Workshop Report: TOMODACHI Regional Framework Workshop in Hawaii

On October 14, 2025, fifteen TOMODACHI Regional Framework Representatives (RRs) and Core Committee members (CCs) from Japan and the United States gathered at Kapiʻolani Community College in Hawaii for a leadership workshop. They shared successful experiences and challenges from their past regional events, and exchanged ideas on future regional expansion and collaboration between TOMODACHI and USJC.

The workshop started with welcome remarks by Misaki Takabayashi, Chancellor of Kapiʻolani Community College that is named after Queen Kapiʻolani, who dedicated her life to serving her people and embodied the spirit of servant leadership. This became a perfect reminder of the kind of leadership we aspire to in our work: grounded in service, compassion, and purpose. 

The workshop was led by Kaoru Utada, Director of Programs and Partnerships at the U.S.-Japan Council, and consisted of two sessions. In the first session, RRs and CCs introduced their most successful or memorable events in a gallery walk style, reflecting on what they had learned from those events and what challenges or improvements they discovered for the future. The presented events ranged from professional to casual ones, providing valuable ideas and lessons for future event planning. Participants exchanged insights on the importance of designing events that meet alumni needs in each region and shared practical tips for event outreach.

In the second session, the focus was on how TOMODACHI alumni and USJC members could better collaborate in their regions. Following an explanation about USJC member regions, participants broke off into smaller groups to share and learn about the current ways in which the U.S.-based TOMODACHI alumni regions are working closely with the USJC member regions .The U.S.-side RRs and CCs introduced how USJC and TOMODACHI members interact and co-organize events in their regions, while Japan-side RRs and CCs asked questions about potential fields of collaboration and the benefits of working with USJC members.

During the wrap-up discussion, participants shared what they had learned from the exchange. Momoko Tsukada, an alumna of the 2022 TOMODACHI Toshizo Watanabe Leadership Program and the current CC of the Hokkaido region,  shared, “To strengthen mutual understanding between TOMODACHI and USJC, I would like to attend USJC events and build in-person relationships,” and Hawaii Regional Representative, Max Malmud mentioned “I hope to create collaborative events that take advantage of USJC’s rich resources and networks and benefit TOMODACHI alumni in my region.”

Shiori Sata, an alumna of the TOMODACHI MetLife Women’s Leadership Program in 2018 and the current RR of the Chubu-Hokuriku region, reflected, “To collaborate effectively with USJC, I’d like to make the first move to connect. Rather than only asking for help, we also hope to offer our support through volunteering and digital marketing.”

The event served as a reminder that RRs and CCs across Japan and the U.S. always aim to organize events which meet the needs of TOMODACHI alumni in their regions and to build diverse forms of collaboration with USJC in the future. Despite working in physically distant regions, they share the same vision for the TOMODACHI community.