Category: Newsletter 12

The annual fundraising campaign in FY 2013/14 (July 1, 2013-June 30, 2014) concluded with a total revenue of approximately $110,000. This result, however, does not match those of the previous two years, which were $139,000 and $131,000, respectively (see figure below). This substantial decline is largely attributable to the reduction in the income from Shintech Inc’s Trust Fund, due to the continued erosion in the earnings of U.S. treasury notes, in which the Trust has been exclusively invested. The number of individual donors decreased by 19% from 73 of the previous year to 59 this year, although the total amount of individual donations did not decline as much: it has decreased by 7.6%, from $61,320 to $56,660. The pie chart below shows a breakdown of the individuals’ donations by group or region. Out of the $56,660 donations from 59 individuals, $28,000 came from 12 members of FOTI Board of Directors and Advisory Committee members; $16,060 came from 20 alumni in Japan; $6,750 from 18 alumni in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut (excluding those who serve on FOTI’s Board or Advisory Committee); $4,100 from 5 alumni in California and Washington States, $1,250 from 2 alumni in Illinois, and $500 from two alumni in Texas. This breakdown by region is similar to that of the previous year (shown below). We note that the donations from CA & WA, NY, NJ & CT and Japan increased by $3,300, $1,450, and $540, respectively, whereas the donations from the Board and Advisory Committee members, and alumni in IL declined by $2,800 and $3,300, respectively. “We are sincerely thankful to Shintech Inc. and many individual donors who continue to support our activities. In order to maintain the current level of summer scholarship and research grant programs, however, we must broaden our support base. Anticipated earnings from Shintech’s Trust Fund do not seem encouraging in this fiscal year. We desperately need more alumni and friends to join us to help our younger generation gain global experiences to be prepared for this increasingly competitive global economy and complex world politics,” remarked President Hisashi Kobayashi. The list of donors is posted in “Campaign Result of FY2013-2014: Final Report” on the FUTI website. (Read this article in Japanese) Articles in this newsletter: The articles in this issue were contributed by Yasuyuki Izumi, Hisashi Kobayashi, Yuichiro Kuwama, Shigenori Matsushita, Masako Osako, Ko-Yung Tung, and Masaaki Yamada. Editorial assistance is by Prof. Brian L. Mark (Professor, George Mason University).

The Board of Directors Meeting, September 28 (Sun), 10 am-1 pm FUTI’s Annual Board of Directors meeting was held on September 28 (Sun) 2014, from 10 am to 1 pm at the Community Resource Exchange (CRE)’s conference room at 42 Broadway, New York, NY 10004. After President Hisashi Kobayashi’s welcome greeting, Mr. Shuta Kobayashi, Secretary, presented his draft of the minutes of the Board teleconference meeting held on April 21, 2014 ,and obtained the Board’s approval. Dr. Masako Egawa, Executive Vice President of UTokyo and Director of FUTI, made a 30 minute presentation on recent developments at UTokyo (For details, see “Appendix: Summary of Dr. Masako Egawa’s Report” at the end of this article). Dr. Yuichiro Kuwama, Director and Treasurer, reported on the results of the last fundraising campaign. The total amount of individual donations decreased by 7.6%, from $ 61,320 (73 individuals) in FY (fiscal year) 2012/13 down to $56,660 (59 individuals) in FY 2013/14. The dividends from Shintech’s Trust Fund, went down by as much as 24.4%, from $70,076 in FY2012/13 to $52,956 in FY 2013/14. Consequently, an overall revenue decreased by 16.6%, i.e., from $131,396 in FY2012/13 to $109,616 in FY2013/14 (for details, see a related article in this newsletter). The treasurer stated that an effect of the extension of the contract period of the Trust Fund would not be felt before the next fiscal year, and that the dividends would further decline during the current fiscal year. He is inquiring whether HSBC Bank can invest the fund for a higher return within the scope of the trust contract. Dr. Masaaki Yamada, Director of University Relations, reported on the FUTI Research Grant Program and its 2014 summer scholarship program. FUTI renewed its support of two research projects; (1) Frontiers of Condensed Matter