61260 It has long been said that "Japanese tend to be 'faceless' and to lack individuality," but from now on in international society we will no doubt be pressed, whether we like it or not, to become more self-assertive.
61261 The most important thing is to be aware of one's own part in things while at the same time joining the people of the world in "taking part in the game."
61262 Maybe it shouldn't even be necessary to think all that hard about this sort of thing.
61263 It should be possible to look at things from other people's perspective and, with a "sharing heart and mind," to associate in a natural manner with the rest of the world's people.
61264 And may we not say that with that alone one will qualify quite well as a kokusaijin?
61265 With the fall of the "Cold War structure" and the ever more interdependent relationships among countries, in addressing the various kinds of problems which we face a global vantage point that transcends "national" frameworks is becoming more and more essential.
61266 Surely what is being required of us is to think about things from a broad, global perspective, and to search for ways of living that are suitable for us as "global citizens."
61267 For this, more than anything else the most important thing is to build a Japan that is truly open to the world.
61268 The Council of CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research with 19 member states, has formally decided to construct the world's largest particle accelerator, which will zero in on the mystery of the birth of the universe and the origin of the mass of matter.
61269 This accelerator is referred to as the Large Hadron Collider or LHC and it will use the existing 27 km circular tunnel straddling the French-Swiss border.
61270 With a construction cost of approximately 200 billion yen, they are aiming to begin operation in 2004.
61271 The construction project for the Superconducting Supercollider (SSC) that had been underway in the US was cancelled over a year ago.
61272 The cancellation of the project had disappointed scientists worldwide, but their dreams were rekindled with the construction of the same type of accelerator in Europe.
61273 Last spring, the joint project team including members from the US and Japan discovered the top quark, which remained unidentified among the fundamental particles that are the building blocks of matter, by using the "Tevatron," a large circular accelerator at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in the US, sending a wave of excitement through the scientific community.