Ryota Konno : Co-Chair
Wakana Inoue : Co-Chair
Melanie Ruhl : Marketing
Megumi Kiriha : Marketing
Haruka Yasuda : Interactive Workshops
Ryoma Ueta : TOMO Voices
Yuuki Takashima : Regional Leader Presentations
TOMODACHI Summit Core Committee 2019
NishiTokyo, Tokyo
Ryota Konno is one of the 2019 TOMODACHI Generation Summit Core Committee. Originally from Namie Town in Fukushima Prefecture, he is currently enrolled in a masters degree program at Waseda University majoring in Sports Business. He participated in the TOMODACHI Coca-Cola Educational Homestay Program in 2012 during his third year in high school, and has since, participating in many TOMODACHI programs as a member of the alumni community. He is interested in planning and management, and is involved in the management of the 2019 TOMODACHI Generation Summit. He aims to manage the Summit better by making use of the experience gained in past programs and opportunities provided by TOMODACHI.
TOMODACHI Summit Core Committee 2019
Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture
Wakana Inoue is one of the 2019 TOMODACHI Generation Summit Core Committee. She participated in the Building the TOMODACHI Generation : Morgan Stanley Ambassadors Program in the spring of her sophomore year at college. During the program, she learned about social entrepreneurship and leadership and examined and suggested restoration support measures for the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake with students from both Japan and the United States. She was inspired by the highly motivated and active participants from various fields during the program and hopes to do her best as one of the Core Committee members of the TOMODACHI Generation Summit so that people from different perspectives can meet and connect at the Summit! Wakana is a graduate of the Faculty of Law at Keio University.
TOMODACHI Summit Core Committee 2019
Musashino, Tokyo
Melanie Ruhl is one of the 2019 TOMODACHI Generation Summit Core Committee. A native of Florida, she spent her summers in Japan, which instilled within her an interest in Japanese language and culture from a young age. To cultivate this interest, she studied abroad at Aoyama Gakuin University and was selected as a TOMODACHI Bridging Scholar. Inspired by the concept of TOMODACHI, she attended the TOMODACHI Daiwa House Student Leadership Conference in Washington DC and participated in the 2017 and 2018 TOMODACHI Generation Summits. This year, as a member of the Core Committee, she is looking forward to taking on a more hands-on role with the Summit. Melanie is currently an employee with a Japanese chemical company, currently working in global HR.
TOMODACHI Summit Core Committee 2019
Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture
Megumi Kiriha is one of the 2019 TOMODACHI Generation Summit Core Committee. After graduating from School of International Liberal Studies at Waseda University, she starts working at NTT Data. Majoring in peace building and Middle Eastern studies, Megumi studied abroad at School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London in order to pursue her interests. When she was anxious about her dream in the career realized in her studying abroad, Tomodachi Metlife Women’s Leadership Program gave her inspiration. TMWLP gave her confidence and the opportunity to meet up with wonderful companions. She truly hopes to strengthen and widen attractive and inspirational TOMODACHI network beyond areas, generations, and programs.
TOMODACHI Summit Core Committee 2019
Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture
Haruka Yasuda is one of the 2019 TOMODACHI Generation Summit Core Committee. She is from Sendai, Miyagi and currently studies Global Studies and Collaboration at Aoyama Gakuin University. At university, she is learning from various angles about the development of Southeast Asia. In her second year of high school, she participated in TOMODACHI HLAB TOHOKU 2015 Program, and in her sophomore year of university she participated in the TOMODACHI Microsoft iLEAP Social innovation and Leadership Program in Seattle. In her junior year at university, she studied at Thammasat University in Thailand for six months.
TOMODACHI Summit Core Committee 2019
Tachikawa, Tokyo
Ryoma Ueta is one of the 2019 TOMODACHI Generation Summit Core Committee. Born in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, he participated in the 5th TOMODACHI MUFG International Exchange Program and traveled to California in 2016. After the program, he participated in the TOMODACHI Generation Global Leadership Academy in 2016 and 2018. During the program, he realized the importance of being a global leader with critical thinking skills and gained a wider perspective about our society. He currently attends Hosei University’s Department of International Economy.
TOMODACHI Summit Core Committee 2019
Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture
Yuuki Takashima is one of the 2019 TOMODACHI Generation Summit Core Committee. She participated in the TOMODACHI U.S.-Japan Youth Exchange Program in the summer of 2017. Visiting Washington D.C. for two weeks and Tohoku for a week, she learned the power of young generations on the society, and became passionate about contributing to the society as a member of the TOMODACHI Generation. This experience inspired her to be the 2018 TOMODACHI Alumni Regional Deputy Leader of Kanto Region,Team B, creating events which focused on building the relation among TOMODACHI Alumni and Visualising the future plan. She participated TOMODACHI Generation Summit as a High school volunteer in 2017 and Regional Deputy Leader in 2018. She hopes to meet and talk to TOMODACHI Alumni who all taking actions in various areas, and learn from them. She lived in India for a year when she was in a Junior High School. She is senior at Keio Shonan Fujisawa High School and is the captain of Girls soccer club.
Hayato Kimura, Kana Sagawa, Hiroto Konno, Chisa Funada, Rio Fujii, Shota Eda, Kosuke Baba, Shoko Sano
TOMODACHI Summit Core Committee 2018
Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture
Hayato Kimura is the Deputy Chair of the TOMODACHI Summit 2018 Core Committee. He participated in the TOMODACHI U.S. -Japan Youth Exchange Program during his second year of high school. There, he learned about entrepreneurship, civic engagement, and the Tohoku community's will and action to move forward from the Great East Japan Earthquake. Learning this with other students from the Tohoku Region along with American students from Washington D.C., it inspired him to participate in the 2017 TOMODACHI Alumni Regional Framework as a Deputy Leader for the Kanto Region. The experience made him realize the significance of the TOMODACHI Network and pushed him to participate in the TOMODACHI Summit as a member of the Core Committee. He will be studying law and politics in Keio University from April 2018.
Hayato Kimura is a Core Committee member of the 2018 TOMODACHI Generation Summit and is also one of the 2017 TOMODACHI Alumni Regional Leaders of the Kanto Region. His bio can be found here.
TOMODACHI Summit Core Committee 2018
Oota-ku, Tokyo
Kana Sagawa is on the TOMODACHI Generation Summit 2018 Core Committee. She is from Iwaki, Fukushima and will be going into her third year at Keio University. Kana participated in the TOMODACHI Summer 2013 SoftBank Leadership Program during her first year of high school and learned about local contribution and leadership at UC Berkeley in California. In the following year, Kana participated in the TOMODACHI High School Women Career Mentoring Program in Fukushima, where she was greatly influenced by the women who work in top level companies who have strong will. She looks forward in meeting TOMODACHI Alumni taking action in their own routes through the TOMODACHI Summit 2018.
Kana Sagawa is a Core Committee member of the 2018 TOMODACHI Generation Summit and is also one of the 2016 TOMODACHI Alumni Regional Leaders of the Kanto Region. Her bio can be found here.
TOMODACHI Summit Core Committee 2018
Nakano-ku, Tokyo
Hiroto Konno is part of the TOMODACHI Summit 2018 Core Committee. He was born in Furukawa, Miyagi in 1999. He participated in the 3rd TOMODACHI MUFG Exchange Program and traveled to California in 2014. Two years later, he participated in the TOMODACHI U.S.-Japan Youth Exchange Program and learned about entrepreneurship in the U.S. and Japan. In 2017, Hiroto participated in the TOMODACHI Alumni Regional Framework as a deputy leader for Tohoku Region Team 2 and hosted his theme event “FIND YOUR TOHOKU”. He actively worked on the theme regional engagement and participation of high schoolers by various approaches. This includes his work as a student president of his school, as well as creating workshops on study abroad programs with his student organization. Hiroto will be attending to Waseda University Department of Studies on Publicness and Citizenship from April 2018.
