【創域会ニュースマガジン】2023年8月号　Souiki-kai News Magazine　August 2023

【 Souiki-kai News Magazine English Version is translated by students hired by On-Campus Job project.  】

Souiki-kai-Members,

Hello. It’s the Souiki-kai Secretariat. Recently, a watermelon splitting contest was held as a Souiki-kai Student Department’s event, and I saw an adult version contest for the first time in a while. The bravest （and the one with the strongest semicircular canals）won.

◇ August Column

◇◇ Graduated from the Master’s Program in Advanced Materials Science in 2005

◇◇◇ Oak Ridge National Laboratory, R&D Associate Yuya Shinohara

Becoming an immigrant

This year’s Souiki-kai conference marks the 15th anniversary of its establishment. As I was involved to some extent in its founding, I can’t help but feel deeply moved. In August 2002, I moved from Hongo campus to the newly built Transdisciplinary Sciences building at Kashiwa Campus. Since then, I had spent nearly 15 years as a student and a faculty member at Kashiwa Campus. Afterward, I relocated to Tennessee in the United States, and already over six years have passed. Looking back, I vividly recall how the initially wild surroundings of Kashiwa Campus and its neighboring areas rapidly developed. Because I have not visited Japan for three years, I am overwhelmed with nostalgia when reminiscing about my life at Kashiwa Campus during my twenties and thirties.

Without setting a specific deadline, we purchased one-way tickets and moved with my family to a town in east Tennessee, located just 0.1 degrees different in latitude from the Transdisciplinary Sciences building. Although the daylight hours are the same as in Kashiwa, Tennessee’s location at the western edge of the time zone means dark winter mornings and bright summer nights. My children were preschoolers when we moved to the US, but now they have grown up as Americans speaking with a southern accent. Our eldest daughter is about to enter middle school. There is no public transportation available, and children are not allowed to travel alone in this area. So, whether it’s going to a friend’s house or attending extracurricular activities, we, as parents, always have to drive them everywhere. The time spent in the car is a valuable opportunity for parent-child conversations. However, if a third person were to observe us conversing–me speaking Japanese and my children responding in English–they would find it quite funny. I often wonder if I could have devised a better approach to teach them Japanese, but now I am immensely grateful to them for discreetly helping me out when talking to others, while readily correcting my English mistakes during everyday life. I’m even contemplating the idea of having them proofread my various English documents someday.

Having established a life foundation in Tennessee and adapted to life as a family in the United States, I applied for a U.S. permanent residency (Green card) and recently obtained it with the help of various people. It was only when I received a booklet titled “Welcome to the United States — A Guide for New Immigrants” along with the green card that I truly realized I had become an immigrant.

While I haven’t acquired citizenship and I remain Japanese both on paper and in my consciousness, my perspective when looking at my home country seems to have undergone some slight changes. During my stay on a non-immigrant visa, returning to Japan was always assumed. But now, as an immigrant, Japan has become a country I do not necessarily have to go back to. Of course, my parents and relatives are in Japan, and my wife is a Japanese civil servant (thus, she is not an immigrant; this aspect is quite complicated). In my emotions, Japan will always be the country I will eventually return to. However, our current environment here is undoubtedly wonderful for our family, and moving our current life foundation again would not be easy, both in terms of regulations and practicality. As immigrants, we have been granted significant freedom, yet each choice requires difficult decisions.

At the end of the year, we are considering a family visit to Japan for the first time in about four and a half years. I’m looking forward to experiencing Japan as an immigrant. I’m curious about my own feelings and the reactions of my children during the visit.

“Welcome to the United States — A Guide for New Immigrants”

◇◇◇

The September Column will be written by The Department of Advanced Energy.

◇◇◇

You can see the photos of Kashiwanoha here ↓

You can read the previous columns here ↓

◇◇◇

<Announcement: Grade gathering for 2023 Incoming Students >

The Tokyo University Alumni Association is pleased to announce that the grade meeting for the 2023 incoming students at the Kashiwa Campus will be held on October 12th (Thursday). This is a chance to establish connections beyond your research labs. We strongly encourage your participation! Detailed information will be provided by the Alumni Association as soon as it’s available. Stay tuned!

<Announcement: 2023 Souiki-kai Conference (15th Anniversary Celebration)>

We are excited to announce that we will hold the 2023 Souiki-kai Annual Conference. This year, the conference will commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Souiki-kai. The special lecture session will feature talks from distinguished alumni who are actively contributing to society, as well as promising faculty members from various research departments. Additionally, the event will coincide with the general open house at the Kashiwa Campus. We invite you to visit the Kashiwa Campus, explore the familiar surroundings, discover labs you wouldn’t normally see, and conclude your visit by joining us at the Souiki-kai Conference.

Furthermore, as it will be a hybrid event, you can also participate online, so even if visiting in person is difficult, please feel free to join us.

　Time：28th October, 2023 (Sat) 16:00～19:00

　Location: Special Lecture, General Meeting (Library Media Hall and Online)

　Reception (Plaza Ikoi)

Event Overview:

16:00-17:00 Special Lecture (Order to be determined)

-     Professor Tomochika Tokunaga, Dean of the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences

-     Mr. Hironori Yamamoto, President of CROSS PLUS INC.

-     We expect to have one more speaker.

17:00-17:30 General Meeting (Activity Report, Agenda)

17:45-19:00 Reception at IKOI

We will provide further information through the News Magazine, Souiki-kai website, and other channels as soon as they are confirmed. Please stay tuned for updates. We look forward to your participation.

◇◇◇

1. News from GSFS

(a) Assoc. Prof. KONNO Received Donald W. Davidson Award

(b) Morphological and metabolomics profiling of intraspecific Arabidopsis hybrids in relation to biomass heterosis

(c) Accelerated adoption of maritime autonomous vessels by simulating the interplay of stakeholder decisions and learning

(d) Prof. Hiroshi Okuda Received Commendation of Achievement 2022 from JSIAM

(e) Announcement of the event ‘100 Person Essay’ ! Socio-Technological Imaginaries x Science x Ethics

2. Related URL

The University of Tokyo Kashiwa Campus

GSFS HP

The University of Tokyo Kashiwa Library

 http://www.lib.u-tokyo.ac.jp/kashiwa/

Kashiwa Campus – TX Kashiwanoha

Campus StationSuttle Bus operation time schedule

https://www.k.u-tokyo.ac.jp/assets/images/gsfs/access/2022shuttlebus_20220405_j.pdfSocial Media of Graduate School of Frontier Sciences

SNS GSFS

　Instagram　https://www.instagram.com/utokyo_gsfs/

　Twitter　https://twitter.com/utokyo_gsfs

　Twitter　https://twitter.com/utokyo_gsfs_en

　Facebook　https://www.facebook.com/UTokyo.gsfs/

◆Souiki-kai HP

◆UTokyo Alumni

【From Souiki-kai Secretariat】

(a)   If you are an alumni who wants to broadcast the news in this news magazine, please contact the secretariat for details. In that case, please sending emails from the address registered in the Souiki-kai mailing list for verification of your identity.

(b)   Those who wish to join the Souiki-kai (who were enrolled in GSFS but had not yet joined) should send an email with their name, year of graduation, major, and address to the secretariat for application.