Category: Newsletter 6

The annual fundraising campaign for the fiscal year (FY)2011/2012 (July 1, 2011-June 30, 2012) concluded successfully, with a 40% increase over the previous year, as shown in the bar charts. This significant gain is primarily due to two major factors. First, the donations from individuals sharply increased from $43,200 (42 individuals) of FY 2009/2010 and $40,192 (45 individuals) of FY 2010/2011 to $62,005 (77 individuals) in FY 2011/2012. Secondly, the contributions from Shintech Inc’s Trust Fund, which was as low as $58,461 in FY 2010/2011, increased to $77,155 in FY2011/2012, although this amount is still much below $96,432 earned in FY 2009/2010. The significant gain in the individual donations is largely owing to the generous donations of $23,350 by 22 alumni in Japan, whom President Kobayashi contacted individually. The pie chart shows a breakdown of the individuals’ donations by group and region. Out of the $77,150 donations from individuals, $26,235 came from 12 members of FUTI Board of Directors or Advisory Committee members; $23,350 from 22 alumni in Japan as noted above; $4,320 from 25 members of New York Ichokai (excluding 11 members who serve as FUTI’s Board or Advisory Committee); $4,200 from 8 alumni of Chicago Akamon-kai; $3,300 from 7 alumni in California and Washington States; and $600 from 3 alumni in Texas or Missouri. “We are most grateful to the generous support from our alumni in Japan. We are also pleased by the support from our alumni in the Chicago region, IL, alumni in the San Francisco region, CA, and other states including, Missouri, Texas and Washington. I am also glad that the dividends from Shintech’s Trust Fund rebounded, contrary to my concern of a year ago. These increase in revenue made this year’s summer scholarship programs significantly larger than the last year, as is reported in other articles in this newsletter” remarked President Kobayashi.  The list of donors is posted in “Campaign Result of FY2011-2012: Final Report” on the FUTI website. Articles in this newsletter:

On June 20th, 2012, FUTI President, Hisashi Kobayashi, and Mr. Yoichi Yoshida of the Development Division of UTokyo met with Chairman Chihiro Kanagawa of Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. Ltd. While Dr. Kanagawa served as president, Shin-Etsu Chemical increased its profit successively for 13 years, and Shintech Inc. in the U.S., which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Shin-Etsu Chemical, contributed greatly to it. Dr. Kanagawa founded Shintech and serves as its chairman. Mr. Toshiya Akimoto, Managing Director of Shin-Etsu Chemical was also present. Here is a summary of the conversation that took place over lunch. Kobayashi: Dr. Kanagawa. It is my great honor to have this opportunity to meet with you. Thank you for taking time to meet with me and Mr. Yoshida despite your busy schedule. On behalf of Friends of UTokyo I sincerely thank you and Shintech for the generous support of FUTI in the past three years. Kanagawa: I deeply appreciate UTokyo for the education I received. And I also feel that I owe the American people and its society for giving me the chance to establish and run Shintech. Their openness and fairness have contributed a great deal to the success that our company has been enjoying. Hence I am glad that we can help Friends of UTokyo, which promotes exchange programs between UTokyo and universities which are located in the U.S. Student Days at UTokyo Yoshida: You studied at UTokyo under its old system (“Kyusei”). Did you study only at the Hongo campus? Kanagawa: Yes, in the old system, we studied at a university for three years, preceded by three years at a high school. Before that we studied at a middle school for five years. Some brilliant students took only four years to graduate from middle school and entered high school soon after that. The UTokyo’s Komaba campus at that time was “Ichi-ko ( No.1 Higher School).” I studied at “Rokko (No. 6 Higher School),” which became Okayama University. After graduating from Rokko in 1948, I was admitted to UTokyo, where I majored in Political Science (“Seiji Gakka”) in the Faculty of Law (“Hogakubu”). Kobayashi: What was your student life like at UTokyo? Kanagawa: My late father studied law at UTokyo and became a judge. I might have also pursued the judicial world like him, but for some reason I did not like to study law. The lectures on law that I took felt like philosophy or sociology and were nebulous for me. The lecture I enjoyed most was “History of modern Japanese politics” taught by Prof. Yoshitake Oka. I did not find such subjects as codes of criminal procedure and civil procedure interesting, so I am afraid I graduated from UTokyo without really having learnt much about law. I did later study it seriously though when I entered the working world. Studying law which related to work enabled me to act well in severe negotiations. We Japanese were all poor when I was a student at UTokyo (1947-50), which was soon after Japan was defeated in World War II. All I remember seeing when I came to Tokyo was burn-out areas and black markets. We did not have much to eat, and I was busy earning money by working as a tutor. I do not have as many nice memories about my life at UTokyo as I do about my interesting days at Rokko since it was a dark era after World War II. Kobayashi: The war ended when I was in the first grade of elementary school. Although my family had evacuated from Tokyo at that time and was in Minami-Saku, Nagano Prefecture, we did not have enough food. Even farmers were not allowed to eat enough of the rice they produced, as the distribution of rice was controlled by the local government. Even when I was a UTokyo student (1957-61), food was not as abundant as we have today. Starting Shintech, Inc. Yoshida: Did you join Shin-Etsu Chemical immediately after graduating from UTokyo? Kanagawa: No, the first company I joined after graduation was Kyokuto Bussan, which was one of the several companies created when GHQ dissolved the old MITSUI&CO., LTD. These companies were later merged to form the current MITSUI&CO., LTD. I worked for Kyokuto Bussan for 12 years. I joined Shin-Etsu Chemical in 1962, when I was 35 years old. I became more interested in the business of producing products rather than moving products from one hand to another. Since I studied English seriously while I was with Kyokuto Bussan, I was assigned to the Overseas Business Division at Shin-Etsu Chemical. I soon began to travel world wide to sell the manufacturing technology of vinyl chloride. Kobayashi: I understand that Shintech enjoys the largest market share of PVC (poly-vinyl chloride) in the world. How did you start that company and why has the company been so successful? Kanagawa: In the fall of 1972, Robintech Inc., which is a large manufacturer of PVC pipes used for water pipes, approached Shin-Etsu Chemical asking for licensing of our manufacturing technologies. At that time I strongly believed that we should not sell the technologies which were the lifeline of our business, but rather establish a joint venture. Therefore in 1973 we established Shintech in Houston Texas for the manufacturing and sales of PVC. Both Shin-Etsu Chemical and Robintech invested $2.5 million. Due to the first oil shock in 1973, the price of PVC soared, but then by 1974 the price sharply dropped as a reaction to it. When Shintech started its production in October 1974 under this severe situation, we produced 100,000 tons per year. Our market share in North America was only 3% and ranked at the 13th position. At that time the CEO of Robintech, which is Shintech’s joint venture partner, was Mr. Brad Corbett. He was a flamboyant business man and bought the Texas Rangers, a baseball team, in 1974. After that, Robintech’s business worsened, and in 1976 the company requested Shin-Etsu Chemical to purchase their share of Shintech stocks. As…
Read more

2011-2012 年度にFOTI にご寄付をされた皆様の中から数人の方々にメッセージをお願いいたしました。ご返事を下さった方々のメッセージをお名前の50音順でご紹介いたします。一人でも多くの読者が共感されて、2012-2013年度のキャンペーンにご協力頂ける事を期待しております。

The roster of 2012 award recipients and their reports have been uploaded to the News section and the blog page of FUTI’s website. As reported in Newsletter No. 5 and in this issue, ten (10) UTokyo students received a FUTI International Leadership Award (FUTI-ILA), which provided them with summer scholarships. Two students  participated in the Global Summer Program (GSP) at the University of California at Berkeley (UCB) ;  two in the GSP  at Yale University; two in Yale’s English Language Institute (ELI); and one in Yale’s Summer School (YSS).  In addition, three students found their summer schools on their own, instead of GSP or ELI/YSS (which are coordinated by the Oversea Study Program Office of UTokyo) and applied to FUTI for financial support.  The amount of each FUTI-ILA ranged from $3,000 to $4,200 this summer, depending on the program’s cost and the students’ need.  Some of the UTokyo students received additional scholarship  from JASSO (Japan Student Services Organization) , and/or support from Yale or UCB, which in some cases waived entirely or partially their tuition fees.   UTokyo also provided financial support to most of the students from abroad. The number of FUTI –ILA  recipients from  U.S. universities was eight (8) this year. Two  were enrolled in the GSP at UTokyo, three in the University of Tokyo Research Internship Program (UTRIP) organized by the School of Sciences of UTokyo; and three MIT students did internships at UTokyo  through the arrangement of the MISTI (MIT’s International Science and Technology Initiative ) program.  “We were much delighted that a large number of outstanding UTokyo students and U.S. students applied for our 2012 summer scholarship program.  In the case of UTRIP program, for instance, we received over 40 applications, and many of them were very strong candidates, so it was a great challenge for us, the FUTI scholarship committee, to select three winners from such a large pool of strong applicants,” says Dr. Masaaki Yamada, Director of the University Relations of FUTI, a Distinguished Research Fellow at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. “Many of the UTokyo students who spent this past summer in the U.S. seem now to be seriously considering doing their graduate study or post-doctoral research in the U.S.  The students from U.S. universities uniformly report that they had a great time at UTokyo and came back with a very positive impression of UTokyo, its programs  and the Japanese culture and society.  We are grateful to the program coordinators, professors and their staff at UTokyo and U.S. institutions who hosted these students. I also thank Shintech, Inc. and our generous alumni in the U.S. and Japan who financially support our programs.  I hope that the donors will find it very rewarding, as much as I do, by reading the students’ reports, that the FUTI awards have impacted their  view of the world and their career plans in a profound way,” says FUTI President Hisashi Kobayashi. The reader can click here to jump to the roster of FUTI scholarship recipients, or clicking here will take you to the blog page where all the reports are posted.  Alternatively, if you click a student’s name in the list below, it will take you to his or her photo and relevant information such as their school, major field and the summer program he/she attended.  By clicking the program name in the roster, you will arrive at their reports with interesting photos.  In addition Ms. Olivia Waring and Ms. Wenyu Zhang report their interesting experiences and findings on their blog pages. The ten UTokyo Students who received this year’s FUTI International Leadership Award are listed below with the summer program and the US institutions where they studied. GSP at UCB or Yale Ms. Motoka Fukui : UCB Ms. Rin Ichino : UCB Ms. Sari Yamashita : Yale Ms. Ayako Sakamoto : Yale ELI or YSS at Yale Mr. Masato Tsuji : YSS Ms. Yuri Asanuma : ELI Mr. Akitaka Yamada : ELI Other Summer Schools Ms. Beibei Zhang : Summer Institute at UCB Mr. Kento Kikuchi : Summer Session at UCB Mr. Kengo Watanabe : Summer Session at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory The eight U.S. Students who received FUTI-ILA are shown below with their institutions. GSP at UTokyo Ms. Wenyu Zhang (UCB) Ms. Tiffany Lee (UCB) UTRIP (University of Tokyo Research Internship Program) Mr. Emre Discekici (University of Illinois) Ms. Gulnara Fayzulina (University of South Alabama) Ms. Olivia Waring (Princeton University) MISTI (MIT International Science & Technology Initiatives) Ms. Jocelyn Fuentes (MIT) Mr. Jacob Albritton (MIT) Mr. Justin Holmgren (MIT) Articles in this newsletter:

元（株）日本ウィンク社長　松下重悳 東京大学赤門の南側に伊藤国際学術研究センターが出来て2012年4月から供用された。国際交流を狙うホール・会議室・教室等から成り、椿山荘のレストラン もある。地上が芝生庭園になっている地下2階に、同時通訳設備の100-500名収容の伊藤謝恩ホールがあり、そこで7月4日夕方「東京大学基金感謝の集 い・総長主催懇談会」が開催された。

In mid-July an FUTI Advisory Committee member, Ms. Nobuko Sakurai, and an FUTI staff, Dr. Masako Osako, visited the five recipients of 2012 FUTI awards studying at Yale University. The students were all very busy with daily home work, classroom presentations and team projects. But, at the same time, they fully enjoyed the campus life, building close friendship with U.S. and international students. “I recommend the summer study at Yale to those who are determined to study very hard,” one of the participants commented. Ms. Sari Yamashita (a senior of the Agriculture Department, majoring in Agriculture and Resources Economics) was enrolled in a GSP (Global Summer Program) course, “Topics in International Economics,” and Ms. Ayako Sakamoto (a senior of the Agriculture Department, majoring in Environmental Biology), in another GSP course, “Sustainability and Institutions.” Ms. Yuri Asanuma (a junior of the Law Department, majoring in Category 3: Politics) and Mr. Akitaka Yamada (a senior majoring in Language and Information Sciences)　participated in English Language Institute programs. And Mr. Masato Tsuji (a junior, majoring in Biology) took regular summer school courses, “How the Brain Works,” and “Comprehensive General Chemistry.” Articles in this newsletter:

A reception for participants of the 2011 UTRIP (University of Tokyo Research Internship Program) program was held at the Sanjyo Meeting Hall of the Hongo Campus on July 18 (Wed) in the evening. The convivial meeting was attended by about 90 people included 23 UTRIP students, and many UTokyo students, faculty members and administrative staff of the School of Science. Prof. Hiroaki Aihara, Dean of the School of Science, gave an opening speech, and referred to FUTI’s sponsorship of the program. Dr. Egawa, who is in charge of UTokyo’s International Exchange Program as its Executive VP, remarked in her welcome speech, “The UTRIP is a well organized program, and I hope that you enjoy your stay in Tokyo by taking maximum advantage of this opportunity.  I hope you will tell your friends about your experiences when you return home.”  She added a remark as the director of FUTI: “I think you should be proud of being selected by FUTI.” A representative of Daiwa Securities Group Inc., another sponsor of the UTRIP program, greeted the participants and a letter from FUTI President Kobayashi was read by Ms. Soeda of the UTRIP program. In the middle of the reception party, all of the 23 UTRIP students were asked to introduce themselves, and among them were three recipients of FUTI awards: Mr. Emre Hiro Discekici (Univ. of Illinois), Ms. Gulnara Fayzulina (Univ. of South Alabama) and Ms. Olivia Waring（Princeton University) who remarked how strongly they were impressed by the Japanese culture and expressed their gratitude towards FUTI. Articles in this newsletter:

A “Welcome and Farewell Party” was held on July 13 (Fri) in the evening at Sanjyo Meeting Hall of the Hongo Campus for this summer’s GSP (Global Summer Program) participants. The party was attended by 31 students from abroad, three UTokyo GSP participants, and five UTokyo students of the UT-IRIS (University of Tokyo, International Relations Institution of Students), a volunteer organization which who helps organize such exchange programs as GSP events. The party began with a welcome speech and toast by Professor Takeo Fujiwara, a Project Professor of the Center for Research and Development of Higher Education who has been in charge of the GSP program since its inception. Then all students introduced themselves, as was done in last year’s similar reception. A closing message was given by Dr. Masako Egawa, Executive VP of UTokyo and a director of FUTI. Prof. Fujiwara remarked, “I hope that you will study more diligently than ever by capitalizing on this opportunity. I would also like you to experience some Japanese culture as well.” Ms. Wenyu Zhang and Ms. Tiffany Lee (both from U.C. Berkeley) who are recipients of the FUTI summer scholarships also attended the event, became acquainted with Dr. Egawa and the staff of the International Division, and expressed their excitement about studying at UTokyo.　The party was infused with the energy and enthusiasm of young students, who quickly depleted the large amount of food that was served. Articles in this newsletter:

On June 13, 2012, Koichi Hamada, Tuntex Professor of Economics at Yale University and a Director of Friends of UTokyo, gave a speech titled “Monetary Policy and Japan’s Economic Recovery–May the Bank of Japan (BOJ) Never Turn Back Again!” at Japan Society of New York. The presentation was moderated by Dr. Paul Sheard, Standard and Poor’s chief global economist. The Yen and the Japanese stocks reacted sharply after the BOJ unexpectedly adopted the policy of inflationary target of one per cent and increased the ceiling for the purchase of government bonds in February 2012.  The questions still remain whether the BOJ is serious enough, and whether Japan can pull itself out of the malaises of deflation and strong yen, especially when faced with the challenges of its energy policy, the European financial turmoil, and a growing fiscal deficit. Hamada urges that the BOJ should continue firmly the measures it took on Valentine’s Day.  Hamada asserts “Natural policy prescription is the use of monetary expansion in a proper way, i.e., not only by the purchases of traditional short-term government debt but also by the purchases of longer term and wider ranging securities, and even by the purchases of foreign currencies as well.” In his view, the BOJ tried a natural policy prescription at least part of the way last February, even though it showed attitudes that were skeptical of its own policy. If you wish to view the slides presented in his lecture, please click here. Articles in this newsletter:

Mr. Kengo Watanabe, a third-year PhD program student in the pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Tokyo was selected as a recipient of the 2012 FUTI International Leadership Award (FUTI-ILA). He was enrolled in the summer school at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) in New York State, a premier science research institution in the U.S. With Mr. Watanabe, the total number of recipients of the FUTI awards became eighteen, ten of which were awarded to UTokyo students and eight to those enrolled in U.S. universities. (See FUTI Newsletter No.5) Mr. Kengo Watanabe comments, “I became interested in the field of pharmaceutical sciences, because it was medicine that healed my father of malignant lymphoma when I was a junior high school student. I already received solid education in molecular biology, organic chemistry, physical chemistry, and pharmacology at UTokyo, but through my research project, I was also feeling the limitation to elucidate complicated biological systems. Learning quantitative approaches at CSHL computational cell biology course, I realized that mathematics and computer science would overcome the restrictions in the near future.” FUTI’s International Leadership Award, introduced in 2010, is designed to nurture future global leaders of the U.S. and Japan, and one of the criteria for the award is a demonstration of leadership qualities. We hope that these outstanding students will acquire an international sense of thinking and strive for mutual understanding by attending summer schools or by conducting research as summer interns in the U.S. or at UTokyo. Articles in this newsletter: