On August 22, 2025, Keio University Global Research Institute (KGRI) kicked off its new event series “Legend Talk” at the Mita Campus Innovation Lounge. Themed “The Future We Build with Technology — Fukuzawa Yukichi’s Vision,” the event featured the Cyber Civilization Research Center (CCRC), with a showcase of research activities and a dialogue between Professor Jun Murai, Co-Director at KGRI, and Tatsuya Kurosaka, Project Associate Professor at Keio University.
The evening opened with the CCRC Overview poster session, where guests could meet project members and learn more about each initiative. Among them, the Asia Pacific Resilient Society (APRS) Task Force — essentially SOI Asia — presented its activities through posters and videos, highlighting SOI Asia’s role in building collaborative education and research opportunities across the Asia-Pacific region.
During the public talk, Murai and Kurosaka explored the future of the Internet, AI, and society through the lens of cyber civilization. A particularly memorable moment came when Murai referenced Keio University founder Yukichi Fukuzawa’s 19th-century vision of a connected world. He shared a drawing from Seiyō Jijō (Conditions in the West), where the globe is connected by electric wires — an early vision of what would become today’s Internet.
The session concluded with an open networking exchange among faculty, students, and corporate participants. The event not only celebrated Fukuzawa’s foresight but also connected it to ongoing CCRC initiatives, demonstrating how research, innovation, and collaboration continue to shape the future. SOI Asia is honored to be part of this dialogue, contributing to the vision of an interconnected Asia-Pacific community.
