Governor's
MONTHLYLETTER

1January 2021
Governor's
Message
Rotary International
District 2750 2020-21 Governor

The Day that Robots Perform Service Activities
Happy New Year. 2021 is the Year of the Ox in theChinese zodiac, which interestingly has a completely
different Chinese character set than those conventionallyused to indicate the same animals. Those charactershave been in use for as long as 4,000 years since thetime of China’s oldest dynasty — the Yin dynasty — andwere apparently used at that time to indicate the twelve
months of the year, with a variant of the character for“rat” indicating January, a variant of the character for“ox” indicating February, and so on. It would take until
the Han dynasty for those unconventional charactersfor animals to be adopted for use in the Chinese zodiac
in the manner that they are today so ordinary people
would find it easier to develop familiarity with them, andeven that was 2,000 years ago. Yet, it would seem thatthe reason why completely different Chinese characters
were used to express those animals as opposed totheir conventional character equivalents has yet to beexplained.
Now, on to the title topic. With the advent of a digitalsociety becoming a hot topic as of late, I was personallycurious as to the extent to which robots could approachhumans, a subject that I had decent familiarity withthrough Japanese animated works such as “Astro Boy”
by Osamu Tezuka and “Doraemon” by Fujiko F. Fujio.
I would therefore like to take this opportunity to touchupon this theme of “a digital future,” an issue thatfeels appropriate to start off 2021 with. Digitalization
can be defined as work that had been sufficiently
conducted through “analog” (re: non-digital) means up
to this point making the transition to computer-basedprocessing. Examples of that change are the transition

from landlines to mobile phones, from manuscript paper
to iPads, and from letters to emails. Automatic driving
is another example as well. Buses will soon traverse
our streets without being manned by drivers. Moreover,
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japanannounced that it would eliminate gasoline-powered
automobiles from available options for new cars by themid-2030s with the aim of realizing a carbon-neutral
society.
Amid such change, what concerns me the most is
the humanization of robots. Do robots have the ability
to comprehend service activities? Do they feel theenjoyment that comes with fellowship? I feel thatthe act of thinking about robots is actually the act of
thinking about people. That is to say, as I pursue Rotary
activities, a question that often occurs to me is, “Wheredo the qualities that make us human come from? ” Are
we outfitted with those qualities from the very start? Or
are they cultivated through education? Can you picturea scene where robots congregate to talk about service
activities and fellowship?
From the perspective of A.I. experts, the difference
between A.I. and humans is that the latter has a will.
Experts explain this difference as humans possessing
the will to live as people and addressing the question of
how they will discover their own value. What is it that
we seek to become? Having such a will, experts say, is
proof of one’s humanity. At the Rotary Club, we pursue
activities with people who possess the same will. We
leave evaluations of ourselves to people on the outside,and go beyond simple words to actually lend a handto people around the world who are less fortunate thanourselves or are suffering from illness or poverty. This, I
believe, constitutes our collective “will.”
Another thing that I think robots are incapable of doing
is being empathic or emotional. An experiment that
addressed how empathy, emotions and so forth affectthe human heart apparently yielded the following positive
result: people who have regularly experienced empathy
and emotion through theatergoing and the like cease toplace emphasis on the past and become future-oriented.
Rotary activities are unquestionably a reflection ofour will to exist in a way that reflects our humanity.
Moreover, the empathy and emotions that underpin thatwill doubles as energy for us to make our way towards
a brighter future. Society may undergo rapid change in
2021, but my hope is that our activities will continue totake certain steps forward one at a time—just like an ox.

