Toshiaki Kubo now has two major titles of Shogi–Kioh and Ohsho. He won the second game of Kioh sen title match against challenger Ryuoh Akira Watanabe on Sunday, March 6. Next, he is defending his Ohsho title against Masayuki Toyoshima (Six Dan) in the game No. 5. Kubo is now at 3-1. It is held on March 8 and 9th in Hakone. The scene outside of the inn is very pretty covered with snow. Even though you do not know how to play Shogi (like myself), you can still watch the video and almost feel the beauty of Shogi–it is so quiet and so intense. (You can also find out what they ate for lunch and for tea break!) Until the lunch break, defending Ohsho Kubo spent over 25 hours, while challenger Toyoshima spent some 40 minutes or so.
Yoko Ishikura is a Professor at Hitotsubashi University ICS in the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy in Japan. She has held positions as a professor at the School of International Politics, Economics and Business of Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, as a consultant at McKinsey and Company Inc. Japan and a visiting professor at Darden School.
Professor Ishikura is a consultant to a number of multinational companies and has been a frequent speaker at management conferences, seminars, and workshops throughout the world. She was a member of the Regulatory Reform Committee for the Japanese government and the International Competitiveness Commission for METI. She is currently a Forum Fellow of the World Economic Forum.
She is the author of Strategic Shift from OR choices to AND paradigm, Building Core Skills of Organization , and the co-author of the following publications: Managing Diversity in the 21st Century, Strategy for Cluster Initiatives in Japan , and Building a Career to the World Class Professionals – all in Japanese. Her books in English include: Asian Advantage, Hitotsubashi on Knowledge Management and Trust and Antitrust in Asian Business Alliances.
Professor Ishikura’s current research interests are focused on global competition, innovation, and knowledge management. She received her BA from Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan; MBA from Darden School, University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia; and DBA from Harvard Business School.