Physics (F-CMP): the Columbia-UTokyo cooperation on education and research, (2) Collaboration, exchanges and outreach at the Kavli IPMU and UC Berkeley campuses (for details, see a related article). As for the scholarship program, 13 UTokyo students received the FUTI Global Leadership Award (FUTI-GLA) and attended summer courses or English language courses at U.S. universities, whereas 7 FUTI-GLA recipients of U.S. universities went to UTokyo to attend the GSP (Global Summer Program) courses or to do research as summer interns (for details, see a related article). Dr. Yamada also reported that a travel grant was awarded to Mr. Chiwu Ishido Kim, an outstanding student who graduated from Stuyvesant High School of New York City and was admitted to the PEAK or the Programs in English at Komaba (for details, see a related article). Mr. Shuta Kobayashi, Secretary, presented a draft of the updated FUTI’s Bylaws, which was revised in accordance with the recent changes in our name and mailing address. He obtained the Board’s approval. Mr. Kazutaka Yamaji, General Manager of the Development Division of UTokyo, who participated in the meeting as an invited guest, presented his recent study with Mr. Yoichi Yoshida of his office regarding the possibility of opening FUTI’s bank account in Japan. The Board has decided to pursue this matter by identifying a suitable representative, who must be a resident of Japan. The Board reappointed all the current officers and directors and advisory committee members and the award selection committee for another year.  In addition, President Kobayashi and Dr. Osako were appointed to a newly created “Auditing Committee.” (See the FUTI website for profiles of the appointees.) In the session on general discussions, President Kobayashi made three proposals: (A) creation of “Fundraising Committee,” (B) creation of “Advertising Committee,” and (C) creation of “Media Communications Committee.” Although there was not sufficient time to fully discuss these matters, there was a general consensus that the issue of fundraising effort is of utmost importance. The Board and Advisory Committee Joint Meeting: September 28 (Sun),1 pm-5 pm The joint meeting started with the introduction of Mr. Motomu Takahashi, a new member of the Advisory Committee (see a related announcement in Newsletter No. 11), and Mr. Kazutaka Yamaji, a special guest (see a related article in this newsletter). Then Dr. Masako Osako, a member of the Award Selection Committee, presented highlights of the reports submitted by the 2014 summer scholarship recipients. She concluded her presentation by stating that FUTI’s Global Leadership Award program is achieving its objective, i.e., to provide highly qualified UTokyo and U.S. students with valuable opportunities for further learning and development. She then presented a summary of the recent survey done by the International Division of UTokyo, upon President Kobayashi’s request, to find out why the number of UTokyo applications to the FUTI summer program was not as great as that from students of U.S. universities who wish to study at UTokyo in the summer. Among the several reasons identified in this survey are: (1) The existence of FUTI’s summer programs is not as widely known to the UTokyo student as it should be. As many as 68% of UTokyo students who applied for summer programs in the U.S. were unaware of the FUTI scholarship program. (2) Among the students who knew about the FUTI program, 59% felt that the competition would be too stiff, so they did not bother to apply. There were some comments made by the Board and Advisory Committee: (1) The upcoming implementation of the quarter system may facilitate the participation by UTokyo students in summer programs in the future. (2) Some effort should be made to lessen the apprehension about overseas study that may be felt by many UTokyo students, because such anxiety may prevent them from applying to the programs. (3) Further effort should also be made to more widely and effectively disseminate the information about FUTI awards. There was also a suggestion that in-person or telephone interviews (by using Skype) of scholarship applicants would provide, in some cases, valuable information that might augment the information obtained from the applicants’ written materials. Dr. Egawa, Dr. Kuwama, and Dr. Yamada gave the presentations to the Advisory Committee, using the slides that they had prepared for the Board Meeting of the morning. Dr. Osako then reported on the…
