[No. 150] Hiromi Yuasa

Thank you for this opportunity to contribute to the Keio University Alumni Relay Column. I completed my studies in the Department of Physics in 1998 and subsequently worked at a corporate research institute for 17 years. During that time, I was so preoccupied with the tasks at hand that I'm sure I would have felt unable to speak about my university life, which was long behind me. However, as fate would have it, I returned to university life in the spring of 2015. I am now thoroughly enjoying my research life at the university, which is full of the innocence, freedom, and enterprising spirit that I had nearly forgotten during my time in the corporate world. And I am freshly surprised to find that the memories and feelings that are gradually returning are strongly reflected in who I am today.

The department I wanted to join was the Department of Physics. In fact, I was so bad at chemistry that I even had to retake organic chemistry. This might sound like a choice by elimination, but it wasn't. I admired the cool way of life of the physicists who made their mark on history. The Department of Physics was popular at the time, and I was worried if someone like me could get in, but fortunately, I was able to. I think this was thanks to the fun I had studying for exams with my first-year classmates.

I became a student in the Department of Physics at the Yagami Campus, and at the end of my third year, it was time for laboratory assignments. It was a time when I was curious about what lab life would be like, but in an era without websites, I honestly had no real sense of it. During my third year, the teaching assistants for our student experiments were graduate students from the Miyajima Laboratory, which was conducting research on magnetism. I admired how they managed their own research in parallel while looking after us in the student experiments, and I joined the Miyajima Laboratory thinking that I, too, could have a fulfilling lab life. Once I joined, I found that the official language for seminars was English, and everyone was advancing and reporting on their own research themes. It all felt suddenly very grown-up. This once again strengthened my admiration for what it meant to be a full-fledged researcher. Fig. 1 shows a seminar that we fourth-year students started on our own, inspired by our senior students.

Professor Miyajima's words that I can still almost hear are, "Is there physics in it?" (See Fig. 2 for an image). I interpret "having physics in it" to mean whether the discussion is properly constructed. It's about not ending with a mere listing of experimental results, which is common among students. I feel that I was taught the importance of thinking up my own models and deepening my considerations and discussions, even with insufficient knowledge. I understand it now, but once you go out into the world, you're surrounded by things you don't know. When you start working in an unknown field, you are the one who has to think. And I myself am the type of person who tends to like new things. I've recently realized that this may be where my experience as an undergraduate, wrestling with ideas as an amateur without specialized knowledge, has come into play.

Another thing Professor Miyajima said that I remember well is, "The most important thing you gain in the lab is the friends you spend your time with there." He said that with seniors and juniors spanning nearly 10 years, the connection as fellow alumni remains deep even after entering the workforce, allowing us to help each other in times of trouble, and that this would be valuable for a very long time. After graduating, I have truly come to realize this. Many of the lab graduates with whom I spent several years are now active in academia or the same industry. When we meet again after a long time at academic conferences and go for drinks, we even consult each other on personal and professional matters, starting with "Actually...". It is at times like these that I realize this is what Professor Miyajima was talking about. He had many other famous sayings, such as "Come in early in the morning" (see Fig. 3) and "Iron (Fe) is great," but I will omit them here.

After completing my master's degree, I wanted to research magnetic materials for hard disk drives, which was a booming field at the time, so I joined Toshiba Corporation. At that time, Japanese electronics manufacturers were strong. Presentations at academic conferences were powerful, and discussions were heated. I wanted to do something like that too, and once again, a sense of admiration led me into the world of electronics. There, I fully enjoyed the fun of competing with global rivals through research and development. Competition, if healthy, is enjoyable, much like sports, as you can feel your own growth. And any industry with momentum is healthy and has a free-spirited culture. Looking back, I was absorbed in development with my colleagues in a blessed culture. The foundation for me at that time was the research on magnetic materials from my days in the Miyajima lab and the "Is there physics in it?" mindset of carving out new fields for myself. For this accumulation of research and development, I was honored with the "Award for Research Accomplishment and Human Resource Development for Female Researchers (Kashiko Kodate Award)" from the Japan Society of Applied Physics in 2015.

After that, the development that had been so exciting came to a pause. My desire to do something new grew, and I came to the university, a place full of innocence, freedom, and an enterprising spirit. My second university life is in its third year, which would make me a third-year student. Like the professors and senior students who strongly influenced me during my own student days, I hope to "brainwash" fearless and energetic students.