JSPS SF Newsle er | Vol. 43

JSPS
SAN FRANCISCO
NEWSLETTER
VOL. 43 | JULY. 2017

JSPS Nobel Laureate Lecture: Dr. Shinya Yamanaka‐From Basic Research to Industry‐Academia Collabora on‐

JSPS San Francisco hosted Nobel Laureate Dr. Shinya Yamanaka (Director, Center for iPS Cell Research and Applica on (CiRA), Kyoto University) for his lecture delivered in Japanese: “From Basic Research to Industry-Academia Collabora on” on May 16, 2017 at the Berkeley City Club. Nearly 200 parcipants a ended, including Japanese researchers, businesspeople, and the general public.
The message of Dr. Yamanaka’s lecture on his Nobel Prize-winning iPS cell research spoke to everyone in the room. His stories about researching in the United States were par cularly encouraging to theJapanese scholars in the audience who are currently conduc ng research in the US. He also focused on
the importance of basic research, academic research and strategies to connect this research to industry
and government, a topic of great interest to the Silicon Valley businesspeople in a endance.
(Con nued on page 2)

Inside this issue
JSPS Nobel Laureate Lecture: Dr. Shinya
Yamanaka ........................................................ 1
Past Events....................................................... 2
Upcoming Events ............................................. 5
Interview with JSPS Fellow in the U.S. ............ 6

News from Japanese Universi es.................... 9
JSPS Staﬀ Voices ............................................ 15
Upcoming Applica on deadlines ................... 16
Oﬃce Staﬀ Switch .......................................... 17

JSPS SF Newsle er | Vol. 43(Con nued from page 1)

His character, Kansai dialect, and easy-to-understand explana on of technical themes made the content
accessible to the en re audience, regardless of their background.
In the Q&A session following the lecture, par cipants raised ques ons related to research, including“What kind of laboratory management is necessary to produce good research results?” and “What aresome things researchers should endeavor to do in the early years of their research?”
Dr. Yamanaka’s lecture was an inspira on not only to researchers, but to the audience as a whole.
The JSPS San Francisco Oﬃce would like to thank the Consulate-General of Japan in San Francisco,Japan External Trade Organiza on (JETRO) San Francisco Oﬃce and New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organiza on (NEDO) Silicon Valley, without whom this event would not have been possible.

PAST EVENTS

Fellowships for Research in Japan
JSPS Booth at the 253rd American Chemical Society Na onal Mee ng & Exposi on
JSPS will con nue to promote fellowships anddeepen networks at large interna onal research
conferences.
For more informa on about upcoming info sessions, as well as fellowship eligibility and other details, please contact the JSPS San Francisco Oﬃce:
fellowships@jspsusa-sf.org or visit us at our website:h p://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-fellow/
From April 2-4 2017, JSPS San Francisco presented a booth at the 253rd American Chemical
Society (ACS) Na onal Mee ng & Exposi on in San
Francisco. Though JSPS San Francisco has madespot appearances at the ACS mee ng in the past
years to present JSPS fellowship programs, this was
the first year to join as an exhibitor, aiming to promote fellowships to a larger audience and expanding interna onal networks.
Over 14,000 par cipants a ended, not only US
scholars but researchers from all over the world, inboth academia and industry, in all areas of chemical
research. More than 170 researchers visited the
JSPS booth over 3 days seeking detailed informa on about JSPS fellowships.

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JSPS SF Newsle er | Vol. 43

NAFSA 2017 Annual Conference

On May 30-31, JSPS San Francisco joined the
NAFSA 2017 Annual Conference & Expo in Los
Angeles, California. The annual NAFSA conferenceis a large-scale interna onal educa on forum
which is a ended by more than one million educators and other stakeholders all over the world.
Par cipants learn the latest trends in higher educa on by visi ng and a ending the various sessions and seminars. In addi on, NAFSA oﬀers agreat interna onal networking opportunity foruniversi es searching for ins tu onal partnerships.
Staﬀ members of JSPS San Francisco visitedbooths to collect informa on related to universies and educa onal organiza ons, and par cipated in several educa onal sessions to broaden
their understanding of current issues in educaon.

