Alumni Newsletter

Alumni Newsletters

Please enjoy these back issues of the IUJ Alumni Newsletter. The Newsletter is currently not being published. Please join us for regular updates, student/alumni showcases, events and news at:

Mark your calendar for IUJ WorldWide Friday, traditionally held on the 2nd Friday of September in a city near you, organized by your Chapter Leaders. Who are they? Click!

Watch for notices from the Alumni Association Executive Council for online gatherings, and the annual Bonenkai, Year-end gathering in Tokyo and online. These messages are sent to your Email as registered with IUJ, and will be announced on the two sites above.

And now, here are your back-copies of the Newsletter

IUJ Friday Info

Mark your calendar for IUJ WorldWide Friday – 2nd Friday of September, annually. Check here for updates on plans in your city. Chapter Leaders, YOROSHIKU

Give Back Today!

3 ways to give: From Japan, From USA, From Anywhere!

IUJ Alumni News July 2023: 58th Edition

A newsletter for the 5,227 alumni (1985-2023) and counting.

Click a photo below to read the articles. Download the full newsletter HERE
Content:

Alumni Showcases – Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Ambassadors, Ministers, Speakers, Award Winners, Shachos and Microfinance Consultant
Bonenkai update and Intro to new Alumni Assoc. Exec. Council members
Introducing IUJ President Kikkawa
Music Therapy, by Milly
Webinar invitation, by Naresh
Gretchen’s Reflections as her Retirement Approaches
Donation update

In Memory of
Oyetunde Osoba
November 1979 – May 2023, Class of 2023
and
Eddie Zormelo
May 1959 – December 2023, Class of 1989
and
Bocar Ballo
May 1991 to December 2023, Class of 2021

Featured Campus Image Nobel Nominee Microfinance Consulting, Meynar Ambassador and Ministers Special Award!Shachos!World Event Speakers Campus Returnees Kikkawa-sensei - IUJ President Bonenkai EC Chair Report Alumni Assoc. EC Members Music Therapy Business Connections: Webinars Gretchen Reflects Donation Plaque

Featured Image by Pramo, MBA2024

A picture by Pramodhya Dissanayake (Clicks by Pramo) – MBA 2024

Alumni Shortlisted for Nobel Peace Prize

In October 2023, campus and alumni around the world were closely watching the Nobel Peace Prize announcement in the category of Human Rights, as one of our own was on the short list: Kyaw Moe Tun (MBA 2004, Myanmar), Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar to the United Nations and the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC). Though the award went to another amazing person, this recognition makes IUJ proud, again, of our alum and his on-going work.

Kyaw speaking at the UN

80s Alumni “remembering” their IUJ days

Microfinance Consultant supporting people in Indonesia

Ikatri Meynar Sihombing (IDP2002) is a Commissioner at Bina Artha Ventura, a micro-financing firm in the model of Grameen Bank of Bangladesh. She also holds positions as Co-Founder of Digital Waste Solutions, and as Advisory Coordinator at Root Capital.

Meynar has over 20 years of experience, including several years in the microfinance sector and Small Medium Enterprises (SME) development with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Mercy Corps. After leaving her position as the CEO of MICRA in 2009, she leverages her work and interests in energy sufficiency and environmental preservation for grassroots people in under-served areas. Meynar is currently working independently at a professional think-thank in microfinance promoting financial education and customer protection, technology and innovative products to facilitate access to finance for many individuals who are excluded from the formal financial system in Indonesia.

Sources: https://bina-artha.com/about-us/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ikatri-meynar-sihombing-24239710/

Ambassadorial and Ministerial Posts: Thailand, Barbados and Cambodia Alumni

Sasiwat Wongsinsawat (IR1991, Thailand) is current serving as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Thailand to the Russian Federation, the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Moldova, and the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Ambassador Sasiwat Wongsinsawat joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1988. He has held various positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs including Deputy Director-General, Department of South Asian, Middle East and African Affairs (2013-2016), and Minister, Permanent Mission of Thailand to the UN Office in Geneva (2016-2018). Prior to his assignment in Moscow, he served as Director-General, Department of European Affairs (2018-2020).

Used with permissions from https://moscow.thaiembassy.org/en/page/76265-ambassador?menu=5d843dba15e39c1abc005769

Ian Walcott (IR1996), still our only alum from Barbados, continues to add countries to his list of ambassadorial appointments. He was recently appointed as Ambassador to Columbia making the list include 8 jurisictions: All of Central America, Mexico and Colombia. In the photo, he is presenting his credentials to President Gustavo Petro of Colombia in early November 2023.

TWO Alumni are Ministers in Cambodia

IUJ is proud to have alumni in two key ministerial posts in Cambodia. Rottanak Keo (IDP 1999), photo right) is the Minister of Mines and Energy, and Vanndy Hem (IDP 2002, photo left) is the Minister of Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation.

Congratulations Gentlemen

Special Award Achieved

Inna Dariwardani (PMPP 2012, Indonesia), with her team, won first prize for their paper in the category of Regional Economic Modelling Paper at the East Java Economic (EJAVEC) Forum 2023

The paper is entitled INTEGRATING ESTIMATION OF INFLATION THRESHOLD AND NOWCASTING REGIONAL ECONOMIC GROWTH USING CLASSICAL, MACHINE LEARNING, AND ENSEMBLE METHOD

Congratulations to Inna and her team!

Alumni Shachos!

Hiroshi Shichiku, Class of 1993 (Left) is now CEO of Shikoku Instrumentation after a long career with Shikoku Electric Power.

Shuji Inaba, Class of 1997 (Right), recently became President of NTT Smart Trade Inc. This appointment is after a long and diverse career within the many NTT companies.

Conference and Global Meetings Speakers: Philippines, Laos and ?

Hazel Baliatan (IDP 2008) recently represented her country, The Philippines, at UNDP Eurasia at a the SDG Global Conference. She reported in that another IUJ was also on the same panel, coincidentally. Who is the mystery alum!??!

Thiphasone Soukhathammavong, IDP2006 from Lao, participates in the 21st ASEAN-Japan High Level Officials Meeting on Caring Societies, in Japan, in November. He is with the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, Laos Deputy Director General of Planning and International Cooperation Department.

Introducing IUJ President T. Kikkawa

Dear IUJ Alumni,

I would like to extend my heartfelt greetings to all of you in various parts of the world.

My name is Takeo Kikkawa, and I became the president in September 2023. My specialty is the Japanese energy industry, and I have been appointed as a professor at GSIM in 2020.

At IUJ, 374 students from 69 countries and regions are studying hard day and night to follow in your footsteps. I wish you all the best in your future endeavors and look forward to your continued support for IUJ.

Bonenkai 2023:

Review of IUJ Alumni Association Executive Council Activities: 2021-23

At the December 21 2023 IUJ Bonenkai, current Alumni Association Executive Council Chair, Mitsuharu Nakano-san (MBA90, CEO, SilverRay Capital) gave the following report.

To view the slides shared at Bonenkai that go along with this report, please see https://www.iuj.ac.jp/alumni-f/newsletter/pdf/21-23Review.pdf

Over the past 3 years, the current members of the EC have made efforts to enrich campus-alumni relations, and further engage alumni around the world. By hosting the Tokyo IUJ Friday, along with cities in about 30 other countries, and arranging the yearly Bonenkai we brought people together. Several EC members, and other alumni joined in the campus-created event with IUJ’s 40^th anniversary events “Leadership in Times of Uncertainty and Change.” Also as part of these celebrations and on behalf of all the alumni world-wide, we made a donation to IUJ after approval at the 2022 Bonenkai. This earned the Association a bubble on the Alumni Donor Wall featured in the tunnels on campus along with other that have donated to IUJ.

Our monthly online meetings featured discussions on what the EC and alumni worldwide can give back to IUJ. To help the discussions several staff and faculty were invited to participate. This resulted in action and future planning for career networking help, an alumni lecture series at Musubiba College for Uonuma local people, BBQ events to bring students, alumni and the community together, pottery and calligraphy workshops for students, International Women’s Day celebration and women’s mentoring program meetings, and the like.

The EC sent members to IUJ Welcome Day, International Festival and graduation when COVID protocols allowed.

It has been a fairly productive 3 year term, and a good foundation to build further in the next term from April 2024- to March 2027. I, and other continuing EC members, look forward to working with the newly joining ECers for further activities. Your ideas and support are key to further success. Please be involved.

Group Photo from Bonenkai 2023

Bonenkai 2023 attracted alumni from the first batch of graduates in 1985, Masataka Jo (left), to the most recent graduated in 2023 Laurence Kwek! They are posing here with IUJ IUJ Vice President and GSIR Acting Dean, Kato-sensei.

New Alumni Association Executive Council member introductions

We are exciting to introduce to you the incoming Executive Council members of the IUJ Alumni Association.

First, please let me say a warm THANK YOU to those that have served from April 2021 – March 2024. With COVID19 offering many challenges, the EC members were able to do interesting things online taking advantage of the new situation.

Our incoming group features more women on the EC than ever before. Both in Japan and overseas, the new members have ideas for how to strengthen IUJ Alumni Relations with each other, and with campus. They have ideas on how to better promote IUJ in small and big ways. To view what they are interested in and their action ideas, please see the PDF slideshow, shared at the 2023 Bonenkai, as part of the “election.”

Please join our new and continuing leaders to help strengthen our network and interactivity like never before.

Please see the SlideShow for names, classes, affiliations, and motivation for the EC (you can pretend you are hearing GSO-EC election speeches!). Yellow indicates continuing members. White frames indicate new members. https://www.iuj.ac.jp/alumni-f/newsletter/pdf/ECSlides.pdf

Special thanks to our outgoing members including:

Rakib Mahmood, MBA 1997
Yukiko Nozaki, MBA 2003
Daniel Bukenya, MEB 2008
Priyanshu Sharma, MBA 2011
Denis Desjardins, MBA 2011
Akiyo Higaki, MA 2017

SlideShow to Introduce incoming Executive Council Members

From Business Analyst to Music Therapist:
Milly Ng (MBA2001) Shares her Journey

Music has always been a part of my life. It is my source of energy. It brings me friends. Music has been a blessing for me.

Now it is my turn to bring this blessing to others. I am in my 2^nd year of studies in the master’s program of Music Therapy at the University of West England and hopefully will become a qualified music therapist in 2025.

My family moved from Hong Kong to Bristol, UK in 2020. After graduating from IUJ, I worked as an IT consultant in Tokyo and Shanghai and subsequently a business analyst / project manager in a financial institution in Hong Kong. In the workplace I learned to put feelings aside and prioritize professionalism. Studying music therapy is a big shift for me from focusing on productivity and profits to feelings and well-being.

What is Music therapy?

It is a form of intervention that utilizes music to address physical, emotional, cognitive and social needs of individuals. Through joint music improvisation, mutual trust is built between the client and the therapist. This therapeutic relationship becomes the foundation for the client’s growth in his or her own unique way. In my first year of placement I worked with an autistic child who was quite isolated from other children in school. In music therapy sessions, we explored a variety of musical instruments as shown in the photo. The child played and sang freely and I responded with music to support him. Over a few months, these shared musical moments allowed him to find meaning in interaction with another individual.

Subsequently he started engaging with other children.

Now that I come to think about it, music has again brought me the blessing of reconnecting with my own feelings, and connecting with others in a special and deep way which is beyond words.

Business Connections: Continuing Education in Management Topics

Naresh Makhijani (MBA93) is CEO of OTI International in Indonesia. OTI is a management and IT consultancy with a 23-year track record.

Naresh has 37 years of work experience in 14 countries and does webinars on various areas of management including Balanced Scorecard, Digital Transformation, Aligning HR to Strategy, etc.

Those who are interested can find him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/naresh-makhijani-41a5491/

Or email him at naresh.makhijani@otiinternational.com

Naresh would like to invite IUJ alumni to join his new LinkedIn group: Organization Alignment and Diagnostics. Here, the goal is to create a space to exchange ideas and discuss keys and tools for aligning organizations to become more productive and profitable. He will cover a variety of topics, such as Strategic Alignment, Customer Retention, Customer Engagement, Employee Engagement, Processes, Culture-Building, Leadership and so much more.

If that sounds important to you, please accept the invitation and we can learn from each other https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14115285

His next webinars are planned as follows:

1. Organization Diagnostics – 30th Jan. 10 AM Jakarta time

2. Enterprise Risk Management – 22nd Feb. 10 AM Jakarta time

Reflections: Featuring My Least Favorite Question

Gretchen Shinoda (IR89, and IUJ employee 1994 to 2024) shares her thoughts and experience at IUJ.

I am a unique IUJ graduate. And I love the role.

Many of you have asked me about my retirement plans, and shared your memories with me in the process. I wanted to take the opportunity of my last Alumni Newsletter as a full-time IUJ staffer to share some thoughts with you. I hope you do not mind!

I came to IUJ as the wife of a student in 1985. I was one of 3 white women in the entire valley! While playing tennis and basketball, and even soccer, not to mention singing in the IUJ Band, I got to meet many of the first batch of alumni, and all of the 2^nd batch who graduated in 1986. I studied with IUJers from the classes of 1987-1989 and call ALL of you my classmates. My husband and I left IUJ in 1989 – Miyagawa-san drove me to the station with tears flowing down my cheeks. I thought I would never return.

Tomohito and I then experienced being alumni overseas from June 1989 to October 1994, when we were then asked to return to IUJ with the presidency of Dr. George R. Packard. It was our honor.

I started working at IUJ with the glamorous title of Special Assistant to the President (Packard-sensei), and he asked me to solve troubles and make campus life more fun. We had movie nights with popcorn, tennis tournaments, language circles, etc. It was quite fun.

Then in 1995, Dr. Packard asked me to start IUJ Alumni Relations and IUJ Career Services. After learning from IUJ’s partner universities in the USA – namely Tuck and SAIS, plus my alma mater, Lewis and Clark, I went to work with the help of many to create an alumni database and online directory, various alumni services such as the newsletter, IUJ Fridays, Alumni Chapters, Ambassadors Program, mentor programs, etc. The Career Counseling and Services program was complete with workshops and coaching, a Resume Book unique to Japan, and on campus recruiting – bucking the traditional recruiting strategies and timing of Japan to meet IUJers’ needs.

Pioneering these programs based on how US universities do them was a special experience here.

When Dr. Packard left IUJ in 1997, I created the Packard Fund to provide IUJ goods, mostly T-shirts, for purchase – a labor of love! Dr. Packard donated the seed money for the fund, and I order shirts, sell them, put the money back into the fund, and start again. The fund is still going strong!

In 2009, IUJ asked me to add managing the Office of Student Services to my roles. With the number of students growing, specifically non-Japanese, this presented another challenge. Even before this time, student and campus issues were coming to me in increasing number. One issue I addressed with Tamaru-sensei was harassment: Power, Academic and Sexual harassment. Together we created IUJ’s Professional Ethics Committee, PEC, in 2006 after 1.5 years of research in how to address issues in such a unique environment IUJ presents where cultural, religious or “common sense” shared values do not necessarily contribute to addressing such issues.

With so many hats to wear, and being a bit burnt out on career services (you can only correct so many resumes!), I asked for more time to focus on students services and alumni relations. Career Services thus went to two amazing people in the new Office of Admissions and Career Services. Student issues require most of my time. Working with professionals from over 70 countries and with all their stories is both rewarding and overwhelming: from the loss of parents to discoveries of pregnancies, from celebrating a thesis defense to getting angry about not separating garbage correctly, from hearing of fears of academic failure to winning a scholarship – there have been a lot of hugs!

But, getting to focus exclusively on Alumni Relations has never been possible. I love serving our network more than anything. Bringing people together, helping them network, and adding leverage to that network is exciting. Finding lost alumni is quite rewarding! Following your careers makes me proud. I am hopeful I can continue even after March 2024.

SO WHAT IS THAT QUESTION you do not like, Gretchen?

Throughout these 30 years, I have been asked so many interesting questions, and been presented with so many challenges I do not know where to begin. I often say なんでもあり国際大学。“IUJ – where anything can happen.”　But I wanted to share a few of them including my LEAST favorite question of all.

Of course, questions of “where can I buy an adapter for my computer,” “Which brand of shampoo do you recommend?” “How do I call overseas?” etc. are normal. But here are a few whoppers I will never forget.

Why didn’t Citibank offer me the job? I really think I was most qualified among those that interviewed today.

My answer: Because you told the Citibank recruiter that you would never work for an American company.

My resume looks wonderful in the Resume Book, but I am not getting any job interviews. Why not?

My answer: You need to apply to the openings noted on the career board to let them know you are interested. You cannot expect the company to find you – do the work for them!

1:30am – pounding on my SD3 apartment:

Gretchen, my passport has expired? What do I do?

My answer: Come see me in the morning at the office. There is nothing I can do at 1:30am.

I just bought a bed off Amazon and it was delivered in pieces. Will you please come build my bed?

My answer: I have no idea. Please ask someone in your community to help.

It is raining. Can the OSS lend me an umbrella?

My answer: Well….. I guess you can take one from the Lost and Found.

What? You want me to give you a poop sample in order for me to get to cook for Open Day?

My answer: I know… it is rather awkward, but required (It isn’t any more by the way!). And that wasn’t even my least favorite question…

My least favorite question of all is . . .

Gretchen, who are IUJ’s Successful Alumni? Please make me a list of them.

My answer: How can I make such a list? Our alumni are amazing people and I have no idea how to assess who is “more successful” than others.

You, IUJ Alumni, are truly amazing people. First, you found your way to this campus we call home. You worked for 1-2 years so hard in such diversity, making it to the finish line we call graduation. You have carried the IUJ spirit into your various careers. You find each other at business negotiation tables in Australia, on airplanes headed for a Maldives crisis meeting, at environmental and SDG panel discussions for Eurasia. You work with each other from roles with Japan’s MOFA and Vietnam development organizations. You have helped establish Japanese firms overseas in India, Cambodia, Vietnam, and more. You discover an IUJer in Fiji where you are there to discuss Asia-Pacific issues and see someone wearing an IUJ T-shirt. The examples go on.

We boast CEOs of major corporations and small, growing startups. We have Ambassadors and government ministers and parliament politicians among our ranks. We have university faculty and elementary school teachers helping the next generations. We have UN junior staff starting their careers, leaders of major UN and other world organizations from Haiti to Mozambique to Iraq, and UNHQ Permanent Mission Ambassadors in New York. We have non-Japanese working well in Japanese companies and Japanese working in consulting firms and international organizations around the world. We have a Nobel Peace Prize finalist and winners of multiple top business and CFO awards. We have journalists covering regional and world news, and those featured in their articles. We have stay-at-home parents and now even grandparents raising the next generation. We have survivors of war zones, natural disasters, major illnesses and a pandemic – and we have lost alumni to these as well: I have had to say goodbye to 46 IUJers from the classes of 1985 to 2023 – Each one harder than the next.

Each world event, good and bad, finds IUJers involved. Many reach out to me with heartbreaking or inspiring stories and requests. The trust many of you have shown in me is humbling, and my inability to meet all your expectations is agonizing. Hopefully, I have helped more than I have disappointed.

So how can I say who our successful alumni are, when you are all out there doing amazing things every day? You are all heroes, retired and up-and-coming stars, survivors and creators. It is an honor to call you part of my family.

IUJ: Where the World Gathers*

IUJ Alumni: Gathering Around the World**

*I am proud to have been on the team of 3 that created this slogan

**This one is all mine. I think it is fun

SO, what are you going to do in retirement?

MANY of you have asked, so please let me share: I have a bucket list I cannot wait to start on.

For fun, I want to . . .

· Clean my house! Mari Kondo is inspiring.

· Cook for my husband who has been the chef our entire marriage of 39 years

· Swim a lot, walk a lot, and do those bungee jump workouts at the gym!

o Teaching elderly people at the pool HOW to swim – teaching swimming is a passion

· Write 2 children’s books that have been in my mind for years

o Learn to draw to illustrate them too

· Write a book with my daughter on raising a bilingual, bicultural kid in the countryside of Japan – my experience AND hers (we are asked all the time about this)

· Live on Sado Island and help with the World Heritage bid for a few months.

· Go to Malaysia to help the Orangutans – This should be at the TOP of my list, but it is expensive.

· Play the piano again

· Play golf again

· Travel and scuba dive again

· Go fishing

· Sit in the forest and breath

· Do puzzles and crafts (I have SO many project ideas)

· Make my yard nice – flowers, grass and veggie garden

Professionally, I want to . . .

· Connect IUJ Alumni better and deeper

· Help Japanese young people get to overseas university or international work experiences with resume building, essay development, interview skills and finding the right university/organization for their goals

· Provide public speaking workshops: from developing the presentation content and image to delivery in English

· Translate menus, Japanese Inn guides or signs, website content, tourist spot signs, hospital and clinics, etc. to help Niigata better welcome or work with Non-Japanese tourist and residents (IUJers and beyond)

· Work with Sado Island in their bid to become a World Heritage Site, and more well-known tourism destination

· Maybe help IUJers again with career workshops and career coaching – I love that kind of work!

· Maybe help some of your companies with special short-term projects.

Thank you IUJers.

Let’s see where the road takes us next. And please, STAY CONNECTED.

Alumni Donations Making a Difference

Along with the Alumni Donors Wall to honor the alumni who have made financial donations back to IUJ (located in the hallways between the classroom and cafeteria), IUJ has posted a plaque in our new and improved classroom. Alumni Donations helped with high tech projectors and screens.

To those that donated, we thank you!

ふるさと納税 and other Donation Options here

Go To Top of This Edition’s Article Listing

IUJ Alumni News July 2023: 57th Edition

A newsletter for the 5,190 alumni (1985-2023) and counting.

Click a photo below to read the articles.

In Memory of Shigehiko Yasumura,
April 1957 to July 2023
Class of 1987

Donor Wall Unveiled @ Open Day Stone Benches for Campus Fun Alumni are Back: 1 - GSIR Talk Alumni are Back: 2 DX Talk Alumni are Back: 3 Finance Talk Alumni Are Back: 4 - JICA Mission Field Trip/Training by JR East Field Trip to Panasonic Museum Students YOU Support - ThANKS Int‘l Women’s Day Celebrated Spotlight: Le-Quan Dinh in Video SpotLight: Jonathon is top 100 Inspirer Spotlight: Amb. Janabazar’ many roles Networking and Collaborating Alumni Visits back to Campus

Donor Wall Unveiled

IUJ Alumni have been donating back to campus since the original fundraising campaign of the ThANKS Fund – The Alumni NaKayama Scholarship Fund – that began in 2009.

Several years ago, IUJ announced the Furusato Nozei ふるさと納税 donation option to those in Japan, offering KoshiHikari rice and IUJ labeled and named Hakkaisan Sake “IUJ de Soro.” In 2022, those in the US could start enjoying the tax breaks by donating to IUJ through from Give2Asia.org/iuj. This was introduced with the 40th anniversary fund raising drive.

The number of alumni that made donations back to campus in 2021-2022 was the highest number in history! To thank those donors, and everyone who has given since the start of donation drives, we created the IUJ Alumni Donor Wall. This may be the first, or among the few Donor Walls in Japan!

The Wall was revealed just in time for Open Day (International Festival) 2023!

The Donor Wall features colorful round images wooshing down a flowing and breezy design in the tunnel that connects the IUJ cafeteria to the classrooms. It is bright, energetic yet soothing: perfect for the winter term walk to class. Those that donated are featured with their names and year of graduation. The wall gives a sense of history as it features alumni names from 1985 to 2022! The largest circle pays tribute to all alumni as a special donation was made by the Alumni Association Executive Council as part of IUJ’s 40th Anniversary achievement. In this every alum that paid the Alumni Association fee contributed back to campus, and is acknowledged!

Join the Wall

The Donor Wall is not completed. It is designed with an open end to add names of those newly donating in the future. Join the wall. Learn about the donation options here: https://www.iuj.ac.jp/donation/

Stone Table and Bench Sets for Relaxation

As part of the 40th anniversary celebrations, IUJers were asked to support a gift for campus – Benches for under the Cherry Tree lane. While too few donations came in designated for this project, we are happy to announce that one alum from the Class of 2002, Jamie Pizzorno, contacted Gretchen about this project and expressed interest to dedicate a bench to his classmates for their friendship and in memory of and shared IUJ experiences.

