INTERVIEWS | My Eyes Tokyo

I have spent almost half of my life outside of my comfort zone. Because of this experience, I believe that we can overcome this tough situation together.

May 07 2021

Interview by Isao Tokuhashi Edited by Jennifer A. Hoff Mail to: info@myeyestokyo.com Soichi Tatsuzato National Government Licensed Guide Interpreter After 2020, many of us have had the longest and hardest time we have ever experienced. Nevertheless, we believe that all of you who are now visiting us have overcome, or are about to overcome, such hardships. We would like to introduce you to a gentleman who has been working in one of the industries that the New Coronavirus has hit hard. Soichi Tatsuzato is a National Government Licensed Guide Interpreter. He considers his job is to be an “entertainer”, and

Always ask the question “What can I do as the one and only individual in the world” and listen to the voice of your heart.

April 25 2020

Interviewed by Isao Tokuhashi Edited by Daniel Penso Mail to: info@myeyestokyo.com Wong Lai Yong (Malaysia) Social Entrepreneur/Career Consultant At the end of 2016, we joined a girls’ night out. It was a very unique event in which African/Asian female social entrepreneurs who are working on social problems and Japanese career women shared their failures (mainly in English) with each other while enjoying Italian dishes. They sometimes stopped eating to listen to others and share their pasts. When the event was almost over, an Asian woman greeted us in Japanese. That’s Ms. Wong Lai Yong. Her Japanese was so fluent

I want to be a “doctor” that takes care of not only human health, but also the health of all living things, nature and our planet.

December 15 2019

Interview by Isao Tokuhashi Edited by Jennifer A. Hoff Mail to: info@myeyestokyo.com Sebastian Zieliński (Poland) Acupuncturist and Chiropractor There are some countries that we’ve met people from, but not interviewed. One of them is Poland. Kakikofu (和氣香風), a traditional Japanese medicine clinic in Tokyo, has allowed us to introduce a great student from this country. Sebastian Zieliński, a young, energetic, serious, enthusiastic acupuncturist, flew to Japan all the way from across Eurasia to take training on acupuncture, martial arts and bodywork from Hiroshi Yamamoto, the co-owner of Kakikofu. Yamamoto has been sharing his medical knowledge and philosophy with many people from

Working at the Rugby World Cup will be the most amazing experience because you’ll see so many different people from so many different countries!

June 05 2019

Interview by Isao Tokuhashi Mail to: info@myeyestokyo.com Kate Grannan (UK) Operations Director, JLE Japan – staffing agency for international sporting events including the Rugby World Cup 2019 The huge sports events are coming to Japan from this year to next year. One is Tokyo Olympics which will be held from July until August 2020. Another is the Rugby World Cup which will take place from September until November this year. We met Kate Grannan from JLE Japan, who is from the UK and is hoping to play a valuable role in ensuring as many people as possible get to

If you want to master something, pursue also other things that are connected to what you want to learn at a deeper level.

May 30 2019

Interview by Isao Tokuhashi & Jennifer A. Hoff Edited by Jennifer A. Hoff Mail to: info@myeyestokyo.com Renato Riberti (Italy) Shiatsu Operator, Martial Artist There is a traditional Chinese medicine clinic in Tokyo that has been attracting the attention of people from overseas. It’s run by an acupuncturist/martial artist and Chinese herbal medicine specialist. One day this spring, Hiroshi Yamamoto, the co-owner of the clinic “Kakikofu (和氣香風)”, let us know that a group of people from Italy would be undergoing training from him. He suggested to us that we interview the leader of the group and we graciously took up

My journey from a small former communist country will continue until I reach outer space!

May 02 2019

Interviewed & Written by Isao Tokuhashi Edited by Jennifer A. Hoff Mail to: info@myeyestokyo.com Violeta Yurita (Romania) Mathematician/Educator The Rugby World Cup and the Olympics lure people from around the world into the capital of Japan. We’ve interviewed people from Five Continents and showed the world their perspectives on Tokyo. But until now, we hadn’t met people from this country – Romania. There are only 530 residents who came from this Eastern European country who are in Tokyo. Today we will introduce you to one of them. A reader of My Eyes Tokyo from Taiwan introduced us to Ms.

Why do you like your country? – Tell me, Japanese people! Vol. 24

January 28 2019

Produced by Isao Tokuhashi Edited by Jennifer A. Hoff Mail to: info@myeyestokyo.com Hamarikyu Gardens, Chuo-ku Located at the mouth of the Sumida River, it was opened to the public April 1st, 1946. The park is surrounded by a seawater moat filled by Tokyo Bay. It was remodeled as a public garden park on the site of a villa of the Shogun Tokugawa family in the 17th century. *Hamarikyu Gardens. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved January 27, 2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamarikyu_Gardens 日本語 Man from Australia This is my first trip to Japan. There are seven of us on our trip and

I want to provide Japan “much more value for functionality”.

January 09 2019

Interviewed by Isao Tokuhashi Mail to: info@myeyestokyo.com Corey Lee (United States) Creative Director / Designer When you hear the word “designer,” you probably associate them with very creative people, but when do you interact with them? In many cases, you probably ask them to work on something that you can’t draw or create. But Corey Lee, a young American creative director/designer, says, “Those days are over.” Until now, designers have mainly gotten orders for design work from planners and developers. However, the future designer should be “A leader who joins the planning stage and takes the lead in concept

Why do Japanese people like natto? – Tell me, Japanese people! Vol.23

December 09 2018

Produced by Isao Tokuhashi Edited by Jennifer A. Hoff Mail to: info@myeyestokyo.com Rikugi-en Garden, Bunkyo-ku Rikugi-en (六義園) is one of the Tokyo metropolitan parks. The name Rikugi-en means Garden of the Six Principles of Poetry (六義) which comes from the idea of the six elements in waka (和歌, a type of poetry in classical Japanese literature), while en (園) means garden or park. The construction of the park took place between 1695 and 1702. The founder of Mitsubishi, Iwasaki Yatarō bought the garden in 1878 and restored it. It was donated to the Tokyo City government in 1938. *Rikugi-en.

Tell me, Japanese people! @ Company Vol.3

November 28 2018

Interviewed by Isao Tokuhashi Edited by Daniel Penso Mail to: info@myeyestokyo.com A series of interviews called “Tell me, Japanese people! @ Company”, which highlights foreign staff working at Japanese companies, has been done with a long-established company and a startup so far. Our third interview was conducted with one called Prime Assistance Inc. Prime Assistance (PRA) is a group company of SOMPO Holdings, a holding company that owns Sompo Japan Nipponkoa, one of the “Three Mega Non-life Insurers” in Japan. SOMPO Holdings launched a new company in 2012 with the aim of enhancing customer support by building a contact

Interviews with Tokyo People Achieving Dreams