Together For Ukraine
Yuno Inoue is a Japanese -American student from Connecticut, currently attending the American School in Japan as a senior. She has been organizing this event since August of 2022. Since then her original idea has been expanded and actualized. Throughout her years in high school, she has realized her passion for art and social justice. She hopes that through this event she can use art as a method to spread awareness and spark conversation about what the community can do to help and support Ukrainian refugees. She hopes to continue her efforts in combining her passions to bring social issues to light.
organizers
panel speakers
Born in Liviv city in Ukraine. Grew up and went to school in Uzhgorod city, Transcarpathian region. Later graduated UZHNU University as an English language and literature teacher. Parallel to studying spent 8 years in 2 dancing schools which led later on to jov invitations abroad. As a professional dancer worked in India (2012), Japan (2013), China (2014-2018) and Turkey (2021). Did a lot of modeling shoots, commercials and performed as an actress for a TV series in China. 2018-2019 lived in Bali and worked as a photographer, retoucher and video production assistant. 2019-2021 studied and worked as a SMM manager for growing small businesses on Instagram. 2022 came to Japan after work contracts were finished in Turkey and Ukraine was not safe anymore. Same year started to collaborate and work for the Hands on Tokyo NPO organization. There Yuliya is running the AYUMO project, which is focused on supporting the Ukrainian evacuees living in Japan. The project started by collaborating with an ASIJ ELC club and doing family events to support the evacuees. Slowly it grew to offering Japanese and English searching, building the informational website, starting a new teenager’s support focus program and collaborating with more and more entities with mutual human values and a goal to support the Ukrainian community.
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Ryosuke Suzuki is the Director of Strategic Partnerships at the American School in Japan (ASIJ). He began his career as a public school teacher in Washington State where he taught Japanese language and world history for six years. Ryosuke holds a BA in Secondary Education with teaching endorsements in ESL, history, Japanese, and social studies and an MA in Educational Technology. Ryosuke joined ASIJ in 2010 as a high school Japanese teacher as well as a cross country and track coach. He became ASIJ’s inaugural Director of Strategic Partnerships in 2020. He provides authentic learning experiences for students through various learning partnerships.
Norisama Orii is the Representative Director of Pathways Japan, offering education pathways for refugees and displaced persons in Japan. Since 2017, around 150 youth have been admitted to Japan from Syria, Afghanistan, and Ukraine through the program he has been managing. Pathways Japan is also offering scholarships for higher education of refugees in Japan. Before joining education pathways programs, he served in humanitarian projects in various countries including Afghanistan, Palestine, and Myanmar. Norisama holds a Master’s degree in Global and Asian Politics.
Erika Kasuga is an artist and illustrator born in New York in 2005, currently attending ASIJ as a senior. She works between fine art, 3D and digital mediums to create her pieces which at times are for commissioned work or self-enjoyment. Erika’s design work has already been recognized with a National Gold Medal, two National Silver Medals and 5 regional gold medals in the Scholastic Art and Writing Competition with numerous other awards. Her work was also used to promote the Smithsonian Affiliated Morris Museum Fresh Perspectives Exhibit. Erika is currently interning at ASIJ’s communications office and will also continue to work on developing further designs and collaborative projects with other organizations.
Tetiana Horcharenko is currently a consultant at CastGlobalGroup in Tokyo, Japan. Prior to joining CastGlobalGroup, she was the Director of Sumy College of Economics and Trade, Ukraine. She was also the Head of the NGO “Community of Business Women”, and is now Deputy of the Sumy Regional Council of the 8-th convocation. In 2018, Tetiana was awarded the Knight's Order of Friendship for the development of Polish-Ukrainian business relations from Fundację Polonia Gospodarczą Swiata, and in 2021 was awarded the Gratitude of the head of the Sumy regional state administration.
Igor was born in the city of Luboml in Western Ukraine. As a student, he became interested in foreign languages, which led to him enrolling in the Japanese language department of Kyiv National University of Languages.During his studies, Igor participated in the 2013-2014 EuroMaidan. After the successful revolution, which was followed by the russian Invasion of Crimea, Igor went on site with Japanese media reporting on illegal referendums, as an interpreter. He continued his work as an interpreter in the Donbas region in the eastern part of Ukraine, to further support the coverage. When the Battle of Donetsk Airport began, he left the city and resumed his studies in Kyiv, while continuing to work as an interpreter. After graduating, Igor entered the Graduate School of Tsukuba as a research student on the MEXT Scholarship and studied International Relations. Upon finishing graduate school, he joined an IT company (JBS).Igor became an early member of a non-profit organization “KRAIANY - Association of friendship Japan-Ukraine”, in order to support his home country, and now serves as its board member.
the designers
The designer is Kiho Matsunami. She studied fashion design and patterns at Osaka Bunka Fashion College. In 2020, she launched KIHOU MATSUNAMI and announced her 1st collection in runway format in 2021. She develops the brand concept with the concept of "for women who spend their daily lives in a healthy way, relaxing and relaxing even in the city". 日本語：デザイナーは松浪希峰。大阪文化服装学院でファッションデザインおよびパターンを学ぶ。2020年、KIHOU MATSUNAMIを立ち上げ、2021年にrunway形式で1st collectionを発表。『日常をヘルシーに都会でもどこか肩の力を抜きリラックスして過ごす女性に』をブランドコンセプトに展開する。
Takaaki Nishimura is a graduate from Osaka Bunka Fashion College (2020), He was in the Department of Super Designer and was selected for IFTI 2019. He has also had numerous other accomplishments such as passing the Asia Fashion Collection in, being selected for Nippori Design Contest, JFA Fur Design Contest in 2019. 日本語：西村卓晃 2020年大阪文化服装学院スーパーデザイナー学科卒業 IFFTI 2019入選 Asia Fashion Collection 2019最終審査通過 日暮里デザインコンテスト 2019入選 JFA ファーデザインコンテスト 2019 入選
Sid Abelson is a Japanese-American student from Tokyo, currently attending ASIJ as a senior. Sid enjoys creating all forms of visual art but, most recently, has been committed to fashion design. His work is best described as a compilation of all his interests, from his appreciation of nature to the Sex Pistols. Along with his interests, he incorporates elements of Japanese culture as he hopes for his work to have an emotional impact on the audience and allow them to see the world through his imagination. Outside of ASIJ and personal inquiry, Sid has studied in fashion programs at universities such as The Cooper Union and FIT and has done an internship for New York based fashion house, threeASFOUR.
music and performance
Momo is an 18 year-old-singer-songwriter. By producing music by herself, she gets the creative freedom to explore various genres from indie, pop, R&B, and occasionally electronic. On stage, she performs with an acoustic guitar and minimal nacling track and likes for people to not only listen to the melody but her lyrics.
Shaun Kono-Peck is a composer, pianist, and percussionist based in New York City. Born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, he started his musical journey at the age of 2, attending the Yamaha Music School. He is currently pursuing a degree in Music Theory and Composition: Screen Scoring at NYU and is dedicated to honing his skills and expanding his musical repertoire. Driven by his appreciation for his roots in Japanese, French, and American culture, Shaun seeks to bridge and incorporate these rich cultural influences into his music. His compositions aim to create a melodious blend by combining traditional aspects from each culture with contemporary styles. Shaun's fascination with the synergy between visual media and music has been a lifelong interest. He is eager to deepen his understanding of compositional fundamentals, while actively seeking opportunities to explore more adventurous avenues in his musical endeavors.
the mc's
Emma Liu is a senior at the American School in Japan. She is half Taiwanese and hald Japanese, but was born and raised in Tokyo. She is the co-president of a service club called Hands on Tokyo, where she regularly organizes food and clothing drives. She is also a member of the varsity volleyball team.
Ren Topping is currently a senior at the American School in Japan. I’ve lived in Tokyo for seven years and was in Brooklyn, New York before that. He is a fan of film, literature, and soccer and many can find him writing for ASIJ’s student newspaper, Hanabi.
event photographer
Shuhei is a senior at the American School in Japan. He was born in Hawaii but has lived in Japan his whole life. Shuhei finds happiness in socializing with others through sports, which he does through playing varsity soccer and american football at his school. Shuhei loves photography, which he uploads on his website.
Spy Fashions is a Ukrainian platform for fashion and modeling. The goal of our project is to combine all parts of the fashion industry and help designers, models, photographers, makeup artists, and stylists to realize their talent around the world.