Two Scholars Presented with the Crown Prince Akihito Scholarship Award

Akihito Scholarship Awardees Sakiko Yasuda and John Seymour with Consul General and Mrs. Shigeeda, Trustees, Scholarship Staff, and supporters

Two scholars were presented with the Crown Prince Akihito Scholarship award at a formal ceremony at the Japanese Consulate on May 8th. New Chairman of the Scholarship Foundation, Mr. Allen Uyeda, presented the certificates to Japanese recipient Ms. Sakiko Yasuda and University of Hawaii student Mr. John Seymour. Foundation Trustees and members of UH Foundation and Center for Japanese Studies were invited to this event. Mr. Uyeda thanked Consul General Toyoei Shigeeda and Mrs. Michiko Shigeeda for opening their residence for this ceremony, and noted that the Scholarship was mentioned in a recent Joint Statement following President Obama’s visit with Japanese Prime Minister Abe as among non-governmental programs linking the people of our two countries and being “indispensable” for building relationships. Consul General Shigeeda then welcomed all, echoing the importance of this Scholarship in promoting friendship and understanding between U.S. and Japan.Ms. Yasuda received her B.S. in Nursing and Education from Kibi International University and her Master of Public Health from Kyoto University. She is a Ph.D. of Public Health Candidate at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, John A. Burns School of Medicine. Her research topic is school-based intervention to improve health for children.
Mr. Seymour received a Bachelor of Music in Composition and Theory from the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University and a Master of Arts in Music Composition from the University of North Texas. He is currently a Ph.D Candidate at the University of Hawaii at Manoa where he composes new music for traditional Asian instruments and also researches Gagaku, an ancient genre of Japanese music which he will study in Japan.

The Crown Prince Akihito Scholarship was established in 1959 to commemorate the wedding of Crown Prince Akihito and Princess Michiko. The purpose of the scholarship is to promote better understanding between the peoples of Japan and the United States by providing scholarships to UH scholars to study in Japan and Japanese scholars to study at UH. The Emperor and Empress of Japan honors the scholars with a personal audience at their residence in the Imperial Palace. Since inception, a total of 142 scholarships have been granted. Each grant is approximately $45,000 per year and can be awarded for two years. Those interested in this scholarship are directed to the Japan-America Society of Hawaii website at www.jashawaii.org under “CPASF.”