Rotary Yoneyama Memorial Foundation
A Collaborative Program by Japan’s Rotary Districts
T h e R o t a r y Yo n e y a m a M e m o r i a l F o u n d a t i o ndoes the program award scholarships, but it also turns(RYMF) is a Multidistrict Activity, supported andattention toward international exchange and "heart topromoted by all the thirty-four Rotary districts in Japan.

heart" interactions through community service activities.

The scholarship program wasThe program also helps support

established in 1952, with the aim

recipient students in their dailyof acquainting people of the world

lives. Each scholar has one Rotary

to a peaceful post-war Japan. It'sclub to serve as their “Sewa Club”,

directed solely at students comingor host club, and one member

from other countries to study

from that club is chosen to act asin Japan. Approximately 720

the student’s “counselor”.

scholarship recipients are selected

Graduating alumni go on toeach year, at an operating cost ofplay active roles in the world,

approximately 9.7 million dollars,

and some become Rotarians

making it the largest domestic

themselves. There are thirty-one

private sector scholarship

alumni associations establishedprogram for foreign students.

by former Yoneyama scholars inThe foundation is supported byJapan.There are also six alumni

donations from Rotarians throughout Japan.

associations outside of Japan in South Korea, Taiwan,

To date the program has helped some 18,648
students from 123 countries and regions. Not only

China, Thailand, Nepal and Mongolia, together withalumni networks in Vietnam, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.

Our Notable Alumni Let us take a look at some of our wonderful Yoneyama alumni, of whom we are so proud.
First Ambassador from Yoneyama Alumni

Dr. Sang-Yong Choi

Yoneyama Scholor, 1969 － 72

from Korea

After graduating from Seoul National University in1965 Dr. Choi came to Japan as a student to investigate aworkable means for bringing about a return to peace. He
worked on his Ph.D. at The University of Tokyo Graduate
School for three years, became a Yoneyama scholar, andpoured his energy into his studies. He received his Ph.D.
in law in 1972. His magnificent scholastic record includes
being the first person ever, Japanese included, to get aDr. Choi made a speechat the district conference of D-2780

Ph.D. in the field of International Politics at The University

then president Kim Dae-Jung and his cabinet in mattersof Tokyo.

pertaining to the opening of the South Korean market to

After returning to South Korea Dr. Choi went on toJapanese culture, thus laying the historically significant

serve as assistant professor at Chung-Ang University,groundwork for the dramatic growth in exchange between

visiting professor at Harvard University, and full professor

the two nations.

at Korea University. In 1998 he served on the advisory

In 2000 he became the first private citizen to becommittee that helped draft the Japan-South Korea

appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary

Joint Declaration of 1998. He also helped persuadeof the Republic of Korea to Japan. Relations between

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THE ROTARY-NO-TOMORotary Yoneyama Memorial Foundation
the two countries were strained at that time, but during

In this way he continues to serve as a link between Japan

his two years of service he helped foster a deeper

and Korea.

understanding between Japan and Korea by promoting
government policy that placed emphasis on mutualProfessor Emeritus, Korea University, 14th Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Korea to Japan.

cultural exchange. During Japan-Korea Friendship Year

The University of Tokyo Graduate School.

2005 he served as head of the Korean advisory committee.

Sewa Club: Tokyo Nihonbashi, Tokyo Josai

Helping to Reform Education in Mongolia

Mr. Janchiv Galbadrakh

Yoneyama Scholor, 1998 － 99 from MONGOLIA

Mr. Janchiv Galbadrakh’s dream, on which he had
staked his entire future, germinated at the moment hebecame a Yoneyama Scholarship recipient during histhird year as a foreign student in Japan. His vision wasto help further development in his country by creatinga high school that offered, not the traditional twoyear curriculum, but rather the international standard
curriculum of three years, by sending students tostudy at universities abroad, and by nurturing people who
could make contributions in the international arena.

Mr. Galbadrakh
conducts the Japanese prime minister’s wife,Mrs. Akie Abe, around the Shine Mongol High School

W h e n h i s Yo n e y a m a c o u n s e l o r, M r. M i t s u r uJapanese government presented Mr. Galbadrakh withSakamaki, and his host club members learned of thisthe Foreign Minister’s Commendation for Meritorious

dream, they solicited contributions amongst themselves

Service for his record in contributing to the promotion

and from people in Yamagata and Miyagi prefectures.

of understanding between Japan and Mongolia. In 2014

October 2000 saw the opening of the Shine Mongol

he opened the New Mongol Technique and Engineering

High School in Mongolia’s capital city, Ulaanbaatar. The

College and the New Mongol Institute of Technology infollowing year Mongolian president Bagabandi visited thean effort to nurture technicians and researchers in theschool to observe. Today it is ranked among the nation’ssciences. In 2011 Mr. Galbadrakh became a member of

top schools, having constructed adjacent elementary andthe Rotary Club of Khuree (D-3450).

junior high schools, and having a student population ofover 1,100, with more than 250 graduating students
having been sent to Japan for further study. In 2013 theDirector-general, Shine Mongol Academy.
Yamagata University Graduate School
Sewa Club: Yamagata North

Promoting Corrective Education in Taiwan Prisons

Mr. Shyan-Chang Wu
Yoneyama Scholor, 1986 － 87from Taiwan

In 1985, while serving as head of security at Tainan
Prison, 34-year-old Mr.Wu decided he would go to Japanto study because he wanted to learn more about the newcorrective education for preventing crime and repeated
offences in Japan, where the crime rate was said to be
one tenth of that for Taiwan. During his second year as agraduate student he received a Yoneyama scholarship.
He also visited a number of prisons and reform
schools throughout Japan and learned about corrective
THE ROTARY-NO-TOMO

Art activities employed in Taiwan’s prison occupational program(Mr. Wu center)19

education through artistic activities. He returned toit especially necessary to improve the techniques andTaiwan and performed several prison reform “miracles”

opinions regarding the handling of prison inmates heldat Hsinchu Prison and other institutions using theby corrections personnel at prisons and reform schools,

knowledge he had gained. “Through training in art andhe subsequently established an education program forculture and by creation of artistic works prisoners cancorrections personnel, and worked hard to make various

reawaken their true selves and hidden talents, and,improvements in conditions at corrective facilities. In

looking forward with hope, set out on a new life.”

2011 he was appointed director of the Taiwan Agency ofWith this underlying belief, Mr. Wu began adopting
artistic activities into prison routine. Buildings andworks of art designed and completed by inmates now

Corrections.
Former Director, Agency of Corrections, Taiwan Ministry ofJusticecolorfully adorn the environs of Hsinchu Prison whereMeiji University Graduate SchoolMr. Wu served for a time as acting warden. Thinking

Sewa Club: Tokyo Harajuku

Helping Solve the Problems of Developing Countries

supporting Japanese corporations’ CSR activities in otherDr. Lai Yong Wong

Asian countries. She travelled widely in Asia, deepened

Yoneyama Scholor, 2001 － 04

from Malaysia

her understanding of the issues developing countries
face and began considering starting her own educational

Dr. Wong promised with her counselor that she strives

program. She founded a financially self-reliant social

to support education in developing countries, in order toenterprise in 2012. She named her enterprise First

return the support she was receiving back to the society.

Penguin after a brave penguin that leads the other

She became a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

penguins and is the first to dive into the sea.

consultant

In December of the same year she moved hero p e r a t i o n s t o h e r n a t i ve c o u n t r y M a l a y s i a , a n dincorporated it in September 2013. Rather than dealing
directly with the people in need of assistance, she provides
personal development programs to the privileged youths,
educate them the importance to know themselves andthe world issues, so they will become more engaged inbuilding the human society they live in. She also continues
providing CSR consulting services and corporate trainings.
She strives to inspire people to act like a first penguin,hoping these first penguins will contribute to make theworld a better place.
Founder and Director, First Penguin
Yokohama National University Graduate School
Dr.Wong holds a lecture in Japan

Sewa Club: Yokohama Izumi

Erhu Performer Projects a Caring Heart

directed by her father, went on to study medicine.

