UN General Assembly
1993

Japan is prepared to do all it can to discharge its responsibilities in a United Nations reformed with the previous three points taken into account. When the forerunner of the United Nations, the League of Nations, was established in 1920, the renowned Japanese educator Mr. Inazo Nitobe was appointed as one of its Deputy Secretaries-General. Mr. Nitobe, who had sought to introduce Japan’s philosophical traditions to the world, remarked that the Japanese place great value on moral principles. I would like to conclude my address by offering a quote from one of Mr. Nitobe’s lectures which reflects my own view on the evolving bonds between Japan and the international community: "An international mind is not the antonym of a national mind ... The international mind is an expansion of the national mind, just as philanthropy or charity ... should begin at home."