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In response to the recent name change from “Friends of Todai, Inc.” to “Friends of UTokyo, Inc. (東大友の会” (FUTI), our website has been completely redesigned by the Webmaster, Ms. Amy Vaida. You can access to the new website by typing in www.friendsofutokyo.org or www.todaitomonokai.org. The latter URL will take you to the Japanese version of the website. Switching between English and Japanese can be freely done by clicking on the American or Japanese flag that can be found at the right end of the top menu “Home, About Us, Grants & Awards, Giving, Contact Us”. There is now a new menu “News, Newsletter, Recipient Reports,” below the logo, referring to pages whose contents are frequently updated. “Recipient Reports” is a compilation of the reports on the summer schools and internships prepared by the FOTI scholarship recipients. Note that the reports are not edited by FUTI. On the right end of the Home page, there is a box labeled “Search.” If you type in a key word or phrase, for instance, “summer scholarship,” you will find all the announcements and news items regarding FUTI’s summer scholarship. Below this “Search Box” there is a column for “FUTI Facebook Page,” where recently posted messages appear. Whoever has signed up for the FUTI Facebook is allowed to post a message that may be of interest to fellow alumni and friends of UTokyo. According to our policy on FUTI Facebook, however, any message that is judged by the FUTI administrator to be improper or irrelevant to the FUTI community will be filtered out. In a nutshell, the front page features the latest articles of frequently updated pages (i.e., news, newsletter and recipient reports) of the website and messages posted on Facebook. The layout of this new site is flexible and is also mobile device friendly. Ms. Amy Vaida, who has undertaken this redesign project single-handedly, remarks “One thing I have not yet worked on is search engine optimization (SEO). 1 I am currently compiling a list of keywords that will be relevant to what FUTI does as an organization. If you have any suggestions for words or phrases that should be associated with FUTI in search engine results, please let me know. I am also open to comments and suggestions in general for the website.” If you have any comments or suggestions, please submit them at https://www.friendsofutokyo.org/comments-suggestions-futi-website/ 1 Techniques to improve the visibility of a website by increasing the number of visitors to the website or its pages are referred to as “search engine optimization (SEO)” (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization). (Read this article in Japanese) Articles in this newsletter: The articles in this issue were contributed by Yasuyuki Izumi, Hisashi Kobayashi, Yuichiro Kuwama, Shigenori Matsushita, Masako Osako, Ko-Yung Tung, and Masaaki Yamada. Editorial assistance is by Prof. Brian L. Mark (Professor, George Mason University).

As reported in Newsletter Nos.10 & 11, thirteen UTokyo students and eight U.S. university students received the 2014 FUTI Global Leadership Award (FUTI-GLA). Three out of the 13 UTokyo students attended English language courses at Yale University or the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), two participated in the GSP at UC Berkeley, and the remaining six enrolled in various summer courses at such U.S. universities as Harvard, Ohio State, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Western Michigan, and Yale. Four out of the eight U.S. awardees conducted research as summer interns at UTokyo’s laboratories under the University of Tokyo Research Internship Program (UTRIP) program which is hosted by professors in the School of Sciences at UTokyo. They were selected from 74 U.S. undergraduate students who applied to FUTI’s summer scholarship program. One student from UC Berkeley participated in UTokyo Innovation Summer Program 2014 (TISP2014). In addition to these internship students, two Yale students were selected to participate in the Global Summer Program (GSP) courses offered by UTokyo. FUTI also awarded a travel grant to a student (Stuyvesant High School) who started the Program in English at Komaba (PEAK) in Fall 2014. The roster of 2014 award recipients and their reports are posted in the News section and on the blog page of FUTI’s website, respectively. For full reports, please click here.      