Dr. Xiao-Yan JiangUniversity Faculty of Medicine, hoping to learn superior

Yoneyama Scholor, 2000 － 02 from China

She came to Japan in 1997 to study at the Hiroshimaclinical techniques so that she might become a heart

During the midst of the turmoil of China’s Cultural

specialist and save many lives. She entered the Ph.D.

Revolution,5-year-old Xiao-Yan Jiang was persuaded

program at the suggestion of her teacher, but due toby her father to enter an art school where she received

personal difficulties and the isolation of being a student

special advanced instruction in the erhu, a 2-stringed

in a foreign country, she began to suffer from depression.

instrument, or fiddle, played with a bow. She went on toTwo things saved her from the brink of despair: themusic college and dreamed of becoming an actress, butteachings of Buddha, and the exchange with Rotary as

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THE ROTARY-NO-TOMORotary Yoneyama Memorial Foundationa Yoneyama scholarship recipient. She received aDoctor of Medicine degree in 2002, but not having
a license to practice medicine in Japan, she was
not able to do clinical work. Wanting to apply
the Buddhist teachings that saved her in time oftrouble, the music skills she learned in China,
and her experiences in medicine in order to givesomething back to society, Dr. Jiang founded theErhu Music School in Hiroshima.
She travels to earthquake disaster areas andhospitals, as well as to facilities for the elderly, mentally

Lecture on the valueof life includes a performance on the erhu

disadvantaged and atomic bomb victims, both in Japan

Principle, Erhu Music Schooland China, where she talks about respect for life, andHiroshima University Graduate School

comforts people’s souls with the sound of her erhu.

Sewa Club: Hiroshima Southwest

Improving Education for the Sight Impaired in Sudan

Dr. Mohamed Omer Abdin

Yoneyama Scholor, 2005 － 08 from Sudan

Due to an early childhood progressive disorder Dr.
Abdin lost his sight at the age of twelve. In January 1998
at the age of nineteen he came to Japan by the invitationof the International Association For The VisuallyImpaired and spent three years learning massage
and acupuncture at the Fukui Prefectural School for
the Visually Impaired. There he encountered Braille,
which he could study on his own, and this changed
the course of his life.
After graduating from the school he went toTsukuba College of Technology, where he mastered
the program for reading computer displays. Hopingto learn more about civil conflict and peace in hisown country, Sudan, he entered Tokyo Universityof Foreign Studies in 2003. He became a Yoneyama
Scholar in his third year, and was influenced invarious ways by Rotarian activities. In March 2007,
while still at school, he founded the Committee for
Assisting and Promoting Education for Disabledin Sudan, where conditions continue to be harsh.
Many young people in Japan help him in planning
activities, and he receives support from his hostclub, Tokyo Kunitachi Shiroume as well. As a
20th anniversary project the club presented aBraille printer to Sudan, the first ever in thatcountry. The six years since 2008 have seen

Students play soccer at a schoolfor the visually impaired
Specially Appointed Assistant professor, Tokyo University ofForeign Studies, Founding Director, Committee for Assisting
and Promoting Education for Disabled in Sudan (CAPEDS)

the establishment of a program for making educational
materials in Braille, something that had never existed inSudan.
“To learn is to live. To place restrictions on learning

Tokyo University of Foreign Studies

is to place restrictions on life itself,” explains Dr. Abdin, as

Sewa Club:Tokyo Kunitachi Shiroume

he continues his efforts to aid the disabled in Sudan.

THE ROTARY-NO-TOMO

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