As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said on several occasions, the administration of President Barack Obama is dedicated to implementing "smart power" in pursuing its U.S. foreign policy objectives. To do this, Secretary Clinton has said that the U.S. wants to listen to the views not only of governments but also of people. She has emphasized that in friendly countries there are "smart people" with many "smart ideas."
Accordingly, we would like to invite the smart people in this area of Japan to provide us with smart ideas on any topic which will better society in the United States and Japan. We have set up an e-mail address - smart.people.smart.ideas@gmail.com - to receive your ideas.
We would especially encourage Japanese young people to provide smart ideas to this address. Soon, we will announce a contest - with separate sections for senior high school, university, and graduate school students. We intend to post many of these "smart ideas" on our Consulate website and invite further comments from readers. In the end, we intend to recognize the "smartest people with the smartest ideas."