Past TOMODACHI Regional Representatives

2022 Regional Representatives

• Ryota Konno

Ryota Konno is the 2022-2023 TOMODACHI Alumni Regional Representative of the Tohoku-Hokkaido Region and is an alumnus of the TOMODACHI Summer 2012 Coca-Cola Educational Homestay Program. Since his first participation as a high school student, he has participated in numerous TOMODACHI alumni programs. Even now, as a member of society, he is actively involved in TOMODACHI’s activities in order to give back to the community with Tohoku and his hometown he cultivated through TOMODACHI. Originally from Namie Town, Fukushima Prefecture, he was able to move back after the government deemed the area safe to live again, and is currently working at Namie Town Hall. He is a graduate of Waseda University Graduate School of Sport Sciences.

 

• Yumiko Kurii

Yumiko Kurii is the 2022−2023 TOMODACHI Alumni Regional Representative of the Kansai-Chugoku-Shikoku Region and is an alumna of the 2018-2019 TOMODACHI MetLife Women’s Leadership Program. After 13 years of her career in journalism, she changed her job and jumped into a totally new industry, a chemical and paint manufacturing company. Yumiko now collaborates with global partner companies to brush up their sustainability management. Throughout this experience, she has been learning that diversity often causes conflicts but gives resilience to business. She recently got into baking, running, sewing and table setting. With the results of her hobbies, she is a midnight instagrammer.

 

• David Palacios

David Palacios is the 2022-2023 TOMODACHI Alumni Regional Representative of the Kyushu Region. After graduating from community college in his hometown of Sacramento, CA, David transferred to Tokyo International University and was part of the first cohort of the Watanabe Toshizo Scholarship Program in 2018. After two years of attending university in Japan, David feels comfortable communicating in Japanese, in addition to English and Spanish. David has worked in the U.S. nonprofit and government sectors, but he now works in Saga Prefecture as the city’s Coordinator for International Relations. As an International Relations major, he aims to use his skills and experience to not only bring people together through cultural exchange but to also use those connections to address global issues related to social inequality, poverty, education and human rights