TEDxYouth@Tokyo 2014 Speaker and Performer Lineup
The lineup is finalized but we still have a few spots remaining for TEDxYouth@Tokyo on Sunday, December 14th from 10:30am to 3:30pm at Tokyo International School.
Come along and be inspired, inspire others, meet new people, and enjoy this great, free, casual event! There will be complimentary food (which is always a good thing) and lots of space to get comfortable.
Sign up here!
For more updates from the team, find us on Facebook or Twitter
See you there!
The TEDxYouth@Tokyo Team
2014 Lineup
MichiTo
MichiTo is Towa Hayashi and Minori Suzuki. Both are involved with dancing for many reasons. Towa has been part of the dance club in her school for 5 years, and Minori, in addition, has been a member of the dance school, “En” since last year. Their performance represents the forms of love–How we express love is different from person to person.To share the beauty and power of love, they will perform their own dance number. MichiTo asks the audience to, with their own values, interpret their work and its countless meanings.
Multiple
This group consists of of sophomores and juniors from Seisen International School who achieved a rewarding all star performance at the KPASSP Annual Speech Contest. The message of their multiple speeches this year is leadership and what they believe to be its three most crucial characteristics.
Les Voix
Les Voix, is an a capella group consisting of 5 people; they have been heavily inspired by the group Pentatonix. All members of Le Voix go to K. International School in Tokyo, and their grade levels vary from 10-12. Megan, Isabella, and Jeanine sing the chorus, while Leo sings the bass, and Jeie beat boxes. Members come from all around the world including USA, England, Japan, Philippines, and Italy.
Nineesha Koshy
>Nineesha is currently a senior at Christian Academy in Japan. She has been involved in various musical activities at CAJ, including choir, Kanto Plains Honor Choir, musicals, talent shows etc. Along with her performance, Nineesha will be sharing about the power of music as a communicative tool. Check her out on youtube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCOVJ8iThsIr3HgCYfcVDM5Q
DOSED
DOSED is a band that was formed in 2012 as a 4-piece. Recently, one of the members quit for personal reasons and now they are a 3-piece band consisting of a guitar/vocalist (Megan Sumpaico), a bassist (Motoi Oyane), and a drummer (Yutaro Noma). DOSED has covered many artists, but also perform original songs composed by their vocalist.
Hikaru Tsukada
Hikaru is a returnee student from Los Angeles, California currently attending ICU high school. He has been a dancer most of his life, expressing the power of music and dance. Dance is a form of body expression, and throughout Hikaru’s life, it helped him in many ways. At TEDxYouth@Tokyo, he will be sharing the importance of body expression and how WE can improve it!
Aiko Hassett
Aiko is a junior in the science track at Hiroo Gakuen Senior High School. She is also an alumni of Heathwood Hall Episcopal School and has participated in the GAKKO Project and H-LAB (Harvard Liberal Arts Beyond Borders) summer programs. In her free time, she enjoys playing guitar, writing music, painting, designing, and programming. On weekends, she often participates in volunteer programs arranged through Hands On Tokyo. She values a good book, a hot bath, and a great dessert (particularly macaroons), but has yet to develop an appreciation for mayonnaise on her pizza.
Heegun Song
Heegun is a senior in high school, who loves math and science. One of the things he feels sad about is that many students find math and science tedious and boring. His speech however, will demonstrate the fact that imaginary numbers are actually quite fascinating.
Yoko Imajo
Yoko is junior at International School of the Sacred Heart. She is Japanese and has lived in Tokyo her entire life. She’s grown up in a culturally diverse community, and has been exposed to a variety of values. Recently, she has been interested in the expression, “loneliness”, and its complexity. A lot of people tend to define loneliness as a negative emotion. We live in a time in which some people fear surrounding eyes. She, however, thinks that lacking a companion isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and definitely isn’t something that one should be ashamed of.
Takeshi Fujiwara
Takeshi is a Japanese athlete in the 400 meter race. He has participated in the Olympic Games of Athens 2004, 5 World Championships in Grosseto 2004, Osaka 2007, Valencia 2008, Doha 2010, Istanbul 2012, and one Universiade in Belgrade 2009. He was born and raised in El Salvador to a Japanese father, and Salvadoran mother. He received a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration at the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico and an MBA at The University of Texas at Arlington. Currently, he is in preparation for the next Olympic Games in Rio 2016.
Tadashi Yokoyama
Tadashi Yokoyama spent two years in Italy as a Junior High School Student before moving to California for high school and college, graduating in 1983 with a degree in Linguistics from UCLA. While at UCLA, he served as Head Manager of UCLA Basketball team. He has been a study-abroad advisor / trainer since 1984. His talk will address a recently often-talked-about topic of being a global citizen, or Global Jinzai, the first step of which is getting to know yourself and your instinct, have your own story, and being able and willing to tell it. He is currently chairman of the board at AGOS Japan.
