Hiroshima is Japan’s World Trade Center
This is episode 9 of the French Tech Comedy.
(Read all previous episodes here.)
“— Why all the fuss about a destroyed duomo from some obscure cathedral in a city during a world war? It’s sitting smack in the middle of a cosmopolite city with malls, tramways and everything. New and old stuff. You hardly notice that ruin anyway, everything and everyone around it is buzzing with activity.”
“ — Actually, this duomo used to be the Commercial Exhibition Hall of the holiest (catholic) city in Japan: Hiroshima. And it is the only building that was spared by the nuclear bomb in the whole city, probably because it was located right under the bomb when it hit Hiroshima. The rest, all the rest, was just blown off by the explosion.”
“ — Nothing left?”
“ — Nothing left.”
“ — Hiroshima was not supposed to be destroyed. Nagasaki was an industrial city, so the US had decided to destroy it. But as for the other place they were supposed to destroy, along with Nagasaki, as it was foggy on that day, they couldn’t spot it very well from the plane, so they decided to drop their bomb on the next best place. It happened to be Hiroshima. By chance. Nothing planned in advance.”
“ — Kind of plan B?”
“ — Yes, and guess what place in Japan used to have the greatest number of catholic churches, even cathedrals?”
“ — I would guess Plan-B-city Hiroshima?”
“ — Correct answer.”
“ — Kind of like shooting yourself in the foot, right?”
“ — When they dropped the two bombs, Japan had already capitulated. But the US were afraid of Russia, and they wanted to send a message to Russian leaders: don’t help the wrong kind of people, see what we just did in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Could happen to you as well…”
“ — You just said this building used to be the Commercial Exhibition Hall of the city. So the US bombed a whole city (with just one bomb) and the only thing that was left standing (even if half destroyed) was… kind of like the World Trade Center?”
“ — Yes. That’s a bit ironic, isn’t it?”
“ — Nuke and breaking the circle of paranoia… long story…”
“ — Any questions before moving on to the next step? It will be the architectural design of Hiroshima Orizuru tower with the renowned exterior staircase. Then we will visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, I’ve arranged a private tour there. May I ask you to hurry? We are on a tight schedule. Little time, plenty to see…”
“ — Yes. Why are uniforms for middle and high school students so ugly?”
Yuki is doing her best to stay polite. She has been asked and has agreed to replace on short notice an ailing colleague who was supposed to welcome the French Tech delegation in Japan, accompany them to a small handful of cities and — last but not least — provide guided tours, in French. At first Yuki had been happy. The job was well paid and she would get to practice her French! But after a few days, her enthusiasm had waned. Somebody in the group had said geishas were whores sleeping with their clients (she was so happy nobody knew she was a geisha, meaning artist), and Fuji san was more or less like the Eiffel tower, only with less science and technology. Now, instead of paying respect to Hiroshima’s victims, they were trying to draw the attention of Japanese school girls, commenting on their uniforms, and on the nuke and North Korea and Trump…
“ — Don’t blame it on Trump alone. Imperialism is a lasting trend in America. Did you know that most frequent prosecutions of US whistle-blowers happened under the Obama administration?”
“ — Ha. Define soft power. Chinese government is made of 90% of trained and experienced scientific engineers. In the US government, they only got 10%.” Yuki was trying to lead an army of geeks with attention deficit disorder and behavioural problems. They had been to Fukuoka, the city of startups in Japan, were now in Hiroshima and the to-do-list was also including Osaka and Tokyo. She was starting to suspect her colleague wasn’t sick after all, she just wanted to escape the drudgery.
“ — Excusez-les, hein.” Thomas, an elderly man in a wheel chair was following the group. Actually, he was in charge of organising this French Tech study tour in Japan. He was said to be the all-things startup most famous blogger in France. He had even worked as a Minister in the French government. A specialist of digital economy. A couple of years ago, due to delayed admission to the E.R. in hospital, he had lost a leg, as a result of a medical error. He wanted French — and worldwide — startups to disrupt (or solve) healthcare. Dassault systems’ head of R&D was sponsoring the study tour, though Yuki was not sure what it was exactly they were trying to study in Japan about startups.
“ — You will have a hard time believing me, but they are actually on their best behaviour,” said Thomas to Yuki. It turned out Japan had a talent for design and service and a respect for expertise, all unparalleled in the world, all instrumental qualities for a startup. The only problem was Japan had very few startups. Yuki was trying her best to explain the main cultural differences between France and Japan. Thanks to Nono, she had learned a lot.