Fellowships for Research in Japan
Informa onal Session & Networking at the University of California, San Francisco
For the first me in ten years, JSPS San Francisco held fellowship informa on and networking
sessions at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). With the generous help of The Oﬃceof Career & Professional Development, nearly 30
par cipants gathered at the UCSF Parnassus andMission Bay Campuses to learn about fully-funded
fellowships to Japan and connect with fellow researchers on June 21, 2017.

professors in Medicine, Biochemistry and Bioengineering, among others. UCSF administrators also
a ended to learn about the fellowship programs.

The sessions drew a variety of researchers at
diﬀerent career stages from diﬀerent fields, including late-term doctoral students, postdocs and3

JSPS SF Newsle er | Vol. 43(Con nued from page 3)

JSPS would like to thank JSPS fellowshipalumni Kathy Giacomini (UCSF Professor, Department of Bioengineering and Therapeu c Sciences)and Amanda Herberger (UCSF Postdoctoral Research Scholar, Department of Endocrinology), forsharing their experiences researching in Japan.
Their talks were the highlights of the sessions,providing valuable insight through their first-handexperiences.
JSPS also thanks UCSF-based JSPS Postdoctoral Fellows from Japan, Takeshi Yoneshiro(Department of Cell and Tissue Biology, Diabetes
Center), Tatsuya Tsukui (Department of Medicine,Lung Biology Center) and Junji Suzuki(Department of Physiology) for their par cipa onin the short networking event following the session. They shared viewpoints about the state ofresearch in Japan and made connec ons that
could lead to interna onal and interdisciplinary
research collabora ons.
JSPS San Francisco will con nue to hold regular networking info sessions at universi esaround the Bay Area, and welcome all interested
researchers to a end.
For more informa on about upcoming info
sessions, as well as fellowship eligibility and otherdetails, please contact the JSPS San Francisco
Oﬃce: fellowships@jspsusa-sf.org or visit us at
our website: h p://www.jsps.go.jp/english/efellow/

PAST INFORMATION SESSIONS
When

Where

April 2-4, 2017

ACS Na onal Mee ng & Exposi on

April 8, 2017

University of California, Berkeley

June 21, 2017

University of California, San Francisco

JSPS San Francisco will continue to hold informational sessions at universities on the West Coast.
Please check our website for the most updated information: http://www.jspsusa-sf.org/fellowships.html

4JSPS SF Newsle er | Vol. 43

UPCOMING EVENTSAUGUST
Japanese Researcher Gathering
August 5 2017
1:30pm - 5:30pm
David Brower Center
2150 Allston Way Berkeley CA 94704

OCTOBER
JSPS Fellowship Informa on Session
University of Washington
Details coming soon

JSPS Fellowship Informa on Session
University of California, Los Angeles
Details coming soon

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JSPS SF Newsle er | Vol. 43

INTERVIEW

JSPS FELLOWU.S.

KENICHI SHIMADA
2017- | JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow for Research Abroad
2015- | Postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School
2006-2015 | Ph.D. student at Columbia University
2006 | Research Assistant at Hubit Genomix, Inc.
2003-2005 | Master’s student at the University of Tokyo
1999-2003 | Undergraduate student at the University of Tokyo

Kenichi Shimada is a JSPS Postdoctoral
Fellow for Research Abroad. He has worked in
the Laboratory of Systems Pharmacology,
advised by Dr. Timothy Mitchison, at Harvard
Medical School since November 2015.
Kenichi came to the United States when
he joined a PhD program at Columbia
University in 2006, where he studied themechanism of cell death regula on in cancer
cells in the laboratory of Dr. Brent
Stockwell. A er his PhD, Kenichi decided tomove from cancer research to understanding
other complex diseases with equally unmet
medical needs. In our bodies, damaged ordying cells recruit circula ng blood cells andini ate an event called inflamma on. While
inflamma on is resolved in most cases when
the damaged cells are cleared, sustaineds muli causing cell death for long periods

6cons tu vely ac vate inflamma on and cancause serious diseases, such as cancers or
diabetes. Kenichi has studied liver injuries
induced by drug treatment as a model system
to study such diseases induced by chronic
inflamma on.
Kenichi’s long-term scien fic goal is tounderstand how age-associated chronic
diseases such as cancers, cardiovasculardiseases, or diabetes can be cured. He has
tackledthese
problems using
experimental andcomputa onal approaches.

