With it’s bright lights, innovative fashion and adventurous metro network, Tokyo is regarded as one of the world’s most exhilarating and creative cities to live and work in. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that Japan has become home to UAL’s second largest alumni population outside the UK.
Eager to unite and support this large and exciting community of creative professionals, UAL’s Partnerships team visited Tokyo to host two special events to officially launch the UAL Japan Alumni Association.
The panelists (L-R); Sosuke Sugiura (LCC & Camberwell), Shun Ishikawa (CSM & Camberwell), Eiji Iwakawa (LCC), Sean McGirr (CSM & LCF), Chihiro Murakami (CSM) and Tomomi Maezawa (CSM)
To kick-start activities, UAL hosted a panel discussion at Impact Hub Tokyo. Introduced by Professor Jeremy Till (Head of CSM) and chaired by Professor Chris Wainwright (Head of Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon), the alumni panel talked about their experiences working across Japan’s creative industries and how their UAL education has helped their career so far. Questions were asked about the difficulties starting in the industry and how UAL could support its graduates returning to the country.
The audience of 50 fellow graduates were welcome to take part in the conversations throughout the evening and many took the opportunity to make new business contacts and creative connections.
Later in the week UAL brought a party atmosphere to 3331 Arts Chiyoda as over 100 graduates came together for a celebratory drinks reception. Professor’s Jeremy Till and Chris Wainwright welcomed guests and update everyone on the latest news from across the Colleges. They were keen to encourage anyone who wanted to take an active role in the new UAL Japan Alumni Association to step forward and talk to the Partnerships team. The team were happy to hear ideas from graduates and also tell everyone how they can volunteer for the local alumni committee.
Guests left the evening excited about having met new friends and that this event was the first of many to come in Tokyo.
The aim of the new UAL Japan Alumni Association is to open up opportunities for all our graduates based in Japan to meet, make new business contacts, share job and creative opportunities, offer advice to prospective students as well as new graduates and promote their work. The Association is to be led by a committee of alumni volunteers who will work throughout the year on ideas that will help make this happen.
See more photos from the UAL Tokyo Alumni Panel Discussion and UAL Alumni Reception: Tokyo 2016 via our Facebook page