IATSS Forum

Throughout the application process to join the IATSS Forum, my expectations from participating in this programme have been in the following three areas: cultures, leadership, and technology. 1. Cultures Even though I spent over 8 years abroad, both in the US and the UK together with my experience of travelling to many parts of the word, I have to admit that my knowledge of cultural differences within the Asian region is quite limited. Living 2 months in Japan with future leaders of Asia will bring me in closer to the roots of each culture through spending time with individual participants. Not to mention, to live briefly in the country with ancient history will enable me to understand how Japan remains one of the top destinations where people would love to visit and perhaps to live in. How the Japanese recovered from the natural disasters and wars is also one of my expectations to be discovered. 2. Leadership I love the forum’s philosophy of ‘leadership’ where each participant’s capacity is maximised to compose the best momentum of teamwork. Therefore, I look forward to working as a team with people from different countries and backgrounds and learn to maximise their potential including my own. This will, with high hopes, prepare me to be a “good leader”. Also, facilitation training is the course I’m looking forward to taking and utilising. As I am currently registered as a mediator with the Thailand Arbitration Center, I hope my experience can help contribute to the course and learn more from the classes in another perspective. 3. Technology ever since I was a child and up until now, Japan is one of the most innovative countries in the world. This can be seen from many innovative structures and innovations produced from Japan. But one of phenomena that brought my attention to Japan has only been recent. The world was impressed by the effectiveness of the Japanese as Fukuoka’s road which was fixed in one week after a sinkhole opened up. I was also one of those who truly admired how systematic the Japanese run the country. Obviously it stems from the cultural backgrounds of the people, but it has been amplified by the availability of the technology as well. I would love to explore more on the effects of technology that make this great country and the implications in terms of quality of living. Looking forward to seeing you soon. Best regards, Sammy