Suvendrini Kakuchi
Suvendrini Kakuchi is a journalist and currently foreign correspondent
for University World News, based in London, United Kingdom. Her focus is
on Japan-Asia relations with an emphasis on international aid, higher education,
and sustainable development issues such an environment, minorities and
conflicts. Recently her experience has involved the professional communication
of Japanese primary school education projects in Bangladesh, and disaster
preparedness education in Asia. Her methods involved developing unique
publications such as a student diary similar to Japanese “renrakucho” used
in schools between teacher and students parents, student newspapers and
the integration of local media and culture into Japanese disaster risk
reduction training. She is also the author of two books in Japan published
by Iwanami Junior Publishing house examining disaster volunteerism and
the experience of foreigners living in Japan. She is also on several panels
in Japanese organizations as advisor in the expansion of Japan to Asia
in business, education and entertainment. Kakuchi`s journalism career spans
three decades. She is a Sri Lankan national married to a Japanese with
family in Tokyo. She is a past Nieman Fellow from Harvard University, U.S.A
and also the recipient of Japanese Foreign Press Center fellowship for
South Asian journalists in 1984. Her goal in her writing is to deepen the
understanding between Japan and particularly South Asia to strengthen regional
relations.