In addition, wanting to fulfill this request for more benches on campus that students have been asking her for 15 years or more, Gretchen Shinoda (IRP1989), on the occasion of her retirement from IUJ in March 2024, donated funds to get this project going!

With enough money to start the project, a search was on for benches that could survive the heavy snowfall and NOT need to be put away each season. The costs were staggering. Snow is a destructive element. The idea of Japanese-garden stone benches was brought up. Gretchen reached out to a long-time friend of IUJ, Imai-san (you likely remember him from IUJ Ski Day and UMEX events) who recently received his masters from Kyoto University of the Arts in Japanese garden design.

Through Imai-san’s network and the generosity of people in the community (Thank you Seki-san and Matsuda-san) two stone table and bench sets were found to bring to campus at very reasonable prices! The logistics issue then became the challenge, and Okamura-san was willing to move them to IUJ for us!

Imai-san was on hand to help unload and design the two sets in a nice layout to maximize student enjoyment.

At last, campus has not only benches to relax on, but tables with benches around them! They are strong. They will survive the snow no matter how deep, and give a very nice Japanese feel to the Sakura lane and near the BBQ site.

If you are able to be part of this campus improvement project, please consider a tax deductible donation via Give2Asia.org/iuj (for those in the USA) or Furusato Nozei ふるさと納税 (for those in Japan) and indicate campus improvements.

Details at https://www.iuj.ac.jp/donation/

Imai-san tests the sturdiness of one of the benches.

Just after installation, but before cleaning, Imai-san and Okamura-san enjoy the new set up.

After cleaning, the underlying beauty emerges.

A set under the Sakura in the shade.

Alumni Back on Campus! 1 – IRI Special Seminar

After finally reopening campus after the COVID shut down, Alumni are coming back to campus to meet students and offer their knowledge and experiences.

As a speaker of the IUJ Research Institute’s special seminar, Professor Dahlia Simangan (IRP 2010), of Hiroshima University returned in May to talk on“Positive Peace and Environmental Sustainability: Local Evidence from Afghanistan and Nepal.” She highlighted the environmental security issues at the local or community levels using positive peace. She explained that intersecting positive peace and environmental sustainability reveals non-violent security issues that could undermine resilience to conflict and environmental change. Examples shared were water quality and inequitable water distributionaccess in Afghanistan, and the threats of wild animals and agricultural problems in Nepal.

After the seminar, an informal talk session was hosted by the IUJ Filipino community, where she is from, and participants enjoyed casual conversations with Professor Simangan.

80s Alumni “remembering” their IUJ days

One big happy family

Alumni Back on Campus! 2 – DX Lecture

Ahmed Ibraheem (MBA2022), now working as a Data Analyst, Sales Support and System Development of Kintetsu World Express, Inc. (KWE), Tokyo, returned to camus after just 9 months from his graduation. He talked to current students in IUJ’s new Digital Transformation program, and other interested students. The title of his speech was Digitalized Supply Chain: Case of International Freight Forwarding. The presentation was part of Prof. Li Wenkai’s DX course. It gave current students timely and real-business information to encourage their career development and help prepare them to join the workforce with skills and awareness currently needed.

Ibraheem shares his experience:

Returning to your alma mater as a guest speaker is an exciting and nostalgic experience. It is a great feeling to be invited back to the place where I spent so much time learning and growing, and to have the opportunity to share the knowledge and experiences I gained in a very short time with the current students.

Alumni Back on Campus! 3 – Finance Club Lecture

In June, IUJ welcomed back GSIM special student from 1998-99, Li Song. Li is now Managing Director of Global Gateway at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). He gave an informal talk and shared his experiences in an event titled US Technology Banking Sector: The Case of Silicon Valley Bank.

Since leaving IUJ, Li-san joined Silicon Valley Bank in 2000 as a tech banker, working there for the past 23 years. SVB has been the leader in providing banking services to the venture capital industry and the innovation companies they invest in for the past 40 years. It is the bank for 2/3rds of the VCs and 50%+ of VC funded tech companies in the US.

In March, SVB faced a major struggle, and was quickly bought by another US bank, First Citizens Bank. After the purchase, SVB didn’t miss a beat and is now right back in the market serving the tech sector as usual. Li shared how this happened, how it could happen, and what is ahead for SVB. Bottom line, it is all about the good people and amazing corporate culture that could help them recover and come out stronger in the end.

Alumni are Back: 4 – JICA Monitoring Mission

Regularly, staff from the JICA offices around the world visit campus to check on their scholars. Every now and then, the staff are actually IUJ graduates.

Recently, IUJ was very proud to have back two alumni in the same monitoring visit: Nao Nakazawa (IDP2014) who is staff of the Inernational Training Division of JICA in Tokyo, and Mumina Bakhtiyarova (IRP2021), who is a Senior Officer at the JICA office in Uzbekistan.

Gretchen is a bit proud of our alumni returning as part of the JICA Uzbekistan delegation

Alumni Created Field Trip: JR East

IUJ students were offered a very unique experience by an alum with JR East: a tour of Tokyo and Shibuya Station, plus a special lecture and hands on training at the JR East Training Center.

Kentaro Yasui, (Ebiz 2005) first proposed the idea in the pre-COVID era. After much planning and preparation the trip was cancelled 3 times before finally happening in March 2023, in time for Cherry Blossom viewing.

The experience started in Tokyo station with a tour covering some history of the station and its name sakes. We learned about the stations construction and how JR sold the rights above the station to surrounding buildings for their vertical expansion.

At Shibuya station, the world’s busiest facilitiy, we learned about its construction and reconstructions, we saw the old tracks and how there can be a flowing river within the station itself. We also experienced the main crosswalk.

Before heading to the training center, Yasui-san shared with us the JR story from the 2011 Tsunami. He emphasized how the JR training made it possible for those on the front line to stay safe, make decisions outside of the emergency response manuals that saved lives, and showed us the Tsunami Memorial Museum, located in a former JR station that was hit by the Tsunami.

Primed to learn more about this safety training and techniques that keep Japan’s railways so accident free, we made our way to the day-long training program. But first, Yasui-san treated us to a tour of Matsushima bay and some of its charming spots and cherry blossoms.

We were warmly greeted at the JR East General Education Center by a bit nervous staff challenging the presentations in English for the first time. We learned how JR keeps high safety standards for its rail operations, and practiced several techniques including point and call. We were allowed to virtually drive a Shinkansen and local trains and practiced precision stopping.

Those that participated will never look at the JR trains, the various symbols and information guides in place for the operators, nor the operators themselves in the same way again. It was a truly memorable experience and very appreciated.

Special thanks to Yasui-san for his patient program development and finally its implementation!

Panasonic Hosts IUJers on Field Trip

This spring term, students were treated to a field trip guided by GSIM Faculty member, Funabashi-sensei, to learn about the history of Panasonic (Matsushita Corporation) and its line of products. The early preparations were thanks to Masato Nakamura (MBA92) who was then the Advisor, International Affairs in the HR division of Panasonic.

As reported in the January newsletter, Nakamura-san came back to IUJ with the goal of strengthening the IUJ-Panasonic relationship. Though he moved on to China in the role of Special Assistant to the Chairman of the Japan Chamber of Commerce in Beijing, the field trip planning and implementation went forward.

The students were warmly welcomed by many Panasonic staff including two alumni.

Mr. Masahiro EZAKI, GSIR class of 1991
Curator, Panasonic Museum, Corporate History Office,
Brand and Communications Sector
Panasonic Operational Excellence Co., Ltd.

Mr. Nobuto NAKANISHI, MBA class of 2007
Director, Policy and External Affairs Dept.
Panasonic Energy Co., Ltd.

Students had the opportunity to visit the newly remodeled museum showcasing the corporate history, key personalities and the evolution of the Panasonic product line guided by their Sempais Ezaki-san and Nakanishi-san. The students came to know what “Monozukuriism” is all about thanks to the wonderful information they shared with them. Everyone was very impressed.

The students were struck by the beautiful facilities and tribute to the company’s deep history.

IUJ thanks Panasonic and ALL our alumni within the company for their dedication to IUJ still today.

Students YOU sponsor

Alumni donations to the ThANKS Fund – The Alumni NaKayama Scholarship Fund – are used for monthly stipends that support 2nd year students who have shown outstanding leadership and community building during their 1st year and plan to continue into their 2nd year. Since 2009 we have sponsored 34 students.

This past year, 4 students were awarded this stipend of 50,000yen a month to help them have time and resources to contribute to campus. Please read the thank you notes for those you helped, that in turn helped campus.

Clark Gholamipour – IRP (USA)

As GSO-EC President, Clark conducted the Hat Toss at graduation this year!

As we all know, IUJ is a rare learning institution in this world. I sincerely appreciate all of you for giving me the opportunity to live comfortably while being able to experience and do my little part to contribute to my year’s environment. I worked for over a year to save up to come to IUJ, and I was planning to work in Japan, but your meaningful support allowed me to live more like a student.

This was the first academic year in a post-COVID world, and many traditions had been postponed or forgotten. I did my best as GSO-EC President to help bring back the great activities (and some new ones) we should all have the chance to do at IUJ. From the first Club Day to International Festival in over 3 years, I would not have been able to put in the time I did without your help.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you

Sarangoo Purev-Erdene – MBA (Mongolia)

I am writing to express my deepest gratitude for selecting me as a recipient of the IUJ Alumni Scholarship. The IUJ Alumni Scholarship has provided me with much more than just financial assistance. It had a profound impact on my personal and social development during my time on campus. The connections I have established through IUJ experiences will undoubtedly shape my future endeavors and contribute to my long-term meaningful connections.

As a leader of the IUJ Yoga Club, I was happy to arrange a few events such as a Yoga session at a local Onsen. But the biggest event was going on a challenging ascent of Mt. Hakkaisan. This mountain is famous for its difficult trails and breathtaking views of Minamiuonuma. During our ascent, some of our friends were gripped with fear, hesitant to navigate the treacherous rocky paths ahead. I chose to stand by their side, offering guidance and encouragement to help them overcome their fears.

This experience is my most cherished memory at IUJ, showcasing the strength we find when we stand together, united by compassion and resilience.

I would be delighted to stay connected and provide updates on my academic and personal achievements. Thank you once again for your unwavering support in investing in my education and future endeavors.

I send you all my sincerest appreciation.

Takaaki Hashimoto – IRP (Japan)

Connecting with a scholar in Estonia for his thesis research

We are immensely grateful for the honor of being recipients of the Nakayama Alumni Scholarship. Your generous support has had a profound impact on our academic journey, empowering us to pursue our passions and achieve our goals. With your assistance, we have been able to immerse ourselves in learning, engage in extracurricular activities, and actively contribute to our community. I was happy to be able to lead the Kendo Club this year, letting my IUJ friends from near and far experience Japanese culture on campus, and in coordination with Sempai and instructors from Koide.

The scholarship has not only lightened our financial burden but has also served as a constant reminder of the incredible support from our esteemed alumni network. Thank you.

Takaaki-san helped IUJ with a Japanese language learning video series in the weeks before graduation.

Francois Pelletier – IRP (France)

Francois at the Graduation Ball (2nd from left)

Francois was a very active student helping GSO-EC as the only Internal Affairs Director to get dorm life back on track after the COVID era. From lending out ski equipment, to help with kitchen issues, to supporting various events, he was the go-to man. As trusted classmate he also served on the Professional Ethics Committee, PEC, to bring issues outside the EC objectives to the administration.

Gender Equity: Topic for International Women’s Day event at IUJ

On 11 March, IUJ alumni, students, faculty, and staff members celebrated International Women’s Day. The guest speaker was Kenana Amin, IR93, who works for USAID Jordan as the Mission’s Senior Gender Advisor, leading the Mission’s Gender Team. She is also the co-leader of the Women and Youth Development Objective Team.

She spoke on the topic “What can we do to embrace gender equity beyond gender equality?” More than 20 people attended the event.

She began by defining the terms relevant to gender and then described four international gender-related indicators while analyzing seven countries for comparative purposes. Finally, she presented the case of Jordan.

“We need to consider issues related to integration and gender equality when we plan any projects.

For example, whoever is working on a new policy needs to ensure that both men and women are represented in the discussions to reflect their opinions and that the policy addresses women’s needs alongside the men’s.

Another example. Imagine, if you build new water pipes, do you take into consideration the point of women in the household? How are you going to reach the woman, and how are you going to let them allow you to install the pipes in the household in a society in which men have the power of decision.

Most importantly, ‘equality’ is not synonymous with ‘equity’. We must tackle both issues in order to achieve justice and fairness in the world.”

The event was interactive, with questions and discussions among the participants. The event received many favorable comments.

“It is an interesting discussion about the roles of men and women and the current statistics. It would be exciting to learn more about inclusion across all genders.”

“I hope she goes on to make the great difference that she plans to! I’d love to know her current role in USAID and the project she is currently working on.”

“It was super impressive, made me have a clear understanding of Gender Equity and Equality, and now I can see the visible differences. I do feel your deep consideration and knowledge by having a simple and clear presentation. Definitely, IUJ needs this study.”

“All the changes start with recognition. This is super great activity and especially I liked this kind of NOT biased session. This should be spread out to our IUJ community more and this should be our one and only resource among us, IUJers. I do appreciate it.”

This event was created by Alumni Association Exeutive Council Member Akiyo Higaki (IRP2017) who is working to reinvigorate the Global Women’s Mentork Network.

Spotlight:

GOJ ASEAN-Japan Relationship Video Features an IUJer

IUJ Class of 2011, Le-Quan Dinh was featured in the Government of Japan’s exclusive video on 50th anniversary of ASEAN-Japan relations with PM Kishida giving the closing remarks. Le Quan shares her comments between 1:27 – 1:47 of the just over 2 minute clip.

Ms. Dinh became Programme Officer for the Global Maritime Crime Programme of UNODC in June 2022 and is currently leading activities with Cambodia and Viet Nam.

Here is the link to the video on Official GOJ YouTube channel. Enjoy! MOFA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOmRLhzBUy0

Congratulations Le-Quan. You are making IUJ proud again!

Images from MOF Clip shared above

Spotlight:

Jonathon Zink is a top 100 Inspirational Leader

Check out the cover of the Global Hospitality June 2023 magazine: IUJ’s own Jonathon Zink (MBA2013) is featured on the cover. The Internatioanl Hospitality Institute has listed him as one of the 100 Most Inspirational People in Global Hospitality & Travel!

He shares: With a passion for making a difference globally, it’s truly an honor to be recognized by the International Hospitality Institute in the June 2023 issue of Global Hospitality Magazine as part of the 100 Most Inspirational People in Global Hospitality & Travel.

Now that is a great way to celebrate your 10th anniversary out of IUJ. Congratulations Jonathon. You make IUJ proud.

Source: https://mfa.gov.mn/

Spotlight:

Janabazar Tuvdendorj with additional Ambassadorial Appointments

HE Janabazar Tuvdendorj (IDP 2000) is an extremely busy man serving as Ambassador from Mongolia to multiple countries in Northern Europe. If research is accurate, he is now Ambassador to Sweden, Iceland, Finland

Janabazar began is diplomatic career in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1987.

In 1989-1990 he worked at the UNDP Office in Ulaanbaatar. He returned to the Ministry as a specialist at the Asian and African Affairs and European Affairs Departments (1991-1994). His career went global in 1995 when he was assigned to the Mongolian Embassy in Vietnam as a secretary for ESCAP (1995-1998).

He thankfully took time to pursue his masters and IUJ from 1998-2000.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/Kungahuset/photos

Upon his graduation, he returned to the MOFA and became a Senior Specialist responsible for North American Affairs (2000-2002), becoming First Secretary at the Embassy in Ottawa (2002-2006). Returning to Mongolia, he took up the post of Director of Policy Planning, in the Information and Evaluation Department (2006-2008). 2008 saw him return to Japan, this time as Minister Counselor at the Embassy in Tokyo (2008-2011). His first ambassadorial appointment took him to Laos from 2012-2015. His following post was Director of Neighboring Countries Department (2015-2019). Between 2020-present, he is listed as the Ambassador to these countries: Estonia, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Sweden and Finland.

Another alum making IUJ proud!

Collaboration

Do you have business opportunities or are you looking for partners?

Check out the IUJ Alumni Business Connections (IUJabc) Facebook site.

Interested in networking with other IUJers on LinkedIn for jobs and business opportunities?

Want to follow IUJ information on Social Media?

Visual Image of the Worldwide Network of IUJ Alumni

Go To Top of This Edition’s Article Listing

IUJ Alumni News January 2023: 56th Edition

A newsletter for the 5,040 alumni (1985-2022) and counting.

Click a photo below to read the articles.

2022 Bonnenkai - Year End party Alumni Inspire Students UNV experience with Alum support A Star on Campus Award winning Film Director Alum in Alternative Education Sector in Japan HOUSE Update Photo Competition: a HOUSE event 1992 Nakamura-san back on campus Musubiba College Video of IUJ - 1 minute trip back USA donations through Give2Asia Networking with Each Other Scholarship VOUCHER 2023

Nostalgia In the Air: IUJ Bonnenkai for our 40th Anniversary

The IUJ Alumni Association Executive Counsel invited alumni to join for a face-to-face year-end gathering, Bonnenkai. Enjoying the beautiful International House of Japan (IHouse) with their very supportive staff and delicious foods and desserts, we heard from EC Chair Nakano-san, a financial report from Treasurer Kawashima-san, a video message from the GSO-EC on campus, and a campus update from a current 2nd year student on how campus life is back.

IUJ President Itami gave a brief State of IUJ speech and remarks by IUJ Chairman of the Board Utusda were also shared.

Memories bounced through the air. More alumni from the 1980s joined than in recent years which really helped with the 40th anniversary celebrations. After the recent graduates caught up on everyone’s life after IUJ, wonderful cross-class interaction took over the room.

It was so great to see everyone again, in person!

To those that joined, thank you SO much. Please bring 1-2 friends next November.

To those that missed it, please plan to get IUJ on your calendar. The date will be announced in early September and likely is the last week of N0vember.

PLUS, it will be time to choose the next Executive Counsel members for a 3-year term April 2024 to March 2027. Interested? Contact an EC member or Gretchen on campus.

One big happy family

80s Alumni “remembering” their IUJ days

It was so great to see everyone again, in person!

To those that joined, thank you SO much. Please bring 1-2 friends next November.

To those that missed it, please plan to get IUJ on your calendar. The date will be announced in early September and likely is the last week of N0vember.

PLUS, it will be time to choose the next Executive Counsel members for a 3-year term April 2024 to March 2027. Interested? Contact an EC member or Gretchen on campus.

Click to enjoy more photos of 2022 IUJ Bonnenkai

Alumni-Student Networking

Alumni Panels Inspiring Students

Alumni both within Japan and located overseas are coming together to share their experiences and offer advice to their Kohai in a series of Career and Networking Panels.

In December, 3 alumni traveled to campus to meet student to talk about their job hunt here in Japan, working in Japan, need for Japanese language skills, etc. The students came to know more about what it takes to find success in their job hunt, how to get started in the process and how to focus. “I feel quite motivated learning that others before me found success” said one participant. “It take a lot of work, I see, but I am ready to get going now.” Said another

In January, two panels are planned. One took place on the 14^th focusing on Careers in the UN, IOs and related organizations overseas. Three alumni joined about 30 students online for insightful and inspiring discussion. The main points to take away were to build your personal network with real relationships, be competent, and truly listen to yourself to know what you are passionate about, and stay on that track.

As a bonus, a UN high official, also an IUJer, stopped by campus on January 18 for more talk on careers in the UN. Aamir Arain, Director of UNAMI in Iraq, talked informally to the students in a “sofa and tea” conversation!

Students learn from 3 Sempai about working in Japan, and how they need to prepare.

Coming on January 21, is the 3^rd in the series of panels, this one on job hunting overseas in Finance, Consulting and the Auto industry.

Special thanks to the alumni who participated!

Working in Japan

Jose Garcia Mendoza, MBA, Class of 2015, Rakuten Mobile (Japan)
Mika Lumayag, IRP, Class of 2019, Michael Page (Japan)
Raginee Kashyap, IRP, Class of 2020, Xaxis (Japan)

Working for UN, IO and Related organizations

Michael Alar, IRP, Class of 2019, Capacity Building for Dialogues, Conflict Transformation and Peace Processes (Philippines)
Thuy Thu Nguyen, IRP Class of 2010, IFC, World Bank (Viet Nam)
Pacifique Essereke, MBA Class of 2019, United Nations Volunteer Program (UNV) (Istanbul)
With additional face-to-face speaker Aamir Arain, UNAMI, (Iraq)
Aamir Arain, Class of 1999, talks to students about working in the UN and the opportunities for UNVs. Several of the students plan to apply for a UNV on his UNAMI team in Iraq.

Working in Business Overseas: Banking, Consulting and the Auto Industry

Priyanshu Sharma, MBA Class of 2011, Bloomberg (Singapore)
Koy Natvarapat, MBA Class of 2011, KasikornBank (Thailand)
Nargiza Otahonova, MBA Class of 2014, General Motors (Uzbekistan)
Rizki Ridwan, Ebiz Class of 2019, McKinsey (Indonesia)

The events are co-sponsored by the Alumni Relations Office, Alumni Association Executive Council, the IUJ Career Office and IR/IM Councils.

New Graduate takes on UNV with a Veteran UN alum’s Support

Sena hooks a ride on Aamir’s plane in Iraq as they move on to Sena’s UNV assignment location.

Sena Dake Shares his Story

Class of 2022, Togo

I have successfully completed my 4-month UNV assignment in Iraq with United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), on the amazing team of IUJ Class of 1999, Dr. Aamir Arain. I worked with the Office of Electoral Assistance. The experience is the best thing that has ever happened to me in my life. It was, for me, a growth role that was professionally, personally, and financially rewarding.

Evident is the positive impact of my journey in UNAMI on my career. Only two weeks after I arrived back home in Togo, and restarted work in my office at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I got promoted as Chief of the Division of Bilateral Military Cooperation at the Department of Defense and Security Affairs. Indeed, right after I submitted the report of my experience in Iraq, I had several interviews with my hierarchy. They were mainly interested in my work as UNV in Iraq. They were quite impressed with the knowledge and skills I gained. Hence my promotion.

In a nutshell, thanks to IUJ and our Great Sempai Dr. Arain (Director, UN Integrated Support to Iraq, UNAMI), my career path has expanded, and I can dream bigger than ever before. I really appreciate the leadership of Dr. Arain, and his management style. As a new Chief of Division, I aspire to conduct my team just as he did with us.

No words of mine could adequately express my gratitude to IUJ, Dr. Arain, the IUJ career office for this opportunity which I hope will be perpetuated and benefit other kohais from IUJ.

—

Note from Alumni Relations office: If you are able to help pull in interns or UNVs into your organization, please reach out to IUJ. Students are ready and excited for the challenges. As alumni, we just need to give them a boost.

Signing the TOKYO VICE poster now displayed on campus. Ansel kindly sent the original poster to IUJ directly from NY. It is one of only a few available in Japan!

A Star on Campus: Ansel Elgort explores Ken Watanabe’s roots in a visit with an IUJ Alumnus

IUJ was honored to have Ansel Elgort come to campus. The actor may be best known from the movies Baby Driver, The Fault in our Stars, and Stephen Spielberg’s remake of West Side Story. His visit to campus was in a private capacity to explore the home town of Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai, etc. Watanabe-san was born in Koide), who is his current co-star of the original drama “TOKYO VICE,” a Japan-US co-production by WOWOW and HBO Max.

Guiding him is IUJ’s own Mitsunori Homma (IPSP 2010) who taught Japanese language
and culture to Ansel for this drama “TOKYO VICE.” They have become close friends.

Enjoying the Sakura Lane on campus with Homma-san and Hirasawa-san, IUJ staffer who is a graduate of the same High School in Koide that Ken Watanabe attended.

Award Winning Film Directed by IUJ Alum

IUJ Alum Ganzorig Vanchig (Ebiz 2010) has added another achievement to his credentials. He has produced an award winning film titled “TRIO.” This awareness-raising film features a boy with Down syndrome, the first time for an actor with Down syndrome to debut in a film in Mongolian history.

He explains

“My aim is to raise public awareness about Down syndrome globally and defend human rights, and encourage inclusion, and promote racial equity and social accessibility. All these points are critical parts of the Sustainable Development Goals and our team’s mission.”

Ganzorig is the founding father and chairperson of the Down Syndrome Association of Mongolia. His movie is all about his passion, dream, challenge, and inspiration to be a human and to be a global citizen to “contribute my piece to this special community.”

So far TRIO has won the following awards.

Best Feature Film award from Thai International film festival (Thailand)
Best Cinematography award from Palm Springs International Down Syndrome Film Festival (USA)
Audience Award for Best Feature Film from Warsaw International Film Festival (Poland)
Best of Festival selection by “Black Nights” Tallinn International Film Festival (Estonia)
Best Producer award from Ulaanbaatar International Film Festival (Mongolia)
Best Director award from Montreal Independent Film Festival (Canada)

The next challenge is for his movie team to win a nomination to more international film festivals and get a prize which will help go a long way in raising public awareness and advocacy internationally for the Down syndrome community.

Here is the short synopsis and trailer for your information (if you scroll down the page, you will see the trailer):

https://poff.ee/en/film/trio/

And here also two trailers links on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDZsavnJpvg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxEJX5fIuZE

We call upon the IUJ Alumni Association to give Ganzorig and his team a hand.

If you have connections in the film industry, specifically with International film festivals around the globe especially if they specialized in human rights and children, or with cinemas and their relevant stakeholders in general, please help connect him. If you can offer a movie screening to your community, please contact him with a proposal.

We hope to leverage the Alumni Association network to help one of our own fulfill his mission.

Ganzorig is ready to do a presentation about this movie project for you and explore ways to cooperate.

Class of 1986 alumni, Tadahiko Isshiki enjoyed a long career at Japan Airlines and its affiliates before recently retiring and taking on a new role in child education. In the hopes that IUJ graduates, those who now have young children or grandchildren might consider an alternative education for their little ones, he is kindly introducing a school to our network, the Reggio School of Tokyo which offers The Reggio Emilia approach to early child development.　(https://www.reggioschool.jp/program/)

Considering a NEW way to educate our children: Introducing the Reggio School of Tokyo.

With Japan’s education system arguably stuck in tradition, and not producing open-minded, self-aware and healthy individuals who can think creatively and in a constructive way to lead Japan forward, perhaps it is time to consider change in the form of alternative education options.

It is said that there are seven types of so-called “alternative education” options in the world, including the famous Montessori schools and Steiner schools. Not yet very popular in Japan, Montessori and Steiner schools are known worldwide as the two major alternative educational methods: Steiner is practiced in 60 countries and Montessori is practiced in more than 140 countries around the world, being most active in Europe and the United States. In the United States, alone, there are about 3,000 Montessori schools.

Especially those from Montessori education in the United States have many celebrities and are called the Montessori Mafia. They include three of the founders of the GAFA, Bill Gates of Microsoft, and politicians such as Barack Obama and the Clintons. This year, the Bezos (Amazon) established the first nonprofit preschool in Washington based on the Montessori method giving free access to low-income children.

One of the newest alternative education methods is called The Reggio Emilia approach. It was established in the city of Reggio Emilia, in Northern Italy, and was featured in the American Newsweek magazine in the 1990s as the world’s most advanced infant and early childhood education approach. Since then, it has spread worldwide and developed in each country. It reached Japan in the 2010s and I hope some of you consider it for the children in your life.

So how does the Reggio Emilia method different from the more well-known Montessori method? The Montessori education system aims to nurture self-driven people as individuals. This contrasts with the Reggio Emilia approach which aims to nurture children who can contribute to society through democratic group formation, or relationship-driven development.

This type of alternative education may be more suitable for a collectivist society like Japan, where there is a strong pressure to conform, and have a group identity rather than to strike out on your own as an individual. However, while Reggio might be focused on collectivism and solidarity, it is said that “the more people become independent, the more solidarity they have.” As a result, it can be said that both are aiming for the same goal – strong individuals who can contribute to the collective good – the approach is just different. One focuses first on the individual as a solo actor and guides them to their potential for society. The other allows children to naturally form groups and relationships with others and find their own way to best contribute as an individual to that group.

Many in Japan feel forced to always behave “normal” and be like “everyone”. Eventually, like donuts, there is a large cavity in the middle that leaves us unfilled and unable to reach our full potential. Filling this void is probably the main purpose of this Reggio approach. However, it is much better to educate people so that they do not make holes in the first place, than have to struggle to fill the holes later. This is where the Reggio approach thrives. By focusing on early childhood development, the child finds their self-worth, potential and passion that they can carry with them throughout their life to contribute to a greater good.

Unfortunately, I don’t think the number of children who will get to grow up with the Reggio approach will be large. However, as good citizens, these children, tooled with self-awareness and motivation to help the society, will contribute to the happiness and development of society as a whole and make Japan and the world a better place to live. There is nothing more rewarding than that. It may take time, but it is far better to see a ray of hope for the Japanese education system no matter how far away it is.

子どもたちの新しい教育法を考える：レッジョスクールの紹介

１９８６年卒の一色忠彦さんは、日本航空退職後、いくつかの仕事を経て、最近、子どもの教育に携わるようになりました。小さなお子さんやお孫さんがいるIUJの卒業生に、代替教育を子どもたちの教育方法として考慮して欲しいと考えて、その一つであるレッジョエミリアスクールについて紹介してくれます。

日本の教育システムは、未だに従来からのインプット教育にどっぷりと浸かっているために、心がひろく、自己肯定感の強い、健全な個人を育てることができません。その結果、創造的かつ建設的な思考で日本をリードしていく人材が生まれてきません。そろそろ、教育方法を代替教育に変更することもオプションとして考える時期ではないかと思います。

いわゆる「代替教育」には、有名なモンテッソーリ教育やシュタイナー教育を含めて、世界で7種類があると言われています。日本では、何故か、あまり普及していませんが、シュタイナーは世界60か国、モンテッソーリは欧米を中心に世界140か国以上で実践されていることから2大教育法として世界的に知られています。アメリカでは、約3000ヶ所のモンテッソーリ教育に基づく学校があるそうです。

特にアメリカのモンテッソーリ教育出身者には、多くの有名人がおり、モンテッソーリ・マフィアと呼ばれています。例えば、GAFA創設者の中の３人やマイクロソフトのビル・ゲイツ、政治家では、バラク・オバマ、クリントン夫妻もモンテッソーリ教育出身者です。Amazon創業者のベゾスは、今年モンテッソーリ教育法を取り入れたプレスクール（保育施設）を設立し、低所得者向けに無償解放しています。

代替教育の中でも、最も新しいメソッドがレッジョ・エミリア・アプローチです。レッジョ・エミリア・アプローチは、北イタリアのレッジョ・エミリア市でかたちづくられ、 1990年代にアメリカ版ニューズウィーク誌に世界で最も先進的な乳幼児教育として取り上げられたことを発端に、世界的に広がり、それぞれの国で発展を遂げています。日本でも、2010年代から導入されるようになりましたので、みなさんにも是非ご検討いただきたいと思います。

それでは、レッジョ・アプローチは、よく知られているモンテッソーリ教育と何が違うのでしょう。モンテッソーリ教育は、個人を確立し自己主導型の人間を育てることに主眼を置いていますが、レッジョ・アプローチは対照的に、民主的集団の形成や関係性に基づく発達を通じて社会に貢献できる人間を育てることを目的にしています。個人としてのアイデンティティを主張するよりも、集団への同調圧力が強い集団主義的な日本社会には、レッジョ・アプローチの方が受け入れられやすいかもしれません。

但し、レッジョは集団主義、連帯主義ですが、「人間は自立すれば自立するほど連帯する」と言われますから、手法が違うだけで、結果的に両者は同じゴール（公益に貢献できる強い個人の育成）を目指しているとも言えます。一方は、最初に単一のアクターとしての個人に注目してから、次第に社会貢献のための能力を高めて行きますが、他方は、自然に集団や他人との関係性を形成してから、個人としてその集団に貢献する最善の方法を見つけるのです。

多くの日本人は、常に「みんなと同じ」ように「普通」に振る舞うことを強制されます。結果的に、ドーナツのように、真ん中に大きな空洞が空いてしまい、満たされない思いを抱えながら潜在能力を最大限に発揮できなくなっています。この空洞を埋めることこそ、このレッジョ・アプローチの最大の目的ではないでしょうか。しかし、あとから穴を埋めるのではなく、最初から穴を開けないような教育をするほうがずっといいのです。この点にこそ、レッジョ・アプローチを採用する意味があるのです。子供の発達段階の初期に注目することで、子どもは自分の価値や潜在能力や情熱を見出します。そして、それを発達させることで、その後の人生を通じて、より大きな善に貢献できるようになるのです。

残念ながら、このレッジョ・アプローチで成長する子ども達の数は、決して多くはないだろうと思います。でも、この子ども達が、「良き市民」として、社会全体の幸福や発展に貢献し、日本をそして世界をもっと住みやすい所にしてくれるのではないかと思えば、これほどやりがいのあることはありません。時間はかかるかもしれませんが、どれ程遠い先でも希望の光が見えることに勝るものはないと思っています。

HOUSE Bringing People Together

HOUSE, Honoring Our Unique Social Environemnt, was established in 2017 as a student initiative to bring people better together over the entire school year. It is designed to add interactive fun to campus life, mixing 1st and 2nd year students, programs and nationalities into team to compete from October to June before crowing the HOUSE Champions.

HOUSE activities in the fall semester of 2022 began with major updates to the system; the number of houses were reduced from 10 houses to 8 houses. 4 houses were merged into 2 houses: 1) Yamamuro and Ushio were combined to become Yama-Ushio under a Yellow Snakes logo; 2) Kobayashi and Tomabechi were combined to become Kobayashi under a Blue Bears logo.

The semester had many fun events helping to bring campus life back after the COVID pandemic stopped most of the activities. The first major event being the HOUSEKick-off event comprising of many games like Basketball Tic-Tac-Toe, Bowling, Musical Chairs, etc. There many other house events littered throughout the semester, like Halloween Costume, Lawn Tennis, and the Photography competition.

Doko HOUSE

Sugihara HOUSE

Sasaki HOUSE

Okamura HOUSE

Nagano HOUSE

Mizukami HOUSE

Kobayashi HOUSE

HOUSE of Yama-Ushio

IUJ Contest

HOUSE Photo Competition

With the theme of CHANGE, please enjoy this year’s winning photos by students participating in a fall term HOUSE competition.

Change is hard sometime, but it will lead to a good path. 1st place winner by Annonymous from Mizukami HOUSE

Just as the sun rises and sets every day, the tides bring change too. Washing away our footprints in the sand, allowing us to start over. 2nd place by Tun Kyi Lin of Doko HOUSE

“Sunset represents “Change”. It reminds us that everything has an ending, and everything is changing. Nothing is forever”. 3rd place winner by Kaung Myat of Yama-Ushio HOUSE

Honorable Mention by Sasaki HOUSE: Change is about people coming in and out of our lives. Like shoe cabinets, we should give space for people to stay, and be open for their leaving. Embracing change is learning from people we encounter whose shoes will leave marks on our experiences and expectations.

Welcome an Alum back to campus

New Ideas Ahead

IUJ was delighted to welcome back to campus 1992 graduate Masato Nakamura of Panasonic. Nakamura-san is now an Advisor on International Relations for Panasonic in the Strategic Human Resources Department. With his colleague in the CSR & Citizenship office, he was here to refuel relations, and create innovative activities and content involveing Panasonic employees and IUJ students. 2023 will be a building year for something new ahead.

Nakamura-san poses with his IUJ Master’s thesis in the IUJ Matsushita Library – he wrote it 30 years ago!

Back on campus after 30 years!

IUJ to Offer Educational Sessions to People of Minami Uonuma

In Muikamachi Station, the city has created a beautiful and flexible space to promote interaction amongst various groups – It is called Musubiba – a place to connect and strengthen ties.

Starting in January, IUJ will offer a “Citizen Lecture” series at Musubiba for anyone interested in attending, and with no participation fee. We call it IUJ Musubiba College. The purpose is to provide a platform for IUJ to contribute more to our community, and strengthen ties.

IUJ faculty members will pick up themes from their own research that relate to the every day lives of people in the community. Each lecture will be followed by refreshments to allow for informal interaction. The lectures are set at a college level, though will be open for those in high school and up.

By offering lectures based on the faculty’s own research interests, the community will come to learn what types of topics IUJ covers, and what we teach students on campus. In this way, their understanding of IUJ will deepen. Further, IUJ will become more of a member of the community, and relationships will develop to allow IUJ to work better with the city and its people to help solve local issues, promote local ideas, and cooperate more systematically together. Ideas will become action.

We hope that Musubiba College will attract many in the Minami Uonuma area to join. Capacity is set at 40 people, and will take place on the 3^rd Saturday of every month starting in January 2023. Lectures will be in Japanese.

January 21, IUJ President Dr. Hiroyuki Itami will offer the inaugural presentation titled Letters from Poland: Thinking about Ukraine from 1989 to the present

In February, March, April and May, GSIR Professor Noboru Yamaguchi, IUJ Vice President Takeo Kikkawa and GSIR Professors Masayuki Tadokoro and Vida Macikenaite will keep with the Ukraine theme in presentations on Cyber Security, Energy Strategies and an update on the International political scene, respectfully.

Lectures from June to December will be announced at a later date.

Nostaliga

Missing IUJ? . . .

Please enjoy this 1 minute reminder of campus life.

This video was created to share with prospective Japanese nationals, and we can enjoy a little time-slip back “home.”

https://fb.watch/g-P5eIPtzP/

Donations

USA Tax Deductible Donations Now Open

IUJ is happy to announce, just in time for the 40th Anniversary, that those in the USA can now make tax deductible donations to IUJ.

Give2Asia has accepted IUJ’s request to be added to their list of places in Asia to make donations. IUJ, in the education section, is joined by a few other prominent universities such as Doshisha and Tokyo Institute of Technology. Please take this opportunity to make a generous donation back to IUJ, and enjoy tax deductions.

Donate today – IUJ needs you like never before

Please help honor IUJ in our 40^th year of international education. Donate through

Furusato Nozei scheme
ThANKS Fund donations direct to campus from anywhere in the world (Tax Deductibe in Japan)
And now, for those in the USA, tax deductible donations through Give2Asia

Alumni donations will be used in these 3 ways

To reestablish the Alumni-Nakayama Scholarship fund for current students providing important community-building leadership on campus: funds are currently depleted.
To add beautification to the tunnels leading from the dorms to classrooms in a special
Alumni Hall.
Other campus and facility improvements to make campus-life richer and more pleasant, for example benches under the cherry trees, etc.

よろしくお願いいたします。

Collaboration

Have business opportunities or looking for partners?

Check out the IUJ Alumni Business Connections (IUJabc) Facebook site at

Interested in networking with other IUJers on LinkedIn for jobs and business opportunities?

Want to follow IUJ information on Social Media?

Visual Image of the Worldwide Network of IUJ Alumni

Give the Gift of Learning at IUJ

The unique experience at IUJ is known only by those who spend their graduate studies here. We learn as much outside the classroom as we do inside. We make life-long friends and reliable connections for our social and professional gain.

Give that experience to the next generation by introducing them to IUJ’s many and diverse programs. To make that easier, we encourage alumni to use the Scholarship Guarantee VOUCHER.

Simply download a VOUCHER – either for a family member or someone in your network – fill it out and let them send it in with their IUJ application materials for a masters-level program (not available to PhD candidates). They will automatically be guaranteed a 70-80% Tuition-based Scholarship! (80% for a family member, 70% for others in your network. The scholarship is guaranteed for the first year, and renewable for the 2nd year based on solid academic standings.

They will remain eligible for upgraded scholarships such as ADB, JERA, AEON 1% Club, KMMF (Panasonic) and others!

Please, help Replace Yourself at IUJ! Give the gift of learning.

VOUCHER for Guaranteed Scholarship Support

Return to January 2023 Newsletter Top

IUJ Alumni News July 2022: 55th edition

A newsletter for the 5,019 alumni (1985-2022) and counting.

Click a photo below to read the articles.

PM Aso Salutes Friendship 40th Anniversary Alumni Weekend EC Chair with Thanks Global Women’s Mentor Network: Relaunch Memories of IUJ USA donations through Give2Asia Donate for Tshirts!Kenyan Honored Gondaira-san Farewell Alumni by Country Scholarship VOUCHER 2023

Graduation

A Salute to Friendship: Former Prime Minister Aso’s Remarks at graduation 2022

Below are excerpts from the remarks of Former Prime Minister Aso Taro at the graduation ceremony of the Class of 2022, June 25, 2022. For the full presentation and in Japanese, please see the IUJ News Page.

“I am . . . happy today because it is the happiest day today for you all.

I know that you are all COVID survivors.

And veterans of ZOOM.

So much went on-line. So little, in-person.

So sad, wasn’t it?

And yet, still, you made lots of friends and built friendship, everlasting friendship.

Degree? Master’s? PhD?

That is your diamond. That is precious. That is for you to show to your parents.

GSIR graduates’ first activity as an alum was to unveil their class tree in the Alumni Forest.

Friendship IS more important. Friendship IS more priceless.

Friendship stays in your heart and warms you when you are down over the next five, six decades. You, the Class of 2022! Be proud and stand tall! Because you the Class of 2022 has achieved a lot right in the middle of the worst pandemic, the worst ever environment.

Forty years ago, in 1982 the IUJ was established.

There were two men, who worked hard to make it happen. NAKAYAMA, Sohei a banker, and his lifelong friend George Ishiyama, a Japanese American who endured hardship in a wartime concentration camp in America.

Nakayama worked hard to gain support from the founder of Panasonic, MATSUSHITA, Kōnosuke and many others. George Ishiyama was always there helping Nakayama. Their friendship, friendship between Nakayama and Ishiyama, built the school from scratch.

This was forty years ago. At that time, no school in Japan gave courses only in English. They had a vision. And their vision has paid off. The IUJ is now home to future leaders of countries from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, from Bangladesh to Zambia.

In your home country you will take ten, twenty, or thirty years to grow a tree. A tree you can be proud of, your children and your grandchildren could feel proud of.

Lose no patience, absolutely no patience and believe that your step, however small, shall make a giant stride, someday.

If you cannot make it, your children will do that, your children’s children will also do that. That is the only way to grow a tree.

And that tree is democracy.

Not an easy task. I know that. But worth a try. So, you shall try.

[ Read about Former Prime Minister Aso’s work to help save the world economy after the Lehman Shock, and how his life-long friendships were key to that success. the IUJ website at: ]

And I am sure when you will face a challenge that is so much difficult to tackle, you will just call your friends, the members of the Class of 2022.

GSIM network of friends – may they rely on each other throughout their professional lives.

YOU will get calls from your classmates seeking your advice.

That is how the IUJ lives on, on and on throughout your life.

Now, the legendary banker Nakayama Sohei insisted that the IUJ students all live on campus. Why don’t you look up to the sky and tell him and his soulmate George Ishiyama that their original design has worked and paid off because you built friendship that will live long.

I have absolutely no doubt that you will hold the campus dear throughout your life, because here you have your home away from home.

Congratulations!! It is a day of commencement. The first day of the rest of your life.

Thank you, and good luck to you all

40^th Anniversary – Special Alumni Weekend

On the weekend of May 28, IUJ was delighted to welcome back to campus about 100 alumni for Open Day.

Starting with cookies and coffee service, and ending with a BBQ by the tennis courts, alumni enjoyed an inspiring symposium, exciting “Culti Fiesta” stage show, and time to reminisce together and with faculty and students.

Joined by alumni from around the world online, four alumni keynote speakers talked about issues on the broad topic of Leadership in Times of Uncertainty and Change

Saitama Gov Ono (1989) presents virtually with the graduation photo from 1989 in the background

Motohiro Ono, Governor, Saitama Prefecture – Class of 1989 (online)
- Role of leadership in Light of Digital Transformation of Local Administration

Junichiro Miyagawa, Executive Vice President, International Affairs, All Nippon

ANA’s Miyagawa-san also shares images from 1989, featuring his classmate, Ono-san, in the IUJ band.

Airways – Class of 1989
- Redefining the Concepts of Mobility in a New Era

Yukiko Nozaki, Senior Analyst, Mitsui & Co. Global Strategic Studies Institute, Class of 2003 (online)
- Perspectives on the Global Food System
  Mitsui’s Nozaki-san (2003) shares her screen while presenting off-site, on world food issues.

Takanao Tamai, President, Johnson & Johnson K.K. and Medical Company – Class of1997
- Our Credo – The Guiding Principles that Shape our Journey during Uncertainty

T. Tamai (1997) shares leadership insights from JnJ

To receive a link to the presentations, please contact campus at alumni@iuj.ac.jp with subject “Link to 40^th Panel”

Before their diverse talks, and to honor the founding of IUJ 40 years ago, Class of 1996 Yang Yaoyu, shared a very moving story about Dr. Saburo Okita entitled “IUJ and International Education and Cooperation: IUJ’s First President.” Current IUJ President, Dr. Itami, followed with comments to underling where IUJ is today and how we stay true to the original mission, and growing.

A modified Open Day

With the pandemic still a major factor in events, students did not provide food service to our community visitors. Instead, 16 classrooms were turned into countries or regions, or in one example the African Continent. With an original event passport in hand, our guests traveled from one country to another. As they entered the “country” their passport was stamped, their eyes were filled with colors and images from the country, smells of spices and incense wafted, and the sounds of the land filled the air. Photo booths and props were on hand so our guests could truly have a trip around the world – Around the World at IUJ, 2002 version!

We all moved to the gym for a four-hour stage show, offered by very enthusiastic students eager to share their culture with the community of a very very long campus shut-down which kept guests at bay.

Campus is looking forward to 2023 Open Day, May 27. We hope to welcome back not only those based in Japan, but from around the world!

Please help honor IUJ in our 40^th year of international education. Donate through

Furusato Nozei scheme
ThANKS Fund donations direct to campus
And now, for those in the USA, tax deductible donations through Give2Asia

Thank you – Alumni Association EC Chair sends appreciation

Alumni Association held a Alumni Panel Discussion titled “Leadership in times of Uncertainty and Change” as a commemorative event for IUJ 40th anniversary in IUJ Campus on May 28.

Alumni who are active in politics, business, and research took the stage to give presentations. Motohiro Ohno, Governor of Saitama pref.(IR89), Junichiro Miyagawa, EVP of All Nippon Airways (IR89), Takano Tamai, President, Johnson & Johnson K.K. and Medical Company (IM97), and Yukiko Nozaki, Senior Analyst, Mitsui & Co. Global Studies(IM03). Also as a 40th anniversary special topic, Yang Yaoyu, Partner, Beijing Zhuanzhuanhui（IM96） gave a presentation on the history and contributions of the first president, Saburo Ohkita, and the current president, Professor Itami gave a direct message to us. I was the moderator. Many alumni participated in this forum both from onsite and online. Some of them had not visited the campus for decades after graduation. The Q&A sessions were serious, lively, and sometimes amusing. It was a very meaningful and nostalgic day. Thank you very much to all the speakers, participants, and collaborators.

Mistuharu Nakano,
Chair of the Alumni Association 2021-2024
(MBA90)

Please help honor IUJ in our 40^th year of international education. Donate through

Furusato Nozei scheme
ThANKS Fund donations direct to campus
And now, for those in the USA, tax deductible donations through Give2Asia

Collaboration and Engagement

Taking Root

IUJ’s Global Women’s Mentor Network GWMN) is taking root.

With the strong leadership of Alumni Association Executive Council member, Akiyo Higaki, the Alumni Mentors list is update and some matches with interested mentees (current students or very recent graduates) are made.

Mentors participated in 3 networking and career building sessions together, and then two workshops on how to be a mentor given by an alum, and professional mentor, Aruna Pant (IPSP2008). This focused on what is a mentor, skills and strategies to use with mentees, and how to best support the mentee. The theme of the mentoring is set by the mentee and can range from

how to craft your IUJ education for career success
how to find a good matching job
how to balance work and family
and other things that a mentor may be able to provide ideas and guidance toward

One active match is between Mentor Minako Suzuki (Ebiz 2010) and current student and Mentee Sarangoo from Mongolia. Sarangoo shares her experience:

Sarangoo:

I meet my mentor, Ms. Suzuki, for helpful support.
She has been working with me to create a plan and accompany me to achieve my goal of finding a job in Japan. Currently, half of the time, she mentors me, and half of the time she helps me with Japanese. I would like to continue the relationship with her as a mentor and senior in my life even after I graduate.

