Empowering Japan's Future Leaders

Gifu Prefectural Kani High School
x
One Young World GLA

Setting higher standards with Japan's high schools

May 20, 2021 – Tokyo, JAPAN:

One Young World (OYW) is one of the world’s largest international platforms gathering more than 2,000 young leaders from 196 countries around the world and has been holding annual summits in different countries since 2009. The summit will be held in Tokyo in May 2022 with the support of Governor Yuriko Koike and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

One Young World Japan will hold the “One Young World Japan GLA (Global Leadership Accelerator Program)” to support the SDGs program of Kani High School in Gifu Prefecture by utilizing its expertise and network related to SDGs-related projects. OYW Japan will promote this program as a part of our efforts to foster future leaders before the Tokyo Summit.

Kani High School in Gifu Prefecture has been conducting SDGs-focused activities since being designated as a Community Co-creation Flagship High School project in 2019. Students at the school have been exposed to diverse values and ways of working through events and study groups involving the local community, as well as projects that address local issues. OYW Japan’s board members and ambassadors who have participated in previous OYW Summits as next-generation leaders will mentor the students on three projects, Local Development, Education, and Environment. The OYW Japan board members and ambassadors will be supporting the students’ projects from various perspectives and utilizing the global network of OYW Japan.

Approximately 20 students and faculty members from the school will participate in the program and work with OYW Japan members from May 2021 to February 2022. The participants will work with 2 mentors assigned to each of the 3 projects and take concrete action together. In addition to the monthly workshops with guest speakers who engage in solving SDG issues, there will be an online opportunity to participate in the OYW Munich Summit in July 2021. The project will be presented at the Kani City Assembly in August 2021, and the final presentation of the project will be conducted at the same assembly in February 2022.

Meet the Coaches

Yuka Imanishi

Producer

Director, OYW Japan

Yuka Imanishi is a graduate of the English Department of Sophia University. Currently enrolled in a master’s program at Tsukuba University.

After working as an overseas liaison and director at a record company, she worked in marketing & communications at several international corporations. In 2016, she founded CURIO Japan Inc. which is a company specializing in global talent development and recruiting services, and serves as its president.

Daren Afshar

Executive Coach

Director, OYW Japan

Daren Afshar is a graduate of Arizona State University in the USA with a B.A. in Finance and Japanese.

He is also the President of Winery Productions, a Japan-based entertainment consultancy, and media production company. He specializes in bridging the business, creative, and networking gaps between the Japan and the global marketplace for over 20 years.

Bryan Sherman

Executive Coach

OYW Japan
Certified Facilitator

Bryan Sherman is a graduate of Williams College.

After working as an HR consultant for a Japanese company in the U.S., he was appointed as the General Manager of HR and General Affairs at a Japanese IT company. In 2010, he established Gramercy Engagement Group Inc. to promote the globalization of human resources in Japanese companies and has served as its President since then.

Meet the Mentors

Tsuyoshi Domoto

Tsuyoshi Domoto is a graduate of Occidental College in the U.S. and completed the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University.

While studying abroad in South Africa, he became interested in microfinance, which promotes economic independence by providing loans and entrepreneurship education to the poor. After working for a U.S. investment bank, he moved to a microfinance institution in Honduras, where he became convinced that education is the root of the solution to poverty. After completing graduate school, he joined the PwC Sustainability team in Japan. In 2018, he represented Japan at the OYW summit The Hague. In 2021, he became the Representative Director of Tokyo Coding Club and founded Youth Who Code to promote children’s programming education. He is also the OYW Asia 2 Coordinating Ambassador.

Yosuke Tamura

Yosuke Tamura is a graduate of Waseda University, Faculty of Social Sciences. Currently a student at IE Management School in Spain.

After graduating from the University, he joined a British consulting firm, where he established Japan’s first consulting team for the promotion of women’s activities and engaged in consulting. Later joined the public service division of a U.S. consulting firm, where he was involved in developing trade and investment policy recommendations for G20 leaders. He was also involved in supporting the establishment of Grameen Japan, a microfinance institution. In 2018, he represented Japan at the OYW summit The Hague. He, as OYW Japan Coordinating Ambassador, is also the overall lead for accelerating past OYW Japan projects by connecting them with partners, governments, and NPOs.

