FEFRI Directors
Hisashi Furuichi, Chief Director
The Culinary Institute of America Alumni Club of Japan, Chief Director
PRIMIX Corporation, President and CEO
FEAST International, President
Medical Corporation Seimeikai Ikeda Hospital, Director
Waseda University, B.S.
The Culinary Institute of America, A.O.S.
Hisashi Furuichi first gained experience in the food industry as a consultant for major food processors, and cooking equipment manufacturers. Then in 1995, he established FEAST International as a consulting firm to the hospitality industry and food media. In 2001, he undertook a management role at Tokushu Kika Industries, the predecessor to PRIMIX, and ascended to CEO by 2004. Having proposed the development of four hectares of land in the Yumebutai section of Awaji City, Furuichi moved his company headquarters, factory, and R&D facilities to the area in 2015. He is now actively engaged in the revitalization of the Awaji City area.
Yasuyo Yamazaki, Director
Sun-Based Economy Association, Representative Director
Kuni Umi Asset Management, President and CEO
Research Institute for Growth Strategy, President
Tokyo University, B.A. In Economics, 1982
University of California Los Angeles, M.B.A., 1988
After a decade a building a reputation for international investment banking at Daiwa Securities, Yamazaki joined Goldman Sachs, where he was responsible for building their wealth management division in Japan. In 1998, he was named President and CEO of Goldman Sachs Asset Management Japan and named a general partner of Goldman Sachs & Co. After retiring from Goldman Sachs in 2002, he founded the think tank Yamazaki Associates, presently known as the Research Institute for Growth Strategy (RIGS). Their research has least to advocacy for a toll-free expressway system, a new industrial revolution of the Japanese countryside as well as structural reforms to the Japanese postal system. Yamazaki‘s research also delves into the financial and economic relations among Japan, China and India. In the most recent years, a clear understanding of the needs of our growing world population, combined with the our depleting natural resources and fossil fuel resources spurred Yamazaki to establish the Sun-Based Economy Association in 2009. Their work includes crafting policies in collaboration with the public, private and academic spheres to ensure the protection of our water, food supply and environment through solar-based energy. The Sun-Based Economy Association continues its research into the development of various economic, societal, and community models for sustainable co-existence.
Yoshimi Ishikawa, Director
Author/Journalist
Sun-Based Economy Association, Director
Kitamaebune Forum*, Chairman
Sakata City Art Museum, Yamagata Prefecture, Chief Curator
Author and Journalist Yoshimi Ishikawa is best known for is 1989 work, Strawberry Road, which received the Ooyama Souichi Nonfiction Prize. His work as a journalist spans topics from Japanese-American relations to tourism to recent development of cordial international relationships among Japan, China and India. For over six years, Ishikawa served as the president of the Akita Municipal Junior College of Arts and Crafts until stepping down in March 2007. Over his extensive career, he has built a strong network of top educators, artists, and business people striving to revitalize rural Japan. He has worked as a selection committee member for the Council for Better Corporate Citizenship, as a Japanese representative to the New Japan-China Friendship Committee for the 21st Century, as an advisor to the administrative committee of the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area, and as a special advisor to the Guilin People‘s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.
* Ishikawa founded the yearly Kitamaebune Forum in 2007 based on his “Kitamaebune Corridor Plan“. This plan draws its inspiration from the history of “Kitamaebune“ merchant vessel that were used for shipping goods through Japan Sea and the Seto Inland Sea (Setonaikai), which effectively connected and spurred the growth of regional economies in Japan.
More information on the forum can be found at http://kitamaebune-forum.com/