Category: Newsletter 9

Dear Friends of UTokyo: Year 2013 will soon come to an end. We hope that you are all well and enjoying your work. Although it may be difficult to project the world economy of the future, Japan has finally got out of the deflationary economy that has plagued the nation for many years. Abenomics, which FUTI Director and Professor emeritus of Yale University Dr. Koichi Hamada has been promoting, serving as Advisor to the Cabinet, is expected to take effect. With Tokyo having been selected as the host city of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games, Japanese Society seems to be regaining its cheerfulness and vitality. As reported in our Newsletter No. 8, the fundraising campaign of FY 2012-2013 ended successfully as in the preceding year. We are truly grateful to those individuals and Shintec Inc. in Houston Texas who gave generous donations to FUTI. Thanks to your gracious support, we were able to provide scholarships to eight UTokyo students who took summer courses in U.S. universities, and we sent ten outstanding U.S. students to participate in the summer internships or summer courses sponsored by UTokyo. Excerpts of their reports are included in this issue, from which you will find that your gifts gave invaluable stimulation and wonderful experiences to these young people who are likely to grow into future leaders in Japan and America. In our research grant programs, we continue to support the exchange program for young researchers of the UTokyo-Kavli Institute of Physics and Mathematics for the Universe (IPMU) and its satellite office at the University of California, Berkeley. We also provide financial support to the joint curriculum development effort between Columbia University and UTokyo in a graduate course on condensed matter physics. We are hopeful that these programs will nurture the young generation who will possess a global perspective and ability to conduct research in the international scene. We now enter the fifty year of our annual fundraising campaign, since we started the summer scholarship program and research grant program in FY 2009-2010. The internationalization effort of UTokyo is making vigorous progress, and is expanding its study abroad programs in terms of their types as well as the number of participating students. As a result, the there is an increasing level of expectations for FUTI’s support. Such demands can be met only by your greater support of our program. Please mail to us a check together with your completed form, which is download able from our website http://docs.friendsofutokyo.org/DonationForms/FUTI_DonationByMailForm.pdf Alternatively, you can donate online by charging it to your credit card, by clicking our web-based online donation system. https://www.friendsofutokyo.org/?page_id=583 Online donation is a simplest and most reliable way of donations. Please also consider donating your appreciated securities or distributions from your IRA account, directly to FUTI, as is explained in the related article in this newsletter and in our website https://www.friendsofutokyo.org/?page_id=392. You will receive greater benefits in terms of tax savings, compared with cash donations. We look forward to receiving greater support from many more friends of UTokyo. Hisashi Kobayashi President of Friends of UTokyo, Inc. Yuichiro Kuwama, MD Director and Treasurer of Friends of UTokyo, Inc. Articles in this newsletter:

As reported in Newsletter No 7 and No 8, eight UTokyo students received the 2013 FUTI Global Leadership Award (FUTI-GLA). Two students  participated in the Global Summer Program (GSP) at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB),  one in the GSP  at Yale University, two in Yale’s English Language Institute (ELI), and one in Yale’s Summer School (YSS).  GSP or ELI/YSS are coordinated by the Oversea Study Program Office of UTokyo. Two students found other summer schools on their own, and applied to FUTI for financial support and won the FUTI-GLA. Eleven students of U.S. universities won the FUTI –GLA  this year. Three  were enrolled in the GSP at UTokyo, six in the University of Tokyo Research Internship Program (UTRIP) organized by the School of Sciences of UTokyo, and two MIT students did internships at UTokyo  through the arrangement of the MISTI (MIT’s International Science and Technology Initiative) program. The roster of 2013 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 eight UTokyo students state who spent the summer in the U.S. unanimously state, “The summer experience was very valuable and significantly affected our views of Japan and the world as well as our own career plans.” Professor Hisashi Kobayashi, President of the FUTI, observes, “Many of the UTokyo students who spent this past summer in the U.S. seem to be seriously considering doing their graduate study or post-doctoral research in the U.S.“ The following are excerpts from some students’ reports. Genki Takahashi (Agriculture, Senior) I had a quite unique and productive summer by taking a course on “Environmental Design Summer Institute” at UC Berkeley. Before I took this program, I assumed landscape design had something to do with being artistic and having an experienced background in the field of fine arts. This idea made me recoil from determining my future career.” I realized my experience and knowledge that I cultivated during my four years in UTokyo is good enough to compete with my peers who have experience in the field of arts. This realization crystalized my vision of myself as a landscape architect and encouraged me to decide to take my next leap; apply to graduate schools in the U.S. Nako Kondo ( International Relations, Senior) I took two courses at Yale’s summer school: “U.S. Strategy After the Cold War” and “Film, Video, and American History.”   Throughout the Yale summer session, I struggled to keep up with my class and tried hard to perform well.  Speaking up in class was difficult at first due to my language incapability; however, I gradually got used to discussion by preparing questions and opinions that I would bring up in class and purely by trying many times. ….. I gained a great deal both in and outside of the classroom; moreover, it was really enjoyable. My experience there strongly motivated me to pursue graduate education after some years of work experience. I express my sincere gratitude to Friends of UTokyo, Inc. which made my wonderful experience possible. Kohei Oyabu (Aeronautical Engineering, Master 2nd year) I enrolled in the English Language Institute (ELI) program, which is designed to help international students improve their English proficiency. My English was terrible and I had never talked with foreigners prior to this past summer. Through this program, I not only learned English and various cultural differences, but also recognized Japan’s strengths and weaknesses. We Japanese do not have many opportunities to “use” English, even though we study English for more than 10 years…. I was overwhelmed by the drive and energy of foreign students, especially Chinese students…..I worry that we will be surpassed by other countries soon if Japan’s young generation passively accepts things as they are. On the other hand, I am confident that Japan still has power to lead the world, unless we stop making efforts…I am sure that my experience in the Yale Summer School will profoundly affect my educational and personal future growth. Kai Tamura (International Relations, Junior) I attended an IARU-GSP (International Alliance of Research Universities –Global Summer Program) course at Berkeley titled, “Media and Global Protest Movement,” which was a memorable experience. While we were at Berkeley, we could eat meals together, go to cafes to study or chat, go to the pool to do some readings. We were together during the whole period.…we became like a family after the six weeks…The IARU GSP is an amazing program such that you not only learn the course materials, but also have valuable opportunities to discuss with students from all over the world who have different perspectives, and to become really good friends with them. 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. Victoria Winters ( MIT, junior) I was an intern at  the Takase-Ejiri Lab at UTokyo, which focuses on magnetic confinement nuclear fusion research on a spherical Tokamak called the TST-2. My experience in the Takase-Ejiri lab is unforgettable. I learned so much during the three months when I was there, about both physics and Japanese. Although much of the plasma physics was unknown to me, both the students and the assistant professor were willing to help me and offer explanations. I believe that I learned more plasma physics in these three months than in my previous research experience which lasted two years! But studying at the University of Tokyo wasn’t just about learning physics, I learned a great deal of Japanese from my new friends in the lab. Being able to practice foreign language with native speakers helped me a lot and I appreciate the solidarity that exists in the Takase-Ejiri lab. Everyone works together, and I felt included and like I was part of the group. Elton Ho (University of Virginia, junior) I participated in the Belle II project…
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Some stocks have been soaring in their values recently, and you may be enjoying this development. If you are generous enough to consider donating some of your profits to a good cause of FUTI, such as scholarships for students, here are some tips on tax benefits you may receive by donating appreciated securities directly to FUTI instead of making a cash donation. If you have owned securities such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, annuities (401K plan etc.), real estate investment trusts (REIT) for more than a year, and donate them directly to an IRS accredited public charity such as FUTI (Friends of UTokyo, Inc.), you can avoid paying a capital gain tax, and furthermore you can deduct the securities’ fair market value when you file your tax returns. The charity may sell immediately the donated securities or retain them for a possible future gain. In either case, the charity, which is exempt from taxation, can enjoy the full value of your gift. On the other hand, if you choose to sell the securities by yourself and donate cash earned from the proceeds, you will have to pay a capital gain tax. In other words, by donating the appreciated securities directly to FUTI, you will turn, in effect, the amount of the capital gain tax, into an extra income for FUTI, which would not be possible, should you dispose them on your own. The capital gain tax rate in Year 2013 is 15% for a household with income between $72,850 and $450,000, and 20% for a household with income above this bracket. Example. Suppose that you bought a stock for $600 more than a year ago, which is now worth $1,200. We assume that your household income is $100,000, where the income tax rate is 25% and the capital gain tax rate is 15%. Case A: You donate the appreciated stock to FUTI. Savings in Federal income tax: $1,200 x 25% = $300 Your gift to FUTI: $1,200 Case B: You sell the stock and then make a cash donation to FUTI from the net proceeds after paying the capital gain tax: Capital gain tax you pay: ($1,200-$600) x 15%=$90 Your gift to FUTI: $1,200-$90=$1,110 Your savings in Federal income tax: $1,110 x 25% =$277.50 Your net savings in Federal taxes: $277.50-$90=$187.50. Thus, the difference in net tax savings will be $300-$187.50=$112.50. The actual difference will be even larger, if we consider the state income taxes and the commission incurred by selling the stock by yourself. A few caveats. You need to have held the securities for more than a year to be qualified for the above tax benefits. If the stocks have been held for less than a year, you can deduct only the purchase cost. If you donate more than 30% of your adjusted gross income, although unlikely for most donors, the maximum amount of your tax deduction is set at this level. If the securities you consider liquidating have actually lost value since you acquired them, you would be better off by selling them yourself, claim a capital loss in your tax filing, and then make a cash donation from the proceeds. If you are kindly contemplating non-cash donations, please contact us at donationfriendsofutokyo.org. Yuichiro Kuwama, MD Director and Treasurer, Friends of UTokyo, Inc. Articles in this newsletter:

To commemorate important occasions, such as wedding anniversary (silver, pearl, or gold), significant birthday (60th, 69th, 77th, 80th, 88th, 90th), university entrance, retirement, graduation, etc. To express your gratitude to your professor or to your parents To celebrate your child, a major reunion of your class, an anniversary sport event The University of Tokyo (UTokyo) offers a variety of privileges to express its gratitude to those who have donated to the university. They include the posting of your engraved nameplate on the wall of the Yasuda Auditorium*, a commemorative plate as a gift, invitation to convivial meetings and other events. For details, please visit the following URLs: http://utf.u-tokyo.ac.jp/htd/privilege.html http://utf.u-tokyo.ac.jp/htd/images/yasuda_kodo.pdf UTokyo receives a good deal of cooperation from FUTI, which supports activities of UTokyo from America. Until recently UTokyo’s donor privileges were not available to FUTI donors, because their gifts were not directly given to the University. However, their intention is the same as that of donors to UTokyo in that they are “ to support UTokyo.” Therefore, from Fiscal Year (FY) 2013, UTokyo acknowledges gifts to FUTI and offers certain privileges to FUTI donors as well. As a result, the nameplates of eight FUTI donors have been posted in the current FY on the wall of the Yasuda Auditorium. From now on, FUTI and the office of UTokyo Foundation (Kikin) will coordinate and provide FUTI donors with various information and invitations. We would be delighted if you could come to view the nameplates or participate in events hosted by the UTokyo Foundation. In determining the aggregate amount of your donations, we add all of your gifts since the inception of FUTI. If you have also donated to the UTokyo Foundation, that will be also included in calculating your total gifts. UTokyo has received donations from a wide range of donors, including alumni, non-alumni, and corporations. However, we are still far behind compared with Europe and the United States in the permeation of a “donation culture.” We also hope that the existence of FUTI will have a positive effect on UTokyo’s fundraising activities in Japan. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us by email at kikinadm.u-tokyo.ac.jp. We thank you in advance for your continuing cooperation. Sincerely yours, Yoichi Yoshida Development Division, The University of Tokyo * Since the Yasuda Auditorium is closed until December 2014 (?) for renovation designed to improve its earthquake resilience, the donor nameplates are currently exhibited in the Ito International Research Center. Articles in this newsletter:

We selected several people among those who gave generous donations to FUTI in FY 2012-2013, asking them to prepare a message.  The following four individuals (listed in the alphabetical order) graciously responded to our request.  We hope that their messages will strike your cord and encourage you to respond to our fifth annual fundraising campaign. Mr. Haruo Kawahara Representative Director & Chairman of the Board, JVC Kenwood Corporation Dear Friends of UTokyo: It is my great pleasure to have this opportunity to convey my message to you all. I have worked for four different U.S companies. First, I worked for EBASCO Service in New York, when I was 25 years old, then I designed computer system software for nuclear power stations at General Electric in San Jose, CA, when I was 28, then at age 45 I worked on the development and commercialization of fuel cells as the CEO of International Fuel Cells, a U.S. based joint venture established in Hartford, CT by Toshiba and Plat & Whitney of United Technologies Corporation, which is the number one company for jet engines in the world, and finally, after retirement from Toshiba, I worked for Ripplewood Holdings on investment funds in New York. From these experiences, I believe that it is important to understand other countries, particularly people’s way of thinking, their culture and value systems, by conversing with them, and experiencing their life of all seasons. In an executive meeting a person referred to a Japanese executive as “a fly on the wall” and giggled. I had to ask to get the meaning. Apparently this expression is used to tease “an individual who sits quietly in a meeting to see and hear what happens without being noticed.”  I realized that one cannot get the meaning of some English expressions, even when the sentence itself is understandable. Nowadays I am very much concerned about the trend that Japanese students and young people do not seem interested in matters that are different from their usual daily life, and fewer Japanese students are found in U.S. universities, so I hear. Such a trend will lead to the loss of opportunities where Japan can be understood by other countries, and consequently we will miss opportunities where Japan can contribute to the world.  Then Japan will have less of a presence in the world scene, and our international competitiveness will be weakened, and the nation’s power will decline.  I am now 74 years old, but when we were young, we were very much eager to learn how to speak in English and go overseas, although it was quite expensive to do so. Therefore, I fully endorse the programs of Friends of UTokyo, which makes an effort to create opportunities for Japanese students and young people to gain overseas experiences, and I would like to help these programs. I believe that FUTI’s programs will stir up opportunities that will awaken next generation leaders. Thank you very much. Dr. Hirokazu Miura NASA Ames Research Center (retired in 2012) Moffet Field, California Member, San Francisco Akamon-kai In the spring of 1965, I happened to learn that universities in the U.S. admit and provide financial support even to students applying from foreign countries.  At that time, I was working in a mechanical design section of one of the factories of Toshiba and was happily engaged in large scale projects, working with excellent leaders and coworkers.  Nevertheless, I recognized that my ability as a mechanical engineer was insufficient, since there were various design decisions I had to make without enough supporting data.  The idea of applying for graduate study at universities in the U.S.  started burgeoning in my mind as an attractive option.  As part of my work, my supervisor sent me to a training class for the use of digital computers emerging at that time.  It was quite amazing to see how this powerful tool worked, but unfortunately I didn’t have any clear idea how to make use of it to help with engineering design.  Although I was unable to articulate such an idea in English, I put my graduate school applications together, focusing on computer applications to engineering design, and submitted them to several universities in the U.S. I was fortunate that my application reached the desk of Prof. E. Durbin of Princeton University.  I could start my graduate study in his laboratory in the fall of 1966.  I had to work very hard for the next 5 years, the first 2 years at Princeton, and the next 3 years at Case Institute of Technology, in Cleveland.  When I completed my Ph.D. thesis in the summer of 1971, the United States was in the middle of a very difficult period, symbolized by the end of the Vietnam War, the termination of big projects like Apollo and supersonic transport aircraft.  I did not grasp my situation well enough, but my mentor, Prof. L. Schmit worried more than I did, and advised me to apply for a postdoctoral fellowship offered by the Norwegian Government.  While I was working at the Technical University of Norway during the next year and a half, the U.S. economy regained its strength.  With the help of my professors and friends, I could find a way back to the U.S. in the spring of 1973, and then eventually settled as a research engineer at NASA Ames Research Center in 1980 and stayed there until my retirement in the middle of 2012. Looking back, I came through a path I could have never foreseen when I left Japan in 1966.  I have been fortunate in many ways.  The class of 1961 Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Tokyo was made of about 60 excellent students, including a number of strong leaders who moved up to senior management positions in large corporations, and one classmate is still active as a high-ranked politician.  If some of them had been given opportunities to study at institutions outside of the Japan while they were young enough, they could have used…
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Shun Kishioka Foreword by Editor: In the last issue we quoted an article from the mail magazine of Dr. Shigenori Matsushita. In this issue, we have asked Mr. Shunichiro Kishioka to publish his very interesting article on education and learning from his blog “Survival Age (in Japanese)” http://sksknowledgetosurvive.blogspot.com/2013/11/blog-post_9.html Mr. Kishioka serves on the Advisory Committee of FUTI and is Honorable Chairman of the Chicago Akamon-kai. His profile can be found by clicking https://www.friendsofutokyo.org/?page_id=108 Difference between Japan and the U.S. about “learning” We cannot survive in this world, if we are just one of many others. Why it is so difficult is because of education. It seems that some differences exist between Japan and the U.S. as to how we identify an individual ‘s capabilities. I, for one, was educated with the philosophy “People are all the same. You should not make any excuse other than inadequacy of your effort when your scores are not perfect. You must work hard,” which I believed in for a long time. Japan’s compulsory education system requires us to attain at least above-average scores: otherwise, we would suffer in the future, and become a burden to society, as well. Knowledge was supposed to be granted to us only by teachers. In the U.S., such an idea does not seem accepted except for infant or preschool education (http://www.strategiesforchildren.org/eea/6research_summaries/05_MeaningfulDifferences.pdf). If the child fails, it is because his/her capacity is limited, not because he/she has not made a sufficient effort (Please visit my blog 61 “Survival Age” if you read Japanese http://sksknowledgetosurvive.blogspot.com/2013/11/blog-post_9.html). Even if a child is left alone and gets exposed to the world’s indifference, he/she will acquire what is required in life, and will eventually be able to become independent. Educators look for children who excel in climbing up their favorite mountains In the U.S ., except for education for an infant or a child of preschool age when parents are held responsible to stimulate and interact with the child as much as possible, it is considered the responsibility of educators who make efforts in the process of raising the levels of all pupils, to identify which child has an innate talent or potential ability in which field, and what the child wants to achieve. Prof. Susumu Tonegawa, a Nobel laureate, says, “In case of MIT, the applicant’s SAT scores, his/her performance at high school, and above all, essays and personal interviews are important. The interviewers are selected from those alumni who are active in their fields. …… In order to maintain the unique character of the University, they attach greater importance to subjective viewpoints. Academically strong students with high scores may not necessarily be suited to such work as research that requires creativity. Such characteristics may sometimes become even a negative factor (Nikkei Newspaper, Oct.31, 2013. Underscoring of some sentences is by the author) .” A university generally evaluates students using three gauges: basic academic tests, athletic or artistic skills, and essays. They look for where the student excels among, for instance, theatrical arts, music, athletics or in academic learning. In the case of vocal music, they evaluate whether the student possesses sufficient volume and quality of voice needed for a professional singer. As for a student who likes musical instruments, the student is given the opportunity to learn various instruments such as violin, guitar, and wind instruments to find out which instrument he/she is good at. Needless to say, they will take into account the student’s preference, the ability to endure the required training, encouragement and support from the student’s parents. The teacher tries to find out the student’s ability as early as possible, and to judge whether the student can reach the level required to make a professional career out of the chosen field. Online learning helps one reach one’s goal faster Chikirin (a Japanese book critic and blogger; http://d.hatena.ne.jp/Chikirin/20131101 ) makes a good summary in this specific subject matter. I will skip a large part of the blog article, so please visit above link for details. “This story goes back almost 10 years when Mr. Mochio Umeda heard from Mr. Yoshiharu Habu, the Triple Crown Master of Shogi (a Japanese Chess): Simply put , because of the advent of online learning over the Internet, a beginner can reach high level quickly (i.e., one can reach a certain point quickly by driving on highways, so to speak). Because many people become good at Shogi quickly, the competition among advanced Shogi players is getting fiercer, and it is extremely difficult to get out of this crowd and move one step ahead of the rest (namely, traffic beyond the highway is jammed). The above story was about Shogi, but a similar trend is found among professional poker players. The young players today are getting overwhelmingly stronger than their predecessors. The reason is that they can practice and play matches online. An online match is much more efficient than playing live at a casino, because: ・there is no need to spend time to deal cards or move chips, so one can obtain three times as many game experiences (i.e., learning) in a given practicing time; ・there is no need to spend time and money to travel to a casino; …….. ・one can download one’s play data and analyze them. Thus, one can analyze the winning probability, correct bad habits, and can do research in steps such as “Analysis”–> “Hypothesis formation” – > “Verification.” These capabilities increase the learning speed. To sum up, the competition or standing of “offline learning environments” versus “online learning environments” will dramatically change from now on. …… We are now entering the period in which a “learner with online study alone” can reach faster a high level than a “learner with offline study alone.” I can’t help thinking that the same thing will begin to happen even in general study (learning at school), skill learning, and any other professional training, as well.” The above seems a persuasive argument, but games like chess, go, fighting games, casino games are all under certain…
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