Community News

News from the NTT Atsugi, Ibaraki, Musashino, and Yokosuka R&D Centers

Of course the big event of this year's summer and fall seasons was the much heralded move of Basic Research Labs from Musashino to Atsugi. Between the unpacking of boxes and the re-installation of equipment, to everyone's surprise, there was still time for some extra-curricular events.

In the past few months the Journal Club has continued to sponsor a full slate of stimulating talks. In August Eduardo Vera offered an expanded vision of NTT's VI&P (Visual, Intelligent, and Personal) communications philosophy. Although VI&P is targetted to Japan right now, he suggested that developing countries, such as his home country Chile, could significantly accelerate their economic development by selectively investing relatively modest sums in VI&P-like telecommunications technology.

In October Wayne Lui whetted the appetites of all those aspiring internauts with his talk on Navigating the Internet. He described the basics of accessing the Internet and followed it up with a fascinating list of resources and services ranging from public domain numerical subroutines to recipes for your favorite cookie.

In November Keiichi Torimitsu described his research on neurons in a talk entitled Living Logic : Neural Networks on Silica Substrates. Torimitsu-san showed a video in which 'lonely' neurons grew arms in various directions frantically searching for partner neurons. The complex patterns and interconnections lead to the coordination of the neurons' chemical and electrical activity, resulting in effects similar to memory.

In what may be the beginning of a new conference tradition, some NTT researchers and NTT research alumni got together for an informal dinner gathering at this year's Optical Society of America Annual meeting in Toronto, Canada. Dr. Tatsuya Kimura, director of Basic Research, and Arturo Chavez-Pirson, member of Basic Research's Kanbe group, hosted a steak dinner for NTT research alumni and friends. With ten people attending, it was a good chance to meet up with NTT alumni Ken Delong (Sandia National Labs), Robert Hickernell (NIST), and Wenbing Jiang (UCSB). Besides, the steak wasn't bad either.

This fall we welcomed Ms Makiko Tawarada, who is working at the Research Planning Department of Basic Research Laboratories in Atsugi R&D Center. Her exclusive task will be to support and assist the special needs of the international researchers at NTT. With wide multicultural experience, having lived in the U.S.A. a total of nine year in two early periods of her life, she will be a most suitable caretaker of the global community at NTT. Tawarada-san recently explained "Global News" the reason why she took this position, as follows:

"Since I resided an extended time in the U.S.A, because of my father's business, I realize how difficult living in a foreign country could be. I especially remember how hard a struggle those first two years of high school were; strong social pressures and too much cultural confusion made me feel very weak. However, with the help of my father's assistant, good American friends, and many volunteers from the school and the city, as of my third year there, I could enjoy my American life there. Now I can say that my sojourn in the U.S.A. had a great impact on my life. By living in abroad, I learned a lot about American culture and surprisingly a lot about Japanese culture too. Morever, now I can look at things on a global scale (really?! ..Oh! yah..hopefully!) When I heard about this position at NTT, I thought this is the least I can do to show my gratitude to those who helped me. Please feel free to contact me if you have any problem".