TOMODACHI Alumni Highlight: China Kotake, from TOMODACHI Next Generation Summit 2025
For this month’s alumni highlight, we are highlighting China Kotake, a speaker at the 2025 Next Generation Summit Reception. China is a TOMODACHI Regional Representative for the Kansai Region after serving as a Core Committee Member for the Okinawa Region. In 2016, while studying tourism in Okinawa, she participated in the TOMODACHI MetLife Women’s Leadership Program. China previously worked in Tokyo on improving the environment for inbound tourists, and is now working towards her Masters in Tourism at the Graduate School of Wakayama University.
Good evening, and welcome to the NGS Reception. My name is China Kotake. I am an alumni and member of the TOMODACHI Generation. My passion is tourism and how it creates a ripple effect to improve our world.
Have you ever heard the term “Sanpo Yoshi”? This is a concept meaning “good for the seller, good for the buyer, and good for society.” While studying tourism, I learned the importance of aiming for “Sanpo Yoshi” by ensuring that tourism has a positive impact not only on tourists and businesses but also on local communities, and the environment.
Furthermore, tourism is a broad industry that affects many other sectors. Imagine a single drop of tourism falling into the pond of a region, creating a ripple effect that promotes business, good environmental practices, and benefits the people visiting and living there. Hearing this, I hope you can feel how attractive tourism is. That’s why it’s my passion.
After graduating from college in the United States, I transferred to a university in Okinawa to study tourism. At that time, I participated in the TOMODACHI MetLife Women’s Leadership Program. During the program, our evenings were spent gathered around talking about our future goals. I was not sure what to do after university, but as we talked, everyone gradually leaned forward, their voices grew louder, and we began sharing our deepest secrets and passions. For me one thing became clear: “I wanted to energize various regions in Japan through tourism and create a positive ripple effect.” Their passions helped me identify my own passion and I realized the importance of having a community of passionate individuals who can motivate, challenge, and push each other to greater heights.
Currently, I am active as a TOMODACHI Regional Representative for the Kansai Region after serving as a Core Committee Member for the Okinawa region. I’ve been able to use my passion for tourism to impact positive change through the events we organize. This past May, we held a workshop to make Okinawan dishes using okara which is the by-product when making Tohu. We learned from Anju-san, a TOMODACHI alumna, that a large amount of delicious and nutritious okara is thrown away.
I’m not the type to show strong leadership, but TOMODACHI taught me that leadership takes many forms. Through TOMODACHI activities, I hope to provide the alumni with the same life-changing opportunities and happy moments that I have received. I believe in the power of tourism, and starting in September, I will become the Regional Representative of Kansai, and I plan to use the power of tourism in my activities to create more positive ripple effects and give back to this community. Thank you very much.
This article was transformed from her speech script by Nina Takanami on September 6, 2025. Nina is currently an intern with the TOMODACHI Alumni leadership program.