Akiyo-san, GWMN leader, shares this message with all lady IUJers, and keeps the door open for your involvement:

Akiyo:
There are a certain number of students who want to work in Japan. I would like to see more Japanese female alumni and seniors working in Japan involved as mentors.
If you are interested, please contact me. higaki@iuj.ac.jp

If you can get involved, please contact Akiyo or campus. We hope to continue to expand GWMN and make it a very meaningful exchange between alumni and current IUJers. Check it out!

IUJ Memories

Share your Memories

With IUJ’s 40^th Anniversary, IUJ is collecting memories from our Alumni. We will share them on the special 40^th Anniversary website to be released in November.

Please send in your memory and a related photo (with permissions from those IN the photo first) to alumni@iuj.ac.jp with subject line “IUJ Memories” or post on WeLoveIUJ with hashtag #IUJmemories.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/WeLoveIUJ

We are REALLY looking forward to reliving our IUJ days with you all through our shared experiences.

Guidelines will be sent via email and posted on WeLoveIUJ. But in short, include

Your name, year of graduation and degree
Your short memory (less than 300 words)
A good to high quality photo in jpg or png format

Donations

USA Tax Deductible Donations Now Open

IUJ is happy to announce, just in time for the 40th Anniversary, that those in the USA can now make tax deductible donations to IUJ.

Donate today – IUJ needs you like never before

Please help honor IUJ in our 40^th year of international education. Donate through

Furusato Nozei scheme
ThANKS Fund donations direct to campus from anywhere in the world (Tax Deductibe in Japan)
And now, for those in the USA, tax deductible donations through Give2Asia

Alumni donations will be used in these 3 ways

To reestablish the Alumni-Nakayama Scholarship fund for current students providing important community-building leadership on campus: funds are currently depleted.
To add beautification to the tunnels leading from the dorms to classrooms in a special
Alumni Hall.
Other campus and facility improvements to make campus-life richer and more pleasant, for example benches under the cherry trees, etc.

よろしくお願いいたします。

IUJ Shirts for Donations

For IUJ’s 40th Anniversary we are rewarding generous donations with Commemorative Tshirts!

**50,000 or more and we will send you a Tshirt of your choice*!**

Please help honor IUJ in our 40^th year of international education. Donate through

Furusato Nozei scheme
ThANKS Fund donations direct to campus
And now, for those in the USA, tax deductible donations through Give2Asia

After your donation is confirmed, please communicate with the Alumni staff for shirt choice and size

Shirts were desgined by

Turqoise and Lavendar – Eugene, a pioneering Digital Transformation student from the Philippines
White – Coa, a Jr. High student in Shiozawa
Baby Blue – Miles, an MBA student from Switzerland

Alumni donations will be used in these 3 ways

To reestablish the Alumni-Nakayama Scholarship fund for current students providing important community-building leadership on campus: funds are currently depleted.
To add beautification to the tunnels leading from the dorms to classrooms in a special
Alumni Hall.
Other campus and facility improvements to make campus-life richer and more pleasant, for example benches under the cherry trees, etc.

よろしくお願いいたします。

*While supplies last.

Turquoise and Lavendar (XS – XXL), White (150-XL), Baby Blue (XS – XXL

“Moran of the Order of the Burning Spear”

Congratulations to . . .

Joseph Sirengo (IDP2005, Kenya)
Chief Manager, Research and Surveys
Kenya Revenue Authority

In December 2021, Joseph was honoured by the President of Kenya for his exemplary work in Revenue Administration and Tax Policy. He was awarded a medal and decoration “Moran of the Order of the Burning Spear” (MBS), one of the top 3 honors in the Kenyan government.

Motivated in part by the Chinese proverb* “The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it.” Joseph also shares that IUJ is part of his success:

“This achievement, recognition and honour would not have been possible without the knowledge, skills, values and exposure I gained at the International University of Japan.”

Joseph is the chair of the Alumni Association Chapter in Nairobi, and will be hosting an IUJ Worldwide Friday on Sept. 9

*Thanks to fact Checking Carson Cheng (MBA2004) this quote more likely originated in Puck magazine in the early 1900s. But most agree it is a great proverb no matter its origin.

Saying Goodbye to a long-time IUJ Friend

With gratitude…..

MANY IUJ graduates, and our children, were touched by the love and graciousness of Gondaira-san. Earlier this month, on July 5, we lost her after a 3-year battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 81.

Special time with Rapeepan (Mhu) Sison (1988) and Iggy Sison (1989) in 1988.

Not only attending Denise (Exchange) and Tahara-san’s (1988) wedding in New York, but Gondaira-san also did all the flower arrangements for the ceremony and after party.

Gondaira-san became an IUJ family member 40 years ago as IUJ was just opening its doors. Japanese and foreigners alike, from 1985 until she retired from the SnowFlakes Club* in 2019, have many stories to share: weddings, birthdays, special visits, travel, BBQs, Ikebana, community activities, support for our kids, and much more.

Her smile was infectious. Her love for helping others inspiring.

Representing IUJ alumni, I attended her departure ceremony. We, as an IUJ community, helped send her off with love and appreciation from all over the world.

If you would like to share a memory, a story, a photo, etc. with her family to pay tribute to this special woman, please send to alumni@iuj.ac.jp with subject line “Remembering Gondaira-san” and Ikiko Yamashita-san and I will be sure to get them to her husband and children.

Gondaira-san (botton right) guiding a group IUJers to a Japanese garden

Gondaira-san, with her partners in the SnowFlakes Club introducing Japanese culture, with Yukata, to kids and their IUJ parents.

*SnowFlakes Club was a group of local volunteers helping IUJ students’ children at Urasa Elementary school for about 20 years. From teaching the children Japanese language and culture, to celebrating various holidays together, and helping their parents, to offering a flea market with winter clothing and Japanese souvenirs, the SnowFlakes Club helped each person it touch feel special and unique, just like every snowflake that falls in snow country. IUJ was so fortunate to have Gondaira-san, and her team, supporting us in this special way.

Rika and Yasuhiro Nishi (1988) visited the area in 2021 and enjoyed lunch with Gondaira-san at Miyanoya Soba.

Yasuko Gondaira
1941-2022

40 years of graduates

Where we are from

IUJ Alumni now numer over 5,000 representing over 140 countries and territories. Here is a look in quick numbers.

Visual Image of the Worldwide Network of IUJ Alumni

Give the Gift of Learning at IUJ

Give that experience to the next generation by introducing them to IUJ’s many and diverse programs. To make that easier, we encourage alumni to use the Scholarship Guarantee VOUCHER.

They will remain eligible for upgraded scholarships such as ADB, JERA, AEON 1% Club, KMMF (Panasonic) and others!

Please, help Replace Yourself at IUJ! Give the gift of learning.

VOUCHER for Guaranteed Scholarship Support

IUJ Alumni News January 2022: 54th edition

A newsletter for the 4,875 alumni (1985-2021) and counting.

Click a photo below to read the articles.

Japanese Festivals Worldwide: Alum Asking for your Input African Lights: A Mini Movie Social Business in Botswana Global Women’s Mentor Network: Relaunch CodingAcademy in Indonesia Chair Utsuda on IUJ’s Struggle Pres Itami on State of IUJ Guarantee a Scholarship with a VOUCHER Panasonic and Chinese Restaurant philosophy: Alumni Publication 6 Students are Winners in FALIA Essay Contest Alumni Ekiden - New Column!In Memory of . . .

Collorabtion

Promoting Japanese Festivals Around The World

Business and NGO Connections

Yoshinori Bunya, IRP Class of 1992

Executive Director, Global Japan Festival Federation (GJFF)

Global Japan Festival Federation (GJFF) is a new organization created to support Japan Festivals around the world. With the theme “Japan to the World,” wherever there is an event about Japan, GJFF can help!

Our mission is simple:

To become a collaborative hub for Japan Festival organizers around the world, and corporations, individuals and organizations supporting them. Global Japan Festival Federation’s purpose is to be a platform and resource for developing and spreading Japanese culture. We take great pride in exporting Japan to the world. As a knowledge hub equipped with cutting-edge information, we will disseminate information about Japanese culture, technology, goods and services to support groups around the world.

We are looking for information about:

Japan related events such as Japan Festivals, exhibitions, artistic demonstrations or displays, etc. all over the world, and
Contacts of those organizing such events or who would like to start such events in the near future.

GJFF can provide:

Financial support through grants, corporate sponsorship of the festivals or artisans participating in them.
Networking with and referral to Japanese companies who want to set up a booth at Japan Festivals to sell their products and/or Japan’s artists/performers who want to exhibit and/or sell their work or to perform
Operational knowhow of successful Japan festivals in other cities, and
Networking with other Japan festivals offering various workshops and symposium both virtual (online) and face to face

I hope for IUJ’s World-Wide community to help. In order to be effective, we need strong connections to the people and organizations arranging these Japan events – big and small. If you are organizing events, or know people working in this area, please let us know, and please help make introductions. We are just getting started, and with the IUJ global network supporting us, together we can bring Japan to your community.

I sincerely look forward to hearing from you. Please reach out to me at:

Email: yoshibunya@gjapanff.org

Website: http://gjapanff.org (ready soon)

African Lights: A Story of Hope Created by Solar Power

Follow the story of Rashid whose dream is to help his fellow Africans have a bright future by introducing electricity to some of the 1.3 billion people living without it. Follow the journey of Ryogo Fujishima as he helps Rashid prepare to realize his dream, and then joins him in it.

https://youtu.be/9eBQEYB7V0Y

This is a story to introduce the mission of the company For Delight (FD). IUJ alum from the Class of 1989, Hideaki Jitsuyama joined FD after a long career with SONY in various countries including Thailand and Korea. His work with Sony Corp. CNC Energy Company (now Tohoku Murata Manufacturing) ignited his interest in bringing storable energy (batteries) into homes and making far better use of renewable energy resources. Upon retiring from SONY, he joined FD to help promote life quality through access to solar energy focusing on Africa.

Jitsuyama-san and his colleagues have made good use of the ABE Scholarship students (JICA scheme) to intern and hire ABE graduates for business development research and implementation to help FD enter mutually beneficial business activities while changing lives.

Please enjoy their 10-minute story. FD says: “We hope this film makes you think about our world.”

Jitsuyama-san, left, appears in his company’s inspiring video African Lights

For Delight KK —

電気ひとすじ喜びづくり

Focus on electricity for “Delight”

https://www.for-delight.co.jp/

“We are devoted to maximize what electricity can improve in people’s life by using our slogan “For-Delight” in order to see joy in the face of the people.”

Cause Connections

Microfinancing to Women in Botswana: Sunpower Social Business expansion through the Alumni Network

Chidzani Mbinda, MBA Class of 2020, Botswana
CEO, Sunpower Social Business Fund Botswana
and
Assistant in International Sales Department,
Social Business Leadership/CEO training program
Sunpower Co., Ltd.

Women entrepreneurs in Botswana have the opportunity to work with Sunpower Social Business to start up or expand their business initiatives. With funds generated through Sunpower sales of recycled tires and auto parts, import/export and trade business support practices, etc, our startup microfinance company helps young female street vendors in Botswana financially and offers free business advice to them to help them reach their potential.

We offer small, customized, affordable and soft payment terms on our loans. We are currently focusing on those that already have small businesses but were negatively impacted by COVID19. As a next stage, we hopes to assist those that want to start new businesses. In the advanced stages of our activities in Botswana, we hope to include more genders into our business.

Like many across the globe, SunPower’s activities in Botswana are facing COVID19 challenges, lack of funds to meet the ever-growing demand, stringent government requirements and of course inherent business risks.

Due to COVID restrictions, we have not been able to generate significant funds for our loan programs as sales of Sunpower’s products and services are currently very low. Without that revenue, we cannot make as many microfinancing investments as we would like, and as the market demands. Therefore, we would be happy if any alumni out there can offer or direct us to where we can apply for grants and donations for us to be able to generate more positive social impact in Botswana.

I hope we can work together for a positive impact through social business.

Collaboration and Engagement

Global Women’s Mentor Network – Taking Root

IUJ’s Global Women’s Mentor Network GWMN) is taking root.

Mentors participated in 3 networking and career building sessions together, and then two workshops on how to be a mentor given by an alum, and professional mentor, Aruna Pant (IPSP2008). This focused on what is a mentor, skills and strategies to use with mentees, and how to best support the mentee. The theme of the mentoring is set by the mentee and can range from

how to craft your IUJ education for career success
how to find a good matching job
how to balance work and family
and other things that a mentor may be able to provide ideas and guidance toward

One active match is between Mentor Minako Suzuki (Ebiz 2010) and current student and Mentee Sarangoo from Mongolia. Sarangoo shares her experience:

Sarangoo:

Akiyo-san, GWMN leader, shares this message with all lady IUJers, and keeps the door open for your involvement:

Akiyo:
There are a certain number of students who want to work in Japan. I would like to see more Japanese female alumni and seniors working in Japan involved as mentors.
If you are interested, please contact me. higaki@iuj.ac.jp

If you can get involved, please contact Akiyo or campus. We hope to continue to expand GWMN and make it a very meaningful exchange between alumni and current IUJers. Check it out!

Business Connections

Unique Educational Initiative for the Youth of Indonesia: Introducing CodingAcademy.Inc

Yusril Eka Putra IDP, Class of 2006, Indonesia

Chief Manager, Nihon Sogo Kaihatsu Co. Ltd.

CodingAcademy.Inc has a high impact to the development of education in Indonesia. Operated under Nihon Sogo Kaihatsu Co Ltd, we are delivering a new type of program in IT programming called “coding education” for all students from elementary school, junior high school and senior high school. The program can dramatically change a student’s point of view on how important it is to understand IT programming for their future challenges as young professionals.

CodingAcademy.Inc is grateful to the city leaders including Bupati (local regional leader) who have been committed to support this program. Joint cooperation with several schools in Jakarta have already taken root and are showing success. Riau province and west Java province are currently establishing joint cooperative ties with our CodingAcademy as well. This IT programming Education System will be offered as after school activities for the students to understand and implement the coding education.

Our philosophy here is to change the student’s point of view from “IT User” to “IT creator.” Our expectation upon completion of the program is that the student can create their own IT products to contribute to solving every-day problems, thus contributing to society.

This program will also bring some impact to other students from Asian Countries including The Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia. To reach them effectively, we are delivering the teaching via remote learning methods.

The main courses covered by CodingAcademy are Basic Coding programming, Python $ machine learning (Robotics Education), Artificial Intelligent, Internet of Things (IoT) and Data Scientist.

IUJ Alumni Bonenkai

Chair Utsuda Explains IUJ’s Struggle

Hello everyone!

I was hoping to join you live for Bonenkai this year, but please allow me to share some thoughts with you via a video message.

IUJ is turning 40 years old next May!

This is an exciting achievement for the unique concept created by IUJ Founding Father, Sohei Nakayama.

His foresight over 40 years ago of creating a community of people to learn to be global leaders, with international communication skills was truly bold and ahead of its time.

Today, we can boast nearly 5000 alumni in over 130 countries worldwide, who have experienced what Nakayama-san imagined.

Over these 40 years, IUJ has had many ups and downs for student enrollment and financial health. Currently, as more companies find it hard to make meaningful donations, and loss of income due to the pandemic, IUJ is in a rather serious down turn.

There is hope.

We have new and innovative degree programs that are being launched, some new scholarship programs from sources like JERA and Mitsui, expanding sources from MEXT, and an ever-deepening relationship with JICA, etc.

As IUJ’s chairman, I promise to keep working hard for IUJ’s financial health, and keep encouraging those I work with to do the same. I also need to call upon you, and ask for your generous contribution back to your IUJ.

I wish you all the best, to stay safe and healthy.

And show the leadership your organization needs to come out stronger in the post-pandemic world.

And in May, for IUJ’s 40^th anniversary events, I sincerely hope IUJ will be able to welcome you back to campus for a special Open Day.

Thank you for giving me time to talk to you this evening.

Donate today – IUJ needs you like never before

IUJ Alumni Bonenkai

Cooperation for World Development: Training high potentials to contribute locally and globally

I would like to follow up on Chairman Utsuda-san’s comments about the financial health of IUJ.

We have taken major steps toward bringing things into a healthier situation.

After much consultation with our various partners, specifically various officials of Japanese government which funds about 65% of the students at IUJ (JICA scholarship schemes, MEXT schemes, IMF, ADB), we are raising the yearly tuition by about 40% to 3,200,000yen per year for the two year programs, and 3,900,000yen a year for the 1-year program. Our non-Governmental scholarship sponsors, such as various businesses that send students to IUJ, JERA, KMMF and AEON 1% Club are supportive of this move. They see the value of the IUJ way, and remain interested in helping us train future global leaders. In order to help private non-sponsored students, we will give 20 or so full tuition IUJ scholarships.

With this tuition increase comes a renewed commitment to the founding principles of IUJ, as well as some updating of our mission. We will continue to provide quality education to educate future global leaders to help not only the development of Asia, but of the world. On top of this, we will promote educating leaders who can contribute to international cooperation across countries. To accomplish these missions, IUJ will move forward on the following three major concepts:

Helping young professionals to learn about the world AND Japan.

Recent program and course developments are putting more emphasis on understanding the lessons from Japan – both successes and failures – and how they can be used worldwide.

We want to be a place “Where the World Cooperates” not only a place “Where the World Gathers”

In this way, students will come to campus understanding that their mission is to gather from all points on the globe and learn how to cooperate with one another on our unique training ground which is our campus. They will then leave tooled with a deeper cultural understanding as well as the spirit of international cooperation.

Being a much more visible presence in the Niigata prefecture and Minami Uonuma City.

While IUJ has historically done several things with the city, most recognize it is not nearly enough. Making sure the prefecture can feel the IUJ presence and enjoy its contributions will become a priority.

Despite the increase in the tuition rates, we believe we can increase enrollment. This year, even with the pandemic at its peak, we attracted 191 students. Our goal in the coming years, starting immediately with 2022 enrollment, will be 210 entering students each year. With some in the 1-year programs, this will mean about 380 on campus at any given time. We do not want just anyone to come. We want young people who have the potential for growth – those who have the drive to improve themselves and prepare to contribute, cooperatively, to world development given it through business activities, governmental or international organization roles, educating the next generation, and beyond.

We ask our alumni for your support, encouragement and mostly engagement. Without you, we can only go so far. But with you, our potential is endless.

Bonenkai MC Kawashima-san followed up with this nice summary of Itami-sensei’s talk.

I hear President Itami repeating 4 key words we should take away: World, Japan, Cooperating, Contribute. Let’s join campus in any capacity we can, to help IUJ continue and expand its mission.

Donate Today – IUJ Needs you Like Never Before

Give the Gift of Learning at IUJ

Give that experience to the next generation by introducing them to IUJ’s many and diverse programs. To make that easier, especially in light of the tuition increases starting this year, we encourage alumni to use the Scholarship Guarantee VOUCHER.

Simply download a VOUCHER – either for a family member or someone in your network – fill it out and let them send it in with their IUJ application materials. They will automatically be guaranteed a 70-80% Tuition-based Scholarship (guaranteed for the first year, newable for the 2nd year based on solid academic standings)! (80% for a family member, 70% for others in your network). They will remain eligible for upgraded scholarships such as ADB, JERA, AEON 1% Club, KMMF (Panasonic) and others!

Please, help Replace Yourself at IUJ! Give the gift of learning.

Download a Voucher Here

A Shared Management Philosophy – from Panasonic to a Chinese HotPot Restaurant Chain

Jun Yamashita, MBA Class of 2012
Panasonic Corporation
Former Managing Director of Ying Hai Holdings Pte.,
A Singapore-based joint venture between Haidilao Hotpot and Panasonic

A career employee with Panasonic, Yamashita-san, in his recent book, draws comparisons between the philosophy of Konosuke Matsushita and the chairman of a Chinese restaurant HaidiLao – but mostly he talks about food! He writes:

初めての著作を上梓することになりました。タイトルは「海底撈　知られざる中国巨大外食企業の素顔」です。海底撈のユニークさと火鍋の素晴らしさを中心に描いています。海底撈の張勇董事長が、松下幸之助の経営理念に共鳴して、時空を超えて、自身でも顧客第一の経営を実践してきたエピソードなどにも触れていて、日本と中国が、重要な結びつきを持つ隣人同士であることも示唆しています。２６日に徳間書店から発売予定です。電子書籍も同時にリリースです。

ぜひ手に取ってご一読いただければ光栄です。

Yamashita-san (far right) hosts then-Foreign Minister Kono Taro (2nd from right) at a HotPot restaurant after touring the robotics facilities in April 2019.

I published my first book!

The title is “HaiDiLao Hotpot, the real face of an unknown Chinese restaurant company.” I mainly write about the uniqueness of HaidiLao Hotpot and the splendor of the hot pot. HaidiLao Hotpot’s Chairman of the Board of Directors Zhang Yong, resonates with Konosuke Matsushita’s management philosophy. I touch on episodes in which he himself practiced customer-first management beyond time and space, and how that concept is important to both Japan and China. This also suggests that we are neighbors who have closer ties than we may realize.

The book and Ebook, in Japanese, is available from Tokuma Shoten

Haidilao Hot Pot is the largest hotpot chain in China with branches in major cities worldwide. It features spicy broths and special services for their customers to help maximize their dining experience in a customized manner. The joint venture company Ying Hai Holdings between Panasonic and Haidilao Hotpot focuses on running parts of the hotpot chain restaurant with robotics.

Top Award and 5 others to IUJ students: FALIA Essay Contest

FALIA, The Foundation for the Advancement of Life and Insurance Around the World holds an essay contest for international students in Japan on topics related to the insurance industry. IUJ is invited every year to participate and have always had winners, including the top prize in the past. The contest welcomes any topic in the insurance field and is judged by a panel of independent professionals on a blind-author basis.

This year, 6 of the 13 awards went to IUJ students – our best showing to date.

Leading the group was Raquel “Raki” Celeste from the Philippines taking the top honors with her essay titled “Impacts of Traditional Cash Transfer Program on Insurance Demand of the Poor: Evidence from the Philippines.” No 2nd place prizes were award, but 4 3rd place awards were made, and two of them to IUJ students: Nilmini Daldawaththage from Sri Lanka and Orelie Delas Alas from the Philippines. Of the 8 effort awards, IUJ received 3 of them: Avtar Bachani from Pakistan, Kurukulasuriya DUD Fernando from Sri Lanka and Saepuloh from Indonesia. IUJ is very proud of our students and our strong showing in the contest.

IUJ enjoys a strengthening relationship with FALIA including course lecturers and various other research interaction. We appreciate and enjoy this collaboration.

IUJ welcomes your articles for the continuing series of

Business Connections,
Cause Connections,
Collaboration or Partner seeking,
Interesting activities you have engaged in, etc.

Starting in 2022 a new series will begin: Alumni Introduction Relay (name TBA – Alumni Ekiden?). If you would like to highlight an alum* you know who is doing something special, let us know! That alum, would then introduce another, and so on!

Join the fun! Be the lead runner!

*I hope the alum is in a different batch or different nationality than the writer to help move the introductions across the globe! But just a suggestion.

Remembering one of our own . . .

Satoshi Imahara, MBA Class of 1996, passed away in November after a fight against cancer. His classmates came together in support of his wife, Kumiko, to share memories of him. Many paid tribute on his Facebook Page, including sharing this photo from the IUJ yearbook.

Satoshi was a wonderful guitar and base musician and vocalist, staring in IUJ bands and many more after graduation. He was a Panasonic career man.

May the angels enjoy your wonderful music. You are missed.

IUJ Alumni News: July 2021

Click a photo below to read the 12 articles.

By Alumni, For Alumni speaker series: Introduction D&I in the Workplace - By/For Alumni Series 1 Corporate Communication Online: By/For Alumni series 2 Entrepreneurs Creating Social Change: By/For Alumni series 3 ODA in Vietnam: By/For Alumni series 4 Youth Engagement: By/For Alumni series 5 Cause Connections: Golden Heart Mentors Business Connections: Online Shopping for Mutual Benefits Collaboration: Int’l Education in Japan Mobile Work is Popular Guarantee a Scholarship with a VOUCHER In Memory of . . . Alumni Ekiden - New Column!