Highlights from UTokyo Students’ Reports      The thirteen UTokyo students who spent the summer in the U.S. unanimously state, “We learned a great deal inside and outside classroom. The summer experience helped us tremendously expand our intellectual horizon regarding both the world and Japan, and gave us opportunities to rethink our career plans.” Professor Hisashi Kobayashi, FUTI President , observes, “Many of the UTokyo student who have spent the summer in the U.S. now seem to be thinking seriously about opportunities to pursue their graduate study or post-doctoral research in the U.S.” The following are excerpts from some students’ reports. Haruka Udagawa, Liberal Arts II, Sophomore: Harvard summer school course “Strategies and Conflict” The course “Strategies and Conflict” made my mind set for my major and future goal. Before attending this course, I was interested in both international relations and economics. However, this course made me realize that economic trade could actually prevent a war. Therefore, learning economics can empower me with a peaceful skill so that I can take a bigger part for Japan to have a better relationship with other countries in the future. Izumi Hayashi , Mechano-Informatics, Junior : Yale University Language Institute The experience at Yale made me grow. After six weeks, I began to speak up confidently in classes and communicate in English more easily. I strongly recommend this summer program at Yale to other UTokyo students. It was one of the most precious experiences in my life. Shigeru Chiba, Sciences III, Sophomore: UC Berkeley Summer Language Studies I have a dream of becoming a leading doctor in the world who works for a lot of patients beyond national borders. This year I attended Summer English Language Courses at Berkeley… This was the first step forward to realize my dream…. In fact, I was excited to hear students from all over the world talking about the future, how the world will change, what kind of profession they plan to enter and how we can contribute to change the world. I’m really looking forward to meeting them again and talking together about our journey. Mahmoud Khalil , Environmental Systems, PhD Program 3rd: Western Michigan University, “Hydrogeology Field Program” I participated in an intensive summer training program, Hydrogeology Field Course (HFC) from July 7th to August 16th, 2014. This intensive course is designed to give the student a working knowledge of the methods and concepts of field hydrogeology, and to provide an opportunity to understand and analyze field data. This knowledge and experience are what I have been really looking for in my Ph.D. study at the University of Tokyo, as I am concerned with groundwater environmental problems.      Highlights from U.S. Students’ Reports       The 11 students from U.S. universities invariably report that they gained valuable research skills and experience at UTokyo, and came back with a very positive impression of UTokyo and its programs as well as the Japanese culture and society. Pramodh Ganapathy, Duke University, Evolutionary Anthropology (1st major), and Asian & Middle Eastern Studies (2nd major), Senior: UTRIP, Prof. Hisayoshi Nozaki’s Lab The project at Prof. Nozaki’s Lab was definitely challenging and even frustrating at times. I would sometimes have to arrive quite early in the morning and would not be able to go home until the last train. However, everyone in the lab was right there beside me and supported me through all the challenges…Ultimately, I cannot think of any better way I could have spent my summer. It was definitely challenging and came with a lot of hardships, but I also had a lot of fun, and I think all of my experiences came together in the end to create an unforgettable time of growth and reflection. Kevin Hochstrasser , Yale University, Chemistry, Junior: UTRIP, Prof. Kumiko Ui-Tei’s Lab My goal for the summer was to generate “knockouts” of three different miRNA genes in human embryonic kidney cells…Overall my experience in the lab was successful, educational and memorable…I did not expect Japanese culture to be so different from American and European cultures I have assimilated to in the past. The Japanese people are extremely polite, accommodating, and generous. ..Nothing has impressed me more than the respect the Japanese show to one another and to those new to their culture. Kevin Zhou, Yale University, Biomedical Engineering, Junior : IARU GSP at UTokyo I could go on about the experiences and insights I’ve gained from the formal parts of the program, but truly the most valuable experiences were the adventures outside of class, meeting new people and making friends with people from Japan and all around the world. I’ve made many amazing friends, with whom I explored Tokyo…In sum,…
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The Award Selection Committee of Friends of UTokyo Inc. (FUTI) decided to continue their support of Columbia-UTokyo’s effort in their curricular development and student exchanges in the area of condensed matter physics. The committee also decided to renew the research grant for UC Berkeley and UTokyo’s research on “physics and mathematics for the universe,” specifically their exchange program of graduate students and their outreach program for the general public.  1. Frontiers of Condensed Matter Physics (F-CMP): Columbia-UTokyo cooperation on education and research Organized by Prof. Yasutomo Uemura of Columbia University, the Columbia-UTokyo educational cooperation on condensed matter physics has been successfully carried out over the past few years with partial support from FUTI. In March 2013, fifteen Columbia graduate students visited Tokyo and Kyoto, after having taken UTokyo’s lectures that were video-broadcasted to Columbia. Some of them also visited Kyoto University and SPring-8 Synchrotron facility, and enjoyed Japanese culture in Kyoto and Tokyo. In Fiscal Year 2014-2015, Columbia-UTokyo plan to continue their teaching activities, the fourth year in a series of joint teaching of the F-CMP course, as well as their research collaboration between graduate students of both institutions. In the previous year, the research collaboration was performed using the accelerators at TRIUMF in Canada and PSI (Paul Scherrer Institute) in Switzerland. In the coming fiscal year, in addition to research at these facilities, two collaborative activities will be organized using Japanese research facilities: KEK Photon Factory and the laser facility of the Institute of Solid State Physics (ISSP) located at the UTokyo Kashiwa Campus. This year, Prof. Hiroshi Kageyama and his student Mr. Yasumasa Nozaki of Kyoto University will be invited to Columbia to continue the collaboration on muon spin relaxation experiments at TRIUMF. Again this year, several exchange visits of graduate students between the facilities of UTokyo (including KEK) and Columbia are planned. 2. Collaboration, Exchanges and Outreach at the Kavli IPMU-Berkeley Campuses. The collaboration between the Kavli IPMU at UTokyo and the Berkeley Center of Theoretical Physics (BCTP) at UC Berkeley has a unique environment where mathematicians, astronomers, and physicists work together. Having both research and cultural exposure has been proven crucial for the development of the careers of young researchers in the global scientific community. This has been particularly important for the UTokyo graduate students and the collaboration should boost the international visibility of the University of Tokyo. Last year, two Berkeley students flew to the Kavli IPMU for a month-long visit, and another Berkeley student (Brian Hennings) had a semester-long stay. Brian helped Prof. Murayama teach the first-ever online course from Japan entitled “From the Big Bang to Dark Energy.” Brian acted as the Teaching Assistant for this course, ran the discussion forum, and wrote homework problems. In this coming year, they will continue their exchange program of graduate students. Prof. Murayama is also planning to work with the Japanese Consulate in San Francisco to organize another event in 2014 to reach out to the local community, after giving two successful public lectures in North America this year, one in an IMAX theater in Vancouver with about 400 people in the audience (available online) and another in Santa Cruz with about 200 people (http://news.ucsc.edu/2013/07/murayama-lecture.html) (Read this article in Japanese) Articles in this newsletter: The articles in this issue were contributed by Yasuyuki Izumi, Hisashi Kobayashi, Yuichiro Kuwama, Shigenori Matsushita, Masako Osako, Ko-Yung Tung, and Masaaki Yamada. Editorial assistance is by Prof. Brian L. Mark (Professor, George Mason University).

