iU President Gachon. Mr.Tomonori Aoyama

 ■iU President Gachon. Mr.Tomonori Aoyama

He was a researcher at Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation, then a professor at the University of Tokyo and Keio University. He is a leading figure in academia. I was greatly indebted to him during my time at Keio University.

◆Until now

Born before the war in 1943. Evacuated to his mother's hometown of Yagi-cho, Kyoto. Kyoto was not bombed, and he worked as a farmer, so there was no need to worry about food. At the age of four, he moved to Nobeoka, Miyazaki Prefecture, where his father worked for the Asahi Kasei factory. In middle school, he moved to Suginami, Tokyo. He entered the University of Tokyo, specializing in electrical and electronic engineering, and then went on to a master's degree. In the year he graduated (1969), a university riot broke out, and he joined NTT (Nippon Telephone and Telephone Public Corporation). 1969 was the year that ARPANET used packet communication for the first time, the first moon landing, and The Beatles broke up.

In 1973, he went to MIT for a year. After that, he moved around to various NTT laboratories. In 1997, he became a professor at the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Engineering. In 2006, he retired and went to Keio University's DMC Research Institute. He also worked at SFC and the Faculty of Science and Technology.

He later became chairman of the NPO Broadband Association, and is currently a special advisor to the Broadband Association and a professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo.

◆ Research

Transmission, digital signal processing, light. 4K. The world's first screen projection system was developed at NTT Laboratories with Mitsubishi and VICTOR. In film. It started in 2001. It has received the Ibuka Award and the Takayanagi Kenjiro Award. It implemented digital TIFF at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

◆Student days

The two years of liberal arts education seemed like a continuation of high school, and I lost all motivation and focused on club activities. I joined the car club. During the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, I worked part-time driving the press to the venue. I watched the Oriental Witches final on a big NHK color TV. I was amazed. I drove through the Shuto Expressway right after it opened. I didn't study, I just did stuff like that.

I moved to a specialized course in my third year. Until then, I just listened to lectures and took exams. For my graduation thesis, I did something I had never done before. I thought it would be good to try new things and ideas on my own. It was my first time experiencing university. Professor Hiroshi Inose told me to join IEEE (an international conference). It was very exciting. He also told me to write a patent. I was supervised by Professor Tadao Saito.

◆Message for you guys

The thesis is extremely important, so put all your effort into it.

The first three years will be crucial

Acquire a specialty in 5 years

If you are going outside, it is preferable to do so after

Join the Society

Experience abroad before you're in your early 30s

English is essential because the other person is not Japanese.

Always keep your antennae out to the world

★Postscript

I didn't know that the great professor didn't study and was in the automotive club. What was the switch that led him to go from there to academia? I'll ask him again next time to dig deeper.