Kansai's annual gathering of senior corporate executives concluded Friday with calls to consolidate the management of Kansai and Itami airports, extend the planned maglev line to Osaka, build a separate Hokuriku shinkansen line, and encourage qualified foreign professionals and more women to live and work in the region.
"Kansai is aiming for a revitalization of the frontier spirit. Companies should take risks and accept risk-takers who fail. Regardless of nationality, age or sex, we support a workplace encouraging a broad range of workers, and one that emphasizes individuality and talent needs to be supported," the seminar's declaration read.
This year marked a half century of seminars originally established to address macroeconomic issues but now expanded to include politics, diplomacy, national security and education. Much discussion over the two-day seminar focused on Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, who most attendees approved of.