(Con nued on page 7)

JSPS SF Newsle er | Vol. 43(Con nued from page 6)

Q1. Why did you choose the U.S. to conduct
your research?
The comple on of the first humangenome sequencing was announced in 2003. I
only had a few years’ research experience as amaster student in Dr. Ryoichi Matsuda’s lab at
the University of Tokyo (UT) then, but I could
see that technological innova on brought
rapid changes to the way we see biology. To
keep up with such changes, I desired to gain
high-throughput experimental techniques,
such as microarray and chemical library
screening, as well as to analyze the massive
data generated by myself. A er I finished mymasters, I made a dras c decision to not
con nue my work in Japan and decided to
study in the US, where such a field (nowcalled “systems biology”) seems to be themost developed in the world. A er I trained
as a programmer at Hubit Genomix, Inc., aJapanese biotech venture, for half a year, I
joined a PhD program in Biological Sciences atColumbia University in New York in Fall 2006.

I recall that my enthusiasm for research
was already present before coming to the US,
but I learned how to eﬀec vely tackle
biologically important challenges in the PhD
program, which drives me to stay in academia
now. A er finishing my PhD, I s ll wanted to
con nue my journey to explore systems
biology of human diseases, and I began
working at Harvard Medical School in 2015.

Q2. What is your impression of the research
environment in the U.S.?

I struggled to adjust to the language andculture during the first few years, but myresearch environment was greatly improved
since I learned how to communicate science
with other researchers. Nowadays, highprofile journals require that our hypotheses
be supported using mul ple technologies fortheir publica ons. Since science has become
very complex and it is nearly impossible forjust one researcher to perform every
experiment, we should strive to work closelywith other researchers. I think that labs
produc vely conduc ng mul disciplinary
research are successful in encouraging
researchers to collaborate without feelingbarriers between them, and I have enjoyedsuch an atmosphere since I came to the US.

One’s impression of the research
environment may also depend on whom you
work with. I must say that I am very fortunatethat both my PhD and postdoc advisers arevery suppor ve of my career advancement. I
am o en reminded that the postdoc period is
not only the me to publish work in goodjournals, but also a great me to build
networks, which will be of great help upon
becoming independent.

(Con nued on page 8)

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JSPS SF Newsle er | Vol. 43

Q3. How do you take advantage of yourexperiences in the U.S. and apply it toyour research or career?
From my own experience leading a few
collabora ve projects in the past, I am
convinced that I should work with a teamwhen possible, as collabora on tends to be
more eﬃcient and influen al when successful.
However, making collabora on produc ve
can be tricky some mes. To be a goodcollaborator, we should know well our

8research subjects and our skills. We should
always ask ourselves what is the best way tosolve our problems in order to find the rightcollaborator. Thus, collabora on may cost us
energy and me. But in the long run, I believethat we will be able to make a greater impact
on the world by making the most of thepower of community. I have been trying toprove this hypothesis in Boston, the biggest
research community in the world, and I am
grateful to JSPS for enabling me to take thisexci ng opportunity here.

JSPS SF Newsle er | Vol. 43

NEWS FROM JAPANESE UNIVERSITIESIndustry‐UCB‐UEC Workshop 2017
(IUUWS 2017)
The Industry-UCB-UEC Workshop 2017
(IUUWS 2017) was held on 27-28 March 2017 at
the University of Electro-Communica ons (UEC),
Chofu, Tokyo, with par cipants from industry, University of California, Berkeley (UCB), and UEC.
The workshop was inspired by a generalagreement signed by UCB and UEC to promotejoint research and educa on on 25 September
2015. Notably, the workshop focused on establishing closer industrｙ-academia collabora ve
links to establish an innova ve social pla orm forthe realiza on of Society 5.0—a major pillar of the“5th Science and Technology Basic Plan”, proposed by the Council for Science, Technology andInnova on, Cabinet Oﬃce, Government of Japan
in 2016.
The workshop was opened by Dr. Takashi Fukuda, the President of UEC, who welcomed thedelegates from industry and UCB, and gave his full
support to the goals of the workshop and the UCB-UEC agreement.

for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics organiza on. The workshop was closed by Kazushi
Nakano (Member of the Board of Directors, Educa on and Interna onal Strategy, UEC), who expressed apprecia on for the speakers’ talks and“looks forward to building on the success of thismee ng and organizing the workshop again in
2018.”
Over 50 par cipants a ended the workshop.

