editionA newsletter for the 4,738 alumni (1985-2020) and counting.
January 2021
Click a photo below to read the 12 articles.
Please watch for ways you can be involved and give back to campus
Update from Campus: COVID19 Situation
IUJ campus remains safe, and virus free as of this writing, January 19. We hope all of you are safe, and wearing your masks!
Currently, IUJ is offering as many face-to-face classes as is safe to do, and when 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, the IUJ staff takes the temperature of each person entering the classroom, makes sure they have their masks on, seating is socially distancing acceptable, and their hands are sanitized. IN addition, classrooms are ventilate regularly, and each student wipes down their desk with a sanitizing cloth before sitting down.
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: 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 them, and gave 1,500yen of coupons to be used at the Shokudo, thanks to the financial support from JASSO 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.
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. And, in an emergency fundraising effort over 50 alumni plus a few groups generously donated funds to support incoming students. The unexpected cost some students faced because of the required 2-week quarantine was going to force some to give up their IUJ dreams. But the alumni came through. IN just a few weeks we could raise 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 o
f 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.
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
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.
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 wwo 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!
Business Connections: Team up with an alum for effective marketing message development
Gil Aranowitz, MBA 1994Meet 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 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 a “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 a 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/
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
Meet Eden Lompo Miyemba, IRP, 2020
Project Executor, Empower African Girls
Lompo is 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. Sumiko 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)
Meet Makoto Ujike (IDP2002, Japan)
Makoto 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, 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.
After graduating from IUJ, he 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.
Before starting up his own company, Makoto Ujike 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.
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
Mercilida Bognot-Espero, IDP2015 from the Philippines, tapped campus for help with a fundraising drive for Philippine Typhoon victims last fall. Mercilida is a member of an organization that volunteers to extend relief to typhoon victims in difficult-to-reach areas.
The organization, Adventists at UP Diliman, is a religious affiliation comprised of students and alumni from the University of the Philippines. This group learned about Tanay Rizal, a certain area where immediate help was difficult to reach because the bridge connecting to it was destroyed in the typhoon. The alumni and students volunteered to cross the river and walk for 30 minutes to reach the community where 146 families lived.
The group coordinated with campus through student leader Arianne, to raise funds to support these 146 families. In strategic points around campus donation boxes were available for those able to donate. Arianne then got the funds to Mercilida to help those in need in Tanay Rizal.
Business Connections
BAKELA seeks Project Development and Management partners
Meet Changuk An, IDP Class of 2013
After graduation, An-san worked in a UN Agency, World Food Program in Ethiopia as a consultant from 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 implement economic, environmental, social and cultural study, 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 we expand our international development and cooperation activities into more countries, BAKELA is seeking to develop stable partnerships with various entities in 2021. Partnerships . . .
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. Our 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
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.
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
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.
IUJ campus remains safe, and virus free as of this writing, January 19. We hope all of you are safe, and wearing your masks!
Currently, IUJ is offering as many face-to-face classes as is safe to do, and when 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, the IUJ staff takes the temperature of each person entering the classroom, makes sure they have their masks on, seating is socially distancing acceptable, and their hands are sanitized. IN addition, classrooms are ventilate regularly, and each student wipes down their desk with a sanitizing cloth before sitting down.
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: 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 them, and gave 1,500yen of coupons to be used at the Shokudo, thanks to the financial support from JASSO 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.
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. And, in an emergency fundraising effort over 50 alumni plus a few groups generously donated funds to support incoming students. The unexpected cost some students faced because of the required 2-week quarantine was going to force some to give up their IUJ dreams. But the alumni came through. IN just a few weeks we could raise 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 T
RANSFORMATION
The world has changed significantly over the past decade and certainly
this pa
st 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 o
f 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.
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
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.
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 wwo 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/
Introducing two winter term MBA courses of Special Interest
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.
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!
Business Connections: Team up with an alum for effective marketing message development
Gil Aranowitz, MBA 1994Meet 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 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 a “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 a 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/
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
Meet Eden Lompo Miyemba, IRP, 2020
Project Executor, Empower African Girls
Lompo is 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. Sumiko 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)
Meet Makoto Ujike (IDP2002, Japan)
Makoto 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, 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.
After graduating from IUJ, he 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.
Before starting up his own company, Makoto Ujike 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.
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
Mercilida Bognot-Espero, IDP2015 from the Philippines, tapped campus for help with a fundraising drive for Philippine Typhoon victims last fall. Mercilida is a member of an organization that volunteers to extend relief to typhoon victims in difficult-to-reach areas.
The organization, Adventists at UP Diliman, is a religious affiliation comprised of students and alumni from the University of the Philippines. This group learned about Tanay Rizal, a certain area where immediate help was difficult to reach because the bridge connecting to it was destroyed in the typhoon. The alumni and students volunteered to cross the river and walk for 30 minutes to reach the community where 146 families lived.
The group coordinated with campus through student leader Arianne, to raise funds to support these 146 families. In strategic points around campus donation boxes were available for those able to donate. Arianne then got the funds to Mercilida to help those in need in Tanay Rizal.
Business Connections
BAKELA seeks Project Development and Management partners
Meet Changuk An, IDP Class of 2013
After graduation, An-san worked in a UN Agency, World Food Program in Ethiopia as a consultant from 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 implement economic, environmental, social and cultural study, 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 we expand our international development and cooperation activities into more countries, BAKELA is seeking to develop stable partnerships with various entities in 2021. Partnerships . . .
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. Our 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
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.
editionA newsletter for the 4,736 alumni (1985-2020) and counting.
August 2020
Click a photo below to read the 12 articles.
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, 1st 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 2nd year courses will be taught online if the faculty member is unable to travel safely to campus (nearly all 2nd 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.”
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.
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 25th 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 19th 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
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).
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.
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?
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.
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
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.
Or access them here
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。
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 2nd 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/
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.
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, p
lease 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!).
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.
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!
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.
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
The bi-annual publication for IUJ Alumni are presented here in reverse chronological order:
In this Edition . . .
In this Edition . . .
July 2018 PDF or HTML (please note. Originally formatted as an E-newsletter)
January 2018 or HTML
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
August 2016 PDF
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)
Alumni Association report, initiatives and structure; New Chairman/ViceChair report, MBA rankings, E-Campus magazine info, “Business Connections,” Alumni Spotlights ClassNotes, Remembering Prof. Matsuyama, Graduation 2003 Special views and expert comments on the War in Iraq and its aftermath Fundraising Campaign report, Fun Facts, Career Services info, Email Policy change, and Editor’s NoteJanuary 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. !
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.
Book Talk episode 11
Date: January 18, 2021
Professor: Comai, Alessandro
Mapping & Anticipating the Competitive Landscape by Alessandro Comai and Joaquin Tena Millan
