349 MTSU SAYS “SAYONARA, SENSEI” (GOODBYE, TEACHER) TO KAWAHITO

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 17, 2007
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081

Pioneer in Developing Good U.S.-Japanese Relations to Call It a Career

(MURFREESBORO) – MTSU’s busiest one-man cultural and educational exchange society will have a somewhat smaller “to do” list as of June 2. Dr. Kiyoshi Kawahito, professor of economics and finance and director of the Japan-U.S. Program, will be feted at a retirement roast at 5 p.m. Monday, April 23, in the Tom Jackson Building.
The future of the program, which has led to greater understanding among peoples in a region where Bridgestone/Firestone, Nissan, and Toshiba are major economic players, remains uncertain.
Kawahito is personally responsible for bringing Music from Japan, an exclusive annual tour of the finest practitioners of traditional Japanese music, to MTSU year after year. He also hosted an annual Japanese New Year’s potluck feast, complete with traditional music, special food and drinks, and guests clad in lovely kimonos.
Not the least of Kawahito’s many contributions to the campus community is the establishment of partnerships with Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines, Fukushima University, Saitama University, Nagoya Yakuin University and Kansai Gaidai University in Japan, Yonsei University in South Korea, and Bangkok University in Thailand.
The use of his extensive network of personal contacts has not only made study abroad trips to Asia thrilling and enlightening experiences for students, but it has made those trips less expensive than they would have been if they had been arranged through a consortium. The itineraries were arranged by Kawahito himself, benefiting more than 130 students, and he admits it is the accomplishment of which he is most proud.
“This is not the best in Middle Tennessee,” Kawahito says. “This is not the best in Tennessee. This is not the best in the nation. I believe this is the best in the world. If anyone can show me any better 15-day field study program in Japan, I’ll come over there and study that.”
Now it is time for Kawahito to travel for his own pleasure and relaxation.
“I would like to travel to a few different parts of the world, but at my own pace, not at a very busy and fast-moving pace,” Kawahito says of his upcoming retirement years. He says he also would like to write a history of MTSU’s interaction with the Japanese community over the last 25 years and perhaps organize groups of MTSU alumni in Japan and Thailand.
In 2004, Kawahito was presented the “Gaimu Daijin Sho,” the “Foreign Minister’s Commendation in Commemoration of 150th Anniversary of U.S.-Japan Friendship,” by Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Kawahito earned his bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma City University and his master’s and Ph.D. from the University of Maryland.

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ATTENTION, MEDIA: To arrange an interview with Dr. Kiyoshi Kawahito, please contact Gina Logue in the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5081 or gklogue@mtsu.edu.