Konnichiwa Pune 2021 grows big, widens its canvas, goes places with many firsts this time
INTERVIEW: Siddharth Deshmukh, President, Indo-Japan Business Council (IJBC) – the organization behind Konnichiwa Pune 2021.
Online Media Partner: Asian Community News (ACN) Network
NEW DELHI/TOKYO: Konnichiwa Pune 2021, the annual Indo-Japanese cultural-business festival happening in virtual mode this time is bringing the world of events for its audience this time on.
The ever-evolving Konnichiwa Pune 2021 being organised on November 19-21, has many firsts to its credit this time. The audience who are going to join the event virtually from across the world, are all set for a series of unusual visual treats.
Besides, many renowned authors joining the event with their respective work from across the world, the event has in its bouquet of offers the special treat from India’s North-Eastern region and it rich-culture, which is very dear to Japanese people. The specially inducted women empowerment session will bring the audience with specific talk shows with successful women who have made careers between India and Japan.
The participants of the event, and the audience are going to be from across the world because of the very virtual nature of the event unlike the previous ones, which were staged in Pune in 2018 and 2019. The year 2020 skipped the event because of the Covid-19 pandemic situation.
As Siddharth Deshmukh, President, Co-Founder and Indo-Japan Business Council (IJBC), the organisation behind the Indo-Japanese event, puts it, “This year we have inducted a very interesting feature – Author’s Corner, where four renowned authors from different parts of the world are joining and sharing their work with the audience.”
These include Dr. Megha Wadhwa who wrote Indian Migrants in Tokyo – A Study of Socio-Cultural, Religious, and Working Worlds. Noted foreign journalist Pallavi Aiyar who would join the event to talk about her book Orienting: An Indian in Japan. Prof. Prem Motwani interacts with the audience in his book Becoming World-class: Lessons from Made in Japan. Former Advisor Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry Nobuhiro Takahashi will share his experience on the Indian economic scene which he has portrayed in his book written in Japanese language (インドでビジネスを成功させるために知っておくべきこと) – What you should know about India to succeed in India.
While narrating the positive side of holding the virtual events, Mr. Deshmukh said it was owing to this feature that Dr. Wadhwa who moved from Japan to Germany, and Pallavi Aiyar who shifted to Spain, were joining the event. Prof. Motwani is to join the event from Delhi, Nobuhiro Takahashi would attend it from Japan online.
Another interesting feature of Konnichiwa Pune 2021 this time would be the emphasis on women empowerment that would offer an opportunity to the women entrepreneurs from India and Japan to share their accomplishments and challenges with the audiences.
“One of our volunteers Shaifali who own an interest in has picked up authors, YouTubers, and casual persons living in India and Japan coinciding with the IJBC belief in people-to-people contact started recording and putting up the same as a show. Though we had women speakers in previous events also but Konnichiwa Pune 2021 is putting up a dedicated Women Empowerment show this time only,” Mr. Deshmukh added.
Another interesting and new element in the Konnichiwa Pune 2021 is going to be the North East focus with artists, speakers, and others coming to the show and sharing their capabilities in their respective fields of expertise.
“Prof. Manabu Koiso from Japan would present a research paper on Nagaland with Japanese perspective with some connection with World War II and proximity and similarity of the NE people with the Japanese counterparts, etc. Dr. Sosang would deliver tips on how to grow Shitake Mushrooms, and brew Tage Rita Wine made locally with strawberry in Nagaland, while Sentila Yanger would put up Food & Cultural show,” said the IJBC president adding that the good thing was that NE was getting exposure and it was a good development for the youth of the area.
Yet another new attraction of the Konnichiwa Pune 2021 is going to be an appearance of the bi-lingual experts and their projection of career in this expertise.
“As a president of IJBC, this is my pet project to set up the biggest bilingual database of India, and we have already gathered the database of about 300 people experts in both the languages English and Japanese. These include not only the interpreters but also the engineers, and other professionals. It is because Japan is looking for all types of help from India. So, we are not going to send only IT engineers to Japan, but many others too.”
“The real trend will happen we have the participation of all type of industry. To push that, I am inviting expert interpreters and translators for a special talk to inspire the youth to become translators and interpreters. There is a very strange thing happening in India, usually, India tries to commoditize everyone including translators. Most Indians think that any Japanese on the street, they think they can do the translation. Today, if one wants to source a Japanese interpreter or engineer where they will go? There is no such platform available,” Mr. Deshmukh said.
While talking about the positive side of the virtual type of events, he said that expansion and widening of the participants, speakers, and audience could have been possible because of the online feature of the event, which is now actually a Pan-India event.
“In the first show in 2018, though there was participation from Gujarat, and Aurangabad also. Even during the second event the following year, participants came from Delhi and Bangalore, and Hyderabad also but it was limited,” he added.
Besides having its plans to expand its wings in terms of participants and audience, the IJBC vows to expand its reach in distant geographies and demographics as well.
“In the future, we plan to do hybrid events, besides the normal one. Next time, we may have a virtual screen, and ask participation from all over, and stream it live. The speakers and performers can participate from wherever, and they also will be available in India as well. If our bandwidth allows, we may also do some satellite events such as in Bangalore, Mumbai, and Bhopal, and maybe half a day to create a buzz to introduce culture,” said Mr. Deshmukh.
About Siddharth Deshmukh, President, IJBC:
Siddharth Deshmukh, Founder, and CEO of ShimBi Labs. A technologist, business leader, and philanthropist. He believes in solving significant problems of Small Businesses.
Graduated from VRC (Now VNIT), Nagpur, as a Mechanical Engineer. Visited Japan in 2000 on a 3-month tourist VISA, fell in love with the country and his future wife. Worked as a freelance technology consultant with several companies before starting the company Shimbi Labs (www. shimbilabs.com) in 2005 and returning to India.
Technology geek who loves to speak a simple language that Small Business Owners can understand. Making things simple is his passion, and loves to lead a simple life.
He is also co-founder of the Indo-Japan Business Council and current president. Indo-Japan Business Council (IJBC), established in 2011, is the apex bi-lateral Chamber synergizing India-Japan engagement in business, trade, commerce, education, and culture. IJBC is continually working to enhance India-Japan Business and Economic Engagement. Today IJBC has a PAN India presence.
ACN
