Dr. Fumiko Tamura Appointed "Advisor to Treasurer"
On June 15, 2013, the Board elected Dr. Fumiko Tamura as a new member of the Advisory Committee (AC) with a specific role to advise Dr. Yuichiro Kuwama, Treasurer, on financial and tax-related matters. Dr. Tamura received her BA in economics from UTokyo in 1999. She then came to the U.S. as a recipient of the “Japan-IMF Fellowship for Advanced Studies,” and received her M.A. and Ph. D. in economics, both from Brown University, in 2001 and 2006, respectively. Based in New York, she is currently a Senior Manager in the Global Transfer Pricing group at Deloitte Tax LLP. Dr. Tamura has passed the Uniform Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Examination in Maine, and is in the process of obtaining her CPA license in New York. FUTI President Hisashi Kobayashi said, “Dr. Kuwama and I believe that Dr. Tamura’s knowledge and experiences will be valuable to us in preparing the financial statements and tax returns of FUTI. I also want her to address the issue of the public support test that will be our concern in a year or so.” She participated in the joint Board and AC meeting held on September 21 as a new AC member. A more detailed biography (in English) of Dr. Tamura can be found on the FUTI website by clicking here. Articles in this newsletter:
Dr. Shigenori Matsushita joins the Award Committee
At the Board of Directors’ Annual Meeting of September 21, 2013, Dr. Masaaki Yamada, Director of University Relations, who chairs the scholarship award and research grant selection committee, announced the appointment of Dr. Shigenori Matsushita as a new member to the Committee, whose members are currently President Kobayashi, Dr. Masako Osako, FUTI staff and Ms. Nobuko Sakurai, a member of the FUTI Advisory Committee. Dr. Matsushita received both his bachelor and doctor degrees from UTokyo in electrical engineering and was a Fulbright scholar to the University of Illinois, where he received his Masters degree. He led the computer Division of Toshiba Corporation and was Executive Vice President of Toshiba Information Systems in 1993-96. In 1996-2001, he was President of the Japanese subsidiary of Wink Communications. Since 2002 to the present , he has been serving as a director of the Board of a start-up company, DDS Inc., which specializes in finger-print recognition. Currently he is a visiting professor of the University of Chubu, Nagoya, giving lectures on globalization of economy and on IT applications. President Kobayashi remarks, “As we report in the article of our 2013 summer scholarship, an increasingly large number of students are applying for the summer program, especially the UTRIP program. I hope that Dr. Matsushita, who has been a strong supporter of FUTI since its inception, will help us strengthen our award programs.” In 2003, Dr. Matsushita was elected a member of the Japanese Computer Pioneers by the IPSJ (Information Processing Society of Japan) Computer Museum. http://museum.ipsj.or.jp/en/pioneer/index.html For more details of his biography, please click here. Articles in this newsletter:
Mr. Seiei Ono, FUTI Advisory Committee Member, Returns to Japan
Mr. Seiei Ono, a member of the FUTI Advisory Committee since April 2011, who was President and CEO of Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas) from April 2012 till June 2013, recently returned to Japan and retired from the company. He will join Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc. (MRI) on October 1, 2013. After graduating from UTokyo in 1975 (Economics) , Mr. Ono joined MC, and rose through the ranks to become President & CEO of Mitsubishi International Corporation (MIC) in April 2010. He also served as President of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) of New York from April 2011 to April 2013, and was on the board of directors of the New York Botanical Garden. He was a generous supporter of non-profit organizations such as FUTI and the Japanese Mental Clinic at Hamilton Madison House. Dr.Yuichiro Kuwama, a member of FUTI Board, and a physician serving the Japanese community in New York, speaks about Mr. Ono as follows: “The Japanese Mental Clinic has been serving as the last resort for Japanese people in dire need of help. At one time, it was in danger of closure due to financial difficulties. As Mr. Ono and Mitsubishi Corporation saved the institution with their generous support, many patients were brought back from abyss of despair. I was deeply moved by his commitment to philanthropy.” FUTI President Hisashi Kobayashi said, “We congratulate Mr. Ono on his illustrious career at MC of the past 38 years and admire him for the numerous achievements he made as a superb global leader. We are also most grateful to him and MC (Americas) for the strong support of Friends of UTokyo. We wish him a successful new career at MRI.” Mr. Yasuyuki Sugiura, also a UTokyo alumnus (Economics 1978) , has succeeded Mr. Ono as President and CEO of Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas). Articles in this newsletter:
