ASIJ '93 Alumni Newsletter 2005

Dear ASIJ Class of '93ers,

Greetings and welcome to this year's ASIJ Class of '93 Alumni Newsletter! Class Agent Tom Reid here reporting that, although we admittedly have incurred some slight (?) delays in getting this year's letter out the door, our class has in the intervening time produced a a bumper crop of news updates and general class enthusiasm, which we hope will make this Letter worth the wait.

In general, for our class' good news-reporting habits we can thank our former class agents, Chris McMunn and Chantal Balogh, for it was under their able stewardship that this publication weathered its first ten years. Thanks Chris and Chantal for your service to our class! On the other hand, the particular fervor with which news has rolled in this year must certainly be attributable in part to the deep-seated feelings of nostalgia and camaraderie stirred up in all of us who attended our tenth class reunion in New York City two years ago. Let us again offer our undying collective gratitude to Katie Sakuma for spearheading the reunion-planning effort, and to Nathan Barrett, Briney Dillon, and Yuko Oda for providing crucial logistical assistance. Although the reunion witnessed the birth, or rekindling, of a wide spectrum of friendships and encompassed a vast range of conversations, its general spirit is perhaps best crystallized by the following snippet of a Yuko-and-Briney's-apartment-rooftop conversation in which I took part:

Tom Reid:		Wow, this has been so much fun.
Ian Hanna:		Yeah.
Katie Sakuma:		Yeah.
Mike Riedy:		Yeah. Maybe we should do it again sometime.
TR:		Yeah. We should do it again without waiting another ten years, when we'll be too old to come out and get drunk for the weekend.
IH:		Yeah.
KS:		Yeah.
MR: indignant, visibly offended		Excuse me! I certainly still intend to be getting drunk in ten years.

And with the gauntlet thus thrown down for an even more taxing 20th in 2013, let us catch up with what our far-flung classmates are doing in the meantime.

A day in the life of the ASIJ class of '93 begins, of course, in the Land of the Rising Sun, and more specifically in Hokkaido. Chantal Balogh is there, quietly resting up from her exertions as Class Secretary and teaching first grade at Hokkaido International School. "Life in Sapporo," she writes, "has awarded me nurturing 14 children a year, training for professional snowboarding, and a svelte two-ton figure thanks to Hokkaido salmon and kani." For all your seafood or winter sports needs, write to Chantal.

Proceeding southward, we encounter as always a large body of our brethren in the Tokyo area. Yuri Katada (Takemura) is in Chiba, recently returned from an extended stay "enjoying white wine and cheese in Karlsruhe, Germany," after getting married in September 2003. Yuri notes that although she enjoyed her time in Germany, she is happy to be able to go grocery shopping on Sundays again, and even happier to be the mother of eight-month-old twin girls! The twins now weigh more than 7 kg each, and are forcing Yuri to become "very, very muscular!" Also in Chiba and working for Federal Express is Kin-ei Lin. "My story," he reports, "is that, as a child, I always thought that the older you get the wiser you become (like Yoda, or Mr. Miller, or people like that). Instead, the older I get, the dumber, slower, and heavier I feel. Is it just me?" Resisting the temptation to delve into that imponderable, we will only note that Kin-ei was at least wise enough to get married, last year, to Yueh-Chun Anita Kang. Among those present at the wedding was Riki Hudachek, who works in securities IT development for Credit Suisse First Boston in Tokyo. Kin-ei's wedding was apparently a rare expenditure of time with friends for Riki, who is otherwise so happily ensconced in family life that he spends all his time with his wife Akiko and three-year old daughter Julia. Riki did, however, find time last year also to attend the Tokyo wedding of Hiroshi Lockheimer. Write to Yuri, Kin-ei, Riki, or Hiroshi.

A few stops up the Ome line in Akishima, Tokyo, is Nina Humphreys, who has worked for the last three years as interpreter and assistant for the CFO of Wal-Mart on the acquisition of a huge Japanese retailer. "It was extremely exciting to work in the retail industry," she writes, "and to be exposed to business differences between two companies trying to reach the same goal." Nina intends eventually to go back to GE, with plans to stay in Tokyo unless any particular opportunities arise in the US, and in the meantime is currently working as a freelance financial translator. Write to Nina.

Also living in Tokyo -- but filling airwaves throughout Japan with her mellifluous voice -- is Yuko Yamada (Fujino). Yuko cohosts Smooth Air, a morning radio show on Japanese megastation J-Wave, but is probably even better known these days as the English-language voice of Canon, imploring us at the end of every Canon commercial to "Make it possible with CANON!" These commitments notwithstanding, Yuko also finds time to work at Grey, an advertising agency, and to hang out with her husband and nineteen-month-old daughter Mareine. Write to Yuko.

