[No. 57] Takahiko Sueyoshi

I am writing this column in July 2008 from my office in Azabu-Juban. Perhaps because Azabu-Juban Station now has a direct train line to Hiyoshi Station, I have been given a good opportunity to look back on my days at Hiyoshi and Yagami.

I am an alumnus who graduated from the Department of Electrical Engineering in 1990 and completed the master's program in Computer Science at the Graduate School of Science and Technology in 1992. I remember back in 1986, when I first enrolled, strolling carefree around the Hiyoshi Campus as if I owned the world. I've always been a bit scatterbrained, and I was firmly convinced that "Keio means Mita!" I had no doubt that I would be commuting to the Mita campus. I have a vivid memory of being stunned when a classmate at the time pointed to a hazy building on a hill visible from behind the Hiyoshi Campus and told me, "That's the Yagami Campus, where we'll be from our third year." Yes, I was truly stunned. After all, Keio means Mita, right? That's my memory from my first year.

I had heard that the Faculty of Science and Technology involved a lot of experiments and reports, and that was absolutely true. After I started commuting to Yagami, the lectures became increasingly specialized, and I really couldn't keep up. I was especially lost around the time quantum mechanics came up... orz. I still remember walking from a station on my way home from the university to the banks of the Tama River, lying down, and muttering, "This is really bad. I might have to repeat a year... this is terrible." (*At the time, "yabai" was used with a negative connotation). This is a memory from when I first started commuting to Yagami.

During my time at the Faculty of Science and Technology, I encountered lectures and lab assignments such as Professor Hideo Aiso's "Introduction to Digital Circuits," Professor Yūichirō Anzai's "Digital Automata," Professor Mario Tokoro's "Introduction to Computer Architecture," and Professor Hideharu Amano's "Fabrication of Digital Circuits." (*Note: The course names are not exact as my memory is hazy. I apologize for any inaccuracies.) Strangely, these fields seemed to be a good fit for me, and I was able to immerse myself in them with enjoyment. So, although I had barely ever touched a computer keyboard before, I became firmly convinced that "this is the age of computers!" Despite my friends around me saying, "Stay away from the computer science labs. They're tough," I believed in taking action, and as fate would have it, I ended up joining Professor Mario Tokoro's laboratory.

Life in the lab was a complete change from before. I devoted myself solely to research, forgetting to eat or sleep... well, not really. In reality, I dreamed of a researcher's life where I could sing (karaoke?) and dance (skiing and windsurfing?), and this dream made me dive even deeper into lab life. Being able to conduct cutting-edge computer science research meant that we were expected to approach our research topics and methods from a world-class perspective. The environment, where we were rigorously challenged on what was unique or new about our work and had to boldly defend it, was high-pressure but also very stimulating.

I am still in touch with my lab mates from that time. Since we graduated in the first year of the Heisei era (1989), we refer to ourselves by the codename "Gannen-mono" (First-Year Vintage), likening ourselves to wine, and keep in touch that way.

The Gannen-mono members back then

It is now 2008, the 20th year of the Heisei era. This is the summer when Southern All Stars, a band I listened to often both then and now, is going on an indefinite hiatus.

I later joined Sony Corporation in 1992, and after working on product development for VAIO notebook computers, I moved to Sony Computer Science Laboratories in 2005. There, I encountered a technology called "PlaceEngine," which estimates a user's current location using Wi-Fi signals, and I promoted its service planning and commercialization. In 2007, I founded Koozyt, Inc. to develop a business centered on this "PlaceEngine" technology, and that is where I am today.

PlaceEngine

Koozyt, Inc.

Now, the person I co-founded Koozyt with was none other than Atsushi Shionozaki, who was also a "Gannen-mono" member and a colleague of mine during our time at Sony CSL.

We, who were certainly Keio students at Hiyoshi and Yagami back then, have, over time, matured gracefully? ...or rather, it seems certain that we are still rolling along, rock 'n' rolling. (Shionozaki is a huge rock fan. It also seems certain that we've both physically... expanded a bit...)

For me, my time at the Faculty of Science and Technology felt like a fleeting moment, but looking back, it is a reference point I can always return to, a brilliant point in time that I consider irreplaceable. Perhaps that's why, even now, whenever Shionozaki and I go out for drinks and get a bit tipsy and bold, we always end up saying, "Someday, we're going to donate an SS (Shio-Sueyoshi) Building to the Faculty of Science and Technology!" (lol)