Skip to content
History

History

Introducing the history and journey of Ubunture UTokyo.

Home / History
Timeline

Our Journey

Summer 2025

  • Established the student group "Ubunture UTokyo".

Members at the Time

Daichi Sawachika澤近 大地
Aria Mitani三谷 愛利亜
Riko Kasai笠井 凜心
Natsuki Hino檜野 夏希
Hiromi Katakura片倉 宏海
Manato Ichitaka一高 学仁
Moeno Kakazu嘉数 萌乃
Naotaro Inoue井上 尚多朗
Kensuke Wada和田 健助

December 2025

  • Conducted the first trip to Johannesburg, South Africa and ran pilot lessons in local schools.

Local Coordinator

Riko Kasai 笠井 凜心
Ubunture UTokyo Local Coordinator (Johannesburg, South Africa)
As the only student from Asia at African Leadership Academy, Riko lives in a dorm and learns alongside students from across the African continent.

Born in 2008 in Yamanashi, Japan. Sparked by a school‑issued PC during the pandemic, she pursued her interests through relentless self‑driven research, visiting companies such as WOTA and joining the NGO Imeai. Those first steps broadened her world: she was selected as the youngest Japan delegate for Novo Nordisk’s science camp in Denmark and continues to take on global challenges. Her activities—founding the NGO “Yuri‑Food” to build communities through food and conducting research on natural coagulants at IIT as a Tobitate! (MEXT) scholarship student—led to her selection as the only Japanese Rise Fellow 2024 (a global scholarship contest by the former Google CEO’s foundation), chosen from 50,000 applicants. After withdrawing from Tokyo Metropolitan Nishi High School in March with a full scholarship from the ASSIST Scholars Foundation, she is now studying long‑term in Johannesburg for the first time. She shares reflections on her worldwide experiences through her ongoing posts on Note.
Having free access to a PC provided by my school during COVID‑19 ignited my curiosity and let me experience worlds I had never seen. From a small room, reading blog posts by international students filled with discovery, I wondered how I could step into the unknown—and after years of trial and error, that dream came true this summer when I started life abroad for the first time. In South Africa, my daily life brought even more surprises than I imagined. The social gaps visible on the streets are mirrored by unseen disparities in digital access, which shocked me.

A single spark in digital skills can light curiosity and expand one’s world at incredible speed. I want to pass that possibility—something we often take for granted—on to every child. With that in mind, I reached out to Daichi Sawachika, who shares a passion for education and leads Ubunture UTokyo.

I hope to be a cultural bridge: bringing the learning I experience abroad back to Japan, blending it with the strengths we rediscover through a new lens. At Ubunture UTokyo, I aim to connect my study‑abroad home in South Africa with Japan and explore how I can give back in my own way.

April 2026

  • Transitioned to the new structure, with Aria Mitani becoming the Representative. Launched full operations to promote unplugged digital skills education alongside founder Daichi Sawachika.