Further south in Kyoto is Mari Nagasue, who recently built and moved into a new house and is excited to be launching a new business with a good friend. Mari recently saw Yuri Katada (Takemura) and her newborn twins, and also visited Lalaka Ogawa (Fukuma) at Lalaka's newly opened bar in Shibuya. Write to Mari.

And even further south, in Miyazaki, Kyushu, is Philip Soldini, who was with our class from 5th through 8th grades. After ASIJ, Philip finished high school in Florida and went to Florida State University before going back to Japan to teach English. Now he's a freelance translator specializing in games -- finally proving to his parents that "all that time I spent in Shibuya game centers didn't go to waste!" Philip got married in 2001 and has a daughter, Masako, and a son, Rei. Write to Philip.

After Japan, the next of our classmates to start the day is Hisako Watanabe (Dewanto), who absolutely runs away with the class award for Most Exotic Professional Life in her job running a 1000-worker shrimp processing plant, with her husband, on the shores of the Indian Ocean in Indonesia. Hisako's operation includes a 130-hectare shrimp farm, exports 99% of its total production, and spans the gamut of the global shrimp supply business, including everything from shrimp blocks, to semi-value-added shrimp products such as IQFs and cooked shrimp, to high-value-added products such as sushi-ebi, tempura-ebi, and other dim sum lines. (Yes, of course IQF stands for Individually Quick Frozen.) Despite Hisako's whirlwind schedule of guests, meetings, and negotations, she recently found time to travel to Thailand for a wedding, and tries often to make the 40-minute trip to nearby Bali with her husband and daughters Michelle, 7, and Jessica, 3. On her next trip she might run in to Matt Clark, who, after 7 years at JP Morgan in Tokyo, New York, London, and Tokyo again, is currently enjoying some well-deserved R&R in Bali after having "resigned to go into the great unknown," regarding which he is "hoping to have an epiphany while sipping on some deliciously sinful cocktail by the pool." Matt's current plans after Bali involve "starting something new -- whatever it may be --" in San Francisco. Write to Hisako or Matt.

A few countries to the west in Israel, waking up a few hours after Hisako (and probably a few hours before Matt) are Kinneret Eshkol and Gali Eshkol (Heffer). Gali is the proud mother of three-month old baby girl Yuval, who appears to be somewhat skeptical of photographers but is otherwise enjoying life with mom, dad, and older brother Amit (2). Gali reports she is "enjoying every second of motherhood" and is proud, if she does say so herself, of the way she's been juggling the gang of husband, two kids, and two dogs, although in January she'll probably be going back to work at Teva Pharmeceutical Industries. Kinneret is loving her job as competitive intelligence analyst at a distribution company for a major international conglomerate; the job is loving her back, apparently, having recently named her "Employee of the Year." She highly recommends jeep trips through the wilds of Turkey, one of which she just completed, and is happy to report that when not working or trekking she meets up quite often with Gali. Write to Gali or Kinneret.

Moving westward into Europe, in Stockholm, Sweden, we come across Jesper Edman. After finishing a Masters in Economics, Jesper spent a few years in Tokyo as an equity research analyst with Deutsche Bank. While there he met his fiance Christine, herself a Seisen grad and Japan lifer, and after a couple years together in Tokyo the two "decided to throw caution to the wind" and move to Stockholm, where they were married last year and, after presumably dancing together, cutting cake together, and taking pictures together at their wedding, promptly decided also to enroll together in economics PhD programs. (Guys: This might be taking the togetherness thing a bit far.) Jesper is loving married life and happily reports that both Brian Stolz and Kinei Lin were present at his wedding. Also in Stockholm is Magnus Kottenauer. Magnus works for RPM Risk and Portfolio Management, a Swedish fund of hedge funds, and travels often to Asia and the US for business. Write to Jesper or Magnus.

If this is Tuesday, it must be Holland, and Kaoru Inahara is in Amsterdam. After attending fifth grade at ASIJ with our class, Kaoru spent time in the United Arab Emirates and the US before returning to Japan for college. Thereafter she worked with European operations for Toyota before doing an MBA at INSEAD, for which she studied in both Singapore and Paris. Kaoru is now working for Philips in Amsterdam and says, "If anyone is around or popping by just give me a ring - I'll show you around this wonderful city!" Write to Kaoru.

Finally, holding down the Western flank of our class' European contingent is Mariko Miyamoto. Realizing early that our class' race for Most Exotic Professional Life was unwinnable, Mariko decided instead to pursue the award for Kinkiest-Sounding Job Title, which she wins hands down as Product Manager of Leather Goods for Burberry in London. Mariko is still happily married to a Spaniard, owns a place in London, and reports: "On paper, I feel like I've ticked all the boxes for proof of adulthood. In practice, I feel that my maturity level regresses as the months and years go by. It's so hard to give up immaturity and shamelessness. Well, it is for me." With tips on how to abandon immaturity and shamelessness, or for products to help you rediscover them, write to Mariko.

Aside from Magnus Kottenauer dozing on those transatlantic flights, the next to get up in the morning are those of us on the East Coast of the States. Haruna Tada is in the Boston area, soon to graduate from Tufts with a PhD in mechanical engineering. In addition to her PhD research, Haruna has been teaching as a part-time lecturer in her department and is involved in a number of programs for engineering education in K-12 schools. Last year Haruna met up with a bunch of our classmates at the wedding of Junko Tamiya in San Diego; check out Haruna's online photo archive of that happy day. Also in Boston am I, Tom Reid, where, perhaps to restore cosmic equilibrium after having had too much fun in Japan after college, I have embarked on a program of long, slow death by graduate school. Write to Haruna or me.

To our south in Connecticut, and busily putting to shame any of you who might have thought your child precocious, is Chris McMunn, whose daughter Shaelin Elizabeth, despite having only been in our world since July 16th, has already put up her own web site! For his part, Chris reports that "even though I call the pediatrician about five times a day and wake up every 15 minutes at night, it's great to be a daddy!" Chris is on active duty in the Coast Guard and lives with his wife Elizabeth near the Coast Guard Academy, where, after three years as Director of Recruiting at the Coast Guard Academy, this year he took over as Director of Campus Visitation. Also in Connecticut is Leila Bryner (Siman), who was with our class through 10th grade. Leila lives in Greenwich with her husband of three years and works in marketing communications at Starwood Hotels and Resorts; when she isn't working she's traveling or serving as alumni interviewer for Georgetown, her alma mater. Write to Chris or Leila.

Our next stop is New York City, where we find Nathan Barrett recovering from a recent mini-reunion with Emile Goldberg, Chad Holliday, and Daniel Fish. When Nathan feels better he'll be back at work as a consultant to the city of New York, "basically," as he describes it, "trying to encourage New Yorkers to volunteer to mentor foster youth." Nathan's work is evidently paying off, as a recent episode of "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" focused on one of the foster families with whom his program works -- and the episode was nominated for an Emmy! For exhortations toward altruism, or a direct line to the Fab Five, write to Nathan.

Also in Manhattan is Hanako Tokunaga, who does real estate consulting at Standard & Poor's and reports that she "absolutely loves living in NYC." Hanako was at Junko Tamiya's wedding last year, and also randomly bumped in to her Cornell classmate Brian Conaghan at a (different) wedding in California last year. Write to Hanako.

Newly arrived in New York City is Jeremy Weingarten. After completing a residency in internal medicine and a one-year fellowship in pulmonary transplant medicine in Pittsburgh, Jeremy came to Manhattan in June to do a three-year fellowship in pulmonary, allergy, and critical care medicine at NY Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University. Jeremy's wife, of two years, is an anesthesiologist in NYC. Write to Jeremy.

Iyasu Nagata lives in Manhattan with his wife Nana. Iyasu is a professional bass player and performs, both live and in the studio, with a number of ensembles in the City. As just one example, check out his featured playing on this major new album release from guitarist Daniel J. Write to Iyasu.

Rounding out the Big Apple squad is Amol Bhat, who has been in Manhattan ever since graduating from UNC Chapel Hill. Amol works in the hedge fund industry and "would love to hear from anyone in our class!" Indulge Amol by sending him email.

A bit to the south in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is Jill Fink. After completing a term as interim Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Pennsylvania last year, Jill decided to pull a complete about-face and open her own business, Mugshots Coffeehouse and JuiceBar. Although the place has by any measure been an absolute runaway success -- winning in its very first year of existence the coveted "Best Coffeehouse" designations of both AOL City Guide and Philadelphia Magazine -- even more noteworthy, particularly these days, is Jill's commitment to offer health care to anyone on her staff working 20 hours or more per week -- "probably the single thing," says Jill, "of which I'm most proud," and who wouldn't be? In what scant hours she can find away from her pride and joy, Jill hangs out with Jane Kim '94, who lives in her neighborhood, and keeps in touch with other ASIJers including Jared Green. For coffee roasting tips or that elusive job-with-benefits, write to Jill.