By Alumni For Alumni series: Engaging for professional interaction, networking and ideas sharing

In May 2021, a new series featuring IUJ Alumni on ZOOM presentations was launched. Ten alumni from across the globe volunteered to give a short presentation that would lead to dialogue and topics ranging from Corporate Communication to Youth Engagement, and from ODA to Marketing.

As of this writing 6 of the 10 presentations (including one offered only on demand) have concluded. Each of the 6 lasted about 1 hour and those that participated enjoyed sharing ideas and experiences along the same lines as the speaker, giving the speaker as much reward as their audience.

The articles that follow in this newsletter are summaries of the talk and subsequent discussion. All are available for on demand viewing and continuing ideas exchanges.

D&I (Diversity and Inclusion) in the workplace
Corporate Communications in the Virtual Reality
Recent Development of Global Trade Structure
Social Innovation in Resolving Development Challenges
ODA in Vietnam
Project Planning and Implementation for Successful Outcomes: Adolescent and Youth Engagement

Coming soon are the topics below. Learn more and register at https://www.iuj.ac.jp/alumni/events/by-for-alumni/

The Paris Agreement and Northeast Asia
Pandemic Response and the UN Sustainable Development Goals
The Hero’s Journey: Using Storytelling Techniques to Power Your Marketing and Sales Messages
Marketing Technology Innovation Today

Special thanks to our alumni speakers! Rotha, Farkhod, Bolormaa, Ha, Mukela, Aruna, Ena, Iggy, Gil and Lisa!

D&I (Diversity and Inclusion) in the Workplace

By Alumni, For Alumni speaker series: 1

Rotha Chan, MA Class of 2007
CEO of FWD Insurance, Cambodia

Kicking off our new Alumni speaker series, Rotha talked about his personal journey to understand, implement and foster diversity and inclusion in the work place. Admitting he is work in process, Rotha reminded us all that women should not have to work to be included in company activities and leadership, but it should be a natural extension of the corporate culture.

Sharing several insightful stories, Rotha helped us see that if you seek a corporate culture that is inclusive and diverse you find it. As a leader, the message must be clear and delivered so often there is no misunderstanding of the importance of inclusion. In the end, with each member feeling a sense of belonging and value within the organizational structure, everyone wins. It is more than compliance or appearance, diversity and inclusion are for a healthy business.

Ask for the On Demand video from the Alumni Relations office

Corporate Communication in Virtual Reality

By Alumni, For Alumni series: 2

Farkhod NIyazov, MBA 2006
Head of Change and Communication, Carlsberg

Farkhod, dressed in suit and tie, and wearing no shorts for the ZOOM session, led a fun and effective discussion on strategies for effective online internal corporate communication. Farkhod, from Uzbekistan and based in Denmark, and a veteran in corporate communication planning and implementation shared some practical dos and don’ts for online interaction. He emphasized that as a leader, you must own the message about why your business is in practice and communicate it in effective ways. After delivery, getting feedback on the message to double check the organization understands it and is on board, is key to the process. The dialogue is a two-way street, not top down.

Presentations need to be clear, with good color and bold numbers. As 90% of the information that gets into our brains and stays there is visual, using good visual ques is a must. Including video into the message has emerged as the number 1 channel for delivering the key message. Engaging your staff in a variety of ways, too, will keep them interested in the message and proud of the organization. Everything from weekly CEO video messages to online Yoga classes to E-birthday cards can all be woven into internal corporate communication to foster a healthy and engaged work place.

To view the OnDemand video, please contact the Alumni Office. Please join us in the next in the series!

By Alumni, For Alumni: Continuing Education Series

Entrepreneurs Creating Social Change

Because the Youth are Asking: Social Innovation in Resolving Development Challenges

By Alumni, For Alumni speaker series 3

Bolormaa Luvsandorj, MBA Class of 2000, Founder and Managing Partner of Kite Mongolia LLC, shared her career development that led to becoming a promoter of Social Innovation.

She explained that today’s youth are very focused on social issues, and wanting to make a change for the better. Funding for these initiatives is becoming more and more a social norm. In 2007 the Rockefeller Foundation was the first to create funds for global impact investments amounting to 50 Billion USD. That has become 500 billion USD from multiple sources, and growing steadily. Today, not only small startups, but corporations have as their mainstream corporate social responsibility, “impact investing” green eco, green investments.

Bolormaa discovered her passion for supporting these projects right out of IUJ 20 years ago, when she came across a small book in the library of Deutsche Bank in Tokyo, her first job after her MBA. After a long career in investment banking and financial advisory taking her from Japan to New York, she returned to Mongolia to put her passion to work. She started by listening to the ideas of the young people in communities that would make a difference in a social issue. She knew that successful projects are community driven and should be focused on a solution for a shared problem, available to all, and sustainable. Social Innovation is not charity, but must show at least a slight margin of profit of 10-15%.

The first case of a successful seed money is about a young woman of 29 with three children, who was not satisfied with the school system. Her child was underperforming, and discovered systematic flaws in the education environment. So she started a new type of private school for middle class Mongolians and it is a successful venture today. Another success story she shared was about some young men who wanted to solve the sanitization issues of human waste as the government was not addressing the issue satisfactorily. They created a new chemical that can turn waste into fertilizer. After the initial success, partners were brought in to accelerate the project and make it affordable to individual households and communities. The product is now ready for good use in other markets!

She emphasized that this type of impact investment, starting with a small localized issue, can lead to a full movement. Finding the projects that have such a potential is key.

Bolormaa understands that good ideas need to be supported by solid knowledge of how to start the company. Kite now provides startup boot campus for skills development and knowledge of the various terms and strategies at play. “We inspire them to be skillful, to get what they need to be successful.” These are for individuals and SMEs as well.

The discussion that followed was filled with excitement as alumni were interested to learn more from Bolormaa and even possibly partner up with some of the ideas shared. We talked about the Kosen education model of Japan – 5 year engineering programs for those 15 years old. We compared “impact investing” with “ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) investing.” The session ended with some new motivations and ideas for collaboration among alumni and with IUJ.

Request to watch the On Demand video by contacting the Alumni Office

ODS in Vietnam: Readied for FDI

By Alumni, For Alumni speaker series 4

Dr. Ha Truong, MA Class of 2006
Faculty of Development Economics, University of Economics and Business, Vietnam National University

With guest Dr. Hoang Viet Khang, ADB consultant and former Director General of Foreign Economic Relation Department, Ministry of Planning and Investment in Vietnam

IUJ Alum Dr. Ha gave us a brief overview of the history of ODA in Vietnam, starting in 1993, and the major events that took us up to 2021. In short, ODA for Vietnam has been on the steady increase, which paved the way for strong FDI even as COVID19 hit.

Guest Dr. Khang then shared his 20 years of experience working on ODA from 1993-2014. He continues on as a Consultant for ADB, one of the ODA donors to Vietnam. Dr. Khang explained that the first donor commitment to Vietnam came in 1993 and amounted to 1.8 billion USD in promised donations, followed by 2.3 billion the next year – both at the ODA conferences in Paris, chaired by the World Bank. In 2013, the peak year for Vietnam, 7.5 billion USD was committed.

Vietnam enjoys the support of 52 donors, both in Binational relationships, such as from Japan, South Korea, Germany, etc. and multinational donors such as the world Bank, ADB, IMF and others. He pointed out the extremely valuable and appreciated support from the UN System as well. While not amounting to large sums of funding, the UN ODA focused on capacity building, helping Vietnam understand international laws, and working on the education of the nations: all of which are important for successful ODA project implementations, and preparation for FDI with a strong infrastructure and educated work force. Having started from scratch in 1993, implementation was a process of “learning by doing.” As the funds were successfully committed and began coming in to Vietnam, the UN support made funds disbursement and project implementation far more effective in than it otherwise would have been.

Besides these multinational and binational projects through ODA, Dr. Khang emphasized the importance of Regional Projects such as GMS, Great Mekong Subregion. Through these projects cross border road system, vital to trade, tourism and bringing product to market were all created and continue improving year by year. This raises the development for Vietnam and her neighboring countries.

As time ran short, we decided to reconvene for a second session to build on the ODA lecture. It will focus on FDI, Foreign Direct Investments. Please watch for announcements!

Request to view the presentation via the On Demand video by contacting the Alumni Relations office

Youth Engagement: Starts with Listening

By Alumni, For Alumni series: 5

Aruna Pant, MA Class of 2008
Regional Programme Specialist, Adolescent and Youth Development, UNICEF

Topic: Project Planning and Implementation for Successful Outcomes: Adolescent and Youth Engagement.

Starting her talk with “Healthy minds start at home” Aruna shared her amazing experiences around the world, focusing on Afghanistan, Pakistan and India in providing support and channels for young people coming out of conflict situations to regain their youth and rediscover their dreams.

Working with a UN Interagency program to support former child soldiers, Aruna found herself mentoring 57 aggressive kids of the 4,800 coming out of war-torn states. No fault of their own, they had been proud young soldiers who had experience respect behind a rifle. Now, they felt unheard and abandoned. Aruna knew the trick to reach them: listen to them and respond to their complaints and grievances. She convinced senior management to change the course, based on the voices of the children, and found a way forward, with them, to treat them like normal kids with a future.

Aruna stressed the need to develop programs WITH the youth – not put a program on them that they did not own. She stressed that bringing the young people in at the designing stage, before a project is even started, is key in engaging them, hearing them, responding to them, and gaining their trust. This means that the project is “recipient driven.” Other important aspects of successful youth engagement projects are that they include various agencies, and not one working independently and out of coordination with others in the region. Projects should be sustainable and scalable and they should be impact based. Impact based implies that no individual or agency is seeking credit for the success, but the project aims and truly impacting the lives of the kids.

The youth need to be allowed to find their own aspirations and dreams – dreams for not only themselves, but their communities as well. Adults and agencies can help to motivate them to find these dreams through mentoring them: letting them know what is out there in the world, where to look for things, how to open their minds and prepare themselves for a future. Career counseling including skills assessment and links to careers, interviewing skills, etc. can open doors. Expectations should be managed, however. Raising expectations too high can create frustration and failure. But mentoring and guiding while listening to the youth will help them find their way.

Aruna shared experiences with several refugee campus as well, including COX’s Bazar in Bangladesh for the Rohingya people of Myanmar. She talked about how the young people there were ready and willing to help themselves through further education (English and technical skills) and to use their handicraft skills to work their way to a brighter future. She expressed the need to support them to the organizations on the ground, some of which were already doing just that.

The bottom line here is that the young people of the world are all the same wherever you go. They want to be listened to, heard, and respected. They want to dream and aspire to bigger things. We all can play a role in mentoring and guiding them – if we listen first.

To access the video for On Demand viewing, contact the IUJ Alumni Relations Office

Cause Connections: Social Impact through Mentorship

Aruna Pant, MA/ 2008 from Nepal

By day, Aruna is Regional Programme Specialist for UNICEF, based in Nepal. Some of her work is featured in the By Alumni, For Alumni series on Youth Engagement, also in this newsletter.

On the side, Aruna has created a Mentorship program for youth in Nepal. Her model can work in various situations around the world if the mission is to give the gift of self-value to young people so that they may become productive and inspired adults.

Golden Heart Mentorship Programme was established to provide personality development training for children and young people so that they can value themselves, and be able to take care of them self and others. It strives to help the children be mindful of what is in their control and what is not, which is important to develop confidence in themselves and become a leader in their field of choice. With these points as the core values, Golden Heart is a safe space dedicated to bringing the best out of the children and young people through fun-filled valuable learning activities.

The program focuses on children and adolescents (8 -19) to inspire them. The participants learn to embrace and express what they are and what they have. Helping them discover their strengths and weaknesses, and accepting them, they are able to grow into adults who better understand themselves and their surrounding environment. This is done through a series of one-on-one and group mentoring sessions and activities. Aruna explains, “We do not want to change the children and adolescents into someone who they don’t want to be. We help them start thinking about what and who they want to be, by providing them with opportunities to explore themselves and see what fascinates them the most.”

Golden Heart is about the child in a world full of noise and distractions. Today children and adolescents have access to all kinds of information, but they lack information that helps them become confident individuals who can shine amidst the crowd. Aruna has set out to turn on the switch, one child at a time.

For more detail, you can reach out to:

Aruna Pant, Golden Heart Mentors

Email: goldenheartmentors@gmail.com

Phone Number: +977- 9849011403

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goldenheartmentor

Business Connections for Social Impact – ETHIQLO Marketplace

Anura Hemakumara, PMPP Class of 2012

Secretary to the Ministry of Land, Agriculture, Animal production and Health, Provincial Irrigation and Fisheries

During the day, Anura works for the Sri Lankan government, but on the side he is an entrepreneur supporting talented Sri Lankan’s across the country to get high quality products to a global market.

Anura has created a unique platform for Sri Lanka’s talented, creative emerging designers, finest artisans, and health and wellness producers to reach a world market. The marketplace, called ETHIQLO, showcases products that are made ethically and sustainably by carefully selected Sri Lankan artisans. These artisans create unique, high quality products under their independent brands and all share a commitment to social and environmental responsibility.

Customers who share these values are able to have easy access to the products in one place. From designer clothes, to handloom products: from handcrafted gift sets, to organic wellness selection or even gourmet products, this one-stop-shop is a fun and secure place to explore.

Customer and artisans develop a relationship through ETHIQLO. They share values and concerns, and are dedicated to each other as provider of goods and services, and recipient of the same, but also the customers are choosing to purchase from ETHIQLO to help the artisan’s livelihoods as well. A win-win relationship is thus born.

Anura welcomes you to explore his online boutique marketplace, and if there is something of interest please do help the local artisans with a purchase.

ETHIQLO marketplace.

https://www.ethiqlo.com/

World Wide shipping. Credit Card and PayPal, etc. accepted

International School in Tokyo Seeks IUJ Collaborators

(日本語 below)

Meet Fabien E. Levet, MBA Class of 2012

After graduation, Fabien became a societal entrepreneur, establishing his own company first in South Korea, then in Japan in 2018. Golden M Group LLC focuses on people. A 2020 finalist of the Education Trophy of French peoples living abroad, he hopes for his educational project to be generous, ambitious, emancipating and balanced. Fabien feels in his heart of hearts the need to propose solutions to educational, economic and social problems, to act, to help, to explain: expectations of families, including his own, are high, and working towards a better world is the best of all challenges.

Golden M Group LLC’s welcomes the IUJ community to work with them in any of their many offerings through cooperative and collaborative services. Please check below to see if there is a fit for what you are interesting in.

Golden M Group LLC’s currently offers the following services.

EIFJ Tokyo: inception in 2019, extension planned in October 2021 with up to 400 students from nursery school to high school. French Ministry & International Baccalaureate accreditation candidate for bilingual or trilingual programs. Excellent teachers-students’ ratio. Affordable cost: education excellence for all! eifj.org & www.alumni.eifj.org
France-Japan-Europe (FJE) Languages, Employment & Professional Development: A not-for-profit employment support center, reinforced by a language school for adults and a professional training center: supporting Japanese nationals as well as French, French-Japanese, and European expatriates, for greater competitiveness with companies. fje-formation.org
France-Japan-Europe (FJE) Culture, Business & Sports: A center dedicated to cultural exchanges, the promotion of French, Japanese & European companies, uniting sport events in partnership with sport brands. Support the work of the European Chambers of Commerce, French Tech, and other business partners. fje-cultureaffaires.org
Hexagon FC: Tokyo’s French-Japanese International Soccer Club & MultiSports: International French-Japanese football club for ages 3 to 15 officially registered with JFA Kita-ku Tokyo League in April 2021, participation in championships and sport events in Tokyo and in the country. hexagonfc.com
More projects: A future convention with IUJ in order for EIFJ graduates of its future IB programs to be encouraged to study at IUJ, and expand their network; think tank working on societal projects; field trips and development projects of Tohoku and other countryside areas of Japan; education based seminars worldwide, educational of excellence’s network.
Fundraising campaigns: repayable loans with interest, donations in cash, bank transfers, or online

“Let us offer to the Japanese & expatriate youth in Japan the opportunity to grow well, be successful, and make a better world: education of excellence for all!”

Fabien E. Levet, MBA Class of 2012

Business Connections –
EIFJ Tokyo, Tokyo’s fast growing international school (French Ministry & IB accreditations’ candidate, new 500 student campus from December 2021, with currently 30 staff members, lower-than-average tuition fees, unparalleled teachers-students’ ratio) seeks partnerships with IUJ and its network! Help make primary & secondary education of excellence accessible to all, from nursery school to Grade 12; help Japanese & international students to become successful and happy world citizens!

ビジネスコネクション –

EIFJ東京　東京にて最速で成長を遂げるインターナショナルスクール(フランス政府と国際バカロレアの認定候補校、2021年10月開校予定の400席の新しいキャンパス、現在30人のスタッフ、平均より安価な学費、優れた先生と生徒の割合)は、国際大学(IUJ)とそのネットワークのパートナーを募集しています！保育園から12年生までのすべての生徒たちが卓越した就学前・初中等教育を受け、日本と国際の生徒たちが成功し幸せな国際市民となるための支援をお願いいたします！

ファビアン・E・レベット、2010-2012年MBAクラス

レベットファビアン氏は、パリ近郊のエソンヌ南部出身で、東洋言語の学士号を取得し、フランス、ベルギー及びデンマークで国際関係とヨーロッパ研究の修士号を取得した後、ヨーロッパとアジアにて5年間外交に従事しました。そして日本とアメリカにてIUJ MBAを取得した後、人々に寄り添う社会的起業家として身を投じ始めました。 2020年度のフランス海外トロフィー、教育部門のファイナリストであり、あらゆる分野に情熱を注いでいます。彼は、エコールが寛大で、野心的で、解放的で、バランスの取れた学校としてフランス、ヨーロッパそして日本の顔となることを願っています。生まれながらにして完璧主義者であり、かつ心配性である彼は教育的、経済的、社会的主要問題への解決策を提供し、行動し、助け、説明する必要性を心底感じています。彼自身を含む家族の期待は計り知れず、より良い世界のために働くことは、すべての挑戦の中で最も優先されることであります。

Golden M Group LLCの現在の部門は以下の通りです。

– 東京日仏国際学園：2019 年設立、2021 年 10 月保育園から高校まで 400 名の定員に拡張予定、フランス省庁＆国際バカロレア認定候補校のバイリンガルまたはトリリンガルプログラム。優秀な教師と生徒の比率のクラスで、手頃なコストで、すべての人に優れた教育を！ www.eifj.org , alumni.eifj.org

– 日仏欧（FJE）言語・雇用・職業能力開発：非営利の雇用支援センターで、成人向けの語学学校と職業訓練センターで強化されています：日本人、フランス人、日仏ハーフ、ヨーロッパ人の駐在員を支援し、企業の競争力を高めます。
wwwfje-formation.org, www.fje-cultureaffaires.org

日仏欧（FJE）文化、ビジネス、スポーツ。文化交流、日仏欧企業のプロモーション、スポーツブランドとの提携によるスポーツイベントの開催を目的としたセンターです。欧州商工会議所やフランステック社、その他のビジネスパートナーの活動をサポートします。

– ヘキサゴンFC：東京の日仏国際サッカー＆マルチスポーツクラブ。2021年4月にJFA北区東京リーグに正式登録された3歳から15歳までの日仏国際サッカークラブで、都内や国内で開催される選手権やスポーツイベントに参加

www.hexagonfc.com

– その他のプロジェクト：東京日仏国際学園の国際バカロレアプログラムの卒業生がIUJで学ぶことを奨励し、ネットワークを拡大するための国際大学(IUJ)との将来的な協定、社会的なプロジェクトに取り組むシンクタンク、東北やその他の日本の地方のフィールドトリップや開発プロジェクト、教育をベースとした世界的なセミナー、卓越したネットワークの教育など。

-ラウドファンディング：返済可能な利子付き融資、現金・銀行振込・オンラインによる寄付

“日本人や日本に住む外国人の若者に、成長し、成功し、より良い世界を作る機会を与えよう：全ての人に優れた教育を！”

Mobile Working Popular in Germany: Study Shows

Anna Khodijah

E-biz Class of 2010, Indonesia

Research Assistant at the Chair of Information Systems and Strategic IT Management, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany

“A recent project I led was with a municipal city in North Rhine-Westphalia, the fourth-largest state in western Germany. The study was designed to evaluate the mobile office acceptance of more than 800 respondents during the corona pandemic last year. The project was recently published on the University news website. (Link below – it is in German, please check the English news link provided on the same page).

Respondents to the study expressed that they are satisfied with mobile working (77%) and that a mobile working situation increases their quality of life (84%). Overall, a very large majority (91%) feels that a mobile working lifestyle makes the City of Duisburg more attractive to employees. A follow up survey will take place in 2022 for further evaluation.

As I originally came from the Asian region, having the opportunity to manage a project in Germany was a very inspiring experience that confirms my research interest in project success and cultural diversity.”

For details of the study, please see the article,

City of Duisburg and the SITM chair successfully finish the project “Wissenschaftliche Begleitung des Einsatzes der mobilen Arbeit in der Stadtverwaltung Duisburg”.

https://www.sitm.wiwi.uni-due.de/news/news/city-of-duisburg-and-the-sitm-chair-successfully-finish-the-project-wissenschaftliche-begleitung-des-einsatzes-der-mobilen-arbeit-in-der-stadtverwaltung-duisburg-21997/

Give the Gift of Learning at IUJ

Give that experience to the next generation by introducing them to IUJ’s many and diverse programs. To make that easier, we encourage alumni to use the Scholarship Guarantee VOUCHER.

Simply download a VOUCHER – either for a family member or someone in your network – fill it out and let them send it in with their IUJ application materials. They will automatically be guaranteed a 70-80% Tuition-based Scholarship! (80% for a family member, 70% for others in your network. Guaranteed for the first year, and renwable for the 2nd year based on solid academic standings). They will remain eligible for upgraded scholarships such as ADB, JERA, AEON 1% Club, KMMF (Panasonic) and others!

Please, help Replace Yourself at IUJ! Give the gift of learning.

Download a Voucher Here

Remembering 3 special IUJers

Campus was saddened by the news of the passing of three alumni these past few weeks. Our thoughts go out to their families and friends, including their IUJ Family.

Khin Ni Ni Soe, 1979-2021 – MBA Class of 2018, affectionately known as Flora, passed away on 28 July 2021. She was working as Managing Director of Marco Polo Travel and Tours, and just recently helped IUJ with an Info Session for those in Myanmar.

Sivixay “Mui” Anon, 1978-2021 – IDP Class of 2014

Mui passed away on July 23 after a long battle with an illness. His friends and family shared many tributes on his Facebook page. He was working for the MOF in Laos.

Fajar Arianto, 1982-2021 – MBA Class of 2013

On June 7, Fajar passed away due to complications with COVID. Messages on Facebook from his classmates and professors were many. I share one tribute to Fajar here, with permission.

Grace Kamila to Fajar

(Princess Grace Kamila Noer PMPP Class of 2013)

It was a good day. A bright sunny one, we were waiting for a bus to AEON. We were happy, chatting away, dreaming of future, loving the present.

It was a lovely warm day. And ever since I’ve always wanted to see you again. Why there is always a distance between us? Jakarta – Japan became Japan – South Africa. We both became too tangled with our own schedule that a phone call was difficult.

But Fajar, you were always so full of life, full of philosophical thoughts, full of love. I always thought you will have tomorrow and we will meet again to laugh about silly things.

The last time I heard your voice was last Eid. You said we should come from our pure intention. That from now on we should always forgive each other.

I am so glad to have crossed paths with you. Thank you for capturing moments in your beautiful writings. I read them now and remember everything like it was yesterday.

So long, Fajar. My dearest friend, Fajar. My brother.

We all love you but God loves you more.

Until we meet again.

IUJ welcomes your articles for the continuing series of

Business Connections,
Cause Connections,
Collaboration or Partner seeking,
Interesting activities you have engaged in, etc.

Join the fun! Be the lead runner!