Mr. Sung Kie Paik, a New York Ichokai Member, Dies
Mr. Sung Kie Paik (白成基), a CPA, a UTokyo alumnus (1983) and a resident of Union City, New Jersey died of an accident on April 14, 2013. Mr. Paik was born and grew up in Seoul, South Korea and attended Seoul Junior High School. He graduated from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS) in South Korea and received a scholarship to study political science and international relations at the University of Tokyo (Faculty of Liberal Arts , MA, 1983), where he was a member of the late Prof. Shinkichi Eto (衞藤 瀋吉) ‘s group. Upon graduating from UTokyo, he went to the University of Oxford in England to study economics. He then moved to the U.S. where he obtained a CPA certificate and has been working as a tax consultant and held his office in Palisade Park, New Jersey in recent years. He was the founder and partner of S.K. Associates, an accounting and financial service firm which advises clients on cross border investments involving Asia. Mr. Paik was an avid swimmer and golfer. He also traveled extensively to Asia, Africa and Europe. He was a loving and supportive father and husband, a vivacious storyteller, and a dedicated friend. He was an active participant in events of the NY Ichokai, and was a generous donor to FUTI. He was greatly admired for his kindness, open-mindedness, and good sense of humor. Professor Hisashi Kobayashi, President of FUTI says: “Mr. Paik has been a loyal alumnus and a generous supporter of FUTI. He also gave me a valuable advice on financial reports when I was serving as Acting Treasurer of FUTI a year ago. The last time I saw his smiling face was at the NY Ichokai’s Annual Meeting on February 15, 2013, just two months earlier. I am shocked to hear this tragic news. My heartfelt condolence goes to the family who lost their loved one all of sudden. He was a very kind person of unassuming personality, and will be greatly missed by all of us who were associated with him.” Mr. Paik is survived by his wife Hye Hyang, and daughter, Julian. Articles in this newsletter:
Blog Article: ”Science of Vowels” by Shigenori Matsushita
Editor’s Note: Why do most of us, the Japanese, speak “Katakana English,” despite that we have been studying English since childhood and/or have been in the U.S. for many years? We find a convincing answer to this question in this essay by Dr. Shigenori Matsushita that appeared in his mail magazine on September 6, 2013. The presenters of the Tokyo Bidding Team for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games must have received a crash course by a coach who knows this “Science of Vowels.” This is the second time that we get his permission to reproduce an article in his mail magazine “Utsusemi.” <http://club.pep.ne.jp/~shigmats.1/utusindx.htm> His article “Your expression of gratitude to your alma mater in accordance with your financial means (in Japanese only)” appeared in our newsletter No. 6 issue. The typical accent of English spoken by the Japanese is sometimes called “Katakana English” because English pronunciation is substituted by that of a Japanese Katakana letter, which represents one of the simplest pronunciations in the world. Vowels seem to be the key for getting rid of Katakana English, because consonants are generally easier to pronounce. English consonants without corresponding ones in Japanese, namely “th”, “f/v”, “l” and “wh”, are taught in schools and are relatively easy to learn. Besides, Japanese “t”, unlike English “t”, has the tongue closely attached to the upper jaw and Japanese “w” doesn’t have the lips rounded. But English “t” and “w” could be substituted by Japanese consonants without sounding too strange. One major problem, however, is the misunderstanding by most Japanese people that “r” in English must be the same consonant as in “Ringo”, or apple, in Japanese, because it is the right way of writing in the Romanized Japanese. The consonant of “r” in Japanese is unique. The tongue touches the upper jaw to stop the breath for a moment and then vibrates when the breath is released. There are two ways to pronounce “r” in American English, say (a) and (b). Native speakers of American English are not necessarily conscious of the difference, but in either case, the tongue never touches the upper jaw. In (a), the tip of the tongue is rolled up, while in (b), the both sides of the inner tongue touch the upper back teeth and tongue tip is lowered near the lower front teeth. For Japanese people, (a) is easier, but (b) seems more prevalent among Americans. When “l” comes right after “r” as in “girl”, (b) is easier for movement of the tongue tip. In the standard British English called “Received Pronunciation“, “r” as in “girl” or “park” is not pronounced, but it is pronounced in American English. Immigrants from Scotland and Ireland, who spoke older English pronouncing “r”, crossed the Appalachian and spread from the Midwest to the West, and their language ultimately became the standard American English called “General American“. In phonetics, the vowel is defined as a continuous voiced sound with open vocal tract without any hindrance to the breath. The English consonant “r”, an approximant with the breath through a narrowed tract, is also called a semivowel, like “y” and “w”, because they are all narrowed vowels in a sense. The Japanese “r” is not an approximant nor a semivowel. The standard Japanese, like Spanish and Italian, has only five vowels; [a], [i], [u], [e] and [o]. It used to have only four vowels in the prehistorical influence of Polynesian immigrants originating in Taiwan, and then the number increased to five. In the era of Man~yogana (or Man~yokana) before the eighth century, eight vowels were strictly differentiated as influenced by immigrants from the continent, namely [a], [i]1, [i]2, [u], [e]1, [e]2, [o]1 and [o]2. Subsequently, Man~yoganas were misused and the number of vowels was ultimately reduced to the current five in the Heian period when phonetic Hiragana (or Hirakana) was established. In phonetics, vowels are positioned on the so called vowel chart. In the Japanese language, [i] and [e] are called “high vowels (closed vowels)”, because the tongue comes high near the upper jaw. In pronunciation of [i], the tongue shifts forward to make a smaller space between the tongue and the lips. Therefore, [i] is called the “high front vowel” and positioned at the upper left corner of the vowel chart. On the other hand, in the case of [u], the tongue shifts backward to make a bigger space between the tongue and the lips, and [u] is called the “high back vowel” and positioned at the upper right corner of the vowel chart. The vowel [a] is the “low vowel (open vowel)“, without front or back, and positioned at the bottom of the vowel chart. The phonetics defines the semi-high and semi-low vowels in between, but the Japanese language has only two more vowels; [e] as the “middle front vowel” and [o] as the “middle back vowel”. Namely, Japanese vowels are fewer and represent wider areas on the chart. On the other hand, English vowels are more numerous and represent smaller areas (see Figure 1). When frequency components of vowels are analyzed, the basic frequency, which is the basic pitch of the voice, and its harmonic frequencies are detected. Among harmonics, the first formant “F1” is a group of harmonics corresponding to resonance between the voice cords and the tongue, and the second formant “F2” is that between the tongue and the lips. A graph. with F1 as the vertical axis and F2 as the horizontal axis in an appropriate scale, illustrates vowels in similar positions to those in the vowel chart above (see Figure 2) . On the vowel chart, five Japanese vowels are positioned, while eleven vowels are placed in the case of American English (Figure 1, left). In addition, American English has six additional sounds of vowels combined with the semivowel of “r” as in “girl” and “park” (Figure 1, right). Among seventeen vowels in total, as many as seven are all substituted by a single Japanese vowel of [a] in the typical Katakana English. Those seven are
Book Review, “Mathematicians Who Lost Their Faces: Essays in Idleness on Mathematics,” by Shoshichi Kobayashi
For over 170 years, the portrait shown left has been displayed as the French mathematician Adrien-Marie Legendre (1752-1833) in all books on history of mathematics, but in 2005 two students of the University of Strasbourg discovered that this portrait belongs to a politician Louis Legendre (1752-1797), and has nothing to do with the mathematician. Thus a serious effort to search a true portrait of the mathematician began, but it was not until 2008, when his portrait was discovered in a valuable book stored in the Library of the French Academy. It was in the album of watercolor portraits of 73 Academy members of 1820. But it is not an ordinary painting, but a caricature (right) . This seems the only existing portrait of the mathematician, and is used in Wikipedia as well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrien-Marie_Legendre This episode is found in Shoshichi Kobayashi’s book “Mathematicians Who Lost Their Faces: Essays in Idleness on Mathematics.” A collection of essays (in Japanese) by Shoshichi Kobayashi, who was the oldest member of the San Francisco Akamon-kai and an elder brother of FUTI President Hisashi Kobayashi, was published by Iwanami Publisher on July 30, 2013. For details (in Japanese) visit URL: http://www.iwanami.co.jp/cgi-bin/isearch?head=y&isbn=ISBN4-00-005217 From the Publisher’s flier: The first essay by the author who is internationally known for his accomplishments in research on differential geometry and complex manifolds. This collection of small pieces with the title “Essays in Idleness on Mathematics (‘Suugaku Tsurezure’)” has become his posthumous work, without being completed. By reading his essays on the real images of mathematicians, how mathematical symbols were created, what is “beauty of mathematics,” we sense the author’s deep thought on mathematics and mathematicians. Message from the Editor of Iwanami Publisher: Professor Shoshichi Kobayashi who is internationally recognized for his achievements in research on differential geometry and complex manifolds passed away unexpectedly in the summer of 2012. This manuscript was originally prepared for publication in our Science Library Series. Our intention was to ask Professor Kobayashi to “cook” various topics on mathematics from his point of view so that the general reader can taste fun of mathematics, and joys of mathematical thinking. In the spring of 2012, I received a package from him. The enclosed letter said, “This manuscript is yet to be completed. I would like to spend more time to polish and finish it by the end of this year. I am sending you this copy as my progress report.” From the manuscript handwritten on Japanese writing pads filled with his familiar writing style, I sensed his personality. While I was looking forward to the completion of the manuscript , I was informed of the saddening news of his unexpected demise. That bundle of copies received in the spring turned out to become a posthumous manuscript. Although he considered the manuscript to be incomplete, I consulted with his family members and his close associates and have turned it into this book, for which I would like to thank many individuals. In order to see the Table of Contents, click URL http://www.iwanami.co.jp/cgi-bin/isearch?head=y&isbn=ISBN4-00-005217 and then click “MORE INFO”at the right bottom. Shown below is its English translation. TABLE OF CONTENTS Essays on Mathematics in Idleness Pure vs. Applied/Proof from which we feel beauty of mathematics/Why decimal system?/Mathematicians who loved mountains/ Convenient world/Are there many odd or eccentric people among mathematicians? Tidbits in Mathematical History Mathematical families/Names and faces of mathematicians/Two mathematicians who lost their faces/Birth of symbols for differentiation/Symbols for tensor analysis/With two names Fascinating Greek Mathematics Visit mathematics of ancient Greece/President Lincoln and Euclid/What is Euclid’s Elements?/Solving quadratic equations/Pyramid and prism/Man who measured the size of the earth/Archimedes and Cicero/Figure inscribed on Archimedes’tombstone/Thoughts on infinitesimal/Archimedes and the volume of a sphere Mathematics and Education Mathematical circles/International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM)/ICM and I/Mathematicians and Politicians/Mathematical Education [Commentaries] Memory of my brother Shoshichi (Hisashi Kobayashi) In lieu of Postscript (Takushiro Ochiai) Reference: External Review Report on Mathematical Curriculums for the Freshman and Sophomore (Reporter: Shoshichi Kobayashi) Biosketch of Shoshichi Kobayashi Articles in this newsletter: