Mr. Mamoru Taniya

CEO
Asuka Asset Management Co., Ltd.

Thank you for your interest in the ISAK project.

Looking back to 2005 when I started to envision the first international boarding school in Japan, I was excited by the prospect of opening doors for children from all over Asia. After two years of searching for someone who could help me realize this goal, I had a fateful encounter with Lin Kobayashi, the current ISAK Executive Director of the Board. From that point on, the number of our supporters has grown exponentially. It is nothing short of a miracle to have so many passionate founders at the time of ISAK’s establishment.

Around the world, outstanding schools have always been established by founders with strong aspirations. I truly believe that when our passions and ambitions come together, ISAK will become a school that represents the whole of Asia, a modern version of Shoukasonjuku (a private school that produced new leaders during the Meiji era in Japan). With Lin Kobayashi at the helm of this project and so much support from both within Japan and overseas, I am overwhelmingly proud to be on this fantastic journey to make ISAK a reality. With your help, students will graduate from ISAK and go on to play major roles in Asia in the years to come.

Mr. Kimiya Yamamoto

Director

ISAK provides a place for learning where Asia and Japan meet, exchange experiences, and give birth to new ideas together.
I am sure that the friendships nurtured through spending time together during a susceptible period in a boarding school environment will mean all the world to its students and believe that they will bring new possibilities for the individual students and for the global community.

Mr. Masakazu Yanagisawa

Global Prime Finance Business General Manager of Equity Sales Division
Deutsche Securities, Inc.

I decided to donate, hoping to create leaders with a new style of leadership within Asia that does not just follow the rules of Europe and the U.S. Through supporting students with scholarships, I am receiving incredible energy from both students and other founders. This experience is priceless.

Ms. Hiroko Kono

After graduating from college, I worked for a Japanese trading company, followed by twenty years at a foreign asset management company. Over the course of my career, I was involved in employee recruiting, and my experience left me feeling concerned about the paucity of forward-looking, globally-oriented Japanese candidates coming through our hiring process.

As a mother of two high school children, I am often concerned about how best to prepare my children for a world so different from even just ten years ago. Although I cannot accurately predict what my children will face as they move forward, I believe that, as the foundation for the world’s economic growth shifts to Asia, it is possible that Asian values will play a stronger role on the global stage.

One thing I am certain of is that in this fast-paced, multifaceted world, we need people who are not only culturally literate, but who can think independently and communicate ideas about Asian culture and values to the rest of the world.

In 2010, we stumbled upon the ISAK Summer Program. In addition to my son attending the program, our family hosted a student from Myanmar who was also participating. The two days we spent with that young student, who grew up in an environment completely different from that experienced by my son and his friends from international school, were full of learning opportunities for all of us, and we were truly impressed by the student’s maturity and love for his country.

ISAK will be an innovative educational environment that exceeds the goals of typical Japanese middle schools and high schools. I fully support ISAK’s educational concepts and unique curriculum, and it is my hope that many students will have the opportunity to choose this school for their future.

Ms. Yuriko Takahashi

Representative Director and President
E.OCT, Ltd.

Responsibilities for adults living today are to take as much steps forward to evolve this world and the future society, and to pass the baton to the next generation ― this is not only to protect, but also to make it better. To bring ISAK to realization is to connect such “good practice” that we adults have learned directly to children who will take on the future. I promise that support from as many of you as possible will be the cornerstone for creating a better future. The school that we can be proud of and show to the world will finally be established in our very own country, Japan. Let’s create the future, and the school together!

Mr. Edward Suzuki

Architect
Edward Suzuki Associates

Many years ago, I was enrolled at St. Mary’s International School in Tokyo, which at that time had a boarding school program. I spent five years living in the dormitory, from second grade until sixth grade. It was a tremendous life experience for me, leaving me with invaluable memories and strong friendships. At my former school, mixed-race students were a rarity, and I was always something of an outsider. The new environment at St. Mary’s changed my world. Children from many different backgrounds got along as equals, and it was like heaven to me not be viewed in terms of my race.
At residential schools, students learn together, eat together and sleep under the same roof. For me, that experience resulted in deep friendships with people from around the world. A “nation” is just a political boundary, but relationships between individuals run much deeper than that.
ISAK will also be a fully residential international school. As a member of ISAK’s board of directors and as a founder, I would like to share my knowledge and experience with the other board members and founders as we work to define ISAK’s mission and curriculum, helping to create the best fully-residential international school in the world.

