Category: meeting

Trinity bonenkai dinner on Wednesday 16 December 2026 at 7:30pm in Tokyo

Ambassador Ra Jong Yil (Trinity 1967) will join us again for our Trinity bonenkai dinner meeting

• 7:30pm – 10:00pm dinner with Ambassador Ra Jong Yil
• 10:15pm – nijikai

Registration and prepayment before 4 December 2026. I will send location and pre-payment details to those who register.

Watch Ambassador Ra Jong Yil’s talk at our Trinity bonenkai last year

Ambassador Ra Jong Yil (Trinity 1967)

Ambassador Ra Jong Yil graduated with a PhD from Trinity, and held a long list of leadership positions in the South-Korean government, including National Security Advisor to President Roh Moohyun, a ministerial position, deputy director of the South Korean National Intelligence Service, Ambassador to the UK and to Japan, and President of Woosuk University (a private University with about 8000 students). He is University Distinguished Professor at Gachon University.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra_Jong-yil

He is Honorary Fellow of Clare Hall Cambridge

Ambassador Ra Jong-Yil donated the “Ra Jong-Yil Distinguished Lecture in Korean Studies” to the University of Cambridge, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

https://www.ames.cam.ac.uk/whats-on/ra-jong-yil-distinguished-lecture

Ambassador Ra has written a long list of books, including

• a book on successions in DPRK’s leadership, book review in The Telegraph https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/12117599/Kim-Jong-uns-father-wanted-to-end-hereditary-rule-top-spy-reveals.html
• Road to Hanoi (Co-authored, Korean), 2022
• The Life and Death of a Terrorist (Japanese), 2021
  • ある北朝鮮テロリストの生と死　証言・ラングーン事件 (集英社新書)
  • https://www.amazon.co.jp/ある北朝鮮テロリストの生と死-証言・ラングーン事件-集英社新書-羅鍾一-ebook/dp/B095S7YTZP/
  • book review in the New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/24/world/asia/forgotten-killer-among-the-korean-erased.html?_r=0
• Discovery of Korea (co-authored, Korean), 2021
• Unhappy Presidents of Korea (co-authored, Korean), 2020
• Inside North Korea’s Theocracy (English), 2019
  • https://www.amazon.com/Inside-North-Koreas-Theocracy-Song-thaek/dp/1438473729/
• The World and Korean War (Korean), 2019
• Our Beautiful Country (Chinese), 2019
• Dynasty of Purge (Japanese), 2017
  • 粛清の王朝・北朝鮮
  • https://www.amazon.co.jp/粛清の王朝・北朝鮮-羅-鍾一/dp/4492212337/
• and fairy tales and many other books and publications

To register:

All Trinity College Cambridge Fellows, students, alumni or members living in or visiting Japan are more than welcome to join us. To register, or for any enquiries contact us here:

Trinity dinner on Friday 27 November 2026 at 6:00pm in central Tokyo

We’ll meet at 6pm in central Tokyo, all Fellows, past Fellows, Trinity students, alumni, members, living in Japan or visiting are very welcome.

Program:

• 6:00pm – 8:00pm dinner
• 8:30pm – nijikai

Registration and prepayment before 20 November 2026 one week before the event. I will send location and pre-payment details to those who register.

To register and enquiries about Trinity Japan:

All Trinity College Cambridge Fellows, students, alumni or members living in or visiting Japan are more than welcome to join us. To register, or for any enquiries contact us here (please let me know which event you are registering for, and your relationship to Trinity College Cambridge, in case you are registering for the first time):

John Haidar (Trinity 2009) will join us for dinner on Thursday 8 October 2026 at 20:00 in Tokyo (note the timing)

John Haidar is in Tokyo to direct David Mamet’s “Glengarry Glen Ross” at the IMM Theater in Tokyo between 6 – 30 November 2026.

A group of Trinity (and Cambridge linked) bio-entrepreneurs based in UK, visiting Japan for the BioJapan exhibition and related events are planning to join us as well for this evening.

Details and booking for “Glengarry Glen Ross” here:

https://www.bunkamura.co.jp/english/cocoon/20261106.html

https://www.bunkamura.co.jp/cocoon/lineup/ggr2026

John Haidar is planning to join our Trinity dinner on Thursday 8 October 2026:

• 8:00pm – 10pm dinner
• 10:30pm – nijikai nearby

Registration and pre-payment before 1 October 2026.

I will send location and pre-payment details to those who register.

John Haidar (Trinity 2009)

John is an Irish-Lebanese director and writer for stage and screen, based in London. He trained at RADA and as an associate at the National Theatre, the Royal Court and in the West End with directors including Howard Davies, Michael Grandage and James Macdonald. He was previously Associate Director of Headlong. 

His directing credits for theatre include Disco Pigs (Trafalgar Theatre/Irish Repertory Theatre), Richard III (Headlong), Othello (Cambridge Arts Theatre), Afterplay (Coronet Theatre) and Hamlet (Bristol Old Vic/Altitude Films). Disco Pigs was a Critics’ Pick in The New York Times. In 2022, Hamlet was #4 in The Observer’s 10 Best Shows and, in 2023, it was shown in cinemas across the UK and Ireland and on the BBC.

In 2026, as well as directing Glengarry Glen Ross (Bunkamura/IMM Theater), he is working on stage adaptations of Dickens, Hardy and a contemporary science fiction novel, alongside screenwriting projects currently in development.

He has an MA in English from Trinity College, Cambridge and an MSt in English (1900-Present) from Merton College, Oxford.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Haidar

Glengarry Glen Ross

Glengarry Glen Ross is a stage play by the American playwright David Mamet set in Chicago’s real estate business world:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glengarry_Glen_Ross

Performances (6-30 November 2026) and booking for the play “Glengarry Glen Ross” at the IMM Theater in Tokyo:

https://www.bunkamura.co.jp/cocoon/lineup/ggr2026

https://www.bunkamura.co.jp/english/cocoon/20261106.html

Preview on Youtube

To register:

All Trinity College Cambridge Fellows, students, alumni or members living in or visiting Japan are more than welcome to join us. To register, or for any enquiries contact us here:

Trinity dinner on Friday 28 August 2026 at 6pm in central Tokyo

• 6:00pm – 8pm dinner
• 8:30pm – nijikai nearby

Registration and pre-payment before 21 August 2026.

I will send location and pre-payment details to those who register.

To register:

All Trinity College Cambridge Fellows, students, alumni or members living in or visiting Japan are more than welcome to join us. To register, or for any enquiries contact us here:

On Friday 31 October 2025 at 6pm we’ll meet for dinner in central Tokyo. Professor Dominic Lieven has kindly agreed to give us a short talk and discuss around the topic “Do wars always end in negotiations?”

• 6:00pm – 7:00pm Dominic Lieven “Do wars always end in negotiations?”
• 7:00pm – 9:00pm dinner
• 9:00pm – nijikai

Professor Dominic Lieven

Dominic Lieven is Honorary Fellow and Emeritus Fellow of Trinity 
College Cambridge, Fellow of the British Academy, and Honorary 
Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Dominic Lieven was Distinguished Professor in International History at the London School of Economics LSE, 1978-2011.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominic_Lieven
• London School of Economics, Former Distinguished Professor in International History (1978-2011)
• Professor Lieven, London School of Economics (LSE), Visiting Professor at LSE, Department of International History
• Professor Lieven, Chair of the Paulsen Programme (currently suspended) at the LSE
• And here, Dominic Lieven on “The European Crisis” in Nikkei

Registration and prepayment until one week before on Friday 24 October 2025. I will send location details and account details for prepayment to those who register.

To register:

All Trinity College Cambridge Fellows, students, alumni or members living in or visiting Japan are more than welcome to join us. To register, or for any enquiries contact us here:

On Saturday 20 September 2025 at 6pm we’ll meet for dinner in central Tokyo – please note its Saturday this time –

Amanda Talhat (Trinity 2006) will join us this time. Amanda studied Natural Sciences and then stayed for a PhD in Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, all at Trinity. 

Amanda is research leader at Nestlé, most recently leading a group of 50+ as Head of Physics and Technology at Nestlé.

You’ll be able to ask Amanda everything you always wanted to know, and never dared to ask, about food!

• 6:00pm – 8:30pm dinner
• 8:45pm – nijikai

Registration and prepayment until one week before by Friday 12 September 2025. I will send location details and account details for prepayment to those who register.

To register:

All Trinity College Cambridge Fellows, students, alumni or members living in or visiting Japan are more than welcome to join us. To register, or for any enquiries contact us here:

On Friday 29 August 2025 at 6pm we’ll meet for dinner in central Tokyo

• 6:00pm – 8:30pm dinner
• 8:45pm – nijikai

Registration and prepayment until one week before on Friday 22 August 2025. I will send location details and account details for prepayment to those who register.

To register:

All Trinity College Cambridge Fellows, students, alumni or members living in or visiting Japan are more than welcome to join us. To register, or for any enquiries contact us here:

On Friday 11 July 2025 at 6pm we’ll meet for dinner in central Tokyo

• 6:00pm – 8:30pm dinner
• 8:45pm – nijikai

Registration and prepayment until one week before on Friday 4 July 2025. I will send location details and account details for prepayment to those who register.

To register:

All Trinity College Cambridge Fellows, students, alumni or members living in or visiting Japan are more than welcome to join us. To register, or for any enquiries contact us here:

Lunch meeting with Frank Stajano, Professor of Security and Privacy, Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge, and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Director and Founder of Cambridge Cyber, for discussions on cybersecurity, e-money and other topics in Tokyo.

On Friday 27 June 2025 at 6pm we’ll meet for dinner in central Tokyo.

Three Cambridge medical students (two from Trinity) doing clinical electives in Tokyo, one stem-cell PhD researcher, and pharma/medical device professionals joined us, for discussions on neurosurgery, cancer surgery, stem-cell research, medical devices, and UK/Japan comparisons.

• 6:00pm – 8:30pm dinner
• 8:45pm – nijikai

Registration and prepayment until one week before on Friday 20 June 2025. I will send location details and account details for prepayment to those who register.

To register:

All Trinity College Cambridge Fellows, students, alumni or members living in or visiting Japan are more than welcome to join us. To register, or for any enquiries contact us here:

On Friday 30 May 2025 at 6pm we’ll meet for dinner in central Tokyo.

• 6:00pm – 8:30pm dinner
• 8:45pm – nijikai

Registration and prepayment until one week before on Friday 23 May 2025. I will send location details and account details for prepayment to those who register.

To register:

All Trinity College Cambridge Fellows, students, alumni or members living in or visiting Japan are more than welcome to join us. To register, or for any enquiries contact us here:

Discussing Japan’s economic growth, national debt, Piero Sraffa and Trinity with Peter Poole-Wilson (Trinity 1988) 24 May 2025.

More about Trinity Fellow Piero Sraffa here: Lord John Eatwell on “Piero Sraffa: the Trinity enigma who placed a time bomb under economic theory”, 21 May 2021

Discussing corporate governance reforms, decarbonization, and investments in Japan with Joyce Yim (Trinity 1991) over Trinity dinner in Tokyo on 22 May 2025.

Trinity Japan discussing investing in AI and ventures in Japan, 9 May 2025 and 11 May 2025

Meeting with Trinity Fellow Per Ola Kristensson in Yokohama on 3 May 2025 with discussions on AI, Trinity in Japan and many other topics.

About Professor Per Ola Kristensson

Per Ola Kristensson is Professor of Interactive Systems Engineering in the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.

Per Ola leads the Intelligent Interactive Systems group, at the Engineering Design Centre, and he is Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Centre for Human Inspired Artificial Intelligence at the University of Cambridge

• https://pokristensson.com
• Engineering Design Centre: https://www-edc.eng.cam.ac.uk
• Centre for Human Inspired Artificial Intelligence: https://www.chia.cam.ac.uk
• https://www.eng.cam.ac.uk/profiles/pok21
• publications: https://pokristensson.com/publications.html

On Friday 25 April 2025 at 6pm we’ll meet for dinner in central Tokyo.

• 6:00pm – 8:30pm dinner
• 8:45pm – nijikai

Registration and prepayment until one week before on Friday 18 April 2025. I will send location details and account details for prepayment to those who register.

To register:

All Trinity College Cambridge Fellows, students, alumni or members living in or visiting Japan are more than welcome to join us. To register, or for any enquiries contact us here:

On Thursday 3 April 2025 at 6pm we’ll meet for dinner in central Tokyo.

• 6:00pm – 8:30pm dinner
• 8:45pm – nijikai

Registration and prepayment until one week before on Friday 28 March 2025. I will send location details and account details for prepayment to those who register.

To register:

All Trinity College Cambridge Fellows, students, alumni or members living in or visiting Japan are more than welcome to join us. To register, or for any enquiries contact us here:

Trinity Japan dinner with Trinity PhD alumnus Ambassador Ra Jong-Yil on 18 December 2024.

Ambassador Ra Jong-Yil

Ambassador Ra Jong-Yil served as South Korea’s ambassador to the United Kingdom from 2001 to 2003 and as its ambassador to Japan from 2004 to 2007, and is former head of the Republic of Korea’s national intelligence service.

Ambassador Ra Jong-Yil donated the “Ra Jong-Yil Distinguished Lecture in Korean Studies” to the University of Cambridge, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

https://www.ames.cam.ac.uk/whats-on/ra-jong-yil-distinguished-lecture

He is also Honorary Fellow of Clare Hall Cambridge

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra_Jong-yil

• Ambassador to the UK
• Senior National Security Advisor to President
• Ambassador to Japan
• Chancellor, Woosuk University
• University Distinguished Professor, Gachon University

Select publications

• Road to Hanoi (Co-authored, Korean), 2022
• The Life and Death of a Terrorist (Japanese), 2021
• Discovery of Korea (co-authored, Korean), 2021
• Unhappy Presidents of Korea (co-authored, Korean), 2020
• Inside North Korea’s Theocracy (English), 2019
• The World and Korean War (Korean), 2019
• Our Beautiful Country (Chinese), 2019
• Dynasty of Purge (Japanese), 2017

Trinity Japan dinner with Dame Carol Black (Chair of The British Library Board) and Sir Roly Keating (Chief Executive of The British Library) on Thursday 31 October 2024 in Tokyo.

The British Library is the national library of the UK, and also hosts The Alan Turing Institute.

Dame Carol Black (Chair of The British Library Board)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Black_(rheumatologist)

and

Dame Carol Black: Advancing women in healthcare

Sir Roly Keating (Chief Executive of The British Library)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roly_Keating

(c) 2024 Trinity Japan

Ivan Sorrentino (Trinity 1988), Head of Regional Marketing, Northeast and Southeast Asia Pacific
Cambridge University Press and Assessment, will talk on “Japan and the English language”

and Michael Banner to give an update on the College

We founded Trinity in Japan on 5 September 2014 – we will celebrate the 10 year anniversary of Trinity in Japan with an event in Tokyo on Friday 6 September 2024.

Highlight of our 10 year celebration will be Ivan Sorrentino addressing one of the most charming and puzzling aspects of Japan – the general level of English in Japan. Ivan read Chemistry and Maths at Trinity, and for the last 30 years in the English language teaching industry in Japan, most in leading roles at Cambridge University Press.

All Trinity Fellows, alumni, members, students globally are welcome to join us.

• 6:00pm – 7:00pm Ivan Sorrentino: “Japan and the English language”. Talk and discussion
• 7:00pm – 9:00pm dinner, with Michael Banner to give us an update on the College
• 9:15pm – nijikai (attending nijikai only is also a possibility)

Registration and prepayment before Friday 30 August 2024. I will send prepayment details to those who register with me.

Trinity in Japan – Mission (English version)

トリニティ・イン・ジャパンの目的・ミッション（日本語版）

Trinity in Japan mission (Japanese language version)

“Japan and the English language” – summary

Why is the general level of English in Japan so low? Is this an intrinsic problem with the system of education or an unrealistic expectation from outside. Many factors are involved in determining how easy specific language learning is in any given country, and Japan is no exception. These factors include motivation, teaching styles, assessment types, recognition and washback. Given this backdrop, what are the possible ways forward for Japan?

Ivan Sorrentino (Trinity 1988)

Head of Regional Marketing, Northeast and Southeast Asia Pacific
Cambridge University Press and Assessment

Ivan is the Head of Regional Marketing for the English language teaching and learning materials and exams at Cambridge University Press and Assessment, based in Tokyo. Although his current geographical remit covers countries such as Vietnam, South Korea, and Australia, the earlier part of his career was focused on Japan promoting materials and teaching methodologies aimed at prioritizing communicative competence and active learning over rote memorization.

In addition, his remit includes Recognition, where companies, educational institutes, ministries, and immigration departments recognize Cambridge exams as one of the key admission criteria.

Ivan Sorrentino (Trinity 1988) graduated with a BA in Chemistry and Mathematics from Trinity College and Cambridge University.

The Revd Dr Michael Banner

Dean of Chapel and Fellow,
Director of Studies in Theology,
Chair of Alumni Relations and Development, Trinity College

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Banner

http://trinitycollegechapel.com/whos-who/michael-banner/

Trinity in Japan – purpose, aims and mission:

Trinity Japan : aims and mission

Register, enquiries

Copyright (c) 2024 Trinity in Japan Society All Rights Reserved

At the 10 years Trinity in Japan event, Founder and Chair, Gerhard Fasol, talked about mission and aims of Trinity in Japan.
Trinity in Japan is the Japan organization and alumni organization of Trinity College Cambridge.
Trinity College is Cambridge University’s largest College with 34 Nobel Prize winners and much impact on the world, including of course Japan: