New Members

SAYURI DAIMON is deputy managing editor of The Japan Times and manager of its Domestic News Division. Since she joined The Japan Times in 1991, she has covered various fields as a staff writer, ranging from politics to business. She has written many articles on major political events, including the general election of 1993, when the ruling Liberal Democratic Party lost power for the first time in 38 years. She has also written in-depth stories on Japan’s economic struggles after the collapse of the asset-inflated “bubble economy” and the Asian currency crisis in the summer of 1997. She became an editor of the Domestic News Division in 1999. In 2000, she won a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University, the oldest fellowship for journalists in the United States, and studied journalism and American politics. In 2004, she spent one month in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, researching “Women in Saudi Arabia” as a fellow at King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies. She is the author of Harvard-de-katarareru Sekai Senryaku (Diplomatic Strategies Discussed at Harvard) published by Kobunsha. She is married and has a daughter.

BENJAMIN PARKS is a Canadian photographer based in Tokyo. He specializes in corporate and editorial portraits, as well as fashion and dance photography. His work is all about people, creating amazing images of people – young and old, rich and poor, famous and unknown. It’s all about telling a story about someone, and expressing that to the world. Some of the publications Benjamin has worked for include The Japan Times, Japan Today, In Style, Idealog, Metropolis, Columbia Law School Magazine, Simply You, Signature, Colors and other magazines. He has also worked on advertising for various companies, including Onward Kashiyama, Swan Wedding Co. and Glamour Sales International.

MYOHAN THILAK BANDARA was born in 1975 in the ancient Sri Lankan city of Paduwasnwara, about 100 km from Colombo, where he attended Ananda College, a very prestigious high school. Bandara captained many sports teams (including swimming and water polo) and was also a member of the college’s mass-communications society. In 1993, Bandara had the opportunity to represent his country at the World Scholars Athletes’ Games held at the University of Rhode Island and participated in the U.N. student assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York. The first article about Bandara appeared in The Washington Post on June 18, 1993. He had a keen interest in media and photography, and worked as a personal photographer for former Sri Lankan Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike.
He lived in the United States for eight years and studied at Worcester State College in Massachusetts and at the University of Rhode Island. Bandara was the first Sri Lankan reporter to cover the Academy Awards. He also had a chance to interview then-New York Gov. George Pataki, the prime minister of Sri Lanka and many senior Sri Lankan politicians. He became correspondent for the Independent TV network in Sri Lanka from 2001 to 2003 and from 2005 to 2006 in Japan. Bandara moved to Japan in 2004 after marrying a Japanese woman. In 2007, he was appointed correspondent of Sri Lanka’s national broadcaster (Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corp.). Bandara loves journalism, and his dream is to represent his village as a politician in the Sri Lankan parliament.

REGULAR MEMBERS
Benjamin Parks, Freelance
Yohan Thilak Bandara, Sri Lanka
Rupavahini Corporation

STATUS CHANGE
(PROFESSIONAL/JOURNALIST ASSOCIATE TO REGULAR)
Sayuri Daimon, The Japan Times

PROFESSIONAL/JOURNALIST ASSOCIATE MEMBERS
Masashi Takeuchi, Sao Paulo Shimbun

ASSOCIATE MEMBERS
Iwan Griffiths, PricewaterhouseCoopers Aarata
Shigeru Akiba, Ichiyoshi Securities Co., Ltd.
Taku Saitoh, Medical Corporation Toh-Sui-Kai
Masanori Sato, J-Will Partners Co., Ltd.
Yoshimasa Yamamoto, Yamamoto
Accounting Office
Sachie Takahashi, Thought Equity Motion, Inc.
Mizuki Ito, Fujifilm Corporation

REINSTATEMENT (ASSOCIATE)
Goro Shintani, Isuzu Motors Limited