[No. 67] Hiroyuki Akebono

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone involved for giving a junior person like me this opportunity to write. Since I was a child, I have been a typical science-oriented person, passionate about math and science experiments but showing no interest in literature or history. During my rather one-sided elementary, junior high, and high school years, my interest in *monozukuri* (making things) grew. With the desire to "do a job that creates something in the future," I enrolled in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University.

Before entering university, I had planned a very ordinary life path: "graduate in four years → get a job → get married." However, I became fascinated with "research" through my graduation project in my fourth year. Before I knew it, I had advanced to the master's program and then the Doctoral Programs, ultimately spending nine years at Keio University. After completing my Doctoral Programs, I chose the path of a researcher. To this day, "fracture mechanics" and "metal fatigue," which I worked on in the Shimizu-Komotori Laboratory (under Professor Masao Shimizu and Professor Jun Komotori) where I was assigned in my fourth year, form the foundation of my research activities. Even though I once dreamed of creating things, I now spend my days breaking them...

Since completing my Ph.D. program, I have been affiliated with three universities, including Keio University. Also, due to the nature of my work, I have many opportunities to interact with faculty and students from other universities, and I often hear various things. Each time, I am struck by the high level of "independence, originality, and diversity" that Keio University expects from its students. It was exactly ten years ago, but I still vividly remember the words Professor Shimizu said to us on the first day we were assigned to the Shimizu-Komotori Laboratory in the spring of my fourth year.

"From today, you are researchers. Therefore, I will never tell you to do this or do that. Please think for yourselves and proactively do what you feel is necessary. But if you ever get stuck in your research, please come and talk to me anytime. I will support you with all my might as a senior researcher."

Having just been assigned to the lab and feeling great anxiety about the intangible thing called "research" that I was about to undertake, I felt a sense of resolve upon hearing these words. Looking back now, I believe this is the academic culture that Keio University should be proud of.

Now that I am in a position, however inadequately, to guide students as a university faculty member, I am keenly aware that respecting students' freedom comes with various risks. Furthermore, giving students detailed instructions like "do this, then do that" to advance their research is the easiest path for both us faculty and the students. However, this approach cannot cultivate the rich imagination and originality of young students, and we cannot expect groundbreaking research results that, in a good way, transcend our own knowledge and experience as faculty.

Just as Professor Shimizu told us ten years ago, during my six years in the Shimizu-Komotori Laboratory, I was truly allowed to conduct my research "freely." It is precisely because of this that I was able to experience the joy, rigor, and depth of research, and chose the path of a researcher. The presence of my peers, seniors, and juniors in the lab is also a major reason why I am who I am today. We socialized a lot, without any distinction between seniors and juniors. But in return, or perhaps even more so, we worked desperately on our research and shared its joys and hardships.

"Work hard, play hard."

Even now, after graduating from Keio University, this style has not changed. I am deeply grateful to Professor Shimizu and Professor Komotori for supporting me in so many ways and creating an environment where I could conduct research freely.

I try my best every day to guide students in a way that allows them to research with free-thinking, but I often find myself giving them detailed instructions before I realize it. I feel my immaturity as an educator every day, but I intend to continue dedicating myself to education and research so that I can level up, little by little, alongside my students.