Mr. Hidehiko Hayashi

Representative Director and President
Man Investments Securities Japan, Ltd.

Japan is part of Asia. I wish that through living and studying together, students from various Asian countries grew to become future leaders who can think for the future of Japan, Asia and the world from the perspective of Asia as a whole.

Mr. Masahiro Koshiba

Representative Director and President
United Managers Japan, Inc.

In a person’s lifetime, one has little opportunity to be part of creating a new school. Moreover, with the declining birthrate and the aging population in Japan today, the student numbers are on a decline. This is why I never thought that I would become part of establishing such a meaningful school. I am very grateful to be given such a rare opportunity from Ms. Lin Kobayashi and Mr. Taniya, and of course, from many volunteers. I am thrilled, just envisioning in my mind, how children will leave the nest in the future to take on and flourish on the stage in Japan, Asia, and around the world.

Mr. Amane Nakashima

General Manager, Social and Environment Promotion Office
Kewpie Corporation


After I graduated from university and joined a Japanese company, I had the opportunity to study in the United States. I was somehow able to manage the academics, but in terms of personal interaction, there were many things I did not understand, and I felt I was not prepared to handle the diversity.
I wanted my own children to be exposed to a diverse environment from a young age and have their own thoughts and ideas, which is why I decided to send them to an international school.
I felt that it would be wonderful to have a school that brought together talented students from diverse countries, not only in terms of academics, but also in terms of sports and the arts as well. In that sense, I think the International School of Asia, Karuizawa will be an ideal school. I wish the best of luck to ISAK!

Mr. Takashi Inoue

President, CEO and General Manager
NEXT Co., Ltd.


For many years, I have been thinking about what is needed in education and what it takes to help young people develop, based on the definition that education is “something that supports the establishment of the self.” There are three reasons why I became highly interested in education:
● I now have children of my own.

● I had the opportunity to contribute to an elementary school in the Republic of Benin.

● I had the opportunity to meet many Japanese university students during the course of recruiting activities, and I became concerned about education in Japan.

The one thing that these three points have in common is that developing young people is equivalent to building a country.
I am confident that through an educational program that creates leaders, we will be able to turn out individuals who create positive change, whether in Japan, Asia or other parts of the world. In order for this to happen, I think it is important for students to develop self-esteem as their personal operating system at a young age. An increase in the number of people who have self-affirmation, self-determination and a sense of responsibility will serve as the driving force to improve society.
I made the decision to become an ISAK founder because my ideas matched the ideas and convictions of Lin Kobayashi. I would like to work in cooperation with the other founders and ISAK supporters to help foster global leaders. I look forward to working with all of you.

Mr. Yasutaro Koizumi

Managing Director, Investment Banking Division
Goldman Sachs


This project stems from the tremendous hopes my generation has to leave something for the next generation. Our knowledge, friendship and enthusiasm, as well as a destiny that has brought us together, are helping to create something new, and it is my great privilege to be a part of this wonderful project. As one of Japan’s greatest educators said, today is the first day of the rest of your life, and you will never reach your goals unless you start the journey. I am excited to help bring this dream to reality.

Mr. Tomonori Ito

Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy
Hitotsubashi University

In July 2012, I participated in the first ISAK Founders Conference and saw firsthand the site where the ISAK facilities will be constructed. The experience left me with the strong impression that ISAK will be a school that shapes the future of Japan. It will not be an easy task to recruit students from around the world and teach them and their Japanese counterparts the skills they need to become leaders, but I think this is a tremendously important project for the future of Japan, and I would like to support this endeavor as much as possible. I look forward to the opening of the school in 2014.

Mr. Haruki Kamiyama

Director and Chairman
Macnica Inc.

