About AIU

Successive Presidents

Table of Contents

1. Dr. Mineo NAKAJIMA, First President
2. Dr. Norihiko Suzuki, Second President

Dr. Mineo NAKAJIMA, First President

Dr. Mineo Nakajima's photo

Mineo NAKAJIMA, Ph.D. 

Profile (1936 - 2013)

1936
Born in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture
1960
B.A., China Studies, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
1965
M.A., International Relations, The University of Tokyo
1977
Professor at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
1980
Ph.D., Sociology, The University of Tokyo
1995 - 2001
President of Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
1998 - 2001
Vice President of The Japan Association of National Universities
1998 - 2006
First Secretary General of the University Mobility in Asia and the Pacific (UMAP)
2000 - 2006
President of Inter-University Seminar House
2001 - 2007
Member of the Central Council for Educaiton, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Chairperson of the Graduate School Section and General Manager of Foreign Languages Section)
2004 - 2013
President (Chair of the Board), Akita International University
2006 - 2008
Member of Cabinet Education Rebuilding Council
2008 - 2013
President of Talent Education Research Institute
Visiting professor, successively at The Australian National University, Institut d’études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po), and The University of California, San Diego.

Publications

  • Gendai Chuugokuron (On Contemporary China: Ideology and Politics, Aoki Shoten, 1964)
  • Pekin Retsu Retsu (Beijing in Flux, Chikuma Shobo, 1981)
  • Kokusai Kankei Ron (International Relations, Chuko Shinsho, 1992)
  • 21-seiki no Daigaku (Universities in the 21st Century, Ronsosha, 2004)
  • Zenkyu Kyoiku Ron (On Global Education, Nishimura Shoten, 2010)
  • Naze Kokusaikyoyodaigaku de Jinzai wa Sodatsuno ka (How are global individuals cultivated at AIU?, Shodensha, 2010)
  • Sekai ni Tsuyosuru Kodomo no Sodatekata (How to Educate World-class Children, FOREST Publishing, 2011)
  • Nihonjin no kyoyo (Cultural Literacy of the Japanese, Asahi Shimbun Publications, 2011)
  • Gakureki Kakumei (Revolution of the University Brand, KK Bestsellers, 2012)
    among others.

 

Honors and Awards

  • The Suntory Academic Prize for Pekin Retsu Retsu (Beijing in Flux, Chikuma Shobo, 1981)
  • The 19th Seiron Grand Prize of Fuji & Sankei Group
  • The Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold and Silver Star
  • Jusanmi (Junior Third Rank), Japan Court Rank
  • Akita-Ken Bunkakorosha (Cultural Contributor of Akita Prefecture)
  • AIU Library was renamed “Nakajima Library” in 2014, in memory of his great contribution to the university’s foundation and progress.

Works of Art

He enjoyed playing the violin, climbing, and painting watercolors as his hobbies.

Lviv Theatre of Opera and Ballet

Two years ago in fall, after the 6th Japan-Soviet Round Table Conference in Moscow, I took a one-day excursion to Lviv, which is a medium size city with a population of 700,000, located near the border between Poland and western Ukraine. It had a feel that was vaguely similar to a European Medieval city than the Soviet Union.

The Theatre of Opera and Ballet, which was built in 1990 with a Neo-Renaissance style, is located in the center of this city. I would say that it is almost the same but smaller than the Theatre of Opera in Paris. I watched and enjoyed the whole performance of "Swan Lake" that night.

During my free time the following day, I finished this sketch hastily and roughly while the other members of my group enjoyed shopping. This became a memorable piece of mine.

“Toa” December, 1990

On the Wharf of Honfleur

I had several occasions to visit France during the last two decades with the support of the KAKENHI grant from the Ministry of Education to conduct collaborative projects with scholars of Contemporary Chinese Studies. While in France, my wife and I went for a drive to Normandy with my longtime friend, Dr. Claude Cadart and his wife, and a great scholar of Chinese Studies and Asian Studies Professor Leon Vandermeersch, and his wife.

It was over 10 years ago, but I still remember that we departed Paris early in the morning that day, enjoying the smell of spring in Normandy with white apple flowers and yellow jonquil narcissus in full bloom, and feeling delight from singing the lyrics of a chanson song "Ma Normandie" in French without any difficulties, which I learned in my young days. It was far past noon when we arrived in the fishing port, Honfleur, which is located close to the mouth where the Seine River flows into the English Channel.

Honfleur is a typical harbor style city but with a unique harmony of medieval and modern, such as the countryside and city, wooden English Sainte-Catherine Church vaulted ceiling that is built like a boat and old clock tower, stone-paved streets and fancy souvenir shops. All of these characteristics made the city very attractive. The best part was that the scenery of the wharf, the countless small fishing sailboats and yachts at anchor, and buildings in the background that were old and tall, with some even tilted or bent.

Honfleur is a location where impressionist painters often chose for their art, such as Corot and Dufy, as well as a venue to hang out. There is an art museum in the center of the city commemorating Eugene Boudin, who Monet respected as a lifelong mentor. Recently, while I was acknowledging the superiority of Boudin's nature description in an exhibition in Tokyo, I also got a sense that the atmosphere of Honfleur would fit the music of composer Erik Satie, who was born there. He often played the piano at pubs in Montmartre, Paris, at the end of the former century, rather than for Monet's beauty. It is kind of a similar episode to that of Utrillo, who was Satie's mother’s husband, at one time, who was loved as a model by many painters in Montmartre.

I did not have time to paint during my first visit there, so I wished I had another opportunity. A couple years ago during spring break, I had a business trip to Paris on a Japan-France collaborative research project and was lucky to have a one-day excursion to Lisieux, which is close to Honfleur, and water painted the wharf of Honfleur. The scenery was so colorful and vivid that I had to use my green and blue paints as it is. And this painting became one of my masterpieces which I hung in my study at home.

“On the Wharf of Honfleur” October, 2001

Dr. Norihiko Suzuki, Second President

Picture of Dr. Norihiko Suzuki

Norihiko SUZUKI, DBA

Profile

1945 Born in Kuroiso Machi, Nasu Gun (Currently Nasu Shiobara City), Tochigi Prefecture
1968 B.A., Economics, Hitotsubashi University
1972 M.A., Economics, Hitotsubashi University
1978 D.B.A., Indiana University
1978 - 1982 Assistant Professor and Associate Professor, Washington State University
1982 - 1986 Assistant Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
1986 - 1990 Associate Professor, International Christian University
1990 - 2012 Professor, International Christian University
1991 - 1992 Visiting Professor, University of Washington
2000 - 2004 Vice-President for Academic Affairs, International Christian University
2004 - 2012 President, International Christian University
2010 - 2012 President, The Association of Christian Universities and Colleges in Asia
2012 - 2013 Senior Managing Director, Japan University Accreditation Association
2013 - May, 2021 President (Chair of the Board), Akita International University

Other prominent posts include member of the University Education Section of the Central Council for Education

Publications

  • Takokuseki Kigyou Keieiron (Management of Multinational Enterprises, Dobunkan, 1988)
  • Winner of the 1988 Management Science Literature Award, Kokusai Marketing (International Marketing, Dobunkan, 1989)
  • Kigyousenryaku to Kokusaikankeiron (Corporate Strategy and International Relations, Yuhikaku, 1995)
  • Takokuseki Kigyou to Kokusai Kankei no Tougou Riron (The Multinational Business and International Relations -Toward the Integrated Theory Building-, Kokusai Shoin, 1997)
  • Kokusai Keiei Seijigaku (The Global Corporate Politics, Bunshindo, 2000)
  • Global Kyoikuzai Ido Riron (Global Transfer Theory of Education Products, Bunshindo, 2014)
  • Journal of International Business Studies
  • Academy of Management Journal
  • International Management Review
  • Asia-Pacific Journal of Management
  • The Columbia Journal of World Business
    among others.

Greetings from the President's Office

"I am glad to announce that I will issue my opinions/thoughts through this letter occasionally with the hope of increasing communication between all of you and me." (An excerpt from the first issue)

Greetings from the President's Office