TEDxTIU

Speakers

Speakers may not be confirmed. Check the event website for the latest lineup.

• Ai Someya

  Student

  Ai Someya is a third year language communication student at Tokyo International University who is passionate about intercultural communication, education, and building connections across cultures.

• Atsubumi Sugimoto

  Professor

  Professor Atsushi Sugimoto is a faculty member in the International Relations program at Tokyo International University. His academic work focuses on international relations, global affairs, and the political and social dynamics that shape contemporary international society.

• Dinali Peiris

  Student

  Dinali Peiris is a Sri Lankan student living in Tokyo, currently completing a degree in Digital Business and Innovation. Having grown up between cultures, career plans, and constantly changing answers to the question "what do you want to be?", I've spent much of my life thinking about identity, pressure, and what it really means to grow up. My talk draws on that personal journey to explore a question many feel but rarely say out loud.

• Ken Sasaki

  Tea Master, Businessman, Professor

  Ken Sasaki is an award-winning Japanese tea master, entrepreneur, and educator dedicated to shaping the future of Japanese tea. He is the CEO of Chakumi and a Specially Invited Professor at Yokohama University of Commerce. A two-time recipient of the World Green Tea Contest’s Highest Gold Award, Sasaki has developed innovative tea-production techniques while also working to revitalize abandoned tea fields and support regional agriculture. Through his work as a tea producer, farmer, lecturer, and business leader, he seeks to preserve Japanese tea traditions while adapting them for future generations.

• Lancelot Tabiaat

  Student

  Lancelot Tabiaat is a student at Tokyo International University studying Digital Business and Innovation. He co-founded the Tokyo Student Network, an organization that aims to support students in Japan by hosting professional and social events and connecting students across campuses. He's also a big fan of karaoke, helping others however he can, and for some reason got into jogging.

• Laura Kukla

  Student

  Laura is a 23-year-old Business Administration student and aspiring healthcare innovator who, through her own experience of living with medical uncertainty, has become passionate about transforming how we approach healthcare for people living with invisible illnesses. She believes that good healthcare begins with listening to patients and approaching uncertainty with curiosity, compassion, and trust rather than doubt. As she continues her studies in impact entrepreneurship and healthcare innovation, Laura aims to develop solutions that put patients at the centre of health innovation.

• Performer - Joaquine Bernessa & Shafi Danendra

  Students

  Joaquine Bernessa is a student singer-songwriter who has released original music in both English and Indonesian, while Shafi Danendra is a multi-instrumentalist and keyboardist from Tokyo International University

• Performer - Phillip Korompis

  Student

  Phillip Korompis is a first-year student at Tokyo International University from Indonesia whose passion for music drives him to both perform and create original compositions

• Stephen Bannick

  Designer

  Stephen Bannick is a multidisciplinary designer originally from Santa Cruz, California, now based in Tokyo, Japan. He works across physical product design, branding, fashion, and beyond. He is especially interested in solving problems with human impact regardless of medium.

• Takumi Oishi

  Student

  Takumi is a 20-year old sophomore student at Tokyo International University currently studying international relations. Having grown up in the Philippines, Takumi understands the importance of cross-cultural communication in day-to-day life, leading him to establish communities to foster this. Most notably, he runs his own dance club, Axion Dance Crew. When he’s not busting a move on the dance stage, you can find Takumi chairing an MUN as he also sits as the current co-Vice President of the TIU MUN.

• Yasmeen Audrelia

  Creative freelancer

  Yasmeen is a multidisciplinary designer chasing the node where business, design, culture, people, and art meet, not as separate disciplines, but as one practice. Every place she's called home has redrawn where she thinks that node actually is, often found in the in-between moments most people move past.