TOMODACHI Alumni Highlight: Ryo Inoue, from TOMODACHI Next Generation Summit 2024
For December’s alumni highlights, we highlighted Ryo Inoue, who delivered an inspiring speech at the Next Generation Summit’s Dinner Reception. Ryo is an alumnus of the 2018 TOMODACHI Microsoft iLEAP Social Innovation and Leadership Program, and he currently works as a Regional Representative for the Kyushu Region. The TOMODACHI Microsoft iLEAP Social Innovation and Leadership Program is a program designed to nurture future entrepreneurs and community leaders through experiential leadership training in Seattle, Washington. To connect his experiences and knowledge gained from the program, Ryo started up an education business: “Irodori Study Lab” in Hirokawa-machi, Yame-gun, Fukuoka Prefecture, in 2022, creating a supportive environment in the countryside where children can pursue their future goals and ambitions. Ryo hopes that the “Irodori Study Lab” will be the “first step” of encouragement that will push children, in rural areas of Japan, above and beyond their potential.
Hello everyone, nice to meet you. My name is Ryo Inoue. Today, as a TOMODACHI Alumni, I am very pleased to have this opportunity to express my gratitude directly to all of you who have given me so much cooperation and support on a daily basis.
In 2018, I participated in the TOMODACHI Microsoft iLEAP Social Innovation and Leadership Program and received training in Seattle, USA. Currently, I am also working as aa Regional Representative for the Kyushu region.
My first encounter with the TOMODACHI Initiative was when I was 24 years old. I had been aiming to become a professional soccer player since I was a child, and it was the year I decided to quit the sport. I still vividly remember how I was very brave to participate in the TOMODACHI Program, wondering if it was the right place for me to jump in.
From what I learned through the TOMODACHI Program, I decided to start a modern version of a Terakoya called “Irodori Study Lab” in my hometown, Hirokawa-machi, Yame-gun, Fukuoka Prefecture, in 2022, where elementary and high school students can learn together. With the mission of “bringing the world to Yame and Yame to the world,” we conduct exploratory and interactive activities that enable children to expand their world even in the countryside.
The reason why I decided to start this business is that in the process of becoming a soccer player, I was constantly told that I would never be able to make a living, and that I should get a regular job.
While I found joy in pursuing the sport I loved, the local constraints and strong stereotypes made life challenging. Because of this frustrating experience, I wanted to create an environment where I can offer my full support to the “first step” of children who, like myself in the past, are now trying to take on the challenge of living in the countryside.
If you pursue your ambitions until it fulfills your self-satisfaction, you can always change the future even if you take on a completely different challenge as long as you continue to act with passion. There were times when I thought that perhaps this idea was wrong, but I was convinced that it was not, thanks to the mentors and friends I met through the TOMODACHI Program. I am the person I am today because of my experience at TOMODACHI, which affirmed feelings that were never understood in my hometown and made me feel that it was okay to pursue my goals.
It has been two years since we started our education business, and although it is a steady process, wonderful challenges are being made by children in this small town: a high school student who became the first from the town to study abroad in Cambodia through the Tobitate! Study Abroad Initiative, and an elementary school student who became the best in Japan after only one year since he started learning to type.
If we can create a new cycle of many challenges by continuing this activity, we believe that more and more unique efforts to create new employment will be made in the countryside. Imagining such a future, I carry out Irodori activities every day.
By the way, my hometown of Yame is also the hometown of Daniel Inouye’s father, who was a U.S. Senator from Hawaii. I am related to Daniel Inouye, as my family name is Inouye, and I have heard stories about him from my grandfather since I was a child. I never imagined that we would be connected in this way, and I feel that I have received some kind of mission from this miraculous connection.
Many of the TOMODACHI Program participants at the time are now working professionals. As a leader in the Kyushu region, I would like to contribute to the community by sharing my own transformative experiences I gained through the TOMODACHI Program, and pass down the torch to young people living in the region who have not yet been reached by TOMODACHI’s initiatives.
In closing, I would like to wish all of you involved in TOMODACHI continued success in the future. Thank you very much.
This interview was conducted by Nina Takanami on November 27, 2024. Nina is currently an intern with the TOMODACHI Alumni Leadership Program.