A couple of states below Jill in Maryland, at least for the moment, is Katie Sakuma. After a few years working as a consultant in Charlotte, NC, Katie quit her job and is now savoring "a taste of early retirement." Many people look forward to retirement as an opportunity to travel, and Katie has lost no time in exploiting her newfound freedom, paying visits to Sydney, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and recently to London with Melissa Brinkmann. In between jaunts, Katie has caught up with Julie McCord and Jared Green. We pause to deliver a special shout-out to Katie for her indefatigable service in spurring your otherwise all-too-fatigable class agent to compile this newsletter. With your thanks and for travel tips, write to Katie.

Nearby in Washington, DC is Chad Holliday. After ASIJ, Chad got degrees -- in illustration from the University of Tennessee, and in graphic design and art direction from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn -- before settling in the Adam's Morgan area. Chad works as a designer for Hargrove, a company that does special events, trade shows, and exhibits, and reports that he is "loving it and learning a ton!" Also in D. C. is Ann Barnett-Dahl. Ann lives in downtown D.C. and works for the International Trade Administration at the U. S. Department of Commerce; she travels often to Geneva, Switzerland, in her capacity as U. S. delegate to the WTO. Nearby in Alexandria, Virginia, is Lisa Floyd (Collyer), whose son Jacob Kai was born last December and is, Lisa says, "the best thing that has ever happened to me." Lisa has since returned to her job as Director of Catering at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel in downtown D.C., but eventually hopes to join her parents in running a little bed & breakfast. Write to Chad, Ann, or Lisa.

Further south in Charlotte, NC is Melissa Brinkmann (Miller), who writes with the happy news that she "just got married to a great guy named John Miller!" Melissa works for Bank of America as a Senior Vice President in Quality and Productivity and notes that her frequent travels for work have allowed her to catch up with many ASIJ alums in recent years, including Lisa Floyd, Cara Naylor, Melissa Shimizu, Katie Sakuma, Crystal English, Nathan Barrett, and Briney Dillon. Write to Melissa.

Also recently returned from a trip to Japan is Lisa Witt. Accompanying Lisa on that journey was her boyfriend, Glen Bigelow, and, not to be outdone by Dave Rothwell, Lisa also took Glen out to ASIJ for a visit; he must have liked the school, because Lisa and Glen were married in July! Lisa is finishing up her master's degree in school counseling and meanwhile continues to teach high school English; she and Glen just bought a house in Columbus, OH. A couple of states over in Chicago is Boris Yelyashov. Boris works in commercial real estate and was recently promoted to Vice President in his firm, MB Real Estate; on the side he is working toward an MBA at DePaul. Write to Lisa or Boris.

West of the Mississipi in Livingston, Montana is Daniel Fish. Daniel is a freelance graphic designer and reports that he is "just chillin' in Montana," raising his baby Jordan and stepdaughter Amora with his fiance Dana. We believe, however, that this account of Daniel's doings must be overly modest and incomplete, as we have received breathless accounts from unnamed sources (Nathan Barrett) that Daniel has in fact recently been accepted onto the Brazilian Olympic Wrestling Team. A little to the south in Boulder, Colorado is Mike Riedy. Mike works at GE Access Distribution, in Boulder, where he was recently promoted to Quality Account Manager. Mike just bought a townhome with his girlfriend and reports that he is "enjoying the outdoors and sunshine that Boulder continues to offer." Write to Daniel or Mike.

Down in Tomball, Texas is Karen Fry (Hale), who was with our class from 1984--1986. Karen recently moved from a technical writing position to a job in sales, but will be returning to her previous responsibilities in a few weeks; in her free time, she says "the travel bug won't quit biting!" and travels with her husband as often as possible. John Jordan is in Plano, Texas, and notes wistfully that "It doesn't seem like my ASIJ experience ended a dozen years ago... I lived a life of spectacular privilege at ASIJ. I was immersed in so many cultures... Life was so much simpler then...wasn't it? Or is that the filter of time speaking?" Life has been anything but simple for John in the intervening years, during which he held 12 jobs -- ranging from lumber jack to telecom engineer -- before joining Nortel Networks in 2000 with a job in the R&D Product Test Division. And just to make sure life doesn't get too simple, John also keeps busy teaching self-defense classes and cardio kickboxing four nights a week! John invites anyone who happens to be in the area to give him a call. Write to Karen or John.