*I hope the alum is in a different batch or different nationality than the writer to help move the introductions across the globe! But just a suggestion.

IUJ Alumni News: January 2021

Click a photo below to read the 12 articles.

Campus Update: COVID19 situation Digital Transformation: New Degree Program Highlighting 2 Winter Term Courses New Scholarship Opportunity: JERA Alumni Spotlight: Meet CJ and her Toys Business Connections: Marketing Cause Connections: Education in Africa Business Connections: Spice importing Cause Connection: Disaster Relief Business Connections: Development Consulting Guarantee a Scholarship with a VOUCHER In Memory of . . . Seek Executive Councilors

Update from Campus: COVID19 Situation

IUJ campus remains safe, and virus free as of this writing, January 26. We hope all of you are safe, and wearing your masks!

Fall term started with just a few incoming students arriving by the Oct. 2 Welcome Day (Photo). Beginning in late October through early January, groups would arrive slowly but surely. We hope for all incoming students to be here for Spring Term, in person.

Incoming students all experienced a 2-week quarantine in Tokyo before coming to IUJ. They then kindly did a self, semi-quarantine for a week after entering the dorms: during this time they were asked to report their temperature to us each morning, to avoid the gym, bus, dorm kitchens and lounges, and do take out food from the Shokudo only. To help them, IUJ provided a thermometer for those who did not bring one, and gave 1,500yen of coupons to be used at the Shokudo, thanks to the financial support from a JASSO grant to support arriving students.

Currently, 2/3rds of the first year students have safely arrived on campus. Another 1/3rd are still not in Japan and we hope they can arrive by spring term. For them, online courses are guaranteed to help them stay on track to graduate on time.

Fall and winter courses are being offered face-to-face when it is safe to do. When more precautions are needed we have fully online or hybrid courses depending on the circumstances. To make in-class courses as safe as we can, for every class the IUJ staff takes the temperature of each person entering the classroom, makes sure they have their masks on and their hands are sanitized. Each student wipes down their desk with a sanitizing cloth before sitting down and checks to be sure that where they sit is socially distancing acceptable. In addition, classrooms are ventilate regularly.

The faculty, staff and students are working hard together as a team to maintain a safe and functioning campus to keep academics on track and the learning environment dynamic and safe.

We could not have come this far without the support of many alumni! We thank all those who provided donations in the early days of masks, disinfectants, etc.

For new students, we almost lost some! The unexpected cost some students had to face because of the required 2-week quarantine was going to force them to give up their IUJ dreams. But the alumni came through with cash donations. In just a few weeks over 50 alumni plus a few groups generously donated funds to support incoming students. We raised enough money to guarantee each student without other financial support, 100,000yen to cover the hotel fees, airport pick up fees, and food during their quarantine. We thank you all!

Campus will continue to focus on safety for our students and faculty. That said, campus is closed to guests without official business. We ask alumni to refrain from coming here for skiing etc. until the pandemic can get under control. Thank you for your understanding and your encouragement.

Introducing IUJ’s New Business Degree: A 1-year Program in DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

The world has changed significantly over the past decade and certainly this past year. As more and more business and social activities go digital, a new kind of business leader is needed: A leader who can reimagine a business in the digital age. IUJ has prepared to train such leaders in our new 1-year degree program, Masters of Digital Management.

This program trains future managers and entrepreneurs to be able to implement truly impactful DX initiatives. Students, while not becoming IT specialists, will master the fundamental and long-lasting IT knowledge and principles. With key courses in “Management for Digital Transformation,” “Entrepreneurship and Innovation” and “Digital Business Models,” students will also have training in “Ethics and CSR Digital Business” and “Global Strategy in the Digital Era.” Other exciting Core Electives include “AI for Business,” “Big Data Analysis” and “Strategies for Digital Disruption.”

See the full course listing at https://www.iuj.ac.jp/digital-transformation-program-course-list/

With this deep yet broad academic training, graduates will ideally become an “orchestra conductor” for DX projects. As technology continues to change and develop, IUJ graduates will be prepared to capture the latest technology trends and utilize suitable technical elements to add value for their organization.

To help introduce the program, IUJ is hosting a Mock Lecture on Fin Tech, along with an Online Info Session on February 20! Please consider signing up, or introducing those in your network to participate.

If your company or organization needs staff prepared for the digital era, please consider sending them to IUJ for 1-year.

To encourage your family or those in your network to become valued employees, please remember the VOUCHER program – give them a voucher that guarantees them 50-70% tuition waiver!

See the related story on the VOUCHER program and Give the Gift of Learning!

Download the VOUCHERs here https://www.iuj.ac.jp/alumni/volunteering/#voucher

Introducing Two Winter Term MBA Courses of Special Interest

History of Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Integrated Marketing Communication

In the Entrepreneurship and Innovation course, the professor introduces the source and process of new entrepreneurship and innovation. As we are in the early stage of a new industrial revolution based on digital technologies, these topics are highly relevant to young professionals. This course can especially be quite useful to students from developing countries, where innovation plays a critical role.

Marketing communication covers advertising, branding, and direct marketing as its main content. It introduces online media, printed materials, sales presentations, PR activities, sponsorship contacts. This course is considered as a core content of the marketing curriculum.

More information on IUJ’s innovative courses can be found on the IUJ website under the specific program! For new courses, see the article on the new major, Digital Transformation. For new GSIR offerings, see the article from August 2020 below.

New Scholarships for Those with a Passion for the Energy Business: IUJ’s Growing Relationship with JERA Co. Inc.

JERA is the largest power generation company in Japan, producing one third of Japan’s electricity. Established in 2015 as an alliance between Tokyo Electric Power Group and the Chubu Electric Power Group, JERA works to provide Japan with internationally competitive energy, while being competitive on the international stage. JERA is quite active in Bangladesh, with growing interests in many other Asian countries.

JERA has partnered with IUJ to provide scholarships to IUJ MA and MBA students starting with those who enroll in 2021. The JERA Asia Scholarship aims to support the development of human resources who will contribute to the future economic development of Asian countries specifically in the energy and infrastructure industries.

JAPAN’S E NERGY FOR A NEW ERA

Toshihiro Sano, Chairman of JERA said, “We have contributed to the economic development of Asian countries through our participation in energy and infrastructure business. We hope that newly established JERA Asia Scholarship will help students who will play a key role in the economic development of the countries in the future.”

ALUMNI AND JERA

JERA recently hired an IUJ graduate from the class of 2020 who is from Bangladesh. At least two other IUJers (Class of 1995 and 2000), both dispatched to JERA from Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc. also work or have worked for JERA – one in Tokyo and one in Australia. IUJ hopes for further job placement and internships for current IUJ students as well.

LEARN MORE

For details about the JERA Asia Scholarship, please see the IUJ Scholarship Guide. Those hoping to study at IUJ under this scholarship should apply to our MA or MBA program by mid February, though this may be extended to the May deadlines if suitable candidates are not identified in the early application rounds.

Helpful Links

IUJ Scholarship Guide

https://www.iuj.ac.jp/admission/pdf/2021/Sch_Instructions_M_E.pdf

Article on the JERA Asia Scholarship

https://www.jera.co.jp/english/information/20201203_559

JERA website in English

https://www.jera.co.jp/english/

A Defining Hobby – Toys!

IUJ alumni can be found everywhere in the world and doing just about every job imaginable, well maybe not flying to the moon. Hobbies, too are as diverse as IUJers are colorful. Enter CJ.

CJ, Jismin Yusoff, graduated from PMPP in 2020. By day, she is Principal Assistant Secretary at Human Service Division, Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia tasked with formulating, reviewing and monitoring the administrative and secretarial matters to ensure smooth functioning of the Department. But on the weekends, you will find her in a very different settings – searching for toys!

CJ has a passion for vintage toys, new toys, Happy Meal toys, Barbie and Doraemon, Star Wars and Minions, and of course power rangers: TOYS. She shares her love of toys with us on her Facebook page and YouTube channel. Join her to explore flea markets in Malaysia for treasures and unique items. Return to your childhood days and the thrill of opening your happy meal toy. Learn about the industry, some top brands, what is unique and more. But mostly, shake off some of your responsibilities and rediscover the love of toys.

Because …..

Somebody else’s junk is another person’s treasure!

Watch her introductory video here! https://youtu.be/KVVoaFDCe1s

Business Connections: Team up with an alum for effective marketing message development

Gil Aranowitz, MBA 1994

Founder and Creative Strategy Director at The Best Words Win

Meet Gil Aranowitz: An MBA graduate from 1994 who enjoyed a dynamic career in Japan as an English-Japanese bilingual marketing and branding specialist at such firms as Ogilvy & Mather, adidas and McCann World group before returning to the US in 2000.

In 2009, Gil first started crafting marketing messages for clients first at his California based startup, Budding Culture. There he promoted such clients as Japan National Tourism Organization through an “Only in Japan” blog, and created a powerful video to support research into Alzheimer’s Disease for UC Irvine, to name but a few successful marketing consulting projects.

Today, Gil is taking his brand building and content marketing to new heights under his recently launched consulting firm The Best Words Win. Gil utilizes the StoryBrand framework for creating effective marketing approaches based on the book by Donald Miller, “Building a StoryBrand.”

“This fantastic framework helps companies (or any organization) simplify and clarify their messaging, using the basic principles of storytelling. The result is clear messaging, effective marketing and more customers that know they want to do business with you.

“I am happy to offer up a short webinar introducing the approach to any organization IUJ alumni are a part of. I also welcome you to download our free guide, 6 Ways Winning Words Will Boost Your Marketing – a PDF file available on our website at https://www.thebestwordswin.com/ “

If you are interested to learn what Gil can do for your place of work or the cause you are promoting, please reach out to him.

https://www.thebestwordswin.com/

gil@thebestwordswin.com

Editor’s Note:

Business Connections is a regular article series to introduce initiatives of alumni to help find partners, collaborates and clients within the Alumni Network. If you would like to promote your business or cause to fellow IUJers and seek collaboration, please contact campus.

Cause Connections: Rebuilding a School for Girls in Burkina Faso

Eden Lompo Miyemba, IRP, 2020

Project Executor, Empower African Girls

Meet Lompo: a recent IUJ graduate from the International Relations Program. Sponsored by JICA through the African Business Education program, Lompo studied about ways to bridge between his country, Burkina Faso, and Japan for social change and cooperation. His passion is to support the education of girls and women in Burkina Faso to help the economic growth of his country as a whole: “To educate a girl is to educate a nation” as empowering women and girls has a direct impact on economic growth. To this end, Lompo is preparing to rebuild a school for girls that was destroyed by terrorist. He, with his collaborator Ms. Sumiko Saito, have launched a crowd funding page and asks for your involvement:

https://readyfor.jp/projects/empower_african_girls

Before coming to IUJ, Lompo joined a girls’ orphanage to start his mission of empowering girls through education. He taught them English and provided them with guidance, support and resilience building for their future. He explains:

“Around the world, we see that better-educated women are often better able to make and implement decisions and choices, even where gender norms are restrictive. Enhanced education is a key reason why children of better-educated women are less likely to be stunted: educated mothers have greater autonomy in making decisions and more power to act for their children’s benefit. All in all, helping girls to have access to education will help them escape from most of the problems they face in life.”

The site in the link above explains about the terrorist attacks that resulted in the destruction of schools and how fear emerged in Burkina Faso. Lompo is out to correct that wrong. The site also provides a wealth of information on the state of girls and women in Burkina Faso and the many challenges they face: from child marriage to high illiteracy rates; from difficulty accessing any type of education to the need for outside help to break a cycle of poverty. It explains Lompo’s goal, as supported by Ms. Saito for translation, crowdfunding promotion and logistics support. Your financial support can make a difference.

Please consider joining Lompo to help girls break out of the vicious cycle that entraps them. The goal is to help at-risk girls mature into well-educated, emancipated, gainfully employed, and self-sufficient women.

Editor’s Note:

Cause Connections is a newly launched series, similar to Business Connections, to actively promote collaboration between IUJ alumni for various causes close to the hearts of IUJers. Similar articles have been carried over the years to feature initiatives undertaken by IUJers. Starting in 2021, those powerful stories will be presented in this type of series. If you are working on a special cause and need partners, collaborators, clients and supporters from among the alumni network, please contact campus.

Business Connections – Spicing Up Diversity in Japan: Dried Fruits to Bridge Cultures

(日本語　article found below English)

Makoto Ujike (IDP2002, Japan)

Meet Makoto: He has worked for a venture capital and two start-up companies before recently launching his own initiative. In March 2020, he started importing high-quality dried fruits and spices from developing countries under the company name ILODOLY in Tokyo.

https://www.ilodoly.com/english/

ILODOLY (彩り) is a word that indicates an abundance of color.

Ujike aims to build a more open-minded society in which diverse cultures and values coexist by means of introducing rare products that are unknown in Japan.

Before starting up his own company, Makoto was engaged in overseas partner development at Crowd Credit, a crowdfunding company. Before that, he was Japan branch manager of the Korean IT startup, Saltlux, and immediately after graduating from IUJ, he experienced the investment industry and assisted Japan market entry of Asian IT startups at the venture capital, JAFCO. All together, Makoto spent 18 years in the financial and IT industries.

But his inner voice that he has heard from his days in Urasa to “collaborate with business partners in developing countries” kept calling. He decided to make a significant career change and launched ILODOLY.

ILODOLY’s first import product is dates. For many IUJ graduates, dates are a familiar fruit to eat any time, and especially during Ramadan. They are readily available in local stores throughout the Muslim world, but only some health-conscious consumers in Japan know them. Because the taste of dates resembles dried persimmons, brown sugar, or caramel that Japanese are familiar with, Ujike considers the potential of the dates market in the country to be significant. Currently, he is selling some test products through Amazon Japan while preparing to import high-end varieties of date such as Medjool, Ajwa, and Piarom.

His main focus is on developing sales partners and B2B customers such as dried fruit specialty stores, restaurants, and cafes.

In the future, he plans to increase the sales of products with organic certificates. For example, negotiations for Myanmar red pepper and Cameroon pepper are underway.

Ujike welcomes IUJers to reach out to him for possible collaboration in the spirit of ILODOLY.

日本語

氏家真（IDP2002、日本）は、投資会社とスタートアップ企業2社での勤務を経て、2020年3月独立し、この秋、ILODOLYという社名で発展途上国の高品質なドライフルーツと香辛料を輸入販売し始めた。

https://www.ilodoly.com/english/

ILODOLY（彩り）とは、多種多様であるカラフルな状態を示す言葉である。

氏家は日本で知られていない珍しい商品を輸入し紹介することで、多様な文化と価値観が共存する寛容な社会の実現を目指す。

彼は、IUJ卒業後、金融業とIT業で計18年間キャリアを重ねてきたものの、浦佐で過ごした日々から聞こえてきた「発展途上国のパートナーと協力してビジネスをしたい」という心の声に逆らえず、キャリアの大幅な軌道修正を決断した。

ILODOLYの最初の輸入商材は『デーツ』である。多くのIUJ卒業生にとっては、ラマダン期間中に食べ、地元の商店で買える馴染み深い果物であるが、日本では健康志向の高い一部の消費者にしか知られていない。しかしデーツの味は、日本人にもなじみ深い、干し柿、黒糖、あるいはキャラメルに似ているため、氏家はデーツの日本における潜在市場は大きいと考えている。目下、Medjool、Ajwa、Piaromなど高級品種の輸入を準備しつつ、いくつかのテスト商品をアマゾンジャパンで販売している。

今後は、オーガニック認証の取れた商品の品揃えを増やしてゆく方針であり、ミャンマー産赤唐辛子や、カメルーン産胡椒の交渉が進んでいる。

彼は、輸入ビジネスにおいては新規参入段階であり、販売パートナーやドライフルーツ専門店、レストラン、カフェなど顧客開拓に最も力を注いでいる。

氏家真は、独立の直前まではクラウドファンディング企業のCrowd Creditで、海外マイクロファイナンス機関の開拓と交渉に従事していた。それ以前は。韓国系ITスタートアップのSaltluxの日本支社長をつとめており、IUJ卒業直後には、ベンチャーキャピタルのJAFCOで投資と海外ITスタートアップの日本市場進出支援を経験している。

Cause Connections: Philippine Typhoon Fundraising Collaboration

Indeed, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

Meet Mercilida “Merci” Espero, IDP2015 from the Philippines, a Senior Manager from the Development Bank of the Philippines and also one of the leaders of a religious organization for University of the Philippines (UP) students and alumni. She initiated a fundraising drive for the Typhoon Rolly and Ulysses victims in the Philippines last fall. In such a difficult time for fellow Filipinos, Merci believes that the world still has so much love to give and decided to reach out to her overseas connection—IUJ. Because why not? IUJ, where the world gathers, right?

If 2020 wasn’t challenging enough, the Philippines braced for more: a series of typhoons devastated the country before the year came to a close. Amid the pandemic, government typhoon relief efforts were in disarray, and many Filipinos, left homeless by the typhoon, had been calling for help for days after the typhoon hit. Merci and her fellow members of the organization, Adventist Ministry to College and University Students Church, University of the Philippines Diliman, learned about the 146 families in Tanay, Rizal, where immediate help could not be extended due to the rugged terrain and damaged infrastructure. Volunteer alumni and students crossed rivers, rode on an army truck (thanks to Cpt Gephil Jimenez) via very rough and steep terrains, and walked some miles further just to reach the families located in three communities (Sitio Manggahan, Daraitan, and Tinucan) of Tanay Rizal bringing them much needed relief supplies.

With the coordination of the organization and the Filipino IUJ students, the IUJ family or similarly ‘different parts of the globe’ were able to send help and love to the Philippines. Donation boxes were available at strategic points inside the campus for those who were able to donate. In three days, the IUJ Filipino community was able to raise ample funds for the 146 families. “A big thank you for IUJ’s quick and open response to our call for donations. Thank you also to Merci for making this opportunity. It wasn’t been easy learning about the crisis and not being able to do something,” a common message among the Filipino IUJ students. One could say that the experience is warm and a learning one—how connection can serve as a channel for a good cause and how a partnership between IUJ students and alumni would go a long way in reaching out to those in need.

Written by Arianne Abarquez (IDP Class of 2021), also a Development Bank of the Philippines staffer studying at IUJ under a JICA scholarship scheme.

Business Connections – BAKELA Seeks Project Development and Management Partners

Changuk An, IDP Class of 2013

Meet Changuk An: After graduation, An-san worked in a UN Agency, World Food Program in Ethiopia as a consultant until August 2016. After that, he established a consulting firm, BAKELA Corporation, in Korea (South Korea) which provides project planning, monitoring, and evaluation services in the fields of agricultural value chain, education expansion, gender equality, environmental protection, energy management, climate change adaptation and mitigation, etc.

In project planning, BAKELA consultants conduct economic, environmental, social and cultural studies, and form the project’s logical framework based on the theory of change. In project monitoring, BAKELA conducts the baseline survey and monitors the performance. BAKELA makes post- and impact evaluations and finds lessons from the results on behalf of the stakeholders.

BAKELA has been engaged with planning and M&E (monitoring and evaluation) projects in 16 partner countries: Nepal, Sri-Lanka, Senegal, Mozambique, Colombia, Honduras, etc.

As BAKELA expands its international development and cooperation activities into more countries, BAKELA is seeking to develop stable partnerships with various entities in 2021. Partnerships . . .

With local governments: For upcoming projects, if the government can identify problems they wish to overcome, BAKELA can begin to discuss how to address the specific points and find sources of funding.
With local consultants or consultancies: They are looking for those who can conduct on-site due diligence on behalf of BAKELA for potential projects.
With local consultancies: They hope to find good help to deal with the long-term projects’ performance management (baseline survey, monitoring, evaluation and advocacy) working side-by-side with the BAKELA consultants.

Right now, BAKELA needs local consultancies in two countries: Senegal and Honduras, for one short-term project and two long-term projects.

Case 1: M&E (May 2020 – Dec 2022) for “Construction of Frequency Regulation System with ESS Package in Senegal” project.

Case 2: Planning (Nov 2020 – Feb 2021) for “Master plan establishment for Honduras distribution automation system”

Case 3: M&E (May 2022 – Dec 2025) for “Green Energy Island project in Guanaja, BI, Honduras” Project

BAKELA has been building a global network to continue supplying consulting services based on the social and cultural context of local communities. Their projects will be active in other countries in the months ahead.

“I am hoping some IUJ friends will partner with us to progress our initiatives!”

Changuk An, IDP Class of 2013

http://bakelacorp.com/28

Give the Gift of Learning at IUJ

The unique experience at IUJ is known only by those who spend their graduate studies here. We learn as much outside the classroom as we do inside. We make life-long friends and counted-on connections for our social and professional gain.

Give that experience to the next generation by introducing them to IUJ’s many and diverse programs. To make that easier, we encourage alumni to use the Scholarship Guarantee VOUCHER.

Simply download a VOUCHER – either for a family member or someone in your network – fill it out and let them send it in with their IUJ application materials. They will automatically be guaranteed a 50-70% Tuition-based Scholarship! (70% for a family member, 50% for others in your network). They will remain eligible for upgraded scholarships such as ADB, JERA, AEON 1% Club, KMMF (Panasonic) and others!

Please, help Replace Yourself at IUJ!

70% Tuition Waiver for Immediate Family – Japanese VOUCHER

70% Tuition Waiver for Immediate Family – English VOUCHER

50% Tuition Waiver – English VOUCHER

50% Tuition Waiver – Japanese VOUCHER

Remembering 3 special IUJers

Campus was saddened by the news of the passing of three alumni these past few months. Our thoughts go out to their families and friends, including their IUJ Family.

Amb. Mohammad Waheed-Ul-Hassan Malik, Class of 1988, Pakistan. Former ambassador to Uzbekistan and Morocco, and MOFA official in many capacities world wide for Pakistan.

Joji Aragon, Class of 1988, Philippines, Undersecretary Department of Labor and Employment, Government of the Philippines, and mother to Class of 2020 Nagisa Kazami.

Dilshod Kimsanov, PMPP Class of 2015, Tajikistan. Government official who was currently studying for his PhD in Japan.

May IUJ alumni world-wide honor them in the work we do.

New Executive Councilor Chosen: 2021-2024 members introduction

Council Leaders

Chair Mitsuharu Nakano, MBA90 – Japan — Please refer to his initial message (May 2021)
Co-Vice Chair Yang Yaoyu, MBA96, China (China Relations)
Co-Vice Chair Hideyuki Kawashima, MBA90 – Japan (Treasurer)
Co-Vice Chair Tadashi Inagaki, MBA95 – Japan (Sr. Advisor)
Daniel Bukenya, MBA08 – Uganda (in Uganda) (Africa Relations)
Priyanshu Sharma, MBA11, India (in Singapore) (ASEAN/SAARC Relations)
Keisuke Kurogi, MBA19 – Japan (Local Community Relations)

Members

Steven White, MA 1988 – USA (in China)
Norimasa Teramachi, MBA93 – Japan
Rakib Mahmood, MBA97 – Bangladesh (In USA)
Tadahiko Ishikawa, MBA03 – Japan
Denis Desjardins, MBA11, Canada (in Vietnam)
Akiyo Higaki, MA17 – Japan
Mohammed Reda Ahmed MBA19 – Egypt (in Egypt)

EC members are expected to do their best to achieve the objectives below
and to implement regular activities as described.

The objective of the IUJ Alumni Association is to contribute to:

a. the development of IUJ
b. the establishment of friendship among the Alumni and support their
global activities
c. further internationalization of Japan through strengthening its
relations with countries of the world

EC’s major activities 2018-2021.

a. Monthly meeting, 90 minutes, either online or off-line — Discussions on possible actives and campus support. Event planning and coordination, updates from campus and communication with IUJ leadership and campus student leaders, etc.

b. Bonen-kai, or year-end party, either online or off-line

c. IUJ Friday, either online or off-lined.

d. Other, including Career support program (panel discussions and networking with alumni and students), Selecting the recipients of a scholarship,
Create/send IUJ banners to chapter leaders for chapter event promotion, Alumni Picnic, General Meeting 2021

Below is the January 2021 Newsletter, in case you missed it!

IUJ Alumni News: 51st edition

A newsletter for the 4,736 alumni (1985-2020) and counting.

August 2020

Click a photo below to read the 12 articles.

