Alumni Newsletter
Transcription
Alumni Newsletter
FASID/GRIPS Joint Graduate Program Alumni Newsletter Editor: Takashi Yamano Vol. 2 Spring 2006 Alumni Newsletter Towards the Center of Excellence: A Word over time our former students who have from the IDS Program Director taken internships have convinced them that this program is useful for them. Kei Otsuka These are just selected examples that show that the Since the IDS quality of the IDS Program has been Program is still six enhanced by our former students. years old, it is an An external review of our program infant as an academic was implemented under the leadership of institution. Professor wish to let it grow. So we Fortunately I am Masahiko Aoki of Stanford University and Professor Tetsuji Okazaki of confident that it is indeed growing owing to the University of Tokyo. our alumni. honor for us that the IDS Program has been For example, applicants now have much better knowledge of our program reviewed than economists. before, as our alumni explain, by such It was a great prominent fellow Moreover, the assessment was recommend, and perhaps also advertise our extremely positive. program to their friends and colleagues. I requested to assess our program as an outside met several government officials in the reviewer, pointed out that “internationally Ministry of Trade and Industry in Kenya, this program is among the top ten in who expressed deep appreciation to me for development economics.” For me this short having trained their staff. My colleagues statement is more encouraging than anything have had similar experiences in other else. The external review highly appreciates countries. The internship programs in Japan our serious research efforts in Asia and Africa were not highly appreciated by foreign and the large number of journal papers and students in the beginning importantly because book publications. of the lack of experience of accepting interns news is that Prof. Yamano has received the on the part of the Japanese organizations; but best journal article award from the American 1 One professor, who was Another piece of good Agricultural Economics Association, which is except of course in the beginning when you extremely prestigious. We are hoping that are fed a full dose of the gloomy and rainy gradually we will be able to build up a British winter for almost five months. Things reputation are getting much better now with the days as a leading research and education center in development economics. turning brighter, sky bluer, flowers and trees Healthy institutions need healthy and flowers blooming. Academically, it has turnover: although it is a pity that Prof. Ma also been great. I am given full time to has accepted the offer by the London School concentrate on my research although of Economics, it also attests to the quality of distractions and interruptions occur our staff. Prof. Kajisa has accepted a joint frequently here. I have made quite a few appointment between the International Rice "academic" travels within Europe, the most Research Institute and FASID. dramatic being a trip to Helsinki, Finland in This also indicates that our staff is expected to work Jan. of this year. I tell you, walking around internationally. on frozen sea and river at minus 22 is an Obviously the challenge for us is to recruit new promising staff. experience you do not want to miss. Personally I am hoping that IDS serves as an incubator of prominent Of course, I miss Tokyo and the people development at FASID/GRIPS. Luckily, I did visit Tokyo economists. this March on an academic mission. It was As I emphasize in the graduate really nice to stay in the first floor hotel room ceremony every year, we are now members of our GRIPS building and catch up with all of the same family. the goings-on at the place. As it is fun for us to help our children grow, I hope that it is our I am sad to tell you that I will leave the common interest to support the IDS Program FASID/GRIPS joint program and start as a to grow. lecturer with the Economic History Department of LSE from this September. I Hello from London! know I will miss our program, especially the Debin Ma colleagues and students, former and current. The good news is of course you will have an Hello, this is Debin sending alumni in London now. My affiliation now is: you greetings from London. Economic History Department, London Last September, I came to School of Economics. My email is London to start my 10 month visiting [email protected] fellowship at the Economic History Department of the London School of Economics. It has been a nice visit so far 2 Greetings from the course. IRRI has been releasing not only country of the rice productive modern rice varieties but also Green Revolution productive social scientists. Obviously, they Kei Kajisa are Hayami- sensei, Otsuka-sensei, and Kalirajan- sensei who have spent a part of After six years of full time research and their academic lives at IRRI. Starting my new teaching at FASID, I have changed my research at IRRI, I’m hoping that I will be the primary workplace from FASID to the next modern variety from IRRI. International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines. I’ve just started my work I have news to share with you. My wife, at IRRI this June as an Agricultural Yoko, and I have been blessed with a Economist in the Social Science Division. beautiful baby girl (see the photo). Although I’m going to spend most of my th born on April 4 , the middle of spring, and time in the Philippines, I will still come back we named her Maharu. As some of you to FASID four months every year to teach my remember, HARU means spring in Japanese. dear old ‘Quantitative Methods.’ Well, no We have chosen this name as it sounds close IDS student can escape from me. Don’t say to MAHAL which means love or dear in this is a curse; it’s a blessing! Tagalog. We wish people mahal Maharu in She was the Philippines. Do you remember Hayami-sensei’s lecture on the Green Revolution? Yes, you do. IRRI is If you have a chance to come Manila, please the place where the miracle rice, IR8, was extend your stay one more day and visit IRRI. developed. The release of that variety It’s just a two-hour drive from Manila. triggered the rice Green Revolution. Since Filipino IDS then, family, let’s IRRI has kept releasing new generations of modern rice varieties that see each contribute a lot in meeting the demand for other sooner rice of the world population. The latest or later! varieties currently under experiment include a golden rice (named after the color of grain) which contains richer beta carotene (vitamin A) and an aerobic rice which has stronger resistance to water shortage. I will teach you another aspect of IRRI which you have not learnt from Hayami-sensei’s 3 got a transfer from my previous ministry, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, to the News from the Alumni: st From the 1 batch: National University of Laos in August 2005. Tri Winarno Since then I have been working as a lecturer Since August 2005 I have been transferred to of Economics at the Faculty of Economics my original base in Bank Indonesia head and Business Management and the Lao-Japan quarters in Jakarta in the same department, in Human Resource Cooperation Center (LJC). the same division, in the same section, even Since March 2006, I have got two additional in the same desk as an econometric expert in tasks: being a father and deputy director of the balance of payments division. Actually I LJC. I have been enjoying my job at the am in charge of making econometric university and my fatherhood. equations related with the balance of payments. My current jobs are developing Suzuki Aya: econometric models of Indonesia’s non oil in the US. She has started studying the exports and imports, oil consumption, foreign development of the horticultural industry and direct investment, portfolio investment and contract farming in Ghana. In her fieldwork, international reserves. Regarding non oil she was able to see her Ghanaian classmate, export, my research goes into detail such as Sadick Sam, who tremendously helped her the development of textile and garments, research there. Aya is now a Ph.D. candidate paper etc. As a result, if you come across anything about Indonesia’s balance From the 2nd batch: of payments, you will see some figures and Richard Ofori Ampomah - Asiedu: Well forecasting produced by Tri Winarno. In since my return home in 2003 I have been order to update my expertise, last March working in a new unit in our Banking 2006 I had attended course discussing Department (Head Office) called the balance Operational Risk and Market Intelligence of payments and international investment position conducted by IMF in Unit. There are only two of us in this unit. I Singapore Training Institute for almost three must also say that my hard work has earned weeks. In fact I miss Japan and seeing my me two promotions since I came back home. dear friends from GRIPS to exchange I was promoted in 2004 to Assistant Manager information and experience, so if there are and again in 2006 to Deputy Manager. The any courses, please invite me to enhance my sky is the limit, and I continue to work hard expertise. Thank you very much. to carry the flag of GRIPS high. Bounlouane Douangngeune: Due to my strong preference in continuing my research I 4 From the 3rd batch: submitted by my country for the position to Kenichiro Kobayashi has been working as the Commonwealth. an assistant resident representative in the JICA Nepal Office. He covers education and governance sector. the Kaori Ikeda: Kaori reports to us that she is Let's doing well at the World Bank and has started hope that we will be able to restore the long taking on a new assignment. absent peace in Nepal. years of working at the World Bank, she After three seems getting ready to explore new opportunities though. Masato Hayashikawa has been working as an Administrator at the OECD Development Co-operation Directorate (a.k.a. DAC Akiko Aikawa: Akiko is currently Secretariat) in Paris since December 2004. conducting field work in rural areas of He is responsible for trade-related Uganda. The editor of this newsletter has no development issues. He reports to us that his contact with her and is not sure if she is okay. family is going to be blessed with a new The last word was that she got malaria and member (second son) this coming August. recovered. She seems very happy about You can