Rikako Baba | Operations Director
Rikako is from Fukuoka and is currently studying at SILS at Waseda University, where she focuses on International Relations. For the 2026 camp, she will serve as the Operations Director. She is passionate about sports, especially baseball and volleyball. In the future, she aspires to take the Japanese CPA examination.
Ryota Inoue | Operations Director
Ryota is a student at Seinan Gakuin University where he studies English and French. Ryota is a soccer coach at a high school. He is also a big fan of J-POP.
Bryan Calderon | Program Director
Bryan graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies from UC Berkeley and a Master of Arts in Teaching from University of Southern California. He currently lives and works in the city of Los Angeles as a high school teacher, teaching Ethnic Studies and AP Human Geography. Additionally, Bryan is an AVID trained educator who helps to teach college and career preparatory courses on his campus. In his free time, Bryan loves to travel, eat new foods, and explore new skills and talents. He is a lifelong learner who believes in a high quality education for all.
ANNIKA LING
Annika studies Computational Biology and Data Science at UCLA. She is eager to pursue research in pharmacology and hopes to positively impact the lives of others. In her spare time, you'll catch her sipping an enormous cup of jasmine milk tea while crocheting or on a squirrel-spotting walk.
Meena Wen
Meena is currently studying Psychology and Conservation Resource Studies at UC Berkeley. In her free time, she trains and performs with the Cal Lion & Dragon Dance team. She likes swimming, film photography, nature walks, board games, crafts, reading, binging movies, and graphic design. Meena aspires to live a life where she can travel, go on unexpected adventures, and acquire an arsenal of random skills.
Kanon Takada | Marketing
Kanon is currently studying at Tsuru University, majoring in Global Education. In her free time she really likes to travel and watch movies. Recently, Kanon has been really into visiting aquariums.
Saki Akutsu | Marketing
Saki was a TOKIHA camper in 2018 and returned in 2024 as a member of the Japan Staff. She recently graduated from Meiji University with a degree in law. You can always find Saki with a camera in hand, ready to capture life’s moments. She also enjoys listening to music and traveling.
Haruna Tsubota | Marketing
Haruna recently graduated from Waseda university with a degree in international law. She was a camper at TOKIHA 2018 in Miura and wants to share that the feeling of being freed from the rigidities of life is universal with campers through this year's camp.
Reina Nishiwaki|Operational Staff
Reina participated as a camper in 2017 and 2019, joined as Japan Staff in 2023, and will serve as a director starting in 2025. She currently studies at Akita International University (AIU), focusing on the future of rural communities in a depopulating society, and is set to graduate in 2025. Reina loves nature and a wide range of music genres, with hobbies that include foraging for wild plants and researching wildlife.
Koshi Obukuro | Operational Staff
Koshi was born and raised in Japan. He recently graduated from Arizona State University where he studied Sustainability. Koshi loves to travel and he aspires to pursue a career in sustainable education around the world.
Melody Nakazawa | Operational Staff
Melody graduated from UC Berkeley in 2016 with a degree in Psychology and participated as a counselor in the first TOKIHA Camp in the same year. She is now based in Singapore working in the tech industry. Melody enjoys traveling and connecting with people from different backgrounds.
Mitsuki Tanigaki | Board Member
Mitsuki studied Sustainable Business at Arizona State University and has been working on sustainability in society. Her journey with TOKIHA has been started when she was 16 as a camper. Since then, she studied abroad in Switzerland, Sri Lanka, and the U.S.
Monique Yoo Gomes | Board Member, USA Coordination
Momo studied Psychology and Social Welfare at UC Berkeley, receiving her master’s degree in 2022. Previously, Momo taught English to immigrants and refugees at Oakland International High School, and now she works in management at an NPO for children’s health and education.
Alicia Zhang | Board Member
Alicia graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Economics. She loves to serve her community and is passionate about working with students. Alicia enjoys the beauty of the great outdoors and learning about different cultures through traveling. She hangs out with her three cats in her free time.
Sho Sato | Board Member
Sho has been a board member of TOKIHA since 2017.
Noriko Takanami | Board Representative
Being involved in the development of camp for years, Noriko has been managing the backbone of TOKIHA ever since its beginning. She has a degree in child development.
Taku Takanami | Co-Founder
Taku founded TOKIHA with the vision of creating a new platform for education based on “liberation of the mind.” Being Japanese yet raised in So Cal, he has always lived close to the sea. He pursued a Mathematics degree at UC Berkeley where he first conceived of the project.
Takuya Suzuki | Co-Founder
Takuya is currently working at the intersection of education and data science. He is the author of two books — 「バカヤンキーでも死ぬ気でやれば世界の名門大学で戦える」(ポプラ社) and 「自分を動かし続ける力」(大和書房). After graduating from UC Berkeley, Takuya studied at GLOBIS University.