Technical Sessions at IUUWS 2017:
 Robo cs and Engineering for High-Quality Life
Services Bio-Engineering Semiconductor Materials and Systems
 Space Science / Earth Science Introduc on of UEC Research Ac vi es
 Energy Conserva on / Renewable Energy

Next, Mr. Naoki Saito, Deputy
Director General, Ministry of Educaon, Culture, Sports, Science andTechnology (MEXT) gave a plenary
talk on government policy and research trends in Japan. This was followed by a keynote presenta on by
Dr. Haruo Takeda, Corporate Oﬃcer,
Hitachi, Ltd.
The remainder of the workshop
consisted of six technical sessions(listed below) and a panel discussion
on innova on for a sustainable society. The aim was to dra a proposal

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JSPS SF Newsle er | Vol. 43

Interna onal exchanges between University of North
Texas and Shimane University in Nano‐technology

10

University of North Texas graduate Dr. Jie Lin graduatedfrom presen ng at the seminar.

Prof. Neogi and Prof. Fujita visi ng the JSPS Tokyo oﬃce toreport the success of the student exchange program.

The Nanotechnology Project Center, Center
for Integrated Research in Science, at Shimane
University par cipated in interna onal exchanges from February 6 through February 9 2017,invi ng Prof. Arup Neogi of the University ofNorth Texas to Shimane University. Prof. Neogi(former chair of the US JSPS Alumni Associa on)
has been contribu ng to interna onal student
exchanges ac vely since 2006 by sending students to Shimane University with aid from the
Na onal Science Founda on (NSF) in the US and
JSPS. Three interna onal exchanges and coopera ve research projects have produced four doctors each at Shimane University and University ofNorth Texas. There have been many other posive results of the research exchanges that areespecially worth men oning: a student (fromUniversity of North Texas who had joined theinterna onal exchange program at Shimane University) founded an ultrasonic diagnosis technology venture company in the US called
Echonovus.

On February 8, the Nanotechnology ProjectCenter gave an “Open seminar for Nanotechnology” jointly with a strategic researchgroup at Shimane University, en tled:“Establishment of a cross-disciplinary hub center
to develop unique medical technologies”. In theseminar, Prof. Neogi gave a lecture following agree ng by Dr. Yukikuni Akishige, a board member, and introduc on of an exchange program
between Shimane University and University ofNorth Texas by Prof. Yasuhisa Fujita, director of
Nanotechnology Project Center.
In the lecture, Prof. Neogi introduced thedevelopment of tunable ultrasonic lenses by using a meta-material with ar ficially controlledcharacteris cs which contains a ferroelectric
substance originally developed at Shimane University.
Prof. Neogi also introduced I-Corps, a Naonal Science Founda on program which supports researchers u lizing technology developedat universi es for the founda on of venture busi-

JSPS SF Newsle er | Vol. 43(Con nued from page 10)

ness. The I-Corps is a program in which membersof an innova on team comprised of a Chief Researcher (a university professor), Entrepreneurial
Lead (a graduate student) and a Mentor (an entrepreneur), build a business model and plan,
aiming at commercial applica on of the research.
The aforemen oned Echonovus company was
founded as a result of this program. The membersof Shimane University who a ended the seminar
were very impressed with this new and informave story.

Following the lecture, Dr. Shinya Tsukada, alecturer in the Faculty of Educa on, Shimane University presented his research on evalua on offerroelectric substances through Raman spectroscopy. Then University of North Texas graduate
Assistant Professor Dr. Jie Lin at the Nanotechnology Project Center presented her research on
nano-sized zinc oxide powder. A lively discussion
ensued, contribu ng to future research exchanges.

