Sakuji Tanaka 2012-13 RI President Bangkok, Thailand
9 May 2012
It is a great honor to be here at this international convention, addressing you as president-elect of Rotary International.
Rotary has been at the center of my life for many years. I did not know it at the time, but the day I joined Rotary in 1975 was the day I set my first step on the path to a different future.
Before I joined Rotary, my view of the world was narrow. I was the fourth of eight children. We were poor, and so was nearly everyone we knew. I had never met anyone who was not Japanese.
Every week, my mother and I walked 20 kilometers to the market, to sell vegetables. This was as far as I went and as much as I saw of the world beyond my village. I dreamed of travel. I dreamed of seeing other cities and countries. I wondered what they were like.
(photo of Sakuji Tanaka and his wife, Kyoko-Rotary Images/Alyce Henson)
Since then, I have traveled a great deal. I have seen more of the world than I ever imagined. But nothing has broadened my vision as much as the perspective I have gained through Rotary.
Before I was a Rotarian, I saw only what was in front of me. I saw my business, my family, my customers, and my competitors. When I traveled, I saw only what I wanted to see. I did not see beyond that. I did not look past what I believed was important to me. One day, I was asked to join the Rotary Club of Yashio. And it was two years later that someone came and spoke to us about the idea of vocational service.
From that day, I began to change slowly. I realized that the purpose of my life was not just to earn more, to sell more, to make my business better than anyone else’s. I realized that I wanted to have higher goals — both personally and professionally. I realized that, for me, the most important thing in life was being useful to other people.
And I realized that, by helping others, even in the simplest of ways, I could help to build peace.
We hear the word peace every day. We hear it in the news, we use it in conversation, and we talk about it a great deal in Rotary. But most of us spend very little time thinking about what peace is and what peace means.
On a basic level, peace can be defined by what it is not. It is a state of no war, no violence, and no fear. It means that you are not in danger of hunger, suffering, or poverty.
But we can also define peace by what it is and by what it can be. Peace can mean freedom of thought and freedom of choice. It can mean security and confidence in the future, a life in a stable society. On a more abstract level, peace can mean a sense of happiness, of inner serenity, of calm.
The truth is that peace means different things to different people. No definition is right and no definition is wrong. However we use the word, this is what peace means for us. No matter how we use or understand the word peace, Rotary can help us to achieve it.
Rotary helps us to meet the basic needs of others: to provide health care, sanitation, food, and education, when and where they are most needed. It helps to meet the inner needs as well — for friendship, connection, and caring. And Rotary helps us to build peace in its most traditional sense, by reducing the causes of conflict. It builds bridges of friendship among people and nations. It helps us to understand one another.
Through our service, we learn that the problems that may seem large to us are really very small. We learn empathy for others. We come closer to people who seem very different from us. And we begin to understand how much we are all the same.
Through our Rotary service, we know that cooperation is more productive than conflict. We learn to value each other. We know that every one of us has something to give, and everyone has something to teach.
To me, Service Above Self is more than just a motto. It is a way of life, one that will make any life richer and more meaningful.
Putting Service Above Self allows us to focus our energies on what is truly important. We put the common good above our own. We value the needs of others over our own desires. We think less about ourselves and more about what is best for everyone. And in this way, we help to build the foundation for a more peaceful world.
This is why, in 2012-13, our Rotary theme will be Peace Through Service. Because, however we define peace, whatever peace means to us, we can bring it closer through service. Service Above Self reminds us that none of us can live for ourselves alone. A life lived in isolation is empty and without joy. But when we live for others — when we focus on our role as part of our family, our community, and all humanity, then we begin to realize our own place in the world.
I am part of the first generation to grow up in Japan after a terrible war. I think it is natural that we now place a great priority on peace. We saw where war brought our country. And we also saw the great economic growth that came when our nation made the choice to change our way of thinking and to embrace peace.
This decision allowed Japan to grow and prosper. It allowed new generations of children to grow up in safety, to become educated, to improve their lives. It caused us to open our minds, to seek greater understanding. And it allowed us to focus our energies toward positive goals.
In Japan, we value the needs of the group over the needs of the individual. Sometimes, we give up what we want for ourselves to achieve what is best for everyone. This has always been part of Japanese culture. In the weeks and months following the great earthquake and disaster of March 2011, this was what helped us to survive and rebuild.
This is a lesson that I think the whole world can learn from, in a positive way. When we see the needs of others as more important than our own needs — when we focus our energies on a shared goal — this changes everything. It changes our perceptions. It changes our priorities. And it changes how we understand the idea of peace.
For me, the idea of Peace Through Service does not involve any complicated philosophy. I am not a philosopher. I am a businessman. And over many years of business, I have seen that, in the end, the only way to a successful business is happy customers. When my customers are happy, my business grows. And this makes me happy also — not only because my business is doing well, but because I am glad to see that I have made others happy.
In Rotary, our business is not profit. Our business is peace. Our reward is not money but the happiness and satisfaction of seeing a better, more peaceful world — one that we have achieved through our own efforts.
As Rotarians, we have a very powerful resource to help us in our quest for peace. The six Rotary Peace Centers prepare young people as peacemaking professionals in many fields. Today, hundreds of Rotary Peace Fellows are already promoting international cooperation and resolving conflicts throughout the world. By supporting our peace centers, we are supporting Rotary’s long-standing commitment to building a peaceful world.
