Nagakura Seminar
Dr. Nagakura Daisuke
Specialty: Applied Econometrics, Time Series Analysis, Financial Econometrics
Interviewer: 追本・長山『The theme is free, statistically what you want to do!』Please tell us about what you are currently researching and what your students areresearching
My field of study in the broad context is Econometrics. Within Econometrics, I focus on
theoretical study of time series analysis. In recent times, I have been focusing on analyzing dataon finance through theory and empirical analysis. To be more specific I study theories anddemonstrations of evaluation and measurement methods of financial asset risk using highfrequency data that is updated every minute or second.
I allow my students to do whatever they want. Basically, if you are analyzing statistics, you areallowed to do anything, and the students are allowed to freely find a topic or theme to research. I
teach how they can utilize their topics to analyze statistics and how to use statistics software’s toapply their topic.
For example, this year 3rd year students have 4 groups. These 4 groups are studying topics suchas the impact on investment structures for companies under the quantitative easing policy, Factor
analysis of companies’ overseas expansion, determinants of academic ability of elementary andjunior high school students, and the impact of the quantitative easing policy on the price index.
As a trend, there is at least one group that researches about social issues. For example, a group ofstudents have researched the effect on satisfaction rate from having children. Another groupresearched how the tuition rate for universities are decided. Luckily, through their research, theyfound out that the tuition for Keio is not necessarily expensive. They seemed to be disappointed
because their hypothesis was incorrect (Laugh).

『I only help. Independence is key』
Can you tell us about your education philosophy?
I believe that a college professor works to guide students what they want to learn. During mycollege life and life after college, I realized that learning something is dependent on yourself.
Having this mindset will drastically change your life, and you will have a very fulfilling college
life.
I like to help students with such mindsets, and I believe students should make use of professors
as a source of information by asking many questions. It may be difficult to find a specific interest
at first, but college is the most suitable place to do so, and I hope students can find somethingthey are passionate about. It does not necessarily have to be related to education, but it will be avaluable experience to be immersed in something you are passionate about.
I want students to be independent and be able to act independently. Because of this, I like to help
students by giving hints and push rather than pull. I only help when it is only necessary. When I
usually say this, people say that I am a cold person. (Laugh)『A fresh start in my 3rd year, somehow up to that point』
Please tell us about your college life, why you became a teacher, and your hobbies
During college, I did not really study. I only became serious about studying when I was in my 3rdyear. Until then, I just went with the flow. In my 3rd year, a certain event occurred, and I decided
to try harder with a fresh start. After this occurred, I realized that I loved to study or research,and I decided to move onto that path. I chose econometrics because when I first took statistics, Iwas fascinated by it. If thought that if I learned statistics, I would be able to apply it to different
subjects, and so that might be the reason why I chose this path. I liked analyzing familiar datasuch as household account books. Analyzing allowed me to see different trends and make plans
and it was very fun. Then, I found interest in statistics and econometrics, and I wanted to studymore about it, and when I noticed I was working at a university. When you hear this story, it may
seem like I only did things I liked, but as a matter of fact I had to do things I didn’t like to findout what I liked. I believe that to continue something you like, you have to do things you don’t
like, and you have to be able to do it.
As I said earlier, I don’t have a strong reason why I became a professor, and I became aprofessor because I continued to do what I liked. The best place to learn and research was at auniversity.
I don’t have many hobbies, but I like to watch soccer. I don’t usually play soccer. The players I
like are Kagawa, Honda, and Hasebe. I like to check news on soccer. I like to talk about soccer
with the students as well. (Laugh)『Looking for serious people』
Final messages to 2nd year students
If you don’t have something you are passionate about, do your best with everything, I promise
you will find something. If you are already passionate about something, continue it! Anyways,
just try your best with something. (Laugh)Also, you should fail while you have some time. While you are young, I think it is important tocontinue challenging yourself, and continue to make mistakes. When I think about it, I should’ve
made more mistakes in the past. When you are at my age, you can’t really make mistakes.
(Laugh) It is scary to make mistakes as a grown man, and the damage you get from making a
mistake is big. If possible, I want to become a grandpa that has a challenging spirit who is notafraid of failure, but this seems quite difficult.