COVID19: IUJ’s Story Graduation with a Twist Honoring Watanabe-Sensei Encouraging Japanese Youth - Join me!Lights on For Internships Alumni Spotlight - Meet Phadke-san VOUCHER for Tuition Waivers - gift them!VOUCHER for Tuition Waivers - gift them!GIVE NOW!ZOOM Reunions - Alumni Gather きしゃぽん Books/Games become cash donations Power of Word of Mouth In Memory

COVID-19: IUJ’s story

As the world has entered unprecedented times, and we are all making life-style adjustments, IUJ too has been adapting to the new reality. Thinking alumni may be interested in what happened, I share our story “briefly” with you. We have Zero infections so far on campus as of August 24.

As soon as the threat of COVID19 was understood, IUJ management opened a Risk Management Committee which convenes weekly to share information, make contingency plans, set assignments for addressing the threat and keeping students and faculty safe. We established information and communication channels with the Health Officials for guidance on how best to handle any possible infection on campus. We kept students update on how to protect themselves and their peers, and quickly implemented various new measures to keep the virus at bay.

The end of winter term saw classrooms for final classes and exams with a new layout to ensure social distancing. The staff took the temperature of all students and faculty entering a classroom, and each person wore a mask, disinfected their hands, and wiped down the desk before and after the class or exam (practices that of course continue today).

Spring Term Adaptations

As spring term started, many courses were switched to online lectures if the faculty member was not resident in the immediate area. Several courses, including language classes, still met in face-to-face format with the above precautions taken at the beginning of each class, and careful seating plans arranged to ensure social distancing. The gym was set up as a large classroom with desks set far apart, and 3 screens positioned strategically about the gym. This meant students could not use the gym for recreation, however that was also a measure of prevention. Frequent ventilation of the classrooms and offices became standard practice. Guests to IUJ were asked to refrain from entering campus, or do so only by prior appointment requiring a staff guide. The IUJ shop and cafeteria were closed to guests, and social distancing seating plans were implemented for those on campus.

Supply Rationing

As it became clear the situation was going to remain with us a long time, and masks/disinfectant became scarce, IUJ began to ration our emergency stock of masks providing 2 masks for 2 weeks to each student and faculty with instructions on how to effectively wash them. Three major donations of masks helped to stretch the IUJ supply.

Special thanks to Yang Yaoyu (MBA96) and other alumni from China, to Nguyen Tung Lam (IR08) who coordinated a group of alumni in Vietnam, plus Mai Thuy Linh (IR2019) also from Vietnam, and to Ms. Iris Ohyama and YAMADA Kogyo Co., for donating masks to campus. Thank you to GSO-EC for making individual hand sanitizer bottles available to each student and faculty member, and to Weerada Sucharitkul (IR03) who donated access to everyone on campus to one video from her Movies on Demand company, Filmdoo giving the IUJ community a little break from the stress of the new reality.

The Risk Management Committee kept a close eye on the situation providing weekly updates on travel restrictions, preventative measures such as avoiding the 3Cs, and much more. Clear plastic screens went up at the library check out counter, the OSS/OAA counter and school shop. Hand sanitizing, mask wearing checks and temperature taking stations are at the entrance of each classroom, and gym (which is again open for activities this summer). Additional study room space was created for groups to be able to still work together but in larger areas. The library team created a COVID19 resources and information site for research and fact checking. https://www.iuj.ac.jp/mlic/information/info_covid-19.pdf

The IUJ bus services continue, though all passengers are required to wear masks, and the buses are ventilated as often as possible. To keep the weekend crowded shopping buses to AEON (and now Koide’s Gyomu Supaa) safe, our new drivers offered two 32-passenger buses, with 16 passengers each to help with social distancing!

Graduation

Graduation was held in late June with cap and gown, and at the beautiful hall in Koide, however family, friends, 1^st year students and guests were not allowed to attend. We live streamed the ceremony and many from the area, including family members viewing from campus, and family overseas, tuning in to virtually share the moment. Friends from UMEX watched the ceremony online and waited outside of the theater, for the graduates to come out where they could then congratulate them. After the graduates returned to campus, an impromptu hat toss took place outside in the IUJ courtyard!

Returning Home

IUJ Grad Miyagawa-san (Class 89) of ANA meets with the Ambassador from Myanmar to support the repatriating of IUJers and others from Myanmar.

Graduating was exciting, but this gave way to frustration for many who were unable to return home because of the travel restrictions. Those that could leave went home. Others moved to Tokyo to await flights, and many stayed here in the dorms or community hoping to be selected by their embassy for flights home. As of this writing, about 30 remain in the area, plus their family members. Many have had flights cancelled on them more than once.

The students from the Myanmar government were able to leave quite early on, and found support from Class of 1989 Jun Miyagawa, Executive Vice President, International Affairs of ANA. “The Ambassador from Myanmar and his staff were very effective in negotiating with the government and airlines, and was there at the airport to reassure his countrymates and send them off. The Ambassador did a great job.” PHOTOS.

Myanmar’s Ambassador to Japan sends his countrymates home with care

Summer time

Currently IEP, the summer English program, is taking place with about 20 Japanese students here on campus, and another 35 attending online and in their home countries. First year students were told to stay here, with overseas internships and field research plans cancelled. With time on their hands, students are now enjoying various no-grade, no-test classes offered by faculty who are also remaining in the area, several field trips to local attractions, and a special Psychology Academy offered by the IUJ Counselor. Student leaders are arranging hikes and white water rafting day trips. Many are getting early and intense guidance on their thesis, and rumor has it some are learning how to cook!

Heading to Fall Term

Campus is now preparing to welcome 168 incoming students. The New Students Welcome day will be held as planned in the gym with new students who are on campus, but with no guests, and no reception to avoid any possible infection. Live streaming will be available on the IUJ YouTube channel so you can watch them (2 pm Japan Time on Oct 2). While we are hopeful many will be able to arrive before Oct. 5 classes begin (including a required 2 week quarantine outside of Niigata), we are well aware not all will be able to make the journey. As many in-classroom classes as possible will be offered, though some 2^nd year courses will be taught online if the faculty member is unable to travel safely to campus (nearly all 2^nd year students are still on campus). Incoming students who arrive here will have in-class sessions, and those still overseas will participate via online ZOOM courses or in hybrid lectures where both in-class and online students participate simultaneously.

Though the IUJ story is surely not atypical, each step brings new questions many without answers, new challenges, and new ideas. Overall, campus continues to function smoothly and safely. Together, we hope to keep it that way and prepare to celebrate the day that all returning and incoming students and faculty can again be together “Where the World Gathers.”

Graduation with a Twist

With the world-wide pandemic cancelling so many events and celebrations, including graduations around the world, IUJ President Itami still wanted to give the Class of 2020 their moment. Niigata has very few cases, and the city where IUJ is located, Minami Uonuma city, has no reported cases to date. Campus was motivated to make a ceremony happen.

After negotiations and special arrangements with the Koide Culture Center and bus services on how to carefully hold a safe graduation ceremony, plans were enacted. Gowns were handed out efficiently to avoid crowding. We distributed them two days before graduation to ensure ample time for as many cap and gown photo ops with family and friends as possible.

On the day, unfortunately, family members and guests could not come to the ceremony venue. To help them still participate virtually, campus set up group viewing (with social distancing) classrooms, and live streamed world wide.

Faculty were on stage in masks, and graduates seated in every other seat and with masks. With no invited speaker at the event, Pres. Itami shared his thoughts about post-COVID world and IUJ graduates’ role to play in it. Prof. Watanabe, being awarded Professor Emeritus, also addressed the graduates encouraging them to follow their exciting career paths. Each graduate then crossed the stage to receive their diploma and secure that ever-so-special photo of the moment thanks to IUJ staff members. Valedictorians, both from Bangladesh, Mr. Kazi Mahmudur Reza (GSIR) and Ms. Mehnaz Rahman (MBA), offered their heartfelt thanks to classmates, faculty and staff for two special years, and an amazing spring term effort for everyone to stay healthy and make it to the ceremony together. After the ceremony, the graduates were guided directly outside in the fresh Niigata morning air for some small group photos.

Back on campus, the ceremony banners and special photo spots were prepared for photos still in cap and gown, and with their diplomas. The class tree unveiling ceremony was a bit extra special this year with graduates expressing much hope for the future and professional growth along with their tree.

We are proud of our graduates for their resilience during the last weeks of their IUJ experience, and for persevering academically in a time of additional stress caused by the uncertainties of the virus.

Congratulations to the Class of 2020!

Honoring Professor Watanabe: a great teacher, colleague, and mentor

Dr. Hiroyuki Itami, the President of the International University of Japan (IUJ), awarded Professor Emeritus Status to Professor Shinichi Watanabe at the Graduation Ceremony held on 25^th June 2020.

Prof. Watanabe addresses the Class of 2020 after receiving Professor Emeritus recognition at the June graduation ceremony

Professor Watanabe, “Shinchan” to many of his close friends, was a very committed teacher with great human qualities and has tremendously contributed to IUJ as a teacher, researcher, and administrator for more than three decades from 1987 until his retirement in 2013. He was a founding faculty member of the International Development Program (IDP) then moved to the newly established International Peace Studies Program (IPSP), his brainchild, serving as the inaugural program director. Professor Watanabe also served as an IUJ vice president. In 2003, Professor Watanabe edited a book authored by late IUJ Professor Ichiro Inukai titled “Japan’s First Strategy for Economic Development with the selected translation of Kogyo Iken. The Kogyo Iken, the first strategy for economic development designed and implemented in Japan at the end of the 19^th century, is treated as seminal work in the field.

Many of us learned macroeconomics from his passionate, student-centered teaching. I vividly remember how intimately he worked with his supervisees helping them; to identify research questions (Function R); to acquire the knowledge and skills (Function K and S); and to provide an academic environment (Function E) in which students can learn from each other. During his long academic life, he clearly understood uniquely diversified students from all over the world with precious oriental wisdom, complex cultural and family backgrounds. Professor Watanabe’s teaching philosophy is very much influenced by the Japanese education principles and writings of John Dewey (1859–1952), one of the most influential individuals in American education, the famed philosopher, and psychologist.

Professor Watanabe remains closely affiliated with IUJ as a Specially Appointed Professor.

N.S. Cooray, IUJ Class of 1992, Faculty, GSIR

Encouraging Japanese youth to be more ambitious for overseas assignments – Join me.

by Kazu AKITOMO, IR 88

For years, I have heard stories from renowned Japanese companies that their younger employees, especially male employees, either reluctantly accepted or even flatly declined to sign up for work overseas. I decided that I wanted to confirm for myself what the motives and ambitions of today`s Japanese youngsters who wish to enroll in IUJ are, and see if I could encourage them to expand their horizons.

Having been at the forefront of international management for most of my career, I am hoping to have a positive impact on young people who wish to apply to IUJ by sharing my professional background. I, therefore, signed up to attend an IUJ Info Session. But there were not as many potential applicants at this session as I had expected.

This is where IUJ alumni can come in. Together, we can help push forward IUJ’s founding principles and guide young Japanese nationals, and others, to discover the exciting careers that await in international business. We can encourage them to prepare first at IUJ. We can inform them about IUJ, help them with Info Session sign ups, and then be sure they apply! IUJ is now even offering us a VOUCHER which guarantees those we introduce a scholarship worth a 50-70% tuition waiver. (Note from editor: please see related article).

My career story may sound like other IUJ graduates. It can become the story for those we can introduce too.

With the goal of becoming a professional with advanced expertise that can play an active role in the international community, which is, after all, the philosophy of IUJ’s founding, I have been involved in overseas business for over 30 years. After completing my MA degree at IUJ in 1988, I returned to my company, which had so generously allowed me to study at IUJ. I have been engaged in mostly overseas business at one of the major Japanese steel manufacturing companies. In addition, I had lived in the United States and Europe for a total of 17 years, working on developing markets in North America and managing European regional headquarters as well as subsidiaries. Even after mandatory retirement at the age of 60, I am still frequently traveling around the world* under an annual contract performing a chief auditor role for overseas subsidiaries in the same company’s Internal Auditing Office. This career has been challenging and very rewarding. Japan needs more of us who are tooled and prepared for international business to help not only our company, but our country which needs better access to overseas markets. Help replace yourself at your company by encouraging the next generation to apply.

I would like to continue telling (almost yelling at) Japanese young people whenever I have the opportunity: “Japanese young men and women, be ambitious. I promise the door will open wider for you through overseas experiences than staying in Japan.”

Please join me. Let’s identify high potential applicants, and support their discovery of, and education at IUJ.

Kazu AKITOMO, IR 88

(*Note from editor: This article was written before the proliferation of COVID-19 and he has been performing his duties by telecommunication instead of traveling around the world in recent months).

Alumni Host Interns

Over the years, IUJ Alumni have kindly opened their doors to current students for internships and employment opportunities as well: From UN offices in Bangkok to Nespresso Japan. From Tozai Asset Management to NTT Communications, and more. This year, despite the COVID challenges, is no different. One student is interning alongside IRP Class of 2001 Enkhee, Enkhbayar Shagdar, again at ERINA, a research institute in Niigata city.

Jitsuyama-san (Left) comes to campus to explore business ideas development and internships in Fall 2019

A second IUJer, Hideki Jitsuyama, Class of 1989, is also hosting interns at his company, For Delight KK, 株式会社FD. The internship sprang out of a new business idea competition held in winter and spring terms. Students with new ideas for bringing solar lighting to rural Africa were challenge to make a pitch to Jitsuyama-san and others at FD. Some good ideas were offered, and in the end Michael Bationo from Burkina Faso was offered an internship. Michael is currently working alongside other JICA-ABE (African Business Education) scholarship recipients at For Delight (read For The Light that brings Delight) to help develop and implement projects that are sustainable and contribute to the well being of those in rural Africa by bringing them solar powered light! Recently, another IUJer, Etsub from Egypt, joined the team for a 2-week project.

Jitsuyama-san (right) sits down with Michael to get him going with his internship

More Opportunities Needed

IUJ hopes others in the Alumni Family can also host interns in Japan or anywhere in the world. Your involvement is essential to foster a solid career placement program for current and future students. To learn more, contact Gretchen for introductions to the new Career Support staff.

Meet Neelakanth Phadke: MBA to Law to Sanskrit Instructor

Neelakanth Purushottam Phadke completed his MBA from IUJ in 1992, at the age of 37, with a lot of determination while his family stayed in India. Mr. Phadke has got a zest for learning new things. At the age 61, he wrote a common admission test for admission to Law degree course and secured admission at one of India’s top law schools- ILS Law College, Pune. He got a law degree in 2019.

In 1980, he was selected as an officer in the General Insurance Corporation of India, through an All India Competitive examination. He worked for 3 years – from 1987 to 1990 – in the New India Assurance Co. Ltd.’s Tokyo Branch. He learned Japanese language during his stay in Japan. Later he was an advisor to a Japanese non-life insurance company – Sumitomo Marine & Fire Insurance Co. Ltd. from 1996 to 2003. He promoted a company Nipun Insurance Brokers Pvt. Ltd. in 2003 and another company – Nipun Investments Managers Pvt. Ltd. in 2006. He continues to be the chairman of both the companies.

He visited Brazil to teach Sanskrit for a month in July 2019 and he was amazed to find that hundreds of youngsters were studying Sanskrit there. It inspired him to start online Sanskrit teaching Pathashala in January 2020.

Mr. Phadke started his Sanskrit studies under his father at the age of 5 and completed his masters in Sanskrit (being topper in Sanskrit papers) from Pune University in 1976. Although he loved Sanskrit tremendously, he had to shift away from Sanskrit, as jobs vanished in Sanskrit field due to government policies. He translated an encyclopedic work with more than 8000 verses on diverse fields in Sanskrit – Manasollas – in Marathi. He wrote another book on Sanskrit Grammar in Marathi in 2016.

His new venture – Pundit Purushottamshastri Phadke Sanskrit Pathashala – offers various courses in English to teach Sanskrit Language, its wonderful literature and Indian Philosophy – Vedanta. Please visit – www.sanskritvedanta.org

The next batches are going to start from first weekend of January 2021. Would you like to join?

VOUCHERS – Give the Gift of Financial Support to the Next Generation IUJer

IUJ proudly announces we nearly reached are incoming student recruitment goal for 2020. However, as the world has experience an unprecedented situation, the future is uncertain. It is also the best time for young talented to retool themselves for the post COVID era.

With these two thoughts in mind, IUJ is preparing a new emphasis on bringing people back together and train them with stronger cross border cooperation skills and digital savvy: both skills vital for the times ahead. We ask for your help to bring this new talent to campus.

To make it easy for IUJers to introduce your Alma mater to those in your network, we have created a VOUCHER system. Alumni can give a VOUCHER to those in your immediate family and your extended network to send in with their IUJ MA or MBA degree application materials. If they are accepted into IUJ they are guaranteed a partial tuition waiver scholarship (70% waiver for family and 50% waiver for others you introduce). They remain eligible for consideration of other scholarships including ADB-JSP, KMMF (Panasonic), AEON 1%, and others where IUJ can make nominations.

The VOUCHER program started quietly in December 2019, and so far a few alumni have put it to use. More plan to do so for 2021 fall entering students. Please join them.

Download the VOUCHERs

Or access them here

70% Tuition Waiver for Immediate Family – Japanese VOUCHER

70% Tuition Waiver for Immediate Family – English VOUCHER

50% Tuition Waiver – English VOUCHER

50% Tuition Waiver – Japanese VOUCHER

VOUCHERS – Give the Gift of Financial Support to the Next Generation IUJer

The VOUCHER program started quietly in December 2019, and so far a few alumni have put it to use. More plan to do so for 2021 fall entering students. Please join them.

Download the VOUCHERs

Or access them here

Turning to Alumni for Support

The COVID crisis is severely straining IUJ’s budget. We have experienced a loss of income from cancellations of Non Degree Programs and Special summer program. The future of those activities remains in question. Unforeseen costs were incurred due to immediate adaptation needs to keep campus going spring term, and adapt fall term in support of students that cannot yet reach Japan. Funds from corporate giving are in jeopardy with the financial downturn experienced by our corporate partners. We find IUJ in urgent need to reach out to alumni in a major fundraising drive. We call upon our alumni to give back to campus.

IUJ will celebrate our 40 Anniversary in 2022. With an eye to recover financially by then, the IUJ Board of Councilors has launched a concerted fundraising drive. In order to reach the much-needed financial goals, we need to turn to you: Those who have been able to launch into exciting careers in part because of your experiences, skills and network gained at IUJ. Most of you received financial support to attend IUJ, and we hope you are now able give back.

Please give back to IUJ.

Your donations will go directly into maintaining the quality of education the current generation needs and deserves, while also helping develop new programs and courses both for degrees and for non-degree executive training needed for a post COVID world. Many academic institutions will go online. And while that is an option, IUJ believes this is not where quality education and communication skills can be fostered for a global and deeply interconnected world. We strive to maintain a place Where the World Gathers – in person. And we want to build beyond that to Where the World Cooperates. IUJ is and will systematically improve as a perfect training ground where international cooperation, is practiced and then utilized across professional fields and country borders in our graduates’ professional lives.

IUJ’s important role for Post-COVID is to provide skills to the next-generation who can lead effectively in a world increasingly dependent on digital communication techniques coupled with cooperation as a soft skill.

We know you can agree

We know alumni value the human interaction and network they took away from IUJ. The value you all put on the cross-cultural cooperation and communication skills that you nurtured here echoes! Help us to improve upon this unique environment for today’s graduate students and reach IUJ’s potential.

Give to IUJ.

There are two schemes.

ふるさと納税制度で国際大学へ寄付できます (English below)

ふるさと納税制度で南魚沼市へ寄付すると、その90%が国際大学へ助成金として交付されます。ふるさと納税は寄付した金額の2,000円を超える部分については税額控除が受けられます。　https://www.iuj.ac.jp/jp/donation/furusato_donation/ お礼に、南魚沼産コシヒカリ5Kgお送りします。

The Furusato Nozei ふるさと納税 scheme

Those in Japan can donate to Minami Uonuma city and designate IUJ as your benefactor. 90% of what you donate comes to IUJ. This is a tax deductible donation, so your gift does not cost you, except a 2,000yen fee. BUT you will get a gift of 2K Koshihikari Rice! Please see the details at https://www.iuj.ac.jp/donation/ IUJ staff is standing by to support you.

ThANKS Fund Donations*.

Those overseas can use FlyWire to easily send money to campus with no bank fees associated, so what you donate IUJ receives. PayPal, Credit/debit cards, etc. can be used. Those in Japan can use credit cards, bank wire transfers, etc. to donate to the ThANKS Fund as well. Please access the Pledge Form, and learn more about Flywire and other ways to donate, at https://www.iuj.ac.jp/alumni-f/pdf/ThANKSDonationsPledgeForm.pdf

*The ThANKS Fund creates a scholarship to support 2^nd year students who are active in creating a rich campus life. The fund is currently dry. Your donation goes directly to the students, usually two, and usually one from GSIR and one from GSIM so they can continue contributing to campus without financial pressures. See details at https://www.iuj.ac.jp/alumni/donations/

UPDATE:

On August 22, IUJ sent out an email with an urgent appeal for alumni to support incoming students who cannot afford the costs associated with arrival in Japan: two costly PCR tests and a 2-week quarantine before they enter Niigata. The cost will be more than 100,000yen per incoming students. About 56 incoming students do not have a sponsor to help cover this, and IUJ is creating an emergency scholarship for those in need. We need your help to finance this urgent scholarship. Please sponsor 1 student, or give what you can, to help IUJ bring your kohai to campus.

ZOOOOOOOOM Reunions

COVID may create quarantine and isolation, but IUJers found away to turn that into an advantage. Starting from an inspired Class of 1989, with Hanafi, Venkat and Iggy taking the helm, a plan emerged for an online ZOOM Reunion. A date was set and the amazing Iggy created the format: each alum who could participate (and a few who could not) sent in a 1 page powerpoint with photos and

Class of 1989 – SOME of them

an update to be used during the zoom session. When their turn came up, controlled by the powerpoint slide order, the alum took the mic and gave a quick self update. Lots of smiles and comments, waves and old jokes were shared. Then, out came a ukulele by Ando-san and up came the words to Ue wo Muite Aruko, the Sukiyaki Song. For better or for worse, the 40 plus alumni sang along together giggling through most of it. Joined also by some from the classes of 1988 and 1990 (and a few others), the group

Class of 1996

vowed to keep in better touch, with many of them now meeting up to enjoy Bouna’s weekly radio show, Bonjour Africa, with fun music, while chatting along in a WhatsApp group.

With this great success, other classes took note and with the leadership of the Class Representatives, Zoom reunions were organized for many

Class of 2013

classes and the screen shots shared on WeLoveIUJ Facebook page. The Class of 1996, 1997 and 2013 shared memories and fun. The Class of 2019 got together and shared happy tears. The Class of 2003 has a plan for end of August too.

Class Representatives, please ask campus for support for YOUR Online Reunion. Plan for a 2 hour session, but with the experiences above it will last at least 3 fast hours. (Did we miss your class? Send us an update please!).

Old Books/Games become IUJ Donations

Kishapon! きしゃぽん

Do you have books, games, CDs, DVDs etc. that are just taking up your space here in Japan? If you send them to Kishapon, they will make a donation to IUJ! You get space, and IUJ gets a bit of cash.

Kishapon was introduce to IUJ by the chair of the Alumni Association, Tadashi Inagaki (MBA95). After many months of negations, registration and preparation, IUJ finally got on the list of donation recipients.

Here is a PDF flier and application form, with donation instructions – in Japanese.

And here is the website to learn more and get involved.

IUJ Ambassadors Host Info Sessions

When asked how they learned about IUJ and decided to apply, many incoming students say they were influence by alumni. Alumni are indeed our greatest tool for introducing the unique experience found Where the World Gathers and Where the World Cooperates!

Building on this, IUJ has reactivated our Alumni Hosted Info Sessions. Plans for tea parties that began in December switched to the ZOOM platform, and surprisingly this escalated the participation world wide in these sessions! Not only for alumni hosted events, but campus staff – with ambassadors participating – also increased.

In mid August, alumni in 7 countries downloaded campus-provided slides and customized them a bit for their situation. Campus advertised the events calling on the power of the alumni network to get the word out to the next generation. Within 2 weeks we had nearly 120 prospective students register to participate.

