Mamoru Hayakawa: The Persimmons Next Door Are Red

Actually, I am a graduate of Waseda University. I met many Keio University peers, seniors, and professors through the Waseda-Keio rivalry in the Aikido club I joined after a freshman welcome party, a joint Waseda-Keio overseas internship using the ASML Internship Scholarship program, and participating in poster sessions at the Society of Materials Science, Japan. Through those experiences, I was exposed to the humor-filled conversations and sophisticated demeanor of the Keio people, and I began to feel an admiration, thinking, "They're somehow so cool." I continued my research while harboring such a faint longing for Keio University.

My specialization is mechanics of materials, a field of study for understanding the deformation and fracture characteristics of materials. Previously, I specialized in experimental evaluation, but I became involved in numerical analysis—predicting deformation characteristics using computers—as a substitute for a colleague who fell ill. Through that experience, I became convinced that "new technologies in numerical analysis are what will open up the coming era," and I knocked on the gates of Keio University as a working doctoral student. In this way, I gained the opportunity to reaffirm the importance of basic research.

When trying to tackle new product designs by making full use of experimental evaluation and numerical analysis, the walls of reality stand in the way. Even if you propose a design that seems to be the optimal solution, it is not uncommon for research and development to stall due to manufacturing constraints or cost issues. Now that I have become a corporate researcher, I feel the truth of my professor's words from my student days: "Ichiro hits .400, but a researcher is a professional if they succeed 10% of the time." Still, the key to overcoming these difficulties lies in the mechanics of materials I learned as a foundation. Tensile testing, which is the basis of experimental evaluation, and numerical analysis and fracture mechanics, which link the obtained test results to structural design, demonstrate their power at key points in research and development, leading to results such as product improvements and academic awards.

The way experimental evaluation and numerical analysis complement each other overlaps with the scene of the Waseda-Keio rivalry where both sides push each other to excel. Currently, research, development, and commercialization in new fields such as DX and digital twins are being actively carried out, but success and failure are intermingled within them. Nevertheless, just as the persimmons next door look red, I believe that continuing to pursue the red, sweet fruit of "one's own theme" as a researcher is an important right and responsibility. I intend to continue walking the path of a researcher in order to return that fruit to society and industry.