Saya Ballemy
Saya is 16 years old and spends her free time writing poems, taking pictures, and creating art. She dreams of becoming a successful poet. Saya also likes media literacy; she questions the way in which society is shaped by media, and observes how people respond to popular beliefs and cultures. In her talk, she will be presenting about how media sells a perception of beauty and how this affects the way in which we view our body image. Saya believes that this is an important topic to understand the society we live in today, and would like to reach out to as many people as possible. Follow her at instagram.com/sayabellamy and palequivver.tumblr.com
Sebastiano Pio Matera
Sebastiano, Sebi for short, is Italian, Spanish and Filipino, so you could say he’s an international kid. He goes to the American School in Japan and is a proud Mustang! His passion for helping others was inspired by his parents, and his ambition is to help anyone he can get the opportunity to have an education. The power of the mind is like no other. Find him at. facebook.com/sebi.matera and instagram.com/con_sebastiano
Shinsaku Kawaguchi
Shinsaku is 16 years old and goes to Tokyo Gakugei University International Secondary School. He will be talking about “unconscious judging.” According to Shinsaku, we are in a society where a little bit of information about a person could lead to discrimination and labelling, almost automatically. These reflexive decisions we make, with only small amount of information about a person, are most likely to emotionally damage the person being judged. He will be breaking this down by talking about a specific characteristic that is commonly misunderstood; vegetarianism. Find him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/shin.kawaguchi6
Stephanie van Houten
Stephanie is an 11th grader at the American School in Japan. A while back, her family sponsored a young girl, Bussum, who was rescued from the drug and sex trafficking industry around Northern Thailand. Since she met her new sister, she has now been helping with her rescue home and has been trying to help end human trafficking once and for all through fundraising, movie showings, working with a nonprofit organization, and giving speeches.
Rory Hyman
Rory is 17 years old and is currently a junior at the American School in Japan. His hobbies include playing sports and hanging out with friends. At TEDxYouth@Tokyo, Rory will be talking about how he overcame the disease Osteomyelitis and how his life has changed because of it.
Maya Wallin
Maya plays the violin. She moved to Tokyo last august, and she is glad to be a part of TEDxYouth@Tokyo, as it is a very welcoming community. Just like she has been inspired by many artists, she hopes to inspire the audience with her message.
Dinesh Prasad Joshi
Dinesh is a co-founder for You-Me Nepal Trust, which works to improve the education system in Nepal. He was born in Nepal, and is an alumni of Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University and United Nations University. He also works at Waseda juku Osaki-Shinagawa Diversity Campus. Follow him at facebook.com/YoumeNepalTrust and http://youmenepaltrust.org/
Inhyeok is an acapella singer who sings all parts of a song using only one instrument: his voice. Although he was born in Soeul, Yeo grew up in Japan and has also studied abroad in New York. After he graduated from high school in South Korea, he enrolled at Kyoto University and joined the famous acapella Circle, “CrazyClef.” In 2013, his YouTube went due to hisacapella covers of songs including Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” and Stevie Wonder’s “I Wish.” Last year, after graduating from University, Yeo joined an IT company in Tokyo; he works for this company during the day and on weekends, he focuses on his musical career. His current goal is to win a Grammy Award, and as his songs will soon be available on Amazon and iTunes, he is trekking towards his goal one step at a time. Follow him at www.facebook.com/InhyeokYeoOfficial Twitter @InhyeokYeo and www.youtube.com/user/InhyeokYeo
Announcing TEDxYouth@Tokyo 2014
It’s time!
TEDxYouth@Tokyo is an annual youth run event where teens (age 15~20) gather in one place to exchange ideas and experiences. Youth and adult speakers from all over Japan will share their ideas through English presentations and workshops, with the workshops giving the audience a hands-on experience.
This year’s theme focuses on the five senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch, and the workshops will be related to these senses.
If you have an Idea Worth Spreading that you would like to share at TEDxYouth@Tokyo this year, please contact the Youth Team at youth@tedxtokyo.com.
The event is on Sunday, December 14th from 10:30am to 3:30pm at Tokyo International School.
Come along and be inspired, inspire others, meet new people, and enjoy this great, free, casual event! There will be complimentary food (which is always a good thing) and lots of space to get comfortable.
If this seems like your kind of event, sign up here!
For more updates from the >team please like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter (or both!)
See you there!
The TEDxYouth@Tokyo Team