Thank yo to our ambassadors in India (Alok), Indonesia (Erata and Katherine), Philippines (Louie and Enzo), Vietnam (Binh), Mongolia (Ochgerel), Ghana (Adolf) and Myanmar (Flora) for their time, and for inspiring people to consider IUJ for their graduate studies.

The next round of Info Sessions will target Bangladesh, Thailand, USA, UK, Europe, Singapore, China and maybe more. Please contribute! If you graduated after 2015, please host. Others, please help spread the word. And remember the VOUCHER system to help you give the gift of Education!

In Memory…

With a heavy heart, we share that IUJ has lost two in our alumni family in 2020.

Neil Hagan, MBA Class of 1999 from USA (April)

Sureka Lakmali Kapuwella Gamladdalage, PMPP Class of 2015 from Sri Lanka (February)

May IUJ Alumni world-wide honor them in the work we do.

Find us on FaceBook

IUJ Alumni Newsletter Deadlines:

The first Friday of June and December are the deadlines for articles, photos, personal updates, questions, Business Connection (business introductions, partner search), world event OpEds and your stories of involvement, etc. Please send your information to alumni@iuj.ac.jp

IUJ Alumni News – Newsletter Archives

The bi-annual publication for IUJ Alumni are presented here in reverse chronological order:

January 2020 – click here for PDF
(please note. Originally formatted as an E-newsletter)

In this Edition . . .

IUJ’s MBA ranked #1 in Japan and #94 GLOBAL by the Economist WhichMBA? ranking!
New MEXT scholarships, and other full-ride scholars are available. Help us find the candidates. New SCHOLARSHIP Vouchers so you can give the gift of learning!
Congratulations to IUJ Chairman Utsuda on being honored
Meet Daniel! Alumni Spotlight
New procedure for obtaining documents from IUJ
New and more secure ways to donate to the ThANKS Fund – 4 options, and one avoids any transaction fees from overseas!
Furusato Nozei – 90% of your donations to Minami Uonuma city come to IUJ!
Networking and Info Sharing about alumni via LinkedIn – please get involved
As seen on Social Media – Professional highlights and achievements by some special alums
Urasa Station improvements – preparations for the Olympics that benefit students

July 2019 – click HERE for PDF and for HTML (please note. Originally formatted as an E-newsletter)

In this Edition . . .

Experience a unique graduation and meet a few or your Kohai – Among them Pappy from The Congo
IUJ welcomes back AASCB Influential Leader awardee Kiyo Ogushi (’92) as our graduation speaker
Business Connections: The activities of Katsumi-san, Japan
Alumni Spotlight: Dengue fever and other viral diseases – Alum on the way to discovering a cure! Hemayet Ullah
Career Story – Josh Huck’s US Foreign Services career
Alum speaks out on Climate Change
IUJ to host a side event at TICAD7 and you are invited
CEO Corner – some of our newest C-class Alumni
BGS – Beta Gamma Sigma and IUJ
As Seen on Social Media – some quick highlights of alumni awards and activities
IUJ World Wide Friday alerts
Thank you to Mr. Konbanwa!

January 2019 – click HERE for PDF (please note. Originally formatted as an E-newsletter)

Bonenkai gathering report
Announcement: James B. Quinn Scholars Award
Alumni as JICA Volunteers in Namibia and Vanuatu
Business Connections – two consulting firms bridging culture gaps
3 Stories of Collaborating Alumni: Middle East/Niigata,
Japan/Myanmar/Cambodia, Indonesia/Japan
Cambodia Reception – A Touching Opening Speech
2 New Books by Class of 1986 grads
UN Assembly – Alumni Speaking for Her Country
Spotlight: Alum in Amman Adding Value
NEW COLUMN: “As Seen on SNS” – featuring 7 awards and achievements shared on SNS
Why We Donate to IUJ – a personal story
Introducing FLYWIRE to help those outside of Japan donate smoothly
Gourmet Marathon – Join us in June?
“THANK YOU” to our alumni volunteers

July 2018 PDF or HTML (please note. Originally formatted as an E-newsletter)

Meet the newly elected Alumni Association Executive Council
Celebrate IUJ’s AASCB accreditation
Discover how some IUJers are collaborating
Hear words of thanks from your ThANKS Fund awardees 2017-18
Congratulate three alumni who are/will be at the top of their companies
Learn about an education initiative for girls in Nigeria by an IUJer
Find out about the Experts program relaunch and how it will help “Leverage IUJ’s Alumni Network”
Plan to join an IUJ World Wide Friday event, near you – Link to Tokyo event for RSVP too
Learn who because IUJ Professor Emeritus recently

January 2018 or HTML

Introducing IUJ’s newest degree program, March 14 Alumni Executive Council elections info, Current campus activities: Competition winners, HOUSE and MENTOR programs launched. Business Connections “Tokyo by Food,” Alumni Advisory Boards (pilot project) launched. AND report on “Singapore Survey” – Alumni in Singapore’s findings about feelings toward the ThANKS Fund for scholarships, and IUJ’s response. This edition was emailed Feb. 2, 2018. Please check your email and update campus if you did not receive it. Thank you!

Have you collaborated or cooperated with a fellow IUJer? Please share your stories with campus, and for the next edition (early June deadline).

July 2017, or HTML 35th Anniversary special

IUJ Homecoming report, introduction of incoming IUJ president. Update on IUJ Counseling and consultation services. Look at the new setting for graduation, and more. This version was emailed July 25, 2017. If you did not receive your copy, please check your spam folder, or update campus with your new email.

January 2017 PDF

Information on the May 12-14 2017 Homecoming for alumni with IUJ’s 35th anniversary, and commemorative LOGO design competition info. Alumni Showcases for 3 categories. Business connection request in energy sector. Alumni Association update on Bonenkai. Halal@IUJ. And a fun nostalgic photo of cooking in the IUJ kitchens! plus plus!

August 2016 PDF

Articles by IUJ Alumni who are volunteers to support the newsletters for our association. ?Learn about and from 13 IUJers spanning careers in memories of Open Day, sustainable food production, gamification, love of sake, crisis management and much more! Special thanks to the alumni for their contributions!

January 2016 –

IUJ’s new office in Hanoi, Halal offerings in the IUJ community, update on IUJ’s growing Non-Degree Programming, and much more

July 2015: HTMLorPDF
Meet the new IUJ Chairman of the Board, and other top leaders, find out how Graduation 2015 went with both June and August graduates participating – and learn what Father/Son and Mother/Son alumni combinations we now have, Career Services benefited dramatically from Alumni support this year – find out how. ?And much much more. ?This newsletter was emailed on July 22, 2pm. If you did not receive it please contact the Alumni Relations Office with an email update. Thank you

January 2015 – IUJ as “Top University”, PhD programs launched at IUJ, Alumni EC Elections, IUJ New Language Center info, Rankings, AACSB is work in progress, PEACE and ABE Initiative program updates, 1-year program updates, IUJ and Meiji University, IUJ’s Entrepreneurs, A ClassNotes Quiz, Cool campus photo and Facebook access info.

July 2014 – IMBA 1st batch to graduate, New 1-year Masters in Public Policy, Experiences in Bagdad and with the IAEI, Business Connections to Vietnam, Banker of the Year in Botswana, Motorcycle trip through Japan, and more. IUJ Friday is September 5!

January 2014 – Typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan and our alumni, 3 Business Connection features, IUJ Bonenkai update, Alumni highlights: Book awards, conference meetings, and more!

July 2013 – The IUJ-Meiji Partnership explored, ThANKS Fund Updates, IUJ Campus News Highlights, June graduation with Unique Features, and IUJ World Wide Friday information, and more!

January 2013 – Introducing IUJ’s 10th President, Showcasing Alumni in Governments and IOs, Latest MBA Ranking (#2 Asian Rising Star!), IUJ Friday and Bonenkai photos, and much much more.

July 2012 – 30th Anniversary celebrations continued.

July-2011/January2012 – Combined edition: 30th Anniversary celebrations!

January 2011 – Affirming our Mission, New activities in “Linking Japan to the World,” Alumni Census and seeking info on Missing Alumni, IUJ Museum started, Chapter revitalization and expansion, Economist essay competition winners, introduction to 7 IUJ degree programs, World Issue Links – Sudan and Timor-Leste, Business Links – Ebiz grad’s new company, Global Strategy Conference by IUJ, MBA Rankings, Research and Alumni involvement, Orix CEO Miyauchi-san’s lecture at IUJ, Support for student recruitment – spread the word. And a ThANKS Fund special request – Pres. Mori will match your donation!

July 2010 – Mentor Programs updates – 3 programs now! Welfield-sensei and Sakai-san retire, but still here while Buszynski-sensei moves on. Annual Reception report. Learn how to DOUBLE your donations. Meet the students we are supporting through the ThANKS Fund scholarship program. Find out what your classmates are doing in the ClassNotes section. Green ITers unite! World Issues and an IUJers involvement. Special Thanks to those supporting student recruitment efforts. June Graduation speeches. Admissions info for 2011- tell a friend, colleague or your kids!

January 2010 – Meet IUJ’s new president, Mr. Masakatsu Mori. Discover who is the first Ambassador from among our alumni. Say goodbye to class of 2009 graduate Ms. Toni Kindipan, Learn about developments for Komatsu in India and poverty reduction efforts in Laos led my alumni, find out about the newest Chapters to join our growing list, and help say THANK YOU to all many who helped promote IUJ in the past few months. And of course, catch up with each other in the ClassNotes section.

July 2009 – Meet the 2nd ThANKs Fund Scholarship recipients, learn about the new Women’s Mentor Program, find out what Cambodia and Nepal chapters are up to, learn who is supporting a hospital in Tanzania and the homeless in Japan, AND plan to come to the next IUJ World Wide Friday (Sept. 25) which we hope can be a world-wide IUJ Charity event for Room to Read! Of course, your class mates are noted in the ClassNotes section

January 2009 – Introductions to our first ThANKS Fund scholarship recipients. Important updates from the IUJ President and IM Dean. Upcoming Alumni meeting and elections plan. Spotlight on alumni who have impacted Vietnam. Special India-Japan Business relations. Two new clubs at IUJ – Consulting Club and Global concerns. And much more…

See Naresh Makijani ‘s publications: white paper on Strategy using Balanced

July 2008 (Alumni involved in Cyclone and Earthquake relief efforts, alumni on UNSC, student winners of contests and conference attendees, Alumni Annual reception report and photos, ClassNotes, NHK upcoming drama and IUJ’s connection to Kanatsugu NAOE, IUJ Friday, Volunteers needed, Class Rep and Chapter Chair leadership changes, and more.)

January 2008 (Mobile lab guest speaker series, Vietnam investment opportunities, LinkedIN IUJ groups, Class Notes, WorldWideFriday photos, and more).

July 2007 SPECIAL 25th Anniversary Edition (with many photos, IUJ and world history, Memories, Tribute to Tamaru-sensei who is retiring and a fundraising drive with that, ClassNotes, Chapter Updates, WorldWide Friday planning, etc.!)
January 2007 (with Photos, and color!)

Information on the 25th Anniversary Celebration plans, IUJ presidential change, CHAPTER leaders – Chairs and Vice Chairs in 38 countries and counting, 2 new relationships for IUJ – GLOBIS and UNU, new job support for alumni in the job hunt, THANKS Fund update and promotion, ClassNotes and much more.

July 2006 (with Photos, and COLOR!)

Alumni Association Executive Council introductions, IUJGReEN and IUJ REP explanation, Donation updates, Online Event intro, Chapters Formalizing, InfoSession volunteering, 3 Alumni Spotlights, and 1986/1996 20th and 10th anniversaries, ClassNotes, Campus Updates, Graduation 2006, and THANKS to those donating to theTHANKS Fund – with a request for more participation.

January 2006 (with photos, and COLOR!)

IUJ’s new research platform program description, a new degree program of International Peace Studies, donation update and new fundraising campaign launch, IUJ Friday update, India donations to children Tsunami victims, Aid work in Sri Lanka to bring water to Tsunami hit areas, Myanmar National Baseball team is launched by 2 alumni, Tribute to Mr. Sohei Nakayama, 3 more spotlights and more!!!!

July 2005 (without photos)

IUJ students become finalists in the Singapore business plan competition, IUJ donates to Tsunami hit regions, Alumni connectivity update and goals, New IUJ program and curricula quick briefing, 4 Business connections, 3 spotlights, and introduction to the 82 hosts in 55 cities planning IUJ World-wide Friday on September 2. And of course Class Notes!

January 2005 (without photos)

Earthquake and the affects on campus, New Dean of the Business school introduced, 3 exciting careers of our alumni, reports and messages to Angelito Nayan who had been held captive in Afghanistan, and much more in this long 16 page newsletter.

July 2004 (without photos)

January 2003 – with many color photos!

July 2003 (with color photos)

Pages 1-7: Alumni Association report, initiatives and structure; New Chairman/ViceChair report, MBA rankings, E-Campus magazine info, “Business Connections,” Alumni Spotlights
Page 8-11: ClassNotes, Remembering Prof. Matsuyama, Graduation 2003
Page 12-13: Special views and expert comments on the War in Iraq and its aftermath
Page 14: Fundraising Campaign report, Fun Facts, Career Services info, Email Policy change, and Editor’s Note

January 2003 (with color photos)
An Interview with the new president, info on the February 7 Annual Meeting (RSVP file here) , read the news Business Connections page for alumni to introduce their business activities, read the thoughts on the IT world by the first alumni to address a graduating class (E-business graduations), and experience along with an alumni events in the Middle East, and much more! Including photos of world wide gatherings of the Alumni Network.

If you do NOT receive your hard copy in the mail by mid January, we do not have your accurate mailing address. Please see your Online Profile and update your records. Thanks.

July 2002
Find out about the 20th Anniversary celebrations, the first Alumni Fund Raising campaign and much more!

January 2002
Here is a special edition to help IUJ kick off 20th Anniversary celebrations. It features color photos, IUJ fun history timelines, a “Where are they now” look at IUJ professors now and then, a look at the makeup of the IUJ alumni network by class, country and more. See the special slide show of the digital photos from this version. Also, see these special PDF files of the color pages Front pages and Middle section. !

July 2001

View the entire invitation and conference information for Sakai-san’s event: Energy Conference

View a slide show of digital photos from this newsletter.

January 2001
2000 July
2000 January
1999 July
1999 January

Current Info
Learn any new information from campus, announcements and events on Facebook, Twitter or our News Page.

Submit Articles and Info
Have news for us? Please submit your ClassNotes, feature articles, questions you would like answered in the next issue to alumni@iuj.ac.jp.
Deadlines for submission are the first week of June and first week of December each year. IUJ Alumni News is printed distributed in January and July each year.

A new newsletter for non-Japanese nationals who have studied in Japan is now available from JASSO. Please subscribe! Click on the Logo left.

“ICLOVE” will be broadcast on “NHK Ohayo Japan”

01/07/2014/in Announcements, IM News, IR News, News /by zawzaw

“ICLOVE” will be broadcast on “NHK Ohayo Japan”
Public Relations
Jan. 7, 2014

A new business collaboration program between Minami-uonuma-shi and IUJ called “ICLOVE” began last July and has offered a workshop, supported research collaboration for small businesses and NPOs based in Minami-Uonuma-shi.
IUJ students’ actions to support local business through “ICLOVE” will be broadcast during “NHK Ohayo Japan” on January 17, around 7:30am.

02/27/2026/by Public Relations

International University of Japan Hosts Snow Festival to Promote Intercultural Exchange Through Snow Sculptures and Bonfires

02/13/2026/by Office of Academic Affairs

2026年3月13日（金）トリプルヘリックス・フォーラム ― サステナビリティとAIによるデジタル変革 ― 開催のお知らせ Triple-Helix Forum on Sustainability and AI-Driven Digital Transformation

Tab 1 Tab 2 Tab 3 Tab 4

Update from Campus: COVID19 Situation

IUJ campus remains safe, and virus free as of this writing, January 26. We hope all of you are safe, and wearing your masks!

The faculty, staff and students are working hard together as a team to maintain a safe and functioning campus to keep academics on track and the learning environment dynamic and safe.

We could not have come this far without the support of many alumni! We thank all those who provided donations in the early days of masks, disinfectants, etc.

Introducing IUJ’s New Business Degree: A 1-year Program in DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

See the full course listing at https://www.iuj.ac.jp/digital-transformation-program-course-list/

If your company or organization needs staff prepared for the digital era, please consider sending them to IUJ for 1-year.

To encourage your family or those in your network to become valued employees, please remember the VOUCHER program – give them a voucher that guarantees them 50-70% tuition waiver!

See the related story on the VOUCHER program and Give the Gift of Learning!

Download the VOUCHERs here https://www.iuj.ac.jp/alumni/volunteering/#voucher

Introducing Two Winter Term MBA Courses of Special Interest

History of Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Integrated Marketing Communication

New Scholarships for Those with a Passion for the Energy Business: IUJ’s Growing Relationship with JERA Co. Inc.

JAPAN’S E NERGY FOR A NEW ERA

ALUMNI AND JERA

LEARN MORE

Helpful Links

IUJ Scholarship Guide

https://www.iuj.ac.jp/admission/pdf/2021/Sch_Instructions_M_E.pdf

Article on the JERA Asia Scholarship

https://www.jera.co.jp/english/information/20201203_559

JERA website in English

https://www.jera.co.jp/english/

A Defining Hobby – Toys!

IUJ alumni can be found everywhere in the world and doing just about every job imaginable, well maybe not flying to the moon. Hobbies, too are as diverse as IUJers are colorful. Enter CJ.

Because …..

Somebody else’s junk is another person’s treasure!

Watch her introductory video here! https://youtu.be/KVVoaFDCe1s

Business Connections: Team up with an alum for effective marketing message development

Gil Aranowitz, MBA 1994

Founder and Creative Strategy Director at The Best Words Win

If you are interested to learn what Gil can do for your place of work or the cause you are promoting, please reach out to him.

https://www.thebestwordswin.com/

gil@thebestwordswin.com

Editor’s Note:

Cause Connections: Rebuilding a School for Girls in Burkina Faso

Eden Lompo Miyemba, IRP, 2020

Project Executor, Empower African Girls

https://readyfor.jp/projects/empower_african_girls

Editor’s Note:

Business Connections – Spicing Up Diversity in Japan: Dried Fruits to Bridge Cultures

(日本語　article found below English)

Makoto Ujike (IDP2002, Japan)

https://www.ilodoly.com/english/

ILODOLY (彩り) is a word that indicates an abundance of color.

Ujike aims to build a more open-minded society in which diverse cultures and values coexist by means of introducing rare products that are unknown in Japan.

His main focus is on developing sales partners and B2B customers such as dried fruit specialty stores, restaurants, and cafes.

In the future, he plans to increase the sales of products with organic certificates. For example, negotiations for Myanmar red pepper and Cameroon pepper are underway.

Ujike welcomes IUJers to reach out to him for possible collaboration in the spirit of ILODOLY.

日本語

https://www.ilodoly.com/english/

ILODOLY（彩り）とは、多種多様であるカラフルな状態を示す言葉である。

氏家は日本で知られていない珍しい商品を輸入し紹介することで、多様な文化と価値観が共存する寛容な社会の実現を目指す。

今後は、オーガニック認証の取れた商品の品揃えを増やしてゆく方針であり、ミャンマー産赤唐辛子や、カメルーン産胡椒の交渉が進んでいる。

Cause Connections: Philippine Typhoon Fundraising Collaboration

Indeed, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

Written by Arianne Abarquez (IDP Class of 2021), also a Development Bank of the Philippines staffer studying at IUJ under a JICA scholarship scheme.

Business Connections – BAKELA Seeks Project Development and Management Partners

Changuk An, IDP Class of 2013

BAKELA has been engaged with planning and M&E (monitoring and evaluation) projects in 16 partner countries: Nepal, Sri-Lanka, Senegal, Mozambique, Colombia, Honduras, etc.

As BAKELA expands its international development and cooperation activities into more countries, BAKELA is seeking to develop stable partnerships with various entities in 2021. Partnerships . . .

With local governments: For upcoming projects, if the government can identify problems they wish to overcome, BAKELA can begin to discuss how to address the specific points and find sources of funding.
With local consultants or consultancies: They are looking for those who can conduct on-site due diligence on behalf of BAKELA for potential projects.
With local consultancies: They hope to find good help to deal with the long-term projects’ performance management (baseline survey, monitoring, evaluation and advocacy) working side-by-side with the BAKELA consultants.

Right now, BAKELA needs local consultancies in two countries: Senegal and Honduras, for one short-term project and two long-term projects.

Case 1: M&E (May 2020 – Dec 2022) for “Construction of Frequency Regulation System with ESS Package in Senegal” project.

Case 2: Planning (Nov 2020 – Feb 2021) for “Master plan establishment for Honduras distribution automation system”

Case 3: M&E (May 2022 – Dec 2025) for “Green Energy Island project in Guanaja, BI, Honduras” Project

“I am hoping some IUJ friends will partner with us to progress our initiatives!”

Changuk An, IDP Class of 2013

http://bakelacorp.com/28

Give the Gift of Learning at IUJ

Give that experience to the next generation by introducing them to IUJ’s many and diverse programs. To make that easier, we encourage alumni to use the Scholarship Guarantee VOUCHER.

Simply download a VOUCHER – either for a family member or someone in your network – fill it out and let them send it in with their IUJ application materials. They will automatically be guaranteed a 50-70% Tuition-based Scholarship! (70% for a family member, 50% for others in your network). They will remain eligible for upgraded scholarships such as ADB, JERA, AEON 1% Club, KMMF (Panasonic) and others!

Please, help Replace Yourself at IUJ!

70% Tuition Waiver for Immediate Family – Japanese VOUCHER

70% Tuition Waiver for Immediate Family – English VOUCHER

50% Tuition Waiver – English VOUCHER

50% Tuition Waiver – Japanese VOUCHER

Remembering 3 special IUJers

Campus was saddened by the news of the passing of three alumni these past few months. Our thoughts go out to their families and friends, including their IUJ Family.

Amb. Mohammad Waheed-Ul-Hassan Malik, Class of 1988, Pakistan. Former ambassador to Uzbekistan and Morocco, and MOFA official in many capacities world wide for Pakistan.

Joji Aragon, Class of 1988, Philippines, Undersecretary Department of Labor and Employment, Government of the Philippines, and mother to Class of 2020 Nagisa Kazami.

Dilshod Kimsanov, PMPP Class of 2015, Tajikistan. Government official who was currently studying for his PhD in Japan.

May IUJ alumni world-wide honor them in the work we do.

New Executive Councilor Chosen: 2021-2024 members introduction

Council Leaders

Chair Mitsuharu Nakano, MBA90 – Japan — Please refer to his initial message (May 2021)
Co-Vice Chair Yang Yaoyu, MBA96, China (China Relations)
Co-Vice Chair Hideyuki Kawashima, MBA90 – Japan (Treasurer)
Co-Vice Chair Tadashi Inagaki, MBA95 – Japan (Sr. Advisor)
Daniel Bukenya, MBA08 – Uganda (in Uganda) (Africa Relations)
Priyanshu Sharma, MBA11, India (in Singapore) (ASEAN/SAARC Relations)
Keisuke Kurogi, MBA19 – Japan (Local Community Relations)

Members

Steven White, MA 1988 – USA (in China)
Norimasa Teramachi, MBA93 – Japan
Rakib Mahmood, MBA97 – Bangladesh (In USA)
Tadahiko Ishikawa, MBA03 – Japan
Denis Desjardins, MBA11, Canada (in Vietnam)
Akiyo Higaki, MA17 – Japan
Mohammed Reda Ahmed MBA19 – Egypt (in Egypt)

EC members are expected to do their best to achieve the objectives below
and to implement regular activities as described.

The objective of the IUJ Alumni Association is to contribute to:

EC’s major activities 2018-2021.

b. Bonen-kai, or year-end party, either online or off-line

c. IUJ Friday, either online or off-lined.

70% Tuition Waiver for Immediate Family – Japanese VOUCHER

70% Tuition Waiver for Immediate Family – English VOUCHER

50% Tuition Waiver – English VOUCHER

50% Tuition Waiver – Japanese VOUCHER