Background and Context
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Building a Peaceful and Harmonious Society through Culture
The 20th century was a dramatic and turbulent hundred years, almost like a roller coaster. It was marked by devastating wars, the Cold War, the independence of former colonies, and remarkable advances in science and technology, including the emergence of nuclear power and computers. The world’s population grew rapidly, and human activity expanded across the globe.
One of the most symbolic moments of this era was the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. At the time, people around the world were filled with hope that a new era of peace, free from division and confrontation, had finally begun.
Yet that hope may have been overly optimistic. Today, new “walls of division” continue to emerge around the world, as seen in the ongoing armed conflict in Ukraine and tensions between the United States and Iran.
The internet was expected to bring people across the world closer together. Ironically, however, it has also made differences in values and interpretations of history more visible, contributing to the rise of new and often invisible barriers between people and societies.
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Global Environmental Challenges Still Unresolved After 30 Years
Similar forms of division can also be seen in the field of environmental issues.
In 1997, Kyoto hosted COP3, the Third Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It was a historic moment when the international community took an important step toward working together to address global warming.
Nearly 30 years have passed since then. Scientific knowledge has advanced, and a vast amount of data has accumulated showing the seriousness of the risks facing our planet.
Yet the situation has not improved as much as we had hoped. On the contrary, extreme weather events continue to threaten our daily lives year after year.
Between the ideal of “we must protect the planet” and the reality that “economic growth also matters,” deep divisions remain among countries, societies, and different interests.
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The Remarkable Pace of AI Advancement
AI (artificial intelligence) is now advancing at an astonishing pace. As AI increasingly enters creative fields once thought to be uniquely human, new questions and tensions are emerging: What will happen to human work？ What will become of culture？
On one side is technology, pushing efficiency and rationality to their limits. On the other is human culture—ambiguous, spacious, sometimes inefficient, and rich precisely because of those qualities.
At first glance, the two may seem to be in conflict. But what we truly need is not confrontation, but coexistence.
Culture can serve as a guide and a safeguard, helping us consider how technology should be used, while technology can open up new possibilities for culture.
It is through this interaction between culture and technology that we can create a future filled with new possibilities and excitement.
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Why Do We Need Culture Now？
As we entered the 21st century, the world continued to face profound uncertainty, and the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically changed both our daily lives and our values. Today, we stand at a major turning point in history.
Precisely because we are living through such an uncertain time, there is something that can help reconnect a divided humanity: culture.
Culture is not limited to historic treasures displayed in museums. It lies at the very roots of how we think, how we act, and how we understand the world around us. It grounds us in who we are, while also giving us the imagination to see the world from another person’s perspective and the opportunity to begin a dialogue.
Throughout history, humanity has overcome differences and built mutual understanding through culture.
Conversely, many of the conflicts we see in the world today arise from a lack of understanding of other cultures, or from attempts to impose one set of values upon another.
At a time when the world is becoming increasingly fragmented, we believe it is more important than ever to place culture at the heart of our dialogue.