Prior to the Kyoto-Cornell International Collaborative Degree Opportunity (KC-CDO), I had the privilege to have worked with more than ten international companies across Healthcare, Industrial, TMT, Consumer and Services sectors for eight years being a global private equity executive.

With a passion in business and hospitality as well as to potentially starting my own business in Japan, I seek to equip myself with more operational knowledge for my future careers. The Graduate School of Management (GSM) of Kyoto University was an obvious choice for me with its KC-CDO program which combines the merits of both a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree at Kyoto University and a Master of Management in Hospitality (MMH) degree at Cornell University.

Furthermore, I plan to further my studies in Japanese language during the MBA program in Kyoto University such that I can fully immerse myself in the Japanese business environment. I have personally invested in various properties in Kyoto and am exploring further hospitality and real estate ventures in the region.

I am entering GSM while still employed at my company. In order to achieve better results in my job (investment management), I wanted to learn the most advanced theories and practices in this GSM.

Back in 2019, I was searching for master programs, and I received an invitation from the admission office of Cornell University to join their annual dinner reception in NYC. There, I met with student who later became my senpai(“senior”), and was first introduced to the KC-CDO program. During the conversation, I realized that it is a great opportunity to accomplish two master’s degrees from two of the most distinguished academic institutions in the world in a relatively short period of time, thus, I immediately decided to give it a try.

I have worked for an airline company mainly in passenger service and supporting and managing that service at airports. While practicing service on a daily basis, I was concerned about one thing. It was a quote from a book on hospitality that says, "You are laying bricks (experiences) horizontally, not vertically.” After reading this, I began to wonder if I was piling the bricks vertically. I carry a copy of the pages of this book in my notebook. Kyoto University has an MBA in Tourism and Hospitality. I would like to be able to pile bricks up vertically here in my own way. I also attended the school information session and chose GSM because I would like to learn more after listening to the unique and interesting stories of the professors, and also because Kyoto is a world-class tourism city if I would like to study tourism and hospitality.

I received my master’s degree in Agricultural Science from the Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University.

My research efforts to date have given me with opportunities to create ideas that explain what we see in the service sector.

I received my Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Economics and Certificate from the Cross-Boundary Innovation Program (Ph.D. Program for Leading Graduate Schools) of Osaka University.

After majoring in Architecture of Engineering and working in the construction field in Japan, I joined the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV) out of a desire to work overseas.