Staff
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Paul Hastings is the President & CEO of the Japan ICU Foundation. He joined JICUF in 2006 and served in numerous positions before assuming the leadership of the Foundation in 2015. Paul serves as the President of the Board of Directors of the American Friends of Asian Rural Institute and is a member of the Board of Trustees of The American School in Japan. He is the recipient of the Aspen Institute’s Nakasone Scholarship, and has a BA from Bowdoin College and an MA in Comparative International Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. Paul spent 11 years of his childhood in Japan. He lives with his wife and two sons in Maplewood, NJ where he volunteers as a little league baseball coach. -
Aki Takada was first appointed Director of Communications at JICUF in May 2016. After serving as Associate Director from 2019 to March 2022, she was appointed Vice President in April 2022. A Tokyoite who spent half of her childhood in NY, LA and London, Aki graduated from ICU High School, ICU and ICU Graduate School (GSPA). She received her second master’s degree in political science from the University of Oxford. As a New York transplant, she has worked for the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) among others, and has also been a small business owner. -
Fernando Rojas joined JICUF in August 2016. In his role as Program Manager, Fernando oversees and manages the administration of JICUF Grants and Scholarships, and collaborates with other JICUF staff on other initiatives. Born and raised in New York City (with a brief stint in NJ), Fernando received his BA in Architecture from Columbia University. Upon graduating, he spent two years on the JET program teaching in a junior high school in Fukui Prefecture. He also served as Fellowships Coordinator at the Social Science Research Council. Fernando’s hobbies includes learning different languages, perfecting his shodou skill (jun 5-dan level), adding recipes to your repertoire of dinner ideas, and enjoys volunteering with kids in the South Bronx. -
Sachiko Tokai studied visual design at Asagaya College of Art and Design in Tokyo. After working as an art staff for theater, movies, and advertising as well as an illustrator, she became a writer, writing primarily about US and European culture and tourism. She moved to New York in 2002, gained experience as an office manager and a Public Relations staff, and contributed articles to local Japanese media as a freelance writer. Sachiko assumed her current position in March 2023. Her hobby is driving around upstate New York in her Subaru and dining out. -
Hideko Matsuyama graduated from Gakushuin Women’s Junior College and worked for the Industrial Bank of Japan (predecessor of Mizuho Bank) for 10 years. After that, she lived in Connecticut for 10 years with her family during which time she worked as a Japanese language teacher in a public middle school. Upon her return to Japan, she became a staff of the Administrative Affairs Group at ICU and mainly supported the Chair and the Managing Trustees of the Board as well as JICUF for six years. She was also involved in welcoming Ukrainian students to ICU through the Japan-Ukraine University Pathways program. She is looking forward to engaging in creative activities with ICU students.
Trustees
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Fusae Nara is a litigator and leads the Japan Practice Team at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. She is one of the few Japanese-speaking litigators practicing in the U.S. She has represented multinational corporations headquartered in Japan in complex commercial disputes, class actions and international trade matters. She received her BA in International Law and MA in Public Administration with concentration in International Law from ICU, and received her JD from Hofstra University School of Law. -
Machi Fukuyama Dilworth most recently served as the Vice President for Gender Equality and Human Resource Development at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology. Prior to her role at OIST, she had a 33-year-long career in Washington D.C. as a government research administrator, including serving as the Associate Program Manager/ Associate Chief of Competitive Research Grants Office at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Director for the Office of International Science and Engineering at the National Science Foundation. While at NSF, Machi served as Head of the NSF Tokyo Office and concurrently Science & Technology Attache at the US Embassy from 2007 to 2010. In 2002 she was awarded the Presidential Distinguished Rank Award from the White House, and in 2007 was designated a fellow for both the American Society of Plant Biologists and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Machi has always been conscious of the gender-based biases in scientific workplaces and Japanese society, and works for the professional and educational advancement of women at all levels. She received her B.A. in Natural Sciences at International Christian University and both her M.A. and Ph.D. in Plant Biochemistry and Physiology at University of California at Los Angeles. -
Danny is a lawyer with deep experience in the financial markets. He is currently working for Insight Investments, a subsidiary of BNY Mellon. He was previously US Counsel at Aberdeen Standard Investments, a global asset management company. Prior to Aberdeen, he was General Counsel of Arden Asset Management LLC, an investment firm specializing in hedge fund investments. Danny’s connection to ICU is through his junior year abroad during 1993-1994 academic year, where resided at 2nd Men’s Dormitory. Subsequently, Danny attended ICU’s summer language program in 1999. A lifelong student of history, Danny’s interest in the field includes comparative culture between Korea and Japan. Danny received his bachelor’s degree from University of Massachusetts at Amherst, master’s degree in Japanese History from the University of Chicago and JD from Fordham University School of Law. -