Receptions for GSP and UTRIP Students: Shig Matsushita This is a report of my participation in the reception parties held in mid-July at UTokyo for the GSP and UTRIP students, and a glimpse of both programs. I am glad to report that all FUTI scholarship awardees in both programs were found to be excellent, proactive and sociable students as we expected in the selection process. The receptions were held for the undergraduate students from all over the world who are studying at UTokyo during the summer in the GSP and UTRIP programs, which are part of UTokyo’s globalization effort. Mid-July was a convenient time for all students to attend because the students in the first term were about to finish their stays and those in the second term had just started their lives at UTokyo. GSP Reception: The GSP welcome and farewell party, which was held on July 11 at the Sanjo Kaikan of UTokyo, started with an opening remark by Professor Kiichi Fujiwara of the International Center. It was attended by 46 undergraduate students in the GSP program, who came from ten universities of the world, including four UTokyo students whose programs abroad would begin shortly. The rest of the UTokyo students in the GSP program, about twenty of them, had already gone overseas. Seven faculty members and twelve staff members also attended. Ms. Sumiko Ito (far right in the photo) and myself (far left) represented FUTI. Two Yale students and FUTI scholarship awardees, Ms. Julie Chang and Mr. Kelvin Zhou (in the middle), were present. Both took the course on Nanoscience in the GSP program. They were found to be excellent proactive students as expected. Both showed up wearing the UTokyo school color. The GSP program is organized by The International Alliance of Research Universities, or IARU, which consists of the following ten universities: Australian National University, ETH Zurich, National University of Singapore, Peking University, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Cambridge, the University of Copenhagen, the University of Oxford, the University of Tokyo, and Yale University. One of the flagship activities of IARU is The Global Summer Program, (or “GSP” for short), whose purpose is “to cultivate a sense of global citizenship and leadership.” Each university offers a few courses during the summer. For example, in 2014 UTokyo offered four courses taught in English and attracted the following numbers of students: Japanese Language (9 students who must also take another course), Sustainable Urban Management (14), Japan in Today’s World (12), and Nanoscience (16). The first two courses took place from June 30 to July 11, and the rest began on July 10 and finished on July 18 or 23. For instance, “Japan in Today’s World” covered, after introductory classes on the Japanese political system, the post disaster relief after the great earthquake, and territorial disputes and nationalism, in which students were encouraged to discuss with the professors and among themselves. Each university in IARU sent three to six students to UTokyo. Scholarships were offered by IARU, FUTI and the sending and hosting universities. Dr. Emiko Gosho of the University-wide Student Exchange Program (USTEP) Office of UTokyo presided over the party in her fluent English. Although I was asked to speak, representing the FUTI scholarship selection committee, the time seemed pressing and I could only touch upon the following four important items: congratulations to the GSP students; FOTI is now FUTI; more applications for FUTI scholarships; and join FUTI’s Facebook. One student from each university gave a brief remark. Someone took a picture of me while I was talking. UTRIP Reception: The UTRIP (University of Tokyo Research Internship) Reception was held on July 15 on the top floor of the UTokyo Hospital. It began with an opening remark by Prof. Makoto Gonokami, Dean of the School of Science, UTokyo. The University of Tokyo Research Internship Program, or UTRIP for short, is an original summer program of the School of Science, UTokyo. It is an introductory program to the research environment, for “internationalization of the School by inviting talented junior or senior students from abroad” for research guided by the faculty members of the School for familiarization with the Graduate School. Five departments, consisting of Physics, Astronomy, Chemistry, Earth & Planetary Science, and Biological Sciences, offer the internship programs. The reception party was attended by all 29 students, coming from all over the world, 10 students in the first term (June 12 to July 23), and 19 students in the second term (July 1 to August 8). The composition of their nationalities was interesting; 8 Americans (all from U.S. universities), 6 Chinese (4 from Peking University, one from the University of California and one from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore), 3 Thais (2 from the University of Cambridge and one from the University of Chicago) and one or two students from 10 other countries. Their university composition was also intriguing; 12 students from U.S. universities (5 from the University of California, 3 foreign students), 9 from British universities (4 from the University of Cambridge, 8 foreign students), 4 from Peking University (none from other Chinese universities), and the remaining two were from universities in India and Singapore, one each. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. donated a lump sum to establish a scholarship fund eight years ago. This year, five students were awarded the Daiwa scholarship. Daiwa’s Executive Director was invited to give an address. FUTI awarded the scholarship to four U.S. students this year, and Ms. Ito and myself gave talks, representing FUTI. Ms. Chie Sakuta of the International Liaison Office in the School of Science presided over the party in her excellent English and let every student give a one minute speech. The four FUTI scholarship awardees were all present. From the left in the picture: Mr. Kevin Hochstrasser, an American, is a Biological Sciences major at Yale University . Mr. Taweewat Somboonpanyakul, originally from Thailand, is an Astronomy major at the University of Chicago. Mr. Pramodh Ganapathy, an American, is a Biological Sciences major at…