In this Rotary year, President Kalyan has asked us to Reach Within to Embrace Humanity. He has asked us to remember that every human life is of equal value. And he has said to us, as I am saying to you, that when we live for others, we find greater happiness for ourselves as well.
In 2012-13, I ask you to put Peace Through Service at the forefront of your Rotary work.
And I ask you to understand that peace, in all of the ways that we can understand it, is a real and a realistic goal for Rotary. Peace is not something that can only be achieved through agreements by governments or through heroic struggles. It is something we can find and achieve every day, and in many simple ways. And so, I ask you to commit to a Rotary year for Peace Through Service — and a Rotary goal for a more peaceful world.
other speech of Sakuji Tanaka
The advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace is one of the cornerstones of the Rotary movement. With Rotary’s active presence in more than 200 countries and geographical areas, our organization has established itself as a world leader in fostering Peace Through Service. We have accomplished a great deal in this area throughout our history, but we must continue to look forward and recognize that the future of Rotary — and the future prospects for world peace — rest with today’s youth. To ensure a lasting legacy in this arena, we must engage young people in a meaningful way and empower them to carry Rotary’s peace-building efforts into the future.
In 2012-13, Rotary International will hold three Rotary Global Peace Forums. Each forum will consist of a three-day program to engage and inspire Rotarians and community leaders. The forum in Berlin will emphasize the value of democracy and freedom. The forums in Honolulu and Hiroshima will focus on young people, including New Generations program participants (Rotaractors, Interactors, Youth Exchange students, and RYLArians), Ambassadorial Scholars, Rotary
Peace Fellows, alumni, and young Rotarian leaders.
I am encouraging each district to send at least two participants from these demographic groups. Others will have an opportunity to participate in the forums remotely through live, interactive telecasts. Find links to more information at www.rotary.org.
Sakuji Tanaka
President, Rotary International, 2012-13
Tanaka elected RI president for 2012-13
Rotary International News -- 25 May 2011
Sakuji Tanaka, a member of the Rotary Club of Yashio, Saitama, Japan, was elected president of Rotary International for 2012-13 by delegates during the fourth plenary session at the 2011 RI Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Watch a video highlight from the plenary, which includes a clip of Tanaka's speech, or download his speech.
"It is my honor to accept the nomination to serve as president of Rotary International," said Tanaka. "Since I joined Rotary, I have embraced every new challenge of Rotary service. To me, challenge is a very important word. It inspires us. It also helps us to be and to do our best. It allows us to bring out our fullest potential."
Tanaka encouraged Rotarians to help Rotary reach its potential by finishing the job of polio eradication and using the organization's strengths to enhance its ability to "do good in the world."
He said Rotarians share a responsibility to make Rotary clubs stronger by attracting quality members and ensuring that every club meeting is productive and meaningful. He also called upon clubs to make an action plan to bring in younger members.
"We need to stop talking about this. Instead, why don't we just do it!" he said.
Tanaka also took a moment to thank Rotarians for the outpouring of assistance after the earthquake and tsunami that struck his country in March. "People around the world, particularly Rotarians, offered help to rebuild the communities that were lost. Only with the knowledge that we are not alone, can we work together for the long healing process after such tragedy."
For 32 years, Tanaka was president of Tanaka Company Ltd., a wholesale firm that went public in 1995 and later merged with other leading wholesalers in Japan. Currently, he serves as vice president of the Yashio City Chamber of Commerce and adviser to Arata Co. Ltd., an animal feed and pet food wholesaler. He also chaired the National Household Papers Distribution Association of Japan for eight years. Tanaka studied business at Nihon Management Daigakuin and Tokyo Management Daigakuin.
A past trustee of The Rotary Foundation, Tanaka chaired the 2009 Birmingham Convention Committee. His other service to Rotary includes RI director, regional Rotary Foundation coordinator, district governor, and member of the Polio Eradication Advocacy Task Force, the Permanent Fund Committee for Japan, and the Future Vision Committee.
Tanaka established an endowed Rotary Peace Fellowship, and he and his wife, Kyoko, are Paul Harris Fellows, Benefactors of the Permanent Fund, and Major Donors.
He is a recipient of RI’s Service Above Self Award and The Rotary Foundation’s Distinguished Service Award.
The Rotarians who will serve as RI directors in 2012-14 were also elected: Ann-Britt Åsebol, of the Rotary Club of Falun-Kopparvågen, Sweden; John B. Boag, of the Rotary Club of Tamworth North, New South Wales, Australia; Jean-Marc Chateigner, of the Rotary Club of Cholet, Maine-et-Loire, France; Takeshi Matsumiya, of the Rotary Club of Chigasaki-Shonan, Kanagawa, Japan; Anne L. Matthews, of the Rotary Club of Columbia East, South Carolina, USA; Gideon Peiper, of the Rotary Club of Ramat Hasharon, Israel; Andy Smallwood, of the Rotary Club of Gulfway-Hobby Airport (Houston), Texas, USA; and Bryn Styles, of the Rotary Club of Barrie-Huronia, Ontario, Canada.
