Hosting the former Japanese Prime Minister at MUM’s 2015 Commencement

The 2015 commencement speaker at Maharishi International University’s graduation on May 23 was Dr. Yukio Hatoyama, the former prime minister of Japan.

Dr. Hatoyama has a PhD from Stanford in the same department from which I got my PhD, called Management Science and Engineering, though I arrived at Stanford a year after he had left. That may have been part of the reason that President Morris asked me and my wife Vicki, to host Dr. Hatoyama and his wife around the campus on the day before his speech—also, I am Dean of the College of Business Administration, and Vicki is a professor of business law and chair of the Management Department.

We were struck by how approachable he and his wife were. They came without any security detail, yet they honored all requests for photos. I saw from numerous conversations that they are simple and genuine in their work for the good of the world. Hatoyama’s term as prime minister was 2009-2010, but in that time he did much to advance a progressive agenda in Japan, promoting education and social services, and he was a leader in promoting good relations with China and Russia.

The Hatoyamas have been likened to the Kennedys, but their dynasty is much longer. Hatoyama’s great-grandfather was Vice-Foreign Minister in the late 1800s. His grandfather was Minister of Education and Prime Minister, and his father was Foreign Minister. Education is also a key theme in the family history. His great-grandfather, a Yale graduate, was a professor at the University of Tokyo and president of Waseda University. His great-grandmother founded Kyoritsu Women’s University. Hatoyama himself was a professor of industrial engineering at Tokyo Institute of Technology and Senshu University. His son is a professor of engineering at the University of Tokyo. Education and public service are clearly the family dharma of the Hatoyamas.

Hatoyama was interested to visit MIU, because he has been a practitioner of the Transcendental Meditation technique for 25 years. On his tour of MIU, he was fascinated by Dr. Fred Travis’ explanation of the psychophysiological effects of TM as seen in EEG. In his commencement address, he spoke of the power of the Transcendental Meditation program to develop in people the creativity and intelligence that is needed to lead the world out of its current problems.

Dr. Scott Herriott is the Co-Chair of the College of Business Administration & Professor of Management. His research interests include issues of cooperative strategy in business policy. Specific projects include studies of electric utility power pools, cooperative advertising, risk pooling, partial acquisitions, information channels in markets, and the implications of Maharishi Vedic Science for theories of motivation, job design, and management decisions.