Who am I?

I am a physicist. My general research field is (experimental) condensed matter physics, with a special interest in strongly correlated electrons in transition metal oxides. I have studied in a wide range of research fields: from ~keV (high-energy spectroscopies such as photoemission) to ~mK (fermiology such as quantum oscillation) of strongly correlated materials, as well as from the fundamental physics (Mott transition, superconductivity, Kondo effect, and so on) to the development of electronic devices (field effect transistor, ReRAM memristor, and neuromorphic devices/circuits). I am the Research Director of a CREST project of JST to study a brand-new biomimetic computation on a spiking neural network using its autonomous spatiotemporal pattern formation (dynamical attractor).  

I was born in Miyakonojo in 1967 and grew up in Hyuga. Both cities are in Kyushu --- a southern island in Japan. After graduating from Hyuga High School (a state school) in March 1986, I entered the University of Tokyo in April 1986, received BSc in 1990 and an MSc in 1992 from the Department of Physics.  Then, I became a faculty member of the national institute Electrotechnical Laboratory (ETL) as a permanent researcher. While working there, I was given a PhD (Science) degree from the Physics Department of the University of Tokyo in February 1999. I became a Senior Researcher at ETL in 1999. 

From November 1994 to December 1997, I was granted a project of the Precursory Research for Embryonic Science and Technology (PRESTO) by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). This is still a record of the youngest recipient of the grant (I was 25 years old). 

Starting in May 1999, I spent two years as a visiting scholar at the University of Cambridge, where I was affiliated with Gonville and Caius college. Among the college alumni and current fellows are Sir Nevill Mott (I am studying the Mott transition!) and the universally-known Professor Stephen Hawking. My research work there was done at the Interdisciplinary Research Centre in Superconductivity (IRC) and in collaboration with the Low-Temperature Physics (now called Quantum Matter) group of the Cavendish Laboratory. 

From April 2001 to September 2022, I was a Senior Researcher (and am now a Chief Senior Researcher) at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science & Technology (AIST). While I was in Cambridge, ETL was consolidated with 14 other national institutes to form the new AIST. Therefore, my affiliation was automatically changed. From July 2011 to June 2013, I was an Experts Committee Member of the National Personnel Authority. From April 2018 to the present, I have been an Experts Committee Member of the National Institute of Science and Technology Policy, MEXT.

Since February 2022, I have been concurrently appointed a Professor of the Master's and Doctoral Program in Materials Innovation, the University of Tsukuba. Since April 2023, also concurrently, I have been a Visiting Professor at the graduate school of the Tokyo University of Science.