“ — In Japan, you learn first. Then, you try. The first try has to be perfect. In California, you learn by trying. So there’s no way you can be ridiculous if you are doing mistakes there. It’s the trial-and-error method. In Japan, perfection is the norm. Until you are sure it is going to be absolutely perfect, you don’t risk trying anything.”
“ — Whoa. You speak perfect French. Where did you learn the language?”
“ — I’ve been studying music for 4 years in Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam. All classes were taught in French.”
“ — What have you been studying?”
“ — Baroque flute.”
“ — For four years? That’s an awfully long period of time. You must be a world class expert, then.”
Yuki did not mention that actually she had been studying baroque flute for over 10 years, half in Europe, half in Japan. She was feeling like a black sheep among people who seemed to think attention deficit hyperactivity disorder was the desirable norm. Based on what she had heard and experienced during the last few days, “startup” was a synonym of ADHD. A chicken and egg story. Just as they were standing in front of the Atomic Bombe Dome in Hiroshima, somebody in her group started a Skype session. A startup founder in San Francisco was calling, wanting to say hi and giving Thomas updates on his status.
“ — Is Dassault systems’ head of R&D here with you?”
“ — Yes, he is. I’ll introduce you to him.”
“ — Bernard, this is Frederic Mougin, a French biologist, he founded his startup Gene-i-us in San Francisco a few years ago. Your DNA & medical data on your smartphone. Browse it on iTunes, own it & monetize it. Frederic, this is Bernard, sorry, I forgot your family name. Bernard is heading the R&D at Dassault systems headquarters, in a suburbian region of Paris.”
“ — Hi Bernard, nice to meet you.”
“ — Bonjour Frederic. Your project sounds quite catchy.”
“ — It is. Here in California we are anticipating the $100 genome era and the P4 medicine revolution. P4 Medicine — Predictive, Personalised, Preventive, & Participatory. We are catalysing a Revolution from Reactive to Proactive Medicine.”
Yuki’s head was full of those buzzwords she did not understand. Those people seemed to have their own language. The geek language. She found it cute and annoying at the same time. Just like Nono. Right now, she was trying to move Bernard and Thomas away from the symbolic dome monument, a stone with inscriptions on it and flowers nearby. It was a place where people were paying respect to the victims, tourists were taking selfies, Japanese schoolboys and girls in unattractive school uniforms were giggling. Skype sessions with startupers were something unheard of. She didn’t want to look up, fearing the guilt-laden or disapproving stares she would have to face. It was still early in the morning and most tourists were Japanese. Thomas was speaking in a loud voice, as the quality of the connection didn’t seem very good. The conversation lasted for a whole hour. Yuki had to reschedule the whole guided tour for the rest of the day, but nobody seemed to care. In Japan, it was a very rude and unprofessional thing to do. Again, no one seemed to care. Now, they were talking about a French engineer who designed the first ever Purikura app in Japan. The Hello Kitty photo booth. Purikuras are Japanese photo booths called “Print Club.” For about three dollars, you print out a sheet of sixteen small stickers with your photo on it, with crazy or cute borders and cartoon images. Then she heard a name. Nono. Wait. Nono was the guy behind that silly Purikura app? Thomas knew Nono? Yuki decided that from now on, she would keep the conversation minimal. Small world, with a lot of connections. Cute and crazy connections, like this Purikura thing.
“ — Yuki, would you like to Pulikula with me?”
She decided she would just ignore the guy. Anyway, the conversation soon shifted to Tallinn, Estonia and just before that, China was mentioned as the future worldwide leader in genomic precision medicine. Synthetic human embryos, the first knockout human embryos made with CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing tool… Yuki was not sure. Maybe she should mention this French Tech team and their leader, Thomas, to her brother? At first, as everyone was speaking about Nono and his Purikura app, Yuki thought they were using it at the European Digital Summit in Tallinn. She was confused. Merkel and Hello Kitty?!… Then she remembered she was in the middle of some kind of a mad tea party, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder being the norm. The conversation was simply shifting from one topic to another. Thomas’ loud voice could be heard again — someone in the group said he was speaking with a member of the French government. The small group was now gathered around Thomas, sitting in his wheel chair, live-blogging on his lap with his laptop. Purikura-China-Tallinn-Hiroshima. After all, she might not mention this to her brother.
“ — We are now in the middle of a fascinating tour in Japan. We’ve seen startups in Fukuoka, and have had an in-depth tour here in Hiroshima. We are all moved to tears.”