Mitch Kaneda received his BA from ICU in 1986, and continued on to the ICU graduate school to receive his MA in Public Policy in 1988. He received his PhD in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania. He currently works as the senior associate dean and director of the undergraduate program in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He has been published in both the Journal of Economic Theory and the Journal of Development Economics. Using his own experiences in higher education institutions, he hopes to support the development of higher education in Japan. -
Katherine Tegtmeyer Pak is Professor of Political Science and Asian Studies and Department Chair of Asian Studies at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. Kathy earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Chicago, and her B.A. in East Asian Studies and Political Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Between college and graduate school, she worked at Toshiba Corporation’s Tokyo headquarters for two years, and she returned to Japan for 16 months of field research during graduate school. Before joining the St. Olaf faculty in 2003, she taught for five years at New College of Florida. Kathy teaches both broad international and comparative politics classes (Introduction to International Relations, Immigration and Citizenship) and Asia-focused classes (Asian Regionalism, Japanese Politics, Human Rights in Asia). She has published several papers on Japanese immigration and citizenship politics. She spent the 2009-10 academic year as a Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo, thanks to a Fulbright Research Grant, investigating democratic ideals and political socialization. She also teaches a St. Olaf class based at the Asian Rural Institute, and is a member of the board of the American Friends of Asian Rural Institute. -
Susan Schmidt lived from 1972 to 1996 in Tokyo, where she worked as a staff editor of English-language books at the University of Tokyo Press. Currently she is Executive Director of the American Association of Teachers of Japanese, a 1,500-member professional organization of Japanese language educators in the United States. One of her major projects at AATJ is encouraging American college students to study abroad in Japan, and administrering a scholarship program for that purpose. She lives in Boulder, Colorado. -
Masako Shinn joined the Board of Trustees of the Japan ICU Foundation in April 2016. She is a partner of Graphis Inc., a publisher of books and magazines on design, and a trustee of The Asia Foundation. Prior to Graphis, she held senior positions at Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc., Salomon Brothers, Inc., and Morgan Stanley, Inc. Masako has served on the boards of the Japan Society, the Freer and Sackler Galleries and the Kennedy Center’s President’s Advisory Council on the Arts. She received her bachelor’s degree from the International Christian University in Tokyo, Japan, master’s degree in Business Administration from Harvard Business School, and master’s degree in East Asian Studies from Columbia University. She is currently working towards a doctorate degree in design at the Bard Graduate Center in New York. -
Ambassador Kurt Tong is a Partner at The Asia Group, where he leads the firm’s work in Japan and the broader East Asia region. Before joining The Asia Group, Ambassador Tong was an American diplomat for 30 years, serving in posts in Japan, China, Korea and the Philippines and in Washington DC. From 2016 to 2019, he served as Consul General and Chief of Mission in Hong Kong and Macau. Prior to that, he served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic and Business Affairs at the State Department. He also served as the Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo from 2011 to 2014, and as Ambassador for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in 2011, leading the U.S. chairmanship of the organization. Ambassador Tong attended Princeton University. He studied at ICU in 1981-82. -
Gavin H. Whitelaw (Ph.D. Yale 2007) is a Sociocultural Anthropologist and Executive Director of Harvard University’s Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies. His research focuses on issues of globalization, commerce, work, food and consumer culture, particularly in the context of contemporary Japan. Prior to coming to Harvard, he was Senior Associate Professor of Anthropology at International Christian University (ICU) and has served as Director of ICU’s Japan Studies Program. His writing appears in journals and edited volumes including Anthropology of Work Review, Gastronmica and Capturing Contemporary Japan (Hawaii University Press 2014). -
Mr. Takeshi Ueshima is a founder and CIO of Heritage Fund Management, LLC, in New York, which specializes in alternative investments for institutional investors and high net worth individuals. In addition, Mr. Ueshima serves as Chairman of the Board at OIST Foundation in New York, as well as Chairman of the Investment Committee at the United States-Japan Foundation. He is also a member of the International Committee of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, a Fellow of UK World Fellowship, a Scott M. Johnson Fellow of the U.S.-Japan Leadership Program, and a director for various other groups. Mr. Ueshima holds a B.A. in Economics from Fordham University. He started his financial career at the Sumitomo Trust & Banking Company Ltd in Tokyo. Mr. Ueshima also worked for UBS (formerly Paine Webber, Inc.) in New York.
INVESTMENT COMMITTEE
Takeshi Ueshima (Chair)
Danny Ha
Kieran Cavanna