Hiroto Konno is a Core Committee member of the 2018 TOMODACHI Generation Summit and is also one of the 2017 TOMODACHI Alumni Regional Leaders of the Tohoku-Hokkaido Region. His bio can be found here.
TOMODACHI Summit Core Committee 2018
Setagaya-ku, Tokyo
Chisa Funada is on the TOMODACHI Generation Summit 2018 Core Committee. She participated TOMODACHI Toshiba Science and Technology Leadership Academy (TTA) in 2015 and was influenced by people who she met on the program and has been actively engaged with alumni events and programs since then. Through TOMODACHI, Chisa not only realized the importance of turning people's eyes to the world, but also the importance of having pride in her hometown and making it better. Chisa also likes watching professional basketball games and cooking birthday cakes for her friends. Chisa is studying sports business and regional revitalization at Keio University and will be starting her 2nd year in April 2018.
TOMODACHI Summit Core Committee 2018
Nerima-ku, Tokyo
Rio Fujii is part of the TOMODACHI Summit 2018 Core Committee. She is a junior at Ochanomizu University studying international relations and is currently studying abroad at Bates College in Maine on the Hirasawa scholarship program. Rio is an alumni of the 3rd TOMODACHI Metlife Women's Leadership Program in 2015. As a native of Japan, the TOMODACHI program was her first experience going to the U.S and her mindset changed on the program being inspired by female leaders with global careers and highly motivated peers. The experience encouraged her to take the leap to study abroad. In November 2017, she shared her experience at USJC annual conference as one of the alumni speakers. In order to give it back to the TOMODACHI initiative, she is passionate about helping to empower other young Japanese women like her before the program. By being one of the Core Committee, she also hopes to create space for everyone in TOMODACHI generation can engage one another through active dialogue.
TOMODACHI Summit Core Committee 2018
Setagaya-ku, Tokyo
Shota Eda is the Chair of the TOMODACHI Summit 2018 Core Committee. He is currently working at Google and graduated from the University of Tokyo with a degree in law and politics. While in college, he established a sharing-economy startup called TASKEYA Inc. as founder and CEO. While running a nonprofit, Shota realized the difficulty of building a sustainable social business model, which encouraged him to participate in the TOMODACHI-Microsoft iLEAP Social Innovation and Leadership Program 2015, where he learned about leadership, met inspiring role models, and built life-long relationships with his host family, staff, and other program participants. After coming back, he had various opportunities to connect with TOMODACHI alumni from other programs such as when he participated in the TOMODACHI Summit, visited Silicon Valley as a speaker of the U.S.-Japan Council Annual Conference, and upon joining other alumni events. There, he realized the potential and the possibility of the alumni network, where people are helpful, ambitious, and shared a common value, and so he became the Regional Leader of the Kanto Region in 2017. He also likes playing the guitar and watching movies of all kinds.
Shota Eda is a Core Committee member of the 2018 TOMODACHI Generation Summit and is also one of the 2017 TOMODACHI Alumni Regional Leaders of the Kanto Region. His bio can be found here.
TOMODACHI Summit Core Committee 2018
Koutou-ku, Tokyo
Kosuke Baba is part of the TOMODACHI Summit 2018 Core Committee. He is currently working at PricewaterhouseCoopers and graduated from International Christian University with a degree in liberal arts and economics. He studied abroad at Guilford College in North Carolina as an exchange student during his junior year. There, Kosuke participated in the TOMODACHI Daiwa House Student Leadership Conference III at Washington D.C. and through discussions and dialogue with global leaders at the conference, he was inspired to imagine his future career. After coming back from his study abroad experience, he joined the TOMODACHI Initiative as the TOMODACHI Alumni Intern and attend and supported various programs and events as a staff member. He looks forward to utilizing the experiences he’s gained from his internship experience to stimulate more and more of the TOMODACHI Generation at the TOMODACHI Summit 2018.
TOMODACHI Summit Core Committee 2018
Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo
Shoko Sano is part of the 2018 TOMODACHI Summit Core Committee. Originally from Osaka, she is currently a third-year student at the University of Tokyo majoring in Space Engineering. Shoko participated in the TOMODACHI STEM Program at Rice University in 2018 during her second year of university. Through this program, she learned how the practical research can be carried out and experienced cutting-edge technology in the States. This experience inspired her to learn software engineering skills with more of a focus on applications to society than her previous studies. She was motivated to keep moving forward as a woman engineer and to encourage other women to be engaged in the STEM field. This Summit is just one of the many great opportunities for alumni in different fields to share their experiences and create new networks. She expects for this chance to bring new insights and broaden views for participants.
Keito Ando, Juri Ito, Yuji Sasaki, Yuka Iwabuchi, Ena Nakata, Maika Itsuno
TOMODACHI Summit Core Committee 2017
Setagaya-ku, Tokyo
Keito Ando is a Core Committee member of the 2017 TOMODACIH Generation Summit. He is a student at Keio University studying political science. Keito joined the TOMODACHI Generation in 2015 through the TOMODACHI Toshiba Science & Technology Leadership Academy where he learned about how to create disaster resilient communities through technology and science. Keito was an integral part of the TOMODACHI Initiative when he worked as the Alumni Program Intern for eight months in 2016. Since joining the TOMODACHI network, he has been inspired to take up further leadership roles and is currently leading the creation of the very first student-led and student-run TOMODACHI Summit to take place in September 2017. He strives to provide younger alumni the support that he was fortunate enough to receive when he joined the TOMODACHI Generation.
TOMODACHI Summit Core Committee 2017
Machida, Tokyo
Juri Ito is a Core Committee member of the 2017 TOMODACHI Generation Summit. Mainly working on Public Affairs, she is excited to meet and work with such inspirational alumni from all over Japan. Juri is an alumna of 2015 TOMODACHI Toshiba Science & Technology Leadership Academy and has participated in several alumni events. She spent most of her elementary years in New York, then came back to Japan and attended Keio Shonan Fujisawa junior high and high school. She is currently studying Political Science and Communications at Keio University.
TOMODACHI Summit Core Committee 2017
Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo
Yuji was born in Miyako City, Iwate Prefecture and took a short term study at UC Berkeley and Claremont College in Los Angeles as a first grader of TOMODACHI Summer · Softbank · Leadership · Program. He also participated in the TOMODACHI Drucker Future Japan Leaders Program (DFJL). In local Miyako, high school students gathered at NPO Miyako Base to do things that they thought about knowing the town. From March 2017, he majors in Economics at Toyo University and is studying economic mechanisms and management.
TOMODACHI Summit Core Committee 2017
Nakano-ku, Tokyo
Yuka Iwabuchi is a Core Committee member of the 2017 TOMODACHI Generation Summit and is also one of the 2017 TOMODACHI Alumni Regional Leaders of the Kanto Region.
Her bio can be found here.
TOMODACHI Summit Core Committee 2017
Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture
Ena Nakata is a Core Committee member of the 2017 TOMODACHI Generation Summit and is also one of the 2017 TOMODACHI Alumni Regional Leaders of the Kanto Region.
Her bio can be found here.
TOMODACHI Summit Core Committee 2017
Minato-ku, Tokyo
Maika Itsuno is a Core Committee member of the 2017 TOMODACHI Generation Summit. Mainly working on the Expo and Booths, she had the opportunity to support the Regional Leaders and introduce their projects to alumni from both Japan and United States. Maika is a double alumna; having first joined the TOMODACHI US-Japan Youth Exchange Program in 2014 and then joined the TOMODACHI MetLife Women's Leadership Program 2016-2017. Maika has participated in several alumni events including the U.S.-Japan Council Business Advisory Board where she was able to network with experts and leaders in various industries. She loves to meet people and is interested in many different fields, especially to encourage better practices of women in the workforce and the Sciences. She is currently studying Medicine at Keio University.
New Otani Garden Court 12F
4-1 Kioicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0095 Japan