Cu ng‐Edge Interna onal Collabora ve Research in Tohoku
University
Taiichi Otsuji, Professor
RIEC: Research Ins tute of Electrical Communica on
Purpose and Background of the Research
From 2016, Tohoku University has
conducted research on “Crea on of 2D-atomically-thin-layered
heterojunc ons
and
their
applica ons to novel terahertz photonic devices”
under 5-year JSPS KAKENHI Grant-in-Aid for
Scien fic Research (S). This research project aims
to create con nuous hetero-epitaxial growth (C-H
-Epi-G) technology for two-dimensional van der
Waals (2D-vdW) heterojunc on systems, and todevise highly eﬃcient various terahertz (THz)func onal devices by exploi ng unprecedented
physical phenomena exhibited among theircomplex quantum systems governed byelectrons, photons, plasmons, as well as phonons(Fig. 1).
THz is an unexplored electromagne cfrequency band in which conven onal electronic
and photonic devices cannot operate well due tothe substan al physicallimita ons
origina ng
from the transit me delays and/or phonon
decoherence. In such a situa on, graphene, acarbon atomic monolayer sheet, has a racted
a en on thanks to its extremely high carriertransport proper es of rela vis c Dirac Fermions.
Recently, reserach on atomically thin vdW
heterostructures consis ng of graphene, h-BN,
and/or transi on-metal dichalcogenide (TMD) like
MoS2 has been emerging. We found that a gateddouble-graphene-layered(G-DGL) heterostructure
can mediate THz photon- and plasmon-assisted
resonant tunneling between the GLs, enabling
various func onali es in the THz domain withhigher than ever quantum eﬃciencies by trial
error (Fig. 1). The key to producing them inprac cal engineering is to develop the C-H-Epi-G
technology.
(Con nued on page 12)11

JSPS SF Newsle er | Vol. 43(Con nued from page 11)

Research Organiza on
To conduct this cu ng-edge research
project we organized a high-profile team ofcollabora ve research groups: Prof. T. Otsuji’sgroup at RIEC, Tohoku Univ. (PI and two Co-PIs,
device modeling, process, and experiments),
Assoc. Prof. H. Fukidome’s group at RIEC, Tohoku
Univ. (Co-PI, growth and characteriza on of highquality epitaxial graphene), Assoc. Prof. M.
Ryzhii’s group at Univ. Aizu (Co-PI, device
modeling), and Dr. T. Suzuki’s group at NTT Basic
Research Laboratory (Co-PI, C-H-Epi-G of h-BN
and TMDs with on graphene). Interna onal
collabora ons with partners in the US andEurope (Fig. 2) are also important core parts ofthis research organiza on.

Expected Research Achievements and Scien fic
Impacts
Introduc on of unprecedented physicalmechanisms of complex quantum systems in the
G-DGL is unique and has enabled ultra-highly
eﬃcient THz func onali es. If this study issuccessful, 100-Gbit/s-class ultra-fast THz wirelesscommunica ons, such as Transfer-Jet that cantransfer ultra-high-capacity media instantly, areexpected to revolu onize to the future ofubiquitous ICT socie es.

Fig. 1 Nonlinear complex quantum phenomena in
G-DGL vdW heterojunctions and their applications to THz functional devices.

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JSPS SF Newsle er | Vol. 43

World’s first stem cell treatment for lethal gene muta on shows“disappoin ng” but promising results（Research Planning Oﬃce, Hiroshima University）
The first ever study assessing how pa ents
with a "gain of func on" muta on of the STAT1
gene respond to stem cell transplanta on has
taken place.
It involved 15 young pa ents, from nine
diﬀerent countries, each suﬀering a range ofcomplica ons caused by the gene's muta on.
Of these, only six survived a regime of stem
cell transplanta on - with five completely cured
and disease free by the study's conclusion.
The study was carried out by Dr. Satoshi
Okada (Hiroshima University), Professor Jennifer
Leiding (University of Florida), Professor Tomohiro Morio (Tokyo Medical and Dental University),and Professor Troy Torgerson (University ofWashington).
Dr. Okada, who first discovered the STAT1
gain of func on muta on in 2011, says that,"Overall, this result is disappoin ng - but the fact
five pa ents were cured proves that treatment
with stem cells can work, and we now need tolearn from these 15 individual cases".
The STAT1 gene plays a vital role in the
body's immune system. Rare muta ons can leadto
STAT1's
over-ac va on
(GOF)
and
"autoimmunity" where the body starts a acking
its own healthy ssues.
While the majority of pa ents aﬄicted typically show mild to moderate symptoms involving
fungal (mostly Candida), bacterial, and viral infecons - about 10% of cases are severe and life
threatening.
Un l now, developing suitable treatments
has been challenging; e.g. an -fungal drugs temporarily treat the symptoms but not the source
muta on, and immunosuppressive therapies
o en do more harm than good by knocking out