Yuki couldn’t believe what she had just heard. What startups? She had just shown them the building where the startups were organising their meetings and pitching sessions — she was teaching classes on ballet and yoga in this building too, so she happened to know the place. What tour in Hiroshima?!? She’s had to cancel the whole thing, as everybody seemed to be glued to this spot in the park outside of the buildings where they were supposed to meet for a private guided tour. Instead, there was this never-ending Skype session that was taking place right now. Why on earth did Thomas need to be in Japan to talk about Tallinn to the French government? Yuki was lost in translation. The only thing that was left for her to do was to pay attention to Thomas, as it seemed he was talking directly to French president Emmanuel Macron right now. He even mentioned Yuki at some point, and she had to step in front of the screen and bow to Macron, who in return bowed to her. Thomas said Yuki was one of the best experts in Japan about geopolitics. She wished she could just be erased from the surface of the earth. People were taking pictures, posting them on social networks. She didn’t want that. It was a very rude, disrespectful thing to do in Japan. But nobody seemed to know, or to care.
“ — Mister President, on 29th of September, the Estonian Presidency of the Council of the European Union will organise, in cooperation with the President of the the European Council and the European Commission, the Tallinn Digital Summit, which will bring together all the Heads of State and Government of the European Union. You will be there.
You will have a very busy agenda. However, may I suggest that the Estonian President of Estonian x-road, which includes more than 1,000 Estonian public services accessible through a single portal, be presented to you by the President of Estonia or its Prime Minister? All Estonians have a smart ID card that ensures them complete security. The X-road and its various outgrowths will be demoed — medical file, electronic voting, e-ambulance, single tax collection, genomics, etc.
Estonia has also developed the concept of e-residency: a first avatar of a kind of supra-nationality. A small number of French people have become e-residents to date, including me, and a few hundred have already set up their start-ups, and opened a bank account in a local bank, secure video telephony.
All this without moving from France. All in half a day, including receipt of the company’s bank card, 2 days later. In addition, Estonia has announced a few days ago its intention to create a crypto-currency guaranteed by its State, and to launch, especially for its e-residents, a new financial mechanics: the ICO or Initial Coin Offerings.
Mrs Merkel visited Tallinn a few weeks ago. She accepted her e-resident card, whereas our Prime Minister, and our Secretary of State for Digital Economy, declined the offer during their visit, at the end of May 2017.”
Thomas went on:
“… during her visit, Merkel delivered a speech entitled Estonia — a pioneer in digital technology — and Germany — a global industrial power — shaping the future of Europe together.”
A significant number of people in France seem to think that for France and whole Europe to fully enter the digital era, one thing needs to be done: follow the Estonian model. So here are my suggestions:
- If in France and Europe people knew about the full x-road project, as implemented by the Estonians, more than 50% of the French would ask: “— How about implementing the x-road project in France too? Our bureaucracy is just outdated and is crippling French citizens everyday.”
- The Estonian “full digital” economic solution is probably the only way to defend Europe against the GAFAM (US) and BATX (China) invasion — the tech giants, none of them Europeans. There might be some kind of strong interference in some cases: our Ministry of Defence and National Education are indeed in the hands of Microsoft, as far as we know. If China ends up pioneering genomic precision medicine and driving the market of direct to consumer genetics, do we want the DNA data or our population and our army in the hands of the Chinese government? Or in the hands of the US government?
- Mrs Merkel is likely to be re-elected on September 24th. She might want to continue her discussions with the Estonians, to upgrade the German administration. In this case, what will France do?
- French elites have little appetite for digital. Quaero, the sovereign cloud, etc., they have swallowed billions of public money, without result — even the Minitel that was put in the trash in 2011, the French preferring the Internet. I therefore suggest we ask Estonian digital elites to help us.
In my opinion, if nothing is done, and should we end up not following the path opened by Estonia quickly, Europe has little chance to survive. It will fall prey to the Asian and American e-bloc. Preparing France for the future is a daunting task. But it looks like you don’t have a choice. Let me conclude, Mister President, with a very good and informative visit to Tallinn. I went there last May with a small French delegation, a study tour organised with the help of His Excellency Alar Streimann, Estonian Ambassador in Paris.”
French president said the French government was taking notice. As soon as the Skype session ended, the small group shouted with joy at their own victory. Nobody seemed to remember they were standing right in front of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.
“ — So,” said someone in the group. It looks like we are ready to visit this museum. What’s its name already?”
“ — The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum,” said Thomas.
Catherine Coste
MITx 7.00x, 7.QBWx, 7.28x1–2 certified
Member of the Walking Gallery of Health Care, founded by US activist Regina Holliday
