As we reported in Newsletter No. 10, the Board of Directors and Advisory Committee has been discussing a possible name change of Friends of Todai, Inc. (FOTI) for some time since the University of Tokyo’s decision last year to change its English abbreviation from “Todai” to “UTokyo.” While “UTokyo” may be more readily recognizable as a university name than “Todai” by non-Japanese, the new acronym will sound foreign to most Japanese who have been used to the traditional name “東大(pronounced as ‘ Todai’).”
After a long elaboration on this matter, the Board finally came up with an excellent idea by adding the Japanese translation 「東大友の会」(pronounced as “Todai-Tomo-no-Kai”) to the official English name “Friends of UTokyo, Inc.” (FUTI for short), and voted for it on May 10, 2014. This name amendment was subsequently approved on May 24, 2014 by the State Department of New York State, where our organization has been registered since its inception in 2007.
Our account names with Citibank in New York and PayPal (for online donation) have also been changed accordingly. The new website https://www.friendsofutokyo.org is currently under construction. For the time being, please continue using the current http://www.friendsoftodai.org.
The mailing address of FUTI is 115 East 34th Street, #416, New York, NY 10156, USA, as we announced earlier.
The new email addresses, such as info
friendsofutokyo.org and donatefriendsofutokyo.org, are already usable for sending your inquiries or messages, although you could continue using the old addresses infofriendsoftodai.org and donatefriendsoftodai.org at least for a while.
Articles in this newsletter:
- Our New Name, Friends of UTokyo, Inc. (FUTI) is Now Official
- Mr. Yasuyuki Sugiura and Mr. Motomu Takahashi appointed as New Members of Advisory Committee
- “Go Global Study Abroad Fair 2014” held at the Komaba Campus
- FUTI Award for a Berkeley Senior who Participates in a Summer Internship Program at UTokyo
