{"id":175449,"date":"2023-04-06T13:07:55","date_gmt":"2023-04-06T23:07:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=175449"},"modified":"2023-04-06T13:07:55","modified_gmt":"2023-04-06T23:07:55","slug":"koichiro-iwasaki-gift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2023\/04\/06\/koichiro-iwasaki-gift\/","title":{"rendered":"<abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa economics alumnus pledges $200<abbr>K<\/abbr> to strengthen Japan-Hawai\u02bbi ties"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><figure id=\"attachment_175451\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-175451\" style=\"width: 676px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/manoa-css-koichiro-iwasaki-gift.jpg\" alt=\"three people looking at the camera\" width=\"676\" height=\"381\" class=\"size-full wp-image-175451\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/manoa-css-koichiro-iwasaki-gift.jpg 676w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/manoa-css-koichiro-iwasaki-gift-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/manoa-css-koichiro-iwasaki-gift-130x73.jpg 130w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-175451\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><abbr>CSS<\/abbr> Dean Denise Eby Konan, Economics Professor Nori Tarui and Koichiro Iwasaki, <abbr>CSS<\/abbr> alumnus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Japanese businessman <strong>Koichiro Iwasaki<\/strong>, who earned his bachelor\u2019s degree in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.economics.hawaii.edu\/\">economics<\/a> at the University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa in the 1970s, has pledged $200,000 to the <a href=\"https:\/\/socialsciences.manoa.hawaii.edu\/\">College of Social Sciences<\/a> (<abbr>CSS<\/abbr>) to encourage educational and socio-economic pathways between <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> and Kagoshima, Japan.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_175452\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-175452\" style=\"width: 214px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/manoa-css-koichiro-iwasaki-214x300.jpg\" alt=\"person looking at the camera\" width=\"214\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-175452\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/manoa-css-koichiro-iwasaki-214x300.jpg 214w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/manoa-css-koichiro-iwasaki-93x130.jpg 93w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/manoa-css-koichiro-iwasaki.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 214px) 100vw, 214px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-175452\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Koichiro Iwasaki<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Iwasaki\u2019s endowment pledge will support the <abbr>CSS<\/abbr> Japan-<span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Socio-Economic Innovation Initiative (<abbr>JHSEII<\/abbr>), which integrates Nikkei, Hawaiian and U.S. cultural perspectives into a dynamic learning platform based on academic\/research discovery and international collaboration.<\/p>\n<p>The initiative focuses on four hallmark programs designed to promote a stronger understanding of global socio-economic issues while embracing a model of corporate social responsibility:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Socio-economic dialogue:<\/strong> Students, faculty and businesspeople interact with researchers and scholars on socio-economic challenges and their solutions, particularly in the areas of clean-energy transition, climate change adaptation, captive insurance and tourism impacts.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mutual student exchange:<\/strong> <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa and Japan-based university students attend virtual and\/or in-person classes to promote people-to-people relations and intercultural understanding.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sustainable tourism enhancement:<\/strong> Multifaceted sustainable tourism-based training for Japan employees, mid-level managers or top leadership is offered virtually or on the <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa campus. Topics range from development of human resources, to assessing and managing beach overcrowding.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Disaster risk response and environmental global stewardship:<\/strong> Participants explore the necessity of advance planning to confront natural and man-made hazards threatening life, property and a sense of well-being; and raising sustainability and climate standards in a resource-fragile world.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&ldquo;As a <abbr>CSS<\/abbr> economics undergraduate, I admired my many stellar professors, especially <strong>Seiji Naya<\/strong>, who is considered a pioneer in the study of Asian economic cooperation. My experience in <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> helped to shape my global business perspective and fostered the aloha spirit in my corporate dealings,&rdquo; said Iwasaki, president and <abbr title=\"Chief Executive Officer\">CEO<\/abbr> of Shigetomi Shoji <abbr title=\"Company\">Co<\/abbr>. <abbr title=\"Limited\">Ltd<\/abbr>. based in Kagoshima. &ldquo;I am establishing this endowment to benefit my <abbr>UH<\/abbr> alma mater and my hometown, Kagoshima, through education- and economic-based activities. I hope other <abbr>CSS<\/abbr> alumni in Japan, and Japan-based companies with ties to <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>, will do the same.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Denise Eby Konan<\/strong>, <abbr>CSS<\/abbr> dean and economics professor, added, &ldquo;<abbr>Dr<\/abbr>. Iwasaki\u2019s lead gift comes at a critical time as we launch <abbr>JHSEII<\/abbr>. We are appreciative of his inspirational leadership to support and promote a better understanding of international socio-economic issues in Japan and <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>, while developing shining examples of corporate social responsibility.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/socialsciences.manoa.hawaii.edu\/css-news\/a-yen-to-trailblaze\/\">More information<\/a> on Iwasaki\u2019s background and remembrances of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> is available on the <abbr>CSS<\/abbr> website.<\/p>\n<h2>Gift donations<\/h2>\n<p>To contribute online to <abbr>JHSEII<\/abbr>, go to the <a href=\"https:\/\/giving.uhfoundation.org\/\"><abbr>UH<\/abbr> Foundation website<\/a>, select <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa and input fund <abbr>ID<\/abbr> number 13003204 (College of Social Sciences, Japan-<span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Socio-Economic Innovation Initiative).<\/p>\n<p>To contribute online to <abbr>JHSEII<\/abbr> in Japan, contact <strong>Nori Tarui<\/strong>, professor and graduate chair of the Department of Economics, and bilingual senior advisor to the dean on Global College Initiatives, at nori@hawaii.edu or (808) 956-8427.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Iwasaki\u2019s endowment pledge will support the College of Social Sciences\u2019 Japan-<span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Socio-Economic Innovation Initiative.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[301,197,1467,1026,319,9],"class_list":["post-175449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","tag-college-of-social-sciences","tag-economics","tag-manoa-excellence-in-research","tag-social-science","tag-uh-foundation","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175449"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":175456,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175449\/revisions\/175456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}