Hisashi Ayuzawa: A doer and a climber

The Tow-Knight fellow who has climbed Mt. Elbrus and Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Hisashi Ayuzawa -a.k.a. Ayu- was born in Matsumoto, a city located in central Nagano Prefecture, a region of Japan surrounded by mountains and acclaimed for its astonishing views.

Ayu is a Fuji Scout married to a fearless climber. Together they have conquered two of the Seven Summits: Mount Elbrus, in Russia, and Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

But in Hisashi Ayuzawa’s life not everything is en plein air. He is the Media Director at the Media Business Division in the Osaka Head Office of The Asahi Shimbun, one of the largest newspaper companies in Japan.

How would you define yourself?

I am a doer.

What made you decide to apply for the Advanced Certificate in Entrepreneurial Journalism?

I was deeply impressed by the book Geeks Bearing Gifts. Like Mr. Jarvis, I believe that journalism is a service industry, that the process for gathering news will change in the future, and that journalism and the community must work together to rebuild their relationship.

What is the meaning of your name?

Ayu is a species of fish. In Japan it is called the king of the river fish. If you translate Ayu into English the name would be sweetfish. But I’m not sweet.

What are you expecting to gain by taking part in the Entrepreneurial Journalism program? What are you hoping to do or build?

I want to do citizen journalism within a major newspaper company.

[This is part of a series of peer profiles introducing the 2018 class of Tow-Knight Entrepreneurial Journalism fellows at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.]