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The Eighth “Appreciation Party of the University of Tokyo Foundation” was held at Koshiba Hall and Sanjo Kaikan on the Hongo Campus on June 11th (Wed), 2014. This party is an annual event in which UTokyo expresses its gratitude to its donors. “Contributing Members” (whose cumulative contributions have exceeded JPY 300,000) are the invitees. The rules have been changed since last year such that donations to FUTI are now counted in the same way as direct donations to the UTokyo Foundation. Therefore, several FUTI donors received an invitation to the Appreciation Party this year (see the related article in Newsletter No. 10). The party was attended by 91 donors, including some from the United States. The participants were guided to Ito International Research Center, where they could view their engraved nameplates posted on the wall. At the party that started at Koshiba Hall, Mr. Kazutaka Yamaji, Director General of the Development Division, reported on the donation activities of the past fiscal year and the accomplishment of major projects. Then a lecture entitled “Life in a longevity society” was presented by Project Professor Hiroko Akiyama of the Institute of Gerontology at UTokyo. She talked about the life in a super-aging society, and discussed how its social structure and community would have to change. The donors listened intently to her lecture. After her lecture, the reception hosted by President Junichi Hamada took place at Lounge Harmony in Sanjo Kaikan. It began with a thanks greeting by the president and his report on the progress of the mid-term plan for UTokyo, followed by a toast proposed by Dr. Masako Egawa, Executive Vice President. Then a convivial and lively meeting among the donors, the administrative staff and faculty members ensued. In the middle of the reception, the cheerleading club presented a dance performance, and the party became really lively when UTokyo’s rooster song “Tada Hitotsu” (Only One) was sung by all the participants. The lively gathering adjourned after 7 pm with a thanks speech by Mr. Yamaji. We, staff of the Development Division, look forward to seeing FUTI donors next year as well. (This article was prepared by Yasuyuki Izumi of UTokyo, translated by Hisashi Kobayashi and edited by Brian Mark) (Read this article in Japanese) Articles in this newsletter: The articles in this issue were contributed by Yasuyuki Izumi, Hisashi Kobayashi, Yuichiro Kuwama, Shigenori Matsushita, Masako Osako, Ko-Yung Tung, and Masaaki Yamada. Editorial assistance is by Prof. Brian L. Mark (Professor, George Mason University).

Mr. Ko-Yung Tung, an FUTI donor who lives in New York, expressed his impression of the party as shown below. Appreciation Party and a Revisit to the Hongo Campus By Ko-Yung Tung, Senior Counselor, Morrison & Foerster, New York It was an honor to be invited to and attend the Eighth “Appreciation of the UTokyo Foundation” event. As Mr. Izumi has accurately summarized the event itself, I’d like to share my personal impressions. First of all, it was an emotional revisit to UTokyo’s Hongo campus. I had attended the Law Faculty way back over 40 years ago (1971 – ’72). During that time, the Hongo campus was still disrupted with student demonstrations, and I was a young, energetic and idealistic student. That day, it seemed that both Todai and I had matured — we are both more settled, more serious, and maybe more jaded. However, the students walking around the campus looked so young, but still very bright and ambitious. Second, I was most impressed with Prof. Akiyama’s lecture. While aging is a prevalent issue, she brought the challenges to life by offering concrete examples and solutions. For example, I didn’t realize that the pedestrian traffic lights are timed for people who walk one meter per second, but since elderly people walk slower, traffic lights need to be longer. Professors such as Akiyama-sensei are the true assets of Todai as they will be opening up the minds of our bright students, who hopefully will contribute to a better future for everyone. Before the event at Sanjo Kaikan, I stopped by Sanshiro Pond — in the light drizzle with rain drops rippling the water, it was nostalgically romantic. I realized that though my hair is white, my heart is still young. So like Sanshiro Pond, UTokyo is both timeless, yet will inspire the hearts and minds of young leaders of tomorrow. (Read this article in Japanese) Articles in this newsletter: The articles in this issue were contributed by Yasuyuki Izumi, Hisashi Kobayashi, Yuichiro Kuwama, Shigenori Matsushita, Masako Osako, Ko-Yung Tung, and Masaaki Yamada. Editorial assistance is by Prof. Brian L. Mark (Professor, George Mason University).

