TSUNAMI On The Road (TOR) Corporation

Advisory Board

TOR has been developing strong and deep-rooted relationship with the research, business and political leadership and it has resulted in creating a strong advisory board for TOR. In fostering a network of advisors that help TOR in sourcing deals and also in providing technical and business know-how in developing portfolio companies.

Jitsuro Terashima
Chairman, Japan Research Institute; President, Mitsui Global Strategic Studies Institute (MGSSI)
After serving in the research and corporate administrative divisions at Mitsui & Co., Ltd., and representing Japan at the Brookings Institution, he became President of MGSSI in 1999. Chairman at Japan Research Institute since 2001. Provides advice on current trends, international affairs, and business engineering. Charter Member of TSUNAMI Entrepreneurs’ Club. Appointed Chairperson of the Advisory Committee of the venture support organization “TSUNAMI.”

Yoshio Ichiryu
Representative Director & CEO, Ichiryu Associates, Inc.
After joining the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), he served as secretary to MITI ministers, studied at Harvard University. Appointed as director-general of the Kinki Regional Bureau of International Trade and Industry, director-general for Policy Co-ordination. Keynote speaker at TSUNAMI Venture Fair in 2004. Charter Member of TSUNAMI Entrepreneurs’ Club. Appointed Member of the Advisory Committee of the venture support organization “TSUNAMI.”

Kenichi Arai, Ph.D
Professor emeritus, The University of Tokyo; Professor of Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology of the University of Tokyo.
An Alumni of Graduate School of Medicine of the University of Tokyo, he continued his research at the Institute of Medical Science, the University of Tokyo, and then at Stanford University. In 1981, participated as a scientist in the startup stage of DNAX Research Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Inc., a biotechnology venture in the Silicon Valley. Actively promoting the “Tokyo Genome Bay Project.” Councilor at the Kanagawa Academy of Science and Technology (KAST). Charter Member of TSUNAMI Entrepreneurs’ Club.

Chris Tan, Ph.D
The founding and former (1987-2001) Director of Singapore’s Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), Senior Counselor A-IMBN
Concluded a study on regulatory mechanism of interferon and cytokine at Yale, John Hopkins School of Medicine, NIH, and the University of Calgary. He established IMCB, a research institute integrating cell signaling and genomics as an internationally recognized institution. After retiring from the IMCB in 2002, he is an advisor to Agency for Science, Technology and Research of Singapore (A*Star) and Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology.

Tadahiro Ohmi, Ph.D
Professor, New Industry Creation Hatchery Center, Tohoku University.
After serving as a professor at the Electronic Engineering Department, School of Engineering, Tohoku University, he is now heading a research institute called New Industry Creation Hatchery Center (NICHCe). In mid. 1980s, strove for innovation in clean room technology crucial in the production of semiconductors, resulting in yield improvement from 20% to over 90%. This enabled Intel, which had been facing a management crisis, to adopt the methodology across the board, and emerge as a premier semiconductor company. Currently, serving as leader of a national project to develop technology for the production of next-generation semiconductors. Charter Member of TSUNAMI Entrepreneurs’ Club.

Zenju Kazama
Director, Industrial Advancement Research Institute; President, Yamanashi TLO
Founded MEC Engineering in 1970 after serving for Suwa Seikosha (presently Epson) and renamed TELMEC in 1975. Merged with Tokyo Electron in 1984 and appointed Managing Director. Representative Director and Senior Vice President from 1990 to 1996. Appointed Director of Industrial Advancement Research Institute in 1999. Also appointed Representative Director of Yamanashi TLO in 2000. He provides advices on the technology development of semiconductor production equipment ventures as well as on R&D, MOT, and mass production engineering of various technology ventures.

Takeo Minomiya
Representative Director, MINO-SUN FARM Co., Ltd.
Involved in broad range of activities including design of audio & video equipment and semiconductor development, after joining Sony in 1962. Appointed Director of Production Engineering Research Institute and President of Recording Media & Energy Company of Sony. Contributed to the foundation of Sony’s production engineering as Corporate Senior VP in charge of components and semiconductor business from 1999 followed by Corporate Executive VP and Co-CQO (Chief Quality Officer) in charge of quality control concurrently appointed Corporate Executive Deputy President of Sony EMCS. Founded MINO-SUN FARM in 2006 and appointed Representative Director.

Tsuyoshi Taira
CEO, Tazan International Inc. (Silicon Valley, U.S.)
Previously worked in Semiconductor Division of Sanyo Electric, and Fairchild Semiconductor in the U.S. Went on to become Chairman of Sanyo Semiconductor USA. In 1996, established a venture capital Tazan International in Silicon Valley. Numerous experiences as a hands-on capitalist, including raising Junglee (a search engine company) from seed funding. Junglee was acquired by Amazon for $ 210 million. He has been involved in TNP since its establishment in 2000. Appointed to the Advisory Committee to the venture support organization “TSUNAMI” in 2003. Charter Member of TSUNAMI Entrepreneurs’ Club.

Yoji Shimbori
CEO, TSUNAMI Network Partners Corporation
Founded TNP in 2000 and has led investments and hands-on development process for several dozen companies. He has a highly reliable network of owners of listed companies located in Kanagawa Prefecture from his work at Nomura Securities. Key member in the planning of the concepts and mechanisms of the venture support organization “TSUNAMI.” He has a record of accomplishment of leading numerous start-up companies to IPO in the Japan stock exchanges.