already overburdened immune systems.
With only one confirmed case of a suﬀerer
being successfully cured using stem cell transplanta on, prior to this study, researchers are
keen to build an understanding of best prac ce inorder to oﬀer real hope for the typically young
suﬀerers of this condi on.
The 15 selected pa ents were sourced via aninterna onal appeal to transplant centers andconsor ums. Their ages ranged from 13 months
to 33 years at the me of treatment. Screening by
HU researchers confirmed that the STAT1-GOF
muta on was present in each and was the sourceof their ailments.
Treatment was carried out independently bycenters across the world, where Chemotherapy
was used to eradicate the host's bone marrow
the source of disease-figh ng blood cells in ahealthy body and in these pa ents, of the damaging STAT1 muta on.
Healthy stem cell cultures, sourced from donors, were then transplanted into the host, withthe aim of recons tu ng their bone marrow to amuta on-free disease-figh ng state.
The researchers suspect three reasons forthe 40% success rate:- A er transplanta on, the number ofhealthy cells introduced diminished with me.
This provided an opportunity for host bone marrow to reform - along with the damaging STAT1
gene muta on. The body subsequently rejecteddonor transplants.
- The type of chemotherapy played a role.
Some were par cularly harsh killing pa ent ssue
to the extent that mul ple organ failure occurred,(Continued on page 14)

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JSPS SF Newsle er | Vol. 43(Continued from page 13)

and serious infec ons took hold as their weakened immune system was sha ered further.
- Age. Younger pa ents generally faredmuch be er, perhaps due to their immune system being stronger, and having spent less me
under the onslaught of infec on.
In response, the researchers have made several proposals for improving this treatment.
Because most of the pa ents have mild tomoderate ailments, only those suﬀering from severe symptoms should undergo this treatment.
In addi on, the chemotherapy dosage
should be reduced. Those who received low-dose
chemotherapy reacted be er.
However, a balance must be struck. Lowdose chemotherapy may not eradicate host bonemarrow to the extent required for its recondi on-

This image shows the prognosis of 15 pa ents atcomple on of treatment

14

ing, thus increasing the chance of transplant rejec on. With this in mind, support treatment may
be required to neutralize host an bodies and prevent a acks of introduced stem cells.
Finally, due to the rela ve success seen inyounger pa ents, stem cell transplanta on should
occur at as early an age as possible. Due to recent
advancements in STAT1-GOF diagnosis, early detec on is now a very real possibility, hopefully
leading to greater success rates, and less suﬀering
for those carrying this poten ally devasta ng muta on.
Full bibliographic informa on:
Jennifer W. Leiding, Satoshi Okada, et al. Hematopoie c stem cell transplanta on in pa ents with
Gain of Func on STAT1 Muta on. The Journal ofAllergy and Clinical Immunology. 2017.

This is one of many phenotypes associated withthis poten ally lethal muta on.

JSPS SF Newsle er | Vol. 43

JSPS STAFF VOICES
Tips from the Local Staﬀ:
See ya!
And other, more polite ways to say goodbye
Saying goodbye can be incredibly awkward,
especially if you aren’t armed with a good set ofphrases with which to do so.
Importantly, goodbye phrases diﬀer depending on the situa on. Take a stab at the mini-quiz
below and see how you do.
Scenario 1: You’re leaving the oﬃce for the day
and saying goodbye to co-workers. You say:a) Farewellb) See you tomorrowc) Take care
Answer: b) See you tomorrow
Probably the most common end-of-workgree ng. If it’s Friday, don’t forget to say ‘see you
Monday!’・Farewell has a more literary, drama c tone, andis certainly not used in casual daily situa ons. It
also connotes finality and is not appropriate forthe oﬃce se ng where you see your co-workers
every day.
・Take care implies a longer absence from seeing
the person you’re speaking to (in fact, it is o en
used when you will likely never see that person
again, like when saying goodbye to a cashier at astore or restaurant). Also, since you are the one
leaving the oﬃce, you are the one who should be‘taking care’ (on your way home, etc.), not yourco-workers who remain in the oﬃce.

