[No. 114] Toshie Muto

Thank you very much for this opportunity to contribute to the "Alumni Relay Column." Fifteen full years have passed since my graduation. I have written about my student days, digging up old memories, and about my current work. I hope that my story, as an example of one graduate, will be of some help to all of you as you envision your own futures.

When I was in elementary school, I enjoyed arithmetic, which felt similar to the fun of solving puzzles, and I loved playing with the science magazine kits that made sounds or caused chemical reactions. Even as a child, I assumed I would pursue a science-related path in the future. From junior high school, I became interested in the "principles of flight" and wanted to study fluid dynamics, which led me to choose Department IV (Mechanical Engineering) in the Faculty of Science and Technology. (Editor's note: At the time, admission was by department "kei" rather than by academic cluster "gakumon").

In my first year of university, classes were divided by required foreign language, and I was in the Russian class. We took required subjects like mathematics and language as a class unit. Because it was a small class of only 22 students, having someone answer the roll call for you was not an option. Perhaps because everyone attended class diligently, there seemed to be many high-achieving students. I remember our homeroom teacher, Professor Kindaichi, telling us when the class was disbanded, "I hereby name your class the 'Class of Geniuses.' But there are many things to learn besides so-called 'studying.' Please broaden your horizons and gain a wide range of experiences."

I graduated from university in four years and became a working professional without going on to graduate school, but looking back now, I think it might have been nice to take a few more detours before entering the workforce.

By the way, did you know that "ikura" is a Russian word? It means "fish roe." Black ikura is caviar.

I belonged to the Masuda-Obi Laboratory, which specialized in fluid dynamics. My research involved a method of placing an object in a water tank, visualizing the flow around it by introducing fine particles, and measuring the velocity and pressure distribution through image analysis. Perhaps because I was only there for one year, during my fourth year of university, I wasn't able to conduct very deep research, but I feel I learned how to think about things and how to organize phenomena.

Mainly during summer vacations, I was involved in international exchange, traveling abroad and helping to host international students in Japan. In the summer of my third year at university, I participated in an international work camp. Along with students from Germany, France, Ghana, and the Czech Republic, I lived and worked in a historic park in a suburb of New York, doing tasks like mowing grass and painting chairs. Through this international communal living, I learned the importance of clearly communicating my own ideas, even if my English was poor, and the importance of cooperating with the understanding that ways of thinking differ by country and person.

When I was job hunting, my hope was "to have a job where we all work together to create one big thing," and so I joined Fuji Electric Co., Ltd., a manufacturer of power generation equipment. Since joining the company in '99, I have consistently been involved in managing projects to deliver power generation facilities, centered on our company's steam turbines and generators. I have been doing the same job for 15 years, but no two projects are the same—the destination country, the customer, my role within the project—so I never get bored.

Since 2006, I have been working on projects for geothermal power plants, and I am also involved in the basic design of the entire plant. There is always competition, so I face the daily challenges of proposing and winning orders by offering lower prices to customers while pursuing efficiency and performance, and the difficulty of reaching the power plant's operation start date within a fixed time and budget while interacting with a great number of people, including customers, partner companies, suppliers, and internal staff. There are many hardships, but I also consider myself fortunate to be living each day with my job-hunting wish having come true.

I believe that your university years are a good time to build up your fundamental mental and intellectual stamina. There are many interesting classes available. You also have long vacations, and you can earn a decent amount of money if you work a part-time job. Try to keep your mind's antenna raised, take an interest in various things, and broaden your range of activities. Unfortunately, as you get older, your memory declines, and your thinking tends to become more rigid. I believe that experiences from your university days that may seem pointless at the time will prove valuable later on.