reach him at gaining the malaria experience. [email protected]. Akira Kanamori: On May 27, 2006, I got Mukuli Subbuku Chikuba: Since my return married with Eriko who is a kindergarten from Japan, I was promoted from the position teacher. I am currently working at the foreign of Senior Economist (External Debt) in the registration desk at a City Hall. I am really Ministry of Finance and National Planning to enjoying my new life!! (Below: Akira and work as an Acting Principal Economist Eriko at their wedding party.) (External Debt). During the period I have been nominated by my department to be given the award of most disciplined employee in the Ministry. Following Zambia's accession as President of the Commonwealth HIPC Finance Ministers Presidency, I will from the end of June 2006 be working as a HIPC Advisor to the Commonwealth for a period of 1 year based in the United Kingdom. The position coincides with Zambia's Presidency and I was appointed after a vetting of the names 5 Besides my busy work, I talked with Hao san th From the 4 batch: often, however I missed the chances to meet Kaoru Kimura is still surviving at the World Yukiko san and Noei san when they came to Bank HQ in Washington DC where she did China. her Atsushi Takahashi: I am now in Colombo, internship. publication Her first contributed “Information Communications for and Sri Lanka, as Project Coordinator of Japan Development Sri Lanka College of Technology Project. I (www.worldbank.org/ic4d)” has finally come will be here till July 2007. out in April 2006, and now she is working for http://project.jica.go.jp/srilanka/0661165E0/e the project in China. She hopes have a chance nglish/index.html to join the mission to China and have a reunion with the IDS family in the near Mayuko Yamamoto: I have been future. working as an analyst of country risk for 6 months, but to be honest, financial risk Akiko Noda: I am working at the Economic analysis is dreary work than compared to Cooperation Bureau of the Ministry Foreign working in the field. Hope to go to a field trip Affairs, Japan. this year. I am responsible for issues that are discussed at the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) / OECD. Woro Srihastuti Sulistyaningrum (Lisa): Although I am working on I still work at National Development ODA, my travel destination is always Paris Planning Agency (BAPPENAS) but I moved since DAC meetings are held there. from my previous department (Directorate for Monitoring and Evaluation) before I went Yukiko Uchiyama: I am back in Tokyo to Japan to a new department (Directorate for from Washington DC to work with a British Poverty Reduction). This is a new department rating company in the area of structured in my office because now the government of finance. I expected a gorgeous "OL" life in Indonesia is really concerned about poverty Tokyo, which is not observed in Washington reduction (especially after the crisis) and is DC, but in reality a "salary woman" life was putting a lot of effort into it. Now I act as a here for me ... head of the sub directorate for Poverty Anyway, the new area is interesting for me so far. Mapping. Our department now is in the process of creating a new program of cash Wang Hang: I came back to the Ministry of transfer but with conditionalities for reducing Science and Technology after graduation. I poverty. Besides, we still work on developing am now working as the Deputy Division the grand design for poverty reduction Director of the Personnel Department. through empowering the poor. 6 From the 5th batch: Akira Fukasawa has started working for Faculty Notes: Asian Development Bank Institute as a Keijiro Otsuka, our current director, is also capacity building and training associate. He the vice president of the International organized a seminar about industrial cluster Associations for Agricultural Economists with Prof. Otsuka and Sonobe in Hanoi, (IAAE) and is busy organizing the IAAE Vietnam. He will organize a seminar on Meeting in Brisbene, Australia, this summer. regional public goods around July. In Besides taking charge of his daily addition, Akira has started studying USCPA administrative duties at FASID, he is the to find a new job next year. chairperson of the board of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and one of the Raphael Gitau: Upon his return to Kenya he associate editors of the prestigious rejoined his institution, Tegemeo Institute of development journal Economic Development Agricultural Policy and Development- and Cultural Change. “How can he manage Egerton University as a Research Fellow and his health and research productivity with all is currently undertaking a study on Regional the work?” is a question on everyone’s mind Food Security Challenge Informing Public these days. Policy On the Role of Biotechnology in Poverty Alleviation in Kenya and Uganda. Yujiro Hayami, the founding Motoyuki Okura has returned to Yokohama director of our Customs and is now concentrating on program, retired investigating smuggling cases. He's now from his worried that he might be transferred to a directorship much, much busier workplace this coming duties in 2003. July… He is slowly reducing the number of days he comes to school recently. But don’t be surprised to learn that he is continuing his research and book writing at home in a newly created study. His research time, however, is interrupted by his newest granddaughter, Maharu Kajisa, whose parents are Associate Prof. Kei Kajisa and Yoko Kajisa, daughter of Prof. Hayami. 