Ibun Hirahara

Ibun Hirahara is a graduate of Waseda University with a degree in International Liberal Studies.

She was responsible for digital strategy and talent development at a US-based healthcare company. Based on her school life experiences in four different countries, she moved to management and organizational consulting firm, where she works as a public relations and SDGs officer, hoping to bring reform to education in Japan. In 2018, he represented Japan at the OYW summit The Hague. In 2019, she established WORLD ROAD Inc., which aims to create a society without boundaries where people can work as being themselves.

Kei Ikegami

Kei Ikegami is a graduate of Kyoto University’s Graduate School of Public Policy (MPP) and holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Cambridge, UK.

He has been interested in social development since his college days and launched the International Development Youth Forum (IDYF) as co-chair in 2012, developing it into a platform that attracts young people from all over the world. After graduating from the university, he worked for the Japan International Cooperation Agency, where he was involved in infrastructure development and policy support for the Middle East, including Iraq and Egypt. After completing the MBA study, he provided leadership and career education to more than 200 junior and senior high school and university students whose learning opportunities were restricted by the Corona disaster, while working on the overseas development of AI robots. In 2021, he established MIRAIing Inc. intending to nurture the next generation to create the future. In 2014, he represented Japan at the OYW summit Dublin.

Urara Takaseki

Urara Takaseki is a graduate of Keio University, Faculty of Law. Currently enrolled in the Graduate School of Engineering at the University of Tokyo.

She founded a non-profit organization that delivers learning support to hospitalized children and serves as the vice president. She was involved in design strategy work at one of the world’s largest design firms. In 2018, she represented Japan at the OYW summit The Hague. Currently, she is engaged in launching a new business at a startup working on MaaS strategy and urban development.

Atoka Jo

Atoka Jo is a graduate of New York University Abu Dhabi and completed the Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University.

She did her internship at the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations. In 2017, she was selected as a Masason Scholarship Foundation student, and in 2018, she represented Japan at the OYW summit The Hague. In 2019, she represented Japan at the G7 Youth International Conference, and in 2020, she was elected to the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers. Previously, she served as the Co-Chair Director of a leadership development organization for middle and high school girls in the United Arab Emirates. Currently, she anchors an investment program at NewsPicks and is involved in planning a high school that incorporates liberal arts education.

About One Young World:

One Young World is a UK based not-for-profit which identifies, promotes, and connects the world’s most impactful young leaders to create a better world, with more responsible, more effective leadership. Its annual Summit brings together more than 2,000 of the most talented young leaders from across 196 countries to tackle the globe’s most pressing issues, from climate change to conflict resolution.
One Young World is actively supported by a distinguished line-up of Counsellors including the late Kofi Annan, President Mary Robinson, President Juan Manuel Santos, Sir Bob Geldof, Sir Richard Branson, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, James Chau, Emma Watson, Meghan Markle and Professor Muhammad Yunus. One Young World Counsellors work alongside delegates at the global Summits, sharing their collective experience in creating positive social change.

Since launching in 2009, One Young World has built a network of over 10,000 Ambassadors, whose projects have gone on to benefit more than 20 million people worldwide. Notable Ambassadors include FGM abolitionist Jaha Dukureh, North Korean defector Yeonmi Park, Federal Deputy of Sao Paulo Tabata Amaral de Pontes, mental health activist Hussain Manawer, Naomi Iwazawa, Founder of Culmony, social media star Jérôme Jarre and Founder of Wheeling Happiness, Devika Malik.

Often referred to as “Young Davos” the award-winning annual Summit has been named International Conference of the Year on three occasions by C&IT. One Young World also has the largest corporate footprint of any NGO and is partnered with more than 500 of the world’s leading organizations, many of which are listed by Fortune 500 or FTSE 100.

To date, Summits have taken place in London (2010), Zurich (2011), Pittsburgh (2012), Johannesburg (2013), Dublin (2014), Bangkok (2015), Ottawa (2016), Bogota (2017), The Hague (2018) and London (2019). Upcoming Summits will take place in Munich (2021) and Tokyo (2022).

KANI HIGH SCHOOL GLA PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENT

Gifu Prefectural Kani High SchoolxOne Young World GLA