Tetsu NAKAJIMA (Founder & General Partner, 15th Rock)

Tetsu Nakajima opened the lecture series by tracing a career that began at Hokkaido University itself, where he completed both his undergraduate and master’s degrees in Systems Engineering. After seven years as a researcher and engineer at Toshiba’s corporate R&D centre, he pivoted to venture capital, gaining an MBA along the way before eventually founding 15th Rock, an international investment firm with a portfolio spanning Japan, the United States, Canada, and Europe. Drawing on each stage of his journey, what his qualifications opened up, what his experience taught him, and the networks he built along the way, he offered students a candid framework: take calculated risks, learn how business works, build your English, and invest time in your relationships and your life beyond work.

Eric OFOSU-TWUM (Project Manager, Industrial Solutions Division, Hitachi Ltd)

Eric Ofosu-Twum brought an international perspective to the forum, tracing a journey from a BSc in Chemistry in Ghana to a PhD in Polymer Chemistry at Hokkaido University and a career spanning research, medical device development, and project management at Hitachi. His lecture challenged students to think beyond narrow technical specialisms. Using the concept of the “T-shaped professional” — depth in one field combined with breadth across many others — he argued that skills such as emotional resilience, ethical judgement, and curiosity are not supplementary to a career but central to it. His message to students was direct: “Change is the only certainty. Keep evolving.”

Miku SAGA (HR Planning Department, Talent Management Group, Hitachi Ltd)

Miku Saga spoke to students from a career that has defied easy categorisation: beginning with translation and interpretation, moving through retail management and organisational development at Nitori, and arriving at global talent management at Hitachi. Her message was equally clear. A degree opens the first door; what follows is built through transferable skills, deliberate choices, and a willingness to move across roles and industries. She encouraged students not to feel pressured into fitting a single professional label, framing a career as something both chosen and actively constructed. “It doesn’t matter what field you are in,” she told students. “Be the best with a wealth of knowledge, more than anyone else.”

Izumi HAGINO (Senior Analyst, Dentsu.inc / DENTSU CROSS BRAIN INC.)

Izumi Hagino completed a pharmacist’s licence before taking a PhD in Health Sciences and conducting fieldwork with hunter-gatherer communities in the rainforests of central Africa — a route that might seem a long way from his current role as a data scientist and marketing analyst at Dentsu. The career path, he argued, is less surprising than it appears. The research habits formed in the field — observing, forming hypotheses, designing data collection, testing ideas — translate directly into the analytical demands of marketing. At the centre of any career, he told students, lie experience and meaning; qualifications support that centre rather than define it. His closing message was compact: “Be a specialist to be a generalist.”