Jon Funabiki

Jon Funabiki founded Renaissance Journalism to undertake special reporting and storytelling initiatives locally and nationally, experimenting with bold, new approaches to news and storytelling and reimagining the media as a vital source of education, engagement, and empowerment for underserved communities. Funabiki is the executive director of the Dilena Takeyama Center for the Study of Japan and Japanese Culture. His career spans journalism, philanthropy, and academia. A graduate of San Francisco State University, he is a former reporter and editor with The San Diego Union, where he specialized in US-Asia political and economic affairs and reported from Japan, China, South Korea, the Philippines, and other parts of Asia.