Meet Our New President, Osamu Murata

Following the sudden passing of our founder and former President Yoshiomi Tamai on July 5, 2025, the Ashinaga Foundation held an extraordinary Board of Directors meeting on July 10. During this meeting, Osamu Murata, an Ashinaga scholarship alumnus and former President of Kwansei Gakuin University, was appointed as the new President of the Foundation.

Meet Our New President

Osamu Murata
Born May 24, 1955 (Age 70)

 

A Message from President Murata

My name is Osamu Murata, and I am deeply honored to serve as the new President of the Ashinaga Foundation. First and foremost, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude and respect for our late founder, Yoshiomi Tamai, whose lifelong dedication built the Ashinaga movement and supported countless bereaved families across Japan and beyond.

When I was 13, I lost my father in a traffic accident. Thanks to the Ashinaga scholarship, I was able to attend university despite my family’s financial struggles. My choice to study economics came from a personal desire to help solve problems of poverty and inequality, issues that still challenge our societies today. Inequality has only increased in recent years, and I believe Ashinaga’s role in tackling it is more important than ever.

Carrying forward our founder Tamai’s vision, I will wholeheartedly work to create a world where children who have lost a parent or face social and economic hardships can believe in their potential and look to the future with hope. With gratitude, I ask for your continued encouragement and support as we work toward this shared vision.

About President Murata

Born in Tokyo, Murata graduated from the Faculty of Economics at Kwansei Gakuin University in 1980 and completed his doctoral coursework at the same university’s Graduate School of Economics in 1985. After serving as Assistant, Lecturer, Associate Professor, and Professor, he took on several leadership roles, including Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Director of the Center for the Promotion of Higher Education, before serving as President of Kwansei Gakuin University from 2014 to 2023.

An alumnus of the Association for Traffic Accident Orphans, established by the Ashinaga founder, Yoshimi Tamai, Murata joined the Ashinaga Foundation as Vice President in 2005. Since 2022, he has served as Deputy President, working closely with Mr. Tamai to reform the Foundation’s scholarship and educational programs, strengthen its organizational structure, and enhance its governance.