The Award Committee of Friends of UTokyo (FUTI) has granted its first travel scholarship to Mr. Chiwu Ishido Kim, a graduate of Stuyvesant High School, New York City, who enrolled in the PEAK (Programs in English at Komaba) of UTokyo in the Fall of 2014. Mr. Kim, an Honor student at Stuyvesant, has been an active volunteer at the Community Works NYC, Ikuei Japanese Saturday School in Manhattan and other organizations. At UTokyo, he intends to work towards building a stronger bond between PEAK participants and a broad Todai community. The FUTI scholarship covers a round trip airfare between his home in New York City and Tokyo. Created in October 2012, PEAK comprises the first undergraduate degree programs at the University of Tokyo taught entirely in English. For the entering class of 2014 Fall, the programs selected, through a highly competitive process, 61 students from 15 countries, including China, Korea, Vietnam, New Zealand, USA, and UK. PEAK consists of the “International Program on Japan in East Asia” and the “International Program on Environmental Sciences.” (For details, see the PEAK website) With the addition of Mr. Kim, the number of 2014 FUTI scholarship recipients is twenty-one, thirteen of whom are UTokyo students who studied at U.S. universities and seven are U.S. students who participated in various summer courses or internship programs held at UTokyo. In the case of Mr.Kim, he enrolled in a four-year program at UTokyo. (Read this article in Japanese) Articles in this newsletter: The articles in this issue were contributed by Yasuyuki Izumi, Hisashi Kobayashi, Yuichiro Kuwama, Shigenori Matsushita, Masako Osako, Ko-Yung Tung, and Masaaki Yamada. Editorial assistance is by Prof. Brian L. Mark (Professor, George Mason University).

On September 26, Friends of UTokyo Inc. (FUTI) hosted, jointly with the NY Icho-kai and Satsuki-kai America, a lecture meeting by Mr. Kazutaka Yamaji, Director General of Development Division, UTokyo, who visited New York to participate in FUTI‘s Annual Board of Directors Meeting (see a related article). The lecture meeting was held at a conference room of Community Resource Exchange (CRE) in the Wall Street district. About 30 alumni and friends attended the meeting, which turned out to be a very lively and stimulating gathering. After FUTI President Hisashi Kobayashi’s welcome greeting, Mr. Yamaji discussed the current status of UTokyo and the challenges it faces, including its globalization and introduction of the four-term system. Having been a Director of the Board at Idemitsu Petrochemical Co., Ltd., and at Memory-Tech Corporation, Mr. Yamaji started his discussion by presenting his view of UTokyo from a “Businessman’s perspective.” His talk was followed by a lively “Q&A” session with the audience, many of whom work for banks or trading companies, or own their private enterprises. Ms. Yuko Komiya, a staff of UTokyo’s “Taiken Katsudo” (Activities for Experiences)” program team also talked about the program, which started in 2012. She was visiting the New York/New Jersey area for planning and promotion of the program. (Read this article in Japanese) Articles in this newsletter: The articles in this issue were contributed by Yasuyuki Izumi, Hisashi Kobayashi, Yuichiro Kuwama, Shigenori Matsushita, Masako Osako, Ko-Yung Tung, and Masaaki Yamada. Editorial assistance is by Prof. Brian L. Mark (Professor, George Mason University).