Center for Global Initiatives (CGI) was extremely glad to welcome Mr. Sako Lancine to African Café on Monday, June 28. Besides his career as a system engineer and the president of a nonprofit organization, Mr. Lancine is well known as a representative of Côte d'Ivoire in a Japanese TV program, “Sekai Kurabetemitara” (TBS).

In his lecture, Mr. Lancine talked about how he became interested in Japan and moved here, his activities in Japan, the latest business trends and future in Africa, and traditional popular food from various parts of Africa. His upbeat personality and interactive lecture with quizzes and jokes filled the event with smile and laughter from beginning to end. After the lecture, the participants had an opportunity to directly ask him questions, and were able to deepen understandings and appreciation of African culture even more.

Regardless of the short notice, 37 students and university staff attended the event, and many positive feedbacks were received soon after the event. Some of the feedbacks are as below.

Participants’ Voices

“Mr. Sako, thank you very much for your valuable talk today!

It's not often you get to hear the real voices of the locals, so I'm glad I joined. I found the latest trends very interesting. I'm especially interested in African culture, such as food, so I was happy to be introduced to many delicious African dishes. Listening to your talk made me want to know more about Africa! If there are any more events about Africa, I would love to participate in them.” — a Junior Student from Dept. of Molecular Microbiology

“I always watch “Sekai Kurabetemitara,” so I was very happy for the opportunity to actually hear your talk like this. My field of study is not related to Africa or agriculture at all, but your explanation was very easy to understand. Thank you, indeed. I had never been to Africa, so I had no idea what to expect. However, through your lecture, I learned commonalities between Africa and Japan in addition to the unique features of African culture, and I now feel closer to Africa...” — a Senior Student from Dept. of Fermentation Science