[No. 50] Yasutsugu Seo

It has been 33 years since I graduated from university, and I am very grateful to my former mentor, Professor Minamitani, for giving me this opportunity to write an article for my alma mater's website.

As for why I chose the Faculty of Engineering (now the Faculty of Science and Technology) at Keio University, I did of course take entrance exams for national universities, but I failed spectacularly. Humans and living organisms possess abilities that cannot be explained by modern science. You could even call them supernatural powers. "Do dolphins and bats use ultrasound? How do the flagella of microorganisms rotate? Why does memory differ from person to person? What happens after death?" At the time, there were many things I didn't understand. For that reason, my dream of wanting to learn more about biological information, which was still unknown to modern science, grew. I thought I could research such things at a university with both a School of Medicine and a Faculty of Engineering. Although I was also accepted into the applied physics program in the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Waseda University, I was fortunate enough to be admitted to Keio.

My high school was almost all boys, and having spent six years playing the clarinet—and telling tall tales—in the brass band, I was out of shape. So, as soon as I enrolled in university, I went looking for sports clubs that seemed to have a lot of female members. In the end, I joined the bodybuilding club, which had zero women. However, I spent four wonderful years there with an unusual group of friends from the liberal arts, which was different from my science track. I learned how to get along with people, which proved to be very useful after I entered the workforce.

At the Faculty of Engineering at Keio, the system was that students did not belong to a specific department for their first two years and decided on their major in their third year (Note: students now join a department from their second year). The most memorable lecture from my first two years was from Professor Hideo Nishioka. He advocated a 700-year cycle theory of climate, and his ideas and approach were very unique, making his classes extremely interesting. However, the science and engineering lectures were generally very difficult, and I could barely keep up with taking notes. It was only after I started working at a company and reread my notes that I began to understand them a little. In my third year, the Faculty of Engineering was still located in Musashi-Koganei, and this coincided with the move to the Yagami Campus. The electrical engineering experiments were conducted in Koganei, and we commuted there on a tour bus, which was an unusual arrangement. At first, it was fun because there was even a bus guide. In my fourth year, I was accepted into Professor Minamitani's laboratory in the Department of Electrical Engineering. I struggled with my research on the electrical impedance of blood, which involved going to a pig slaughterhouse in Shinagawa to get blood samples, and I caused Professor Minamitani a great deal of trouble.

In between research, I enjoyed playing Go, Othello, and Scrabble (a game where you create and connect English words) in the laboratory. I also often ran along the banks of the Tsurumi River. Every summer, we had a training camp where we enjoyed climbing mountains in Shiga Kogen and holding concerts. With a non-repayable scholarship from the Keio Engineering Society and money from my part-time job as a private tutor, I lived frugally but also went out for drinks in Shibuya and Shinjuku and listened to jazz at a jazz bar (JUNK) in Ginza.

After successfully completing my master's degree, I joined the Medical Electronics Department of Toshiba's Corporate Research & Development Center, where I was involved in the development of ultrasound and MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) systems. I was fascinated by the idea of visualizing things that are invisible to the naked human eye. Professor Tokio Suzuki of the Department of Electrical Engineering at Keio had taught us to carry on the tradition of the Fujiwara Institute of Technology, the predecessor of the Faculty of Engineering, and to conduct research that would be useful to society. Therefore, I worked on developing devices that would benefit patients—that is, devices that were non-invasive, painless, and could lead to the early detection of cancer. For that reason, I spent 30 years conducting practical research, writing almost no academic papers. However, I later understood the importance of research that is not immediately useful when I met Professor Koshiba, who would go on to win the Nobel Prize.

Thanks to the support of my senior and junior colleagues, I received the Medal with Purple Ribbon in 2005 for the "development of an ultrasound blood flow imaging system capable of visualizing slow flow in real time." This technology, which applied radar techniques, was useful for the early detection of cancer. I believe I was able to receive the award because it was related to medical sciences and served a public good; I probably would not have received it if it had been related to the defense industry.

I retired a year ago and am now a professor at Komazawa University. Currently, one in 50 women develops breast cancer. While the screening rate for breast cancer has increased thanks to the Pink Ribbon campaign and other efforts, it is still not enough. Since X-ray mammography screening is said to be very painful, I am jointly researching a painless breast cancer ultrasound screening system with a high detection rate. In the future, I also dream of conducting research on "Zen" and the "brain."

At Keio, I was able to take classes in a wide range of fields, not just science and technology, and make a diverse group of friends. I believe I am who I am today because I was able to lead a very meaningful student life. Finally, to everyone, let's have a dream.