In this Byline ICS piece, we interviewed Viola, a current MBA student, who shared her job hunting journey in Japan.

For this edition of the faculty interview, Charlie (Class of 2020) has interviewed Professor Satoshi (Toshi) Akutsu. Akutsu received his B.A. and M.A. from Hitotsubashi University, and his M.S. and Ph.D. from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.

Prior to joining Hitotsubashi University as an assistant professor, he was a post-doctoral research fellow at the Institute of Management, Innovation, and Organization at the Haas School. Upon returning to Hitotsubashi, his alma mater, he was one of the starting members of Hitotsubashi ICS, where he has been involved not only in teaching but also research and the school administration. During the 2007-2008 academic year, he took a sabbatical at UC Berkeley where he was affiliated with both the Haas School and the Department of Psychology. He was also a member of the Culture and Cognition Laboratory and affiliated with IPSR at UC Berkeley. We sat with Akutsu to dive deeper into his roles as an educator, researcher, and administrator.

The life of an MBA student tends to revolve around a routine, no matter which country you are studying in. However, being a student in a country different from where you were born and raised can bring you a wealth of knowledge beyond the classroom.

Like any other graduate school program, the application process can be long and would require some self-reflection. When we apply for programs overseas, there is an added layer of questions to answer as an aspiring international student. In this guide, we will explain the MBA application process in Japan and the best way to approach your future academic goals. Whether you’re fresh out of undergrad, already working, or a non-traditional student, we have you covered.

Almost 80% of the students come from outside of Japan and a majority of the students are willing to pursue a career in Japan after graduation. Although our MBA program is fully conducted in English, many international students have significantly improved their Japanese by graduation. How do they do it?

In this article, we asked three MBA students (Class of 2020), Kin, Viola, and Yiwei, about their experiences of learning Japanese.

In this second part of our interview with Professor Asuka Takaoka, we discuss her doctoral thesis research, how she balanced her DBA studies, work, personal commitments; and what she learned from her DBA at Hitotsubashi ICS. (Read part 1 of this blogpost here)

There have been fewer opportunities to feature the DBA (Doctor of Business Administration) program, our doctorate program at Hitotsubashi ICS compared to our MBA and DBA programs. In this edition of our alumni voices, we sat down with DBA graduate, Asuka Takaoka, to talk about her DBA journey at Hitotsubashi ICS.

Asuka graduated from the part-time DBA program while working full-time. We talked to her about why she decided to pursue a doctoral degree, how she spent her five years at DBA, her research theme, and how she manages her time. We have divided the interview into two parts.

In March 2021, we were honored to renew or partnership for the BEST Alliance (Beijing, Seoul, and Tokyo), uniting Hitotsubashi ICS with two Top Business Schools, Guanghua School of Management at Peking University (PKU) and Graduate School of Business at Seoul National University (SNU).

One of the most attractive features of Hitotsubashi ICS is the double-degree program, which is an option for students in the two-year program.