Funding through WASEDA University Ventures opening doors for Waseda community
WASEDA University Ventures (WUV) is a venture capital firm, established in April, 2022, that specializes in founding investments in the deep tech domain by creating new start-up companies that make use of academia and are based on Waseda’s spirit of “the practical application of scholarship.” Ted Yamamoto and Hiroaki Ohta, General Partners to WUV, sit down with Waseda Weekly to talk about the fund and the ins and outs of venture capital. In particular, when asked about the role WUV will play for current Waseda students, Yamamoto mentions that it was a Ph.D. student at Stanford that ultimately established Google, and that individuals with an “entrepreneur mind,” even students, can envision business ideas from their research, and WUV can help bring these ideas to life.
Furthermore, with the establishment of The WUV 1st Fund in August this year, funding has been delegated to Nanofiber Quantum Technologies, Inc. (NanoQT), a Waseda-born startup company led by Professor Takao Aoki (Faculty of Science and Engineering, School of Advanced Science and Engineering). Waseda Weekly also interviewed Prof. Aoki, who says his hopes for the WUV funding lie on the “people” it will provide, rather than capital. For example, when looking for a CEO that fits the role of a new business, WUV was able to introduce a suitable figure. Looking forward, Prof. Aoki hopes NanoQT can contribute not only to Japan’s industrialization of quantum technology and development of both industry and science and technology, but to also become a Waseda-born startup company that can become a world-class enterprise.
Japanese article: https://www.waseda.jp/inst/weekly/feature/2022/11/21/102323/
A ghost story recital on Waseda Campus with stage actress Kayoko Shiraishi and author Haruki Murakami
To celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Waseda International House of Literature (The Haruki Murakami Library), which opened on Waseda Campus in 2021, the facility held a live-reading event with stage actress Kayoko Shiraishi and author Haruki Murakami. Held on a special stage in front of the Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum, which neighbors the Murakami Library, Shiraishi performed a reading of Ugetsu Monogatari (title translated as Tales of Moonlight and Rain), an old collection of ghost stories, to an audience of roughly 100 on-lookers.
After a skillful recital by Shiraishi, who used to perform for the theatre group Waseda Little Theatre in the 1960-70s (now known as SCOT), the actress sat down with Murakami for a live talk session. Murakami, who prior to the performance recalled reading Ugetsu Monogatari as an elementary student and being frightened to the point of nightmares. During the talk, Shiraishi was worried that the audience might not completely understand the original text, and Murakami sympathized, pointing out that even if one doesn’t completely understand, the tale has such a beautiful rhythm that the terror and essence of the story can still be directly felt.
Japanese article: https://www.waseda.jp/inst/weekly/news/2022/11/24/102349/
From soccer player to team manager, a student’s wish to work for J.LEAGUE
For Ayaka Kikuchi, a 4th year undergraduate student at the School of Political Science and Economics, soccer has held an important place as far back as when she was only three years old. Although Ayaka played up until high school, in junior high school she thought that it would be nice to work as one of the people behind the scenes who support soccer players, and after seeing staff members in action during a Japanese soccer public viewing event, she knew that she wanted to become a frontline staff herself.
Now, Ayaka serves as the sole team manager of the Waseda University Association Football Club 4th year team, supporting the team both physically, with daily practice sessions and match preparations, as well as online with team branding through SNS activities. Team players upload their current thoughts to the popular Japanese blogging site Note, and when Ayaka posted an entry titled “Still, I want to work for J.LEAGUE!”, her passionate writing caught the attention of the president of the Japanese pro soccer team Kashima Antlers, who invited Ayaka to attend their match, and this fairytale series of events was picked up by Japanese media! Now, as she focuses on graduation and job-hunting, Ayaka wants to continue with her goal of working in the soccer industry and “move the hearts of people through the sport of soccer.”
Japanese article: https://www.waseda.jp/inst/weekly/news/2022/11/22/102276/
