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On March 17, a special talk event titled, "Cross-Boundary Competence: Uncovering the Secret to Overcoming Mental, Interpersonal, and Global Barriers," was held at Mita Campus's North Hall with Keio alumna and director of the Los Angeles Dodgers Asia-Pacific Operations, Yayoi Sato. Sato was joined onstage by President Kohei Itoh, and together they discussed topics such as the necessary mindset for building a career that cuts across different countries and cultures.

After graduating from Keio's Faculty of Letters, Sato followed a unique career path, finding employment with the L.A. Dodgers three times amongst a series of various jobs ranging from public relations and planning at an arts company, to interpreting and coordinating for construction projects at Tokyo DisneySea and Hong Kong Disneyland, to working in the video game industry. The discussion with President Itoh was followed by a Q&A session, where Sato fielded questions from the audience. These questions delved into a number of different topics such as the differences between working in the U.S. and in Japan, finding the motivation that made changing jobs multiple times possible, and how she likes to relax. Addressing how to overcome barriers, Sato explained that we first need to think about what those barriers are and then proceed to eliminate them. She stressed the importance of not being afraid of failure and being well prepared for a given task. She further expounded that if our anxieties persist unabated, it is also crucial that we analyze our situation objectively and consider that perhaps it may not be right time to take on that task.

As part of this event, the L.A. Dodgers and the United States-Japan Foundation jointly held an award ceremony, presenting grants to four nonprofit organizations that focused on providing support to children. These grants were made possible through the work shared by President Itoh, who serves as Vice Chair of the U.S.-Japan Foundation and Dodgers President and CEO Stan Kasten, who serves on its board of trustees. The four recipient organizations were the NPO Okinawa Youth Self-Reliance Center "Churaiyui", the NPO Nationwide Children's Cafeteria Support Center "Musubie", Vamos Together, and the U.S.-Japan Council. Complementing her talk with video, Sato shared examples of the Dodgers' contributions to the community, including how Shohei Ohtani gifted a series of surprise experiences to a child afflicted by a severe heart condition, and how pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto conducted a book reading session for children.

In September later this year, Keio University will collaborate with the U.S.-Japan Foundation to launch the Keio Leaders Program for Nonprofit Management (KEIO LEAP for Nonprofit). This program will be aimed at trailblazing professionals working in the nonprofit sector. President Itoh provided an overview of this program, which features acquiring practical skills at the MBA level.

Keio University will continue to invite internationally active alumni and specialists to give lectures and provide further opportunities for learning. The video of the special talk and Q&A session is available at the following link (Japanese version only).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SMwXdrIpm8