About

The University of British Columbia Japan Association is the only student club at the University with an extensive focus on Japanese culture. The club was established in 1963 as “Japan Exchange Club,” and its only activity at the time was the Summer Exchange Program. Currently, its primary purposes are to promote Japanese culture to the campus community, and to provide opportunities for visiting Japanese students to interact with the local students at the University. UBC Japan Association is recognized as a club that belongs to the Alma Mater Society, the student society of UBC.

The UBC Japan Association has over 250 members, diverse in multicultural backgrounds. Not only does the UBC Japan Association have Japanese students but also students who are interested in Japan and its culture.

In March of 2011 UBC Japan Association was involved in a joint-effort with many UBC clubs in initiating a UBC campus wide movement to raise awareness for humanitarian aid for the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Sendai, Japan. Through our awareness booth alone we collected over $7,500 in donations for the Canadian Red Cross. As a whole, the UBC clubs collected over $12,000 in donations for the Canadian Red Cross. A fantastic effort by the UBC community and everyone who volunteered!

We welcome anyone who is interested in Japanese culture and/or language. We have a variety of events throughout the year, including cultural, social, and sports events. Our office is located in the Student Union Building room 117. Go to the northeast corner (SRC side) of the SUB and enter through the doors there. We have few decks of cards and couches, so feel free to drop by to sleep, have lunch, or just to chill with the execs/members. View a map of our office room 117

The JA is led by a group of top class leaders and sub divided into the following 4 departments Social, Cultural, Sports, Promotions. Each department has the arduous and fun task of keeping all the JA members happy and entertained during the school year. We know that school life can be somewhat stressful at times and the JA Exec team works hard to help you de-stress and keep you laughing. Our awesome team of elite Executives will set up a Halloween party, sushi making nights, takoyaki parties, a karaoke contest, sports nights, Japanese movie nights, ski trips, live band shows, clubbing nights, etc. just to name a few of the events JA will be hosting during the year. It’s going to be an awesome year! Don’t miss out.

Senior Executives
President: Shimon Miyamoto
Vice-President: Amelia Song
Treasurer: Fumihiro Sato
Advertising and Marketing Consultant: Sally Wong
Secretary: Isao Takagaki

Social Department
Head: Chiaki Yamada
Leo Lee
Yutaro Ryan Oka (NEW)
Sho Nawata(NEW)
Heidi Kutschmann(NEW)

Cultural Department
Head: Mary Hikosaka
Saaya Nabeshima
Eugene Shea (NEW)
Liana Chan (NEW)
Loulou Chayama (NEW)

Sports Department
Head: Puisze Cheng
Ski Trip Coordinator: Yooji Cummings
Amon Kawamoto (NEW)
Jun Hyuk Yoon (NEW)
Shota Ebi(NEW)

Promotions Department
Head: Sarana Sopanpanichkul
Kaveh Sarhangpour
Wei-Ting Leong (NEW)
Lisa Herring (NEW)

Welcome to our newly hired Executives for 2011-2012 UBC school year and great warm welcome to all the new members!