Proceeding southward down the Pacific Coast we next catch up with Brian Conaghan -- or, more likely, fail to catch up with him, as Brian moves faster than any of us now that he is officially an Ironman Triathlete! That's right, folks -- since June our class has had in its midst a living, breathing Ironman; click the link for photographic proof. When not traversing 140 miles in under 15 hours, Brian is living happily with his boyfriend Shawn in Portland, Oregon and working for Intel on the launch of their new line of 90nm Pentium 4 products -- which, he reports, "has been anything but smooth." Another key player in Brian's life is his 7-year-old godson, Max, with whom he plays a little hooky from work once a week to go feed the homeless in downtown Portland. For semiconductor processing secrets or a long-distance bicycle messenger, write to Brian.

Just out of triathlon distance from Portland is Amy Thornhill (Durward). Amy is serving as pastor to St. Helena United Methodist Church in the beautiful wine country of California's Napa Valley, to which Amy, her husband Doug, and their three-year old son Donovan recently relocated from San Jose, and where this Spring they welcomed the newest addition to their family, baby Melinda. "Melinda is growing up all too fast," sighs Amy, "and big brother Donovan just adores her...Besides being surrounded by boxes, life is pretty good." Amy invites anyone passing through Napa country to stop by for a visit. Write to Amy.

Ken Gutman is in the San Francisco Bay area -- "I give that nice generalization," Ken explains, "because as soon as you say Oakland, people start to think of crime-ridden neighborhoods and the Raiders. We have both; I live near neither." Ken, who was with our class from 4th through 7th grades, has been working for two years as a copywriter for a San Francisco advertising agency -- "it's always interesting!" Ken has been traveling a lot this year -- to Mexico a few times to visit his parents, and through the "lesser-traveled states" of Kansas, Lousiana, and Florida; it has all been preparation, he notes, for "a little debauchery in Las Vegas" to celebrate his 30th birthday this year. Also in San Francisco is Chi-Ling Lin. Chi-Ling is in her fourth and final year of medical school and reports that she is "counting down!" She expects the upcoming academic year to be "super-exciting," as she will need to take her licensing boards and apply to residency programs before graduating next June. Notwithstanding the intensity of her studies, Chi-Ling found time last Spring to complete her first marathon in LA, before setting off on a trip through Taiwan, the Phillipines, and Japan -- including visits to both Kyoto and Gas Panic! This Autumn Chi-Ling will be doing a few clerkships in Los Angeles and has trips planned to San Diego, Honolulu, and an as-yet-unnamed major vacation destination in the Spring. Write to Ken or Chi-Ling.

Just out of San Francisco in Palo Alto is Walter Park, who was with us for freshman year of high school. After finishing medical school last year, Walter began a residency in internal medicine at Stanford; next he will be doing a fellowship there as well, and so expects to be in the area for another four years. Down the road in Mountain View is Grant Smith. After finishing his masters in engineering at MIT, Grant spent a few years in Applications Engineering and Product Marketing at Altera before switching to a marketing job at Aeluros, a semiconductor startup targeting the communications market. Never one to deny his Canadian heritage, Grant spends evenings playing center on a local hockey team; sometimes cheering from the stands is Emily, Grant's wife of three years, who is also an MIT grad and works in quality assurance at a San Francisco tech firm. Write to Walter or Grant.

A bit further south is Ian Hanna, who writes, "My wife and I ditched out on NYC and drove all our stuff out to Los Angeles a year ago in a yellow 25' Penske truck with our '85 Subaru hatchback dragging behind it. Been drinking Corona and grilling chicken and sausage with the Mexicans ever since!" Ian works in textile design for BCBG Max Azria, "not too shabby if you're an art freak like me!" and wastes no time lamenting the fact that he has not yet acquired a Porsche, "probably not ever but I don't have to wear a tie so $#!* it right!" Wise words. Also not wearing a tie to work -- opting instead for a white lab coat -- is Junko Tamiya, who works in the medicinal chemistry department of Neurocrine Biosciences, a biotech firm in San Diego. Last year, after a ten-year courtship, Junko married Charley Hamilton, at a San Marcos, California ceremony that boasted an unusually high turnout of ASIJers, including Haruna Tada, Mayumi Nakayama, Hanako Tokunaga, and Chi-Ling Lin. Write to Ian or Junko.

And that's a day in the life of the Great ASIJ Class of '93! Thanks to all who wrote in -- and thanks in advance to all who will write in next year! Send news and address updates anytime directly to me, or post them on our class website at http://www11.brinkster.com/asij1993/Update.asp, and in the meantime keep in touch with your classmates through our online class directory.