioritize profit to the original rules of democracy, instituting social reform for a fair, free competition society that reflects the will of the people. We must build a society that functions properly while clearly presenting the fundamental rules and principles of this country. In order to extricate ourselves from the currently damaging label of Japanese socialism, we must ensure that citizens become autonomous by coming to a realization of their obligations and responsibilities. We must create popular sovereignty within this country based on the will of citizens under a true, functioning democracy *7, not merely popular sovereignty as a means of political participation. While sharing these directional pillars within the organization as a whole, we will reflect them in individual measures and the activities of respective districts to establish “a true popular sovereignty by autonomous citizens”.
It is our responsibility as JC, the core generation with responsibility for the future, to create and determine the state of our country.
Now more than ever, Japan must be re-built.
May 2005 Board Discussion
*1 “Self-help / Autonomy / Self-responsibility” The principle of taking personal responsibility for the results of actions chosen and taken based on your own beliefs. Not depending on others, you rise with your own strength to develop and progress.
*2 While it is a “group of citizens” where members of new economic civic groups participate as individuals, it is also an “economic group” that aims for the development of society as a whole, not from the perspective of a corporation or industry. A group of young economists who act with a clear sense of the citizens’ awareness and perspective.
*3 Noblesse oblige: A European concept whereby people with social responsibilities or who are in a position to gain special rights or privileges are obligated to make a contribution to society that corresponds to their position or social stature. Here, the term is used to refer to having this spirit.
*4 LOM Junior Chamber International members in various regions.
*5 Intermediary: A subjective middle-man. Not simply a middle-man, an intermediary supplements various activities and plays an interactive role with both parties, combing vector strength with speed and direction for major power.
*6 From ordinary citizens into spirited citizens. This is an analogy to the word citizen, a word which entered the postwar American vocabulary along with citizens (ordinary citizens) for free and equal rights which shifted to citizens (spirited citizens) with an awareness of self-help / autonomy / self-responsibility. Originally, the word citizen goes back to medieval Europe and referred to those with the social stature that allowed them to participate in national government, but at times it referred to those who voluntarily participated in the formation of the government and public activities.
*7 True democracy: This is not merely the principle of majority vote, but an ism centered on citizens that is built upon a fair, free competition society, where popular sovereignty is properly exercised and people cultivate each other based on the principle of mutual respect.