7 daughter in the Philippines, so he looks Kali Kalirajan continues to charm the forward to the fall semester to come back to students and others around him with his Tokyo to see his daughter, in addition to cheerfulness. He is engaged in various meeting new students. research projects including one on comparative the macro-economic Takashi Yamano has been involved a performance of India and China. After the project called RePEAT (Research on Poverty, departure of Associate Prof. Debin Ma, he Environment, and Agricultural Technology) became the solo non-Japanese faculty in Kenya, Uganda, and Ethiopia. As the member. name of the project, RePEAT, suggests, the surveys have been conducted on the same Tetsushi Sonobe is our associate director households repeatedly to construct panel data. who helps handle various administrative Please visit the project web sites: duties. http://www3.grips.ac.jp/~21coe/e/index.html. Besides his teaching of industrialization and trade and development He has recently received the Outstanding research seminars, he also supervises Ph.D Article Award of 2005 American Journal of students. Agricultural Economics for his co-authored His book co-authored with Keijiro Otsuka on economic geographic and paper on child growth and food aid in industrialization came out last year in Ethiopia. To know more about his work, Japanese. It immediately won the please visit his home page prestigious publication prize from Japan (http://www3.grips.ac.jp/~yamanota). He is Nikkei Press. He and Kei Otsuka have been also productive in producing children. His invited to give talks at various research and daughter, Hinako, is one year old, and he and governmental institutions on their book. his wife are expecting a boy in June, 2006. Tetsushi’s research on industrialization has He has been busy changing diapers and will taken him all over the world - sometimes in be busier soon. the most unexpected places – to talk with shoemakers in Ethiopia, junkyard dealers in Futoshi Yamauchi has a joint appointment Ghana, and tailors in the Philippines. with International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington D.C. He comes Kei Kajisa started a joint appointment with back to Tokyo to teach a PhD course on IRRI in the Philippines and spends about 9 Microeconomics in the fall semester. He is months there, although he will still teach his one of the most productive faculty members, well-received course on statistics in the fall publishing papers in top journals in semester. He became the father of a development economics such as Journal of beautiful baby girl in April and misses his Development Economics (JDE) and EDCC. 8 Yoko Kijima is another productive faculty member, whose papers are forthcoming in assisting top development journals such as JDE and EDCC. She assists Keijiro Otsuka’s Microeconomics course during the fall semester. She has been conducting research in Africa. If you have any questions about upland rice, called NERICA, and milk marketing, she is the right person to ask. Colin Rundle continues to spend summers at Kudanshita preparing students in the IEP, and winters at Roppongi consulting on exam writing and internship applications. He is finally studying Japanese, and is beginning a comparison of Japanese and English student From FASID Office research papers. We are all doing well and assisting the program as usual. Three new staff members Paul Kandasamy has been busy chasing have joined the FASID Office since last students to collect research papers from them, Autumn. You can see us in the picture taken although the students are getting better at in front of the GRIPS building below. hiding from him. Besides engaging in episodes of “hide and seek”, Paul has recently published articles on information structuring in academic journal article introductions and gender bias in ESL texts, and is currently analyzing Japanese university English language entrance examinations for an upcoming paper. See below, Paul in a happy moment with students: 9 decided to publish this newsletter twice a Thanks from the Editor year starting from 2006. Takashi Yamano to make an announcement in this newsletter, First, let me thank all of you who have you will have another opportunity in the Fall contributed to this issue of the IDS Alumni 2006 issue and many more in the future. Newsletter. The IDS family is growing and Please also send us your comments and spreading throughout the world every year, suggestions about what we can do to and it is important to maintain our family ties. strengthen our ties with you! You can send For the current and future students, it is email to me at [email protected]. encouraging to know that IDS alumni are working effectively in their governments, Takashi Yamano, international organizations, and other places, Editor as you can read in this newsletter. To (Right: Editor under strengthen our ties with alumni, we have heavy responsibilities.) 10 If you would like