It is well known that the health of any organized society depends overwhelmingly on the leaders of the period, whether it is in business, government or any other form of organization or society. We are now in the second decade of the 21st century, and the global influence of Asia, including Japan, has been increasing substantially year by year. I expect ISAK, which aims to become a premier boarding school in Asia, to produce future leaders who will build a better society in Japan, Asia and the world.
Furthermore, I hope that the emergence and activities of ISAK will trigger a transformation in the educational system in Japan, and provide vitality to Japanese society.

Mr. Ichiro Miyake

President & Representative Director
Standard & Poor’s Ratings Japan, K.K.
Nippon Standard & Poor’s K.K.

In the summer of 2011, I had the chance to listen to Lin Kobayashi talk about the ISAK project in a panel discussion with Shuichi Abe, Governor of Nagano Prefecture. I was able to talk to Lin further after I returned to Tokyo, and the discussion encouraged me to do what I could to support the ISAK project, which is how I made up my mind to become a Founder.
One of my main frustrations when I managed a business in Japan was the lack of a risk-taking attitude among future managers. I understand that today’s young people are facing a different situation than when I was working in an era of high-growth development. However, it is precisely because the economy is in a period of slow growth that I have strongly and repeatedly urged young people to seek out opportunities for leadership on a global scale.
It depends on the efforts of everyone involved in the ISAK project, including myself, to turn the ISAK dream into reality. Now that I have become a jazz musician, I will be spending more and more time in Karuizawa. I expect that my enthusiasm for fostering leadership among young people and love of Karuizawa will sustain my support for this project for a long time to come. I look forward to contributing more to ISAK, including working with the other Founders.

Mr. Shogo Kawada

Advisor
DeNA Co., Ltd.

In today’s world, knowledge has a much different meaning than it did even a few years ago. What type of education is best for the young people of today? I have high expectations that ISAK will set the benchmark for a new form of education as it tackles such issues.

Mr. Heang Chhor

Senior Partner
McKinsey and Company, Singapore

ISAK is going to pioneer a new spirit and a new approach for fostering more globally-minded young Asian leaders. This is what Japan particularly needs in order to reconnect better with the world.

Mr. Kotaro Yamagishi

Co-Founder and Executive Vice President
GREE, Inc.

I decided to become an ISAK founder because I felt a strong affinity for ISAK’s concept of creating a school for the future leaders of Asia.

Japanese students who attend ISAK will be able to spend their high school years interacting with motivated peers from throughout Asia, which will have a positive impact on their values, communication skills and academic abilities.

Likewise, students coming to ISAK from abroad will have the valuable opportunity to study in the beautiful environment of Karuizawa with other talented young people from the Asia-Pacific region.

I have faith that the students who graduate from ISAK will one day be leading Japan and the world.

Mr. Taizo Hasebe

President and Director
Taizen Capital Pte Ltd.

In his text “An Encouragement of Learning,” Fukuzawa Yukichi, founder of Keio University, wrote “The difference between the wise man and the fool is that one studies and the other does not. All men are born equal, with no man being higher or lower than any other man. It is those men who work hard and strive to learn who will become wealthy and wise.” At a time when the decline in the state of education is lamented and Japan’s educational system itself is being questioned, we need to return to the spirit of the times when Japan was opening up to the outside, and help make Japan a quality nation through education. Furthermore, Japan should fulfill its responsibilities as a nation that attained early economic growth and boasts a solid infrastructure and social institutions by serving as the host country where students from throughout Asia can come together in order to discover and learn. To achieve this, it is necessary to create a school unlike anything ever imagined, where students can study universal truths with an Asian perspective, preparing them for a role in today’s modern international world.

At ISAK, students and teachers from around the globe will be applying themselves to education in the safe and beautiful environment of Karuizawa, and I strongly support the school’s mission which aims to foster the leaders of the future in order to achieve the development and growth of the Asia region. I am proud to support this project. Furthermore, I would like to express my admiration for the ISAK staff who have taken on the tremendous challenge of founding a new school in Japan, in spite of the many difficulties and regulations. I am excited to be a part of this project, and I look forward to seeing how ISAK graduates set the course of the future.