Student Ambassador Reflection - Emi Kitahara

Emi Kitahara was selected as a NWK scholarship recipient in 2010.  She traveled to Wakayama Prefecture as an ambassador during the summer of 2011 along with Sei Kato.

Emi Kitahara (middle) trying on a Japanese school uniform.

Click below to read more about her trip.

Student Ambassador Reflection - Akemi Levine

Akemi Levine is a student at UC Berkeley and was selected as one of NWK's student ambassadors in 2014.  She and Emily Hatanaka traveled to Wakayama Prefecture together in July 2015. "Read below" to hear about her experiences as a student ambassador!

Akemi's California pride in Wakayama, Japan.

[Recap] Junior Ambassador Welcome Party

The Nanka Wakayama Kenjinkai had a great time with a fun group of guests from Japan on Tuesday, August 11, 2015. For the very first time, the International Friendship Association (IFA) and the Wakayama International Exchange Association (WIXAS) worked together to bring a group a young students from Japan to Los Angeles for a cultural exchange program. This group, the Junior Ambassador Friendship Mission, consisted of middle and high school students. 

 

Thanks for coming!

Click below to "read more" and for more photos. Thanks to Tom Kohtani for the pictures.
Rafu Shimpo Article (in Japanese): Link

Student Ambassador Reflection - Emily Hatanaka

Emily Hatanaka, a student at Cal State University Northridge, was selected as one of NWK's student ambassadors in 2014.  She and Akemi Levine traveled to Wakayama Prefecture in July 2015.
 

Emily's trip to Japan was filled with new experiences!

Click the "read more" below to hear more about Emily's experience in Wakayama in her own words!

Student Ambassador Reflection - Risa Hijima

Risa Hijima was selected to be NWK's Student Ambassador in 2012.  She traveled to Wakayama along with Kaylee Yoshii in July of 2013.  Risa attended UC Merced before studying abroad in Denmark.  She completed her undergraduate studies at UC San Diego.

Click "read more" below to hear more about her trip to Wakayama in her own words!

[Announcement] Scholarship Recipients 2015

The Nanka Wakayama Kenjinkai would like to congratulate our scholarship award recipients from the high school graduating class of 2015.

President Award

Mr. Philip Kamei

Fujinkai Kaicho Award

Mr. William Tomita

Iwao Shirokawa Award

Mr. Ty Tanioka

Fred Wada Award 

Mr. Matthew Levine

Sumizo Tani Award

Mr. Andrew Gruhn

Sannosuke Madokoro Award

Miss Katrina Uyehara

NWK Scholarship Award

Mr. Matthew Levine 

Congratulations again on all of your accomplishments. We wish you the best of luck in college! 

Student Ambassador Reflection - Jaymie Takeshita

Jaymie Takeshita received an NWK Scholarship Award in 2008 and traveled to Wakayama in 2009 as a NWK Ambassador with Clay Thibodeaux. After becoming more involved in the kenjinkai thanks to the experience in Wakayama, she became the NWK Scholarship Committee Coordinator in 2015.

Click below to read more about her first trip to Wakayama.

Student Ambassador Reflection - Clay Thibodeaux

Clay Thibodeaux was selected as an NWK scholarship recipient in 2008 and traveled to Wakayama as a student ambassador in 2009 with Jaymie Takeshita.  After graduating from Brown University, Clay participated in the Teach for America program in Texas. He has since returned to Los Angeles and is pursuing a career in medicine.  You can read more about his first trip to Wakayama by clicking the "read more" below!