From the moment Corporate Affiliates Program Visiting Fellows step onto the Stanford campus, they enter a different world. Many consider it to be the experience of a lifetime.

Visiting Fellows gain leading-edge professional knowledge through courses, lectures, and visits to pioneering Bay Area companies. They also engage in a nine-month research project under the guidance of a Stanford scholar advisor. Each day is packed with activity, yet many Visiting Fellows even find time to indulge in a hobby and travel.

Shorenstein APARC recently caught up with three 2012–13 Visiting Fellows to talk about their first quarter at Stanford.

For Sanat Deshpande of Reliance Life Sciences, the Corporate Affiliates Program has given him a chance to study at a university again after twelve years of professional life. Of his first visit to the United States, he says, “Overall, this has been an excellent experience. Not only do I have the flexibility to focus on my work, but also to enjoy life.”

Saiko Nakagawa, who works for Japan’s Ministry of Finance, attended the University of California, San Diego, for graduate school ten years ago. Returning to an academic environment for her means having a chance to immerse herself in learning about her field. “The best thing about this program is that I have one entire year to focus and to manage my own time,” she says. “It is like an academic sabbatical.”

Wei Shi, a Visiting Fellow from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, says, “This first visit to the United States is an honor for me.” He thrives in Stanford’s creative atmosphere, and appreciates the access to research resources like specialized databases in the Graduate School of Business library. “Stanford is also a very diverse place,” Wei adds. “I have had a chance to meet many new people and encounter new ideas.”

Stay tuned to the Corporate Affiliates Program website throughout the academic year for more snapshots of Visiting Fellows’ life at Stanford.

Stanford, with strong expertise in Japan’s economics and politics, is poised to become a U.S. leader in Japan Studies.

Takeo Hoshi, the Henri H. and Tomoye Takahashi Senior Fellow in Japanese Studies, has joined the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) as the director of its Japan Studies Program (JSP). He will also serve as a professor of finance (by courtesy) in Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. JSP is one of Shorenstein APARC’s five dynamic research programs.

Hoshi is no stranger to Shorenstein APARC, having taken part in a number of Center-sponsored events, including the February 2012 conference about reforming Japan’s energy industry after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. He plans to build JSP into the strongest program of its kind in the United States. “I want to make Shorenstein APARC the first place that researchers, policymakers, business practitioners, and students visit to understand more about the Japanese economy and politics,” he says. “I look forward to working with everyone at Shorenstein APARC (and beyond) to achieve this goal.”

Hoshi, who began his appointment in December 2012, comes to Stanford from the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IR/PS) at the University of California, San Diego. He spent nearly twenty-five years conducting research and teaching at IR/PS, where he served as the Pacific Economic Cooperation Chair and as Associate Dean.

Hoshi’s research focuses on the financial aspects of Japan’s economy, and he has written extensively on corporate finance, banking, and monetary policy. He received the 2011 Reischauer International Education Award from the Japan Society of San Diego and Tijuana, and, among many other awards for his scholarship, his co-authored book Corporate Financing and Governance in Japan won the Nikkei Award for the Best Economics Books of 2002.

“We are honored to welcome Professor Takeo Hoshi as JSP’s new faculty director,” says Shorenstein APARC director Gi-Wook Shin. “I am confident he will take Japan Studies at Stanford in a strong, new direction, and succeed in attracting the very best research talent and students to the university.”