District 2750 Membership Report November 2020
Club Name

Regularmeeting

Member quantity
July 1, 2020

End of Nov. 2020

Variations

Chiyoda GroupClub Name

Regularmeeting

Member quantityJuly 1, 2020

End of Nov. 2020

Variations

Yamanote West Group

Rotary Club of Tokyo-South

3184190

6

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Jiyugaoka

416171Rotary Club of Tokyo-Shiba

45659

3

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Yoneyama Yuai

33536

1

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Shimbashi

256

55

-1

Rotary E-Club of District 2750, Tokyo Yoneyama

33434

0

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Akasaka

44547

2

Rotary Club of Tokyo Daikanyama

228280Rotary Club of Tokyo-Minato

232

320Tama South Group

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Azabu

215161Rotary Club of Tokyo-Hachioji

46364

1Rotary Club of Tokyo-Global

320200Rotary Club of Tokyo-Machida257570Rotary Club of Tokyo-Sunrise Shiodome

216160Rotary Club of Tokyo-Hino

434340Rotary Club of Tokyo-Hachioji West31111110

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Ginza

31801811

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Machida-Naka

228280Rotary Club of Tokyo-Nihonbashi

3204207

3

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Hachioji East

43234

2

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Tsukiji

469690Rotary Club of Tokyo-Hachioji South

27878

0

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Nihonbashi East

24142

1

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Machida-Salvia

43536

1

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Chuo42032074Rotary Club of Tokyo-Tobihino

222220Rotary Club of Tokyo-Nihonbashi West345450Rotary Club of Tokyo-Machida East

430300Rotary Club of Tokyo-Ginza New

37980

1

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Hachioji North

343430Rotary Club of Tokyo-City Nihonbashi

238380Tama Middle Group

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Chuo Shin

45660

4

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Tachikawa

4119122

3

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Akebono

420200Rotary Club of Tokyo-Koganei

33837-1

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Sanno

33637

1Ginza/Nihonbashi GroupKeihin Group

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Kokubunji

332331Rotary Club of Tokyo-Mitaka

34240-2-2

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Haneda

255550Rotary Club of Tokyo-Akishima

255

53

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Shinagawa

44142

1

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Kunitachi

347470Rotary Club of Tokyo-Omori

435394

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Tachikawa Kobushi

48789

2Rotary Club of Tokyo-Shinagawa Chuo

230300Rotary Club of Tokyo-Inokashira

32324

1

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Denenchofu

248480Rotary Club of Tokyo-Akishima Chuo

448

48

0

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Konan Marine

318180Rotary Club of Tokyo-Musashi Kokubunji

342420Rotary Club of Tokyo-Osaki

32425

1

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Koganei-Sakura

425272Rotary Club of Tokyo-Kamata

259645Rotary Club of Tokyo-Kunitachi Shiroume317170Rotary Club of Tokyo-Keihin226260Rotary E-Club of Tokyo Peace Wing

423230Rotary Club of Tokyo-Denenchofu Midori

218180Tama East Group

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Shirokane

424284

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Fuchu

355550Rotary Club of Tokyo-Takanawa

12322-1

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Chofu

364640Rotary Club of Tokyo-Tama

420211Rotary Club of Tokyo-Komae

31413-1

Yamanote East Group
Rotary Club of Tokyo-West

3197

197

0

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Josai

46770

3

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Inagi

428280Rotary Club of Tokyo-Seinan

24445

1

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Musashi Fuchu

33937-2

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Harajuku

31716-1

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Tamagawa

32019-1

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Suginami

44140-1

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Tama Green

229290Rotary Club of Tokyo-Jingu

424240Rotary Club of Tokyo-Chofu Murasaki

36667

1

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Ebisu

31171170

Rotary Club of Tokyo i City318180Rotary Club of Tokyo-Hiroo

424240

Pacific Basin Group

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Shibuya

135372Rotary Club of Guam

*52531Rotary Club of Tokyo-Roppongi

453530Rotary Club of Saipan

4*40422Rotary Club of Tokyo-Atago

231310Rotary Club of Tumon Bay*59590Rotary Club of Northern Guam

*31310Rotary Club of Tokyo-Setagaya

34445

1Rotary Club of Pohnpei*18191Rotary Club of Tokyo-Meguro

333341Rotary Club of Palau

14162Rotary Club of Tokyo-Seijo

117170Rotary Club of Guam Sunrise*15150Rotary Club of Tokyo-Setagaya South

29794-3

Rotary Club of Truk Lagoon

880

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Jonan

213163

Rotary Club of Pago Bay Guam E*23252

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Yamanote

47069-1

Total in Japan - 89

4,364

4,416

52

Rotary Club of Tokyo-Seijo Shin

431310Rotary Club of Tokyo-Aoyama

31615-1

Total in 2750 dis. - 98

4,624

4,68460

Yamanote West Group

2* shows the provisional data.