Kunna Dash, President of India Japan Friendship Center, joins ACN Advisory Board, an Asian Think Tank

NEW DELHI/KYOTO. Kunna Dash, an Indian staying and working in Japan for the last 30 years, and promoting Indo-Japan brotherhood and solidarity has joined ACN Editorial Advisory Board, an Asian think tank, as an Honorary Board Member on a pro-bono basis. 

Born in Puri, the east Indian state Odisha is currently based in Kyoto in the Kansai region, western Japan, he was one of the two prominent Indian nationals who received Japan’s Foreign Minister’s Commendation award in the year 2020 for promoting the Japanese language in India.

President of India Japan Friendship Center (IJFC), Mr. Dash has also been the International Tourism Ambassador for Kyoto, Japan in 2015 and for the second time in the year 2017 for three years till 2020.

India-Japan Friendship Center, an NPO registered in Japan since 2006 has been fostering culture, tourism, education, and commerce between India and Japan.

He has been highly applauded in either of the countries while taking up assignments in key positions as International Tourism Ambassador of Kyoto, Japan, and Advisor to National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), New Delhi. He has been participating in and promoting events like Japan Year in India and Indian festivals in Japan while weaving cultural bonds with brotherhood.

In 2020, he along with Dr. Deepak Jayant Tilak, Vice-Chancellor, Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth(TMV), Pune, and the Great-grandson of Indian freedom fighter Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak were the recipients of Japan’s Foreign Minister’s Commendation for the year 2020, for promoting Japanese language in India.

In 2007 – the India-Japan Friendship Year, the Japanese government had honored Kunna Dash with a Certificate of Appreciation. In 2009, Kansai Television conferred the ‘Ningen-Kokuho’ Award on him.

Mr. Dash was also awarded in 2012 during the 60th anniversary of the establishment of India-Japan Diplomatic ties.

Mr. Dash also set up a CBSE school ‘Chandra Sekhar Academy’ in Puri in the year 2004 that has been the maiden school in the state where Japanese language and culture has been taught from elementary to senior secondary (+2 Science) level. Apart from school, he has successfully made a Japanese language centre and an IT centre in the school premises under one roof to prepare students as per the demand of the workplace especially in the Japanese companies in India and Japan. Every year scores of Japanese volunteers and interns from different universities of Japan come here to have in-depth research on Indian culture, yoga & Ayurveda, etc.

He has moved a step ahead to open a sister school of Chandra Sekhar Academy in Kyoto as well, the first-ever Indian-based English medium school. The school aimed at helping out Indian children as well as children of its peripheral countries to avail of international English curricula at an affordable price.

He also had a meeting with former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo, and they discussed how NRIs staying in Japan could live there comfortably and how more Indian youths could avail themselves of the opportunity to work in Japan.

ACN Editorial Advisory Board welcomes Mr. Kunna Dash to this Asian Think Tank, which is all set to get greatly benefitted from his rich experience in art, culture, and language promotion between the two countries.

Other Honorary board members include Mr. Tomio Isogai, Former MD, Sharp India and UAE, Mr. Nobuhiro Takahashi, Former Advisor, Japan Chamber of Commerce & Industry India (JCCII), Mr. Hidehito Jay ARAKI, Management Consultant for Japanese companies in India, Mr. Prakash Yadav, Co-founder, AJU Group of Japanese Hotels, Mr. Shiv Kothari, Founder, Chain of Tokyo Stores to represent Indo-Japanese affairs, and Ms. Ritu Agarwal, Country Head – Japan, Russia, and Southeast Asia, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

Mr. Euy Don Park, President, Korean Federation in India and VP, Korean Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KOCHAM), Peters Li-ying Chen, Assistant Representative, and Director Education, Taiwan’s Taipei Economic and Cultural Center (TECC), Government of Taiwan, ROC, Prof. Do Young Kim, Honorary Director, Korean Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia University, Mr. Sung-chang Hong, Managing Director, NongHyup Bank (NH Bank), Mr. Suresh Chukkapalli, Honorary Consul General of Korea, Telangana, and Mr. Arshi Krishnachar, India Head, Seoul Semiconductor & Chairman, ISLE, Karnataka to represent Indo-South Korean affairs.

The honorary board members also include Mr. Sanjeev K Ahuja, Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Asian Community News (ACN) Network, Mr. Pawan Choudhary, Advisor, Chief Minister, Haryana, (Foreign Cooperation Department), Mr. J C Pegu (IRS), Former Chief Commissioner, Income Tax, New Delhi, Mr. Rohit Kochhar, Founding Member & Managing Partner, Kochhar & Co., and Mr. Mohit Malik, Senior Taxation Expert, and Promoter, GST Academy.

About ACN Editorial Advisory Board:

Promoted by Asian Community News (ACN) Network – a real-time and online non-political news-media house dedicated to Indo-Asian affairs with a special focus on key Asian majors like Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and ASEAN members, the ACN Editorial Advisory Board aims at bringing like-minded experts from various East Asian countries together on a common platform for strengthening Indo-Asian relationship and bilateral ties through the media and advocacy initiatives.

The invitation for joining the Board is sent to the prominent personalities from Asian countries who have been doing an extremely commendable job in promoting bilateral relations between India and Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and ASEAN for the past many years.

The board members have the privilege of writing self-authored articles and contributing to various news stories developing from time to time as expert commentators. They could advise the ACN Editorial team on various topics & issues – current and evolving pertaining to Asian developments.

The board also offers an opportunity to the members to take up issues of common concerns through discussions, deliberations, and brainstorming sessions during physical and virtual meetings.

The Board plans to take the delegation of its members to various heads of state/union governments to discuss various Indo-Asian matters, and prepare Advisory Document and submit the same to the government.

ACN Editorial Advisory Board also offers an opportunity to participate in Webinars/Seminars organized by ACN in which the government representatives/bureaucrats/ministers/Corporate leaders, Academicians/intellectuals from various countries could be invited to participate.

Related article: Two Indians among recipients of Japan’s Foreign Minister’s Commendation