Scenario 2: You’re at a recep on and you’re saying
goodbye to a researcher you met earlier thatevening. You say:a) See ya!
b) Good luckc) Great mee ng you
Answer: c) Great mee ng you
This may be confusing because it sounds a
lot like ‘great to meet you,’ which you may say
when you first meet someone. Yet his phrase isslightly diﬀerent and is a reitera on of your pleasure at being able to meet the researcher.
・See ya! is too casual for this situa on. It should
be reserved for using with friends at par es or
sports prac ce. It connotes a certain degree ofcloseness to the person to whom you are speaking, and in some cases as implies that you will, in
fact, see them again.
・Good luck could make sense if you know they
are giving a presenta on or approaching someother challenge in the near future, but outside ofthese situa ons, it’s rather unnatural.
Scenario 3: You’re at the airport saying goodbye toa friend who is going to study abroad. You say:a) Have a good dayb) Keep in touchc) Take it easy
(Con nued on page 16)

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JSPS SF Newsle er | Vol. 43

Answer: b) Keep in touch
A great phrase for saying goodbye when you
won’t see someone for a long me but s ll want tomaintain communica on and friendship. One noteof warning: it can some mes be used lightly, without genuine interest in keeping in touch.
・Have a good day is a great phrase for daily interac ons, but not an appropriate phrase for saying
goodbye to someone who you won’t be seeing for along me.
・Take it easy is also not appropriate for an airport

farewell. This phrase is also more casual, usedamongst friends, family, co-workers, or even between strangers if the situa on is casual enough.
How did you do? Of course, there are many
more ways to say goodbye, all with their own parcular usages. The safest, most versa le way to say
goodbye is simply, ‘bye,’ which can be used in almost any situa on, or in combina on with some ofthe op ons introduced above.
By Lauren Nakasato, Liaison Officer

UPCOMING APPLICATION DEADLINES: FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMSApplica on deadline to JSPS Tokyo Oﬃce:

August 28 ‐ September 1, 2017 *Postdoctoral Fellowship for Research in Japan- Standard Program (12-24 months)
h ps://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-fellow/applica on-18.html

Invita onal Fellowship for Research in Japan- Short-term S [E] (7-30 days)- Short-term[ S] (14-60 days)- Long-term [L] (2-10 months)
h ps://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-inv/apply18.html

Applica on deadline to JSPS Tokyo Oﬃce:

October 2 ‐ 6, 2017 *Postdoctoral Fellowship for Research in Japan- Short-term Program (1-12 months)
h ps://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-fellow/applica on-18.html*The deadline is for the host ins tu on to submit the applica on to JSPS Tokyo; generally, applicants must
submit documents to host ins tu on 1-2 months prior to this deadline.

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JSPS SF Newsle er | Vol. 43

OFFICE STAFF SWITCH
Farewell to Our Deputy Director and Interna onal Program Intern
Junji Oshima (Deputy Director from the University of Tokyo)
In July 2015, I came to the JSPS San Francisco
Oﬃce and though I tried to live every day to its
fullest, two years have passed in the blink of aneye. I recall so many things I wanted to do at first,
but I could do only a small frac on of them.
In my work here, I considered deeply therela onships between the US universi es and ourfunding agency, coordina on among the Japanese
universi es which comprise JUNBA (Japanese
University Network in the Bay Area), and therela ons with Japanese researcher communi es. I
felt the importance of pu ng myself in someone
else’s shoes.

Finally I am very thankful to Director Tamiya
and former Director Izutsu who gave me detailed
guidance. In addi on, the advisors, local staﬀ andinterna onal program associates with whom I
have worked have supported me in many ways
and I managed to finish my term successfully.
I would like to take this moment to say thankyou.

I was also inspired by exchanges with ac ve
Japanese researchers in the US. Although not somany Japanese researchers are ac ve in US
universi es, their performance is excellent. I think
this is proof that Japan’s research capacity is at ahigh level. I think it is important to demonstrate
this ability to the world.
When I return to Japan, I would like to takeadvantage of my knowledge and experience here
and approach my work from a broader
perspec ve.

Nobutake Niita (Interna onal Program Intern from KEK)First of all, I would like to express my apprecia on
to all of my colleagues who supported my stay here
in US. It was truly an amazing one, where I was able
to work in variety of situa ons with execu ves, sciensts and administra ons of universi es and laboratories to promote our long history of science and technology coopera on between Japan and the US.
Through this experience I came to have a stronger understanding of the business culture and theways of thinking here, and I am confident that theseexperiences will give me a boost in my work back at
KEK. I hope that this wonderful opportunity will connue for Japan’s future staﬀ who aim to work to further interna onal collabora ons.

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JSPS SF Newsle er | Vol. 43

New Interna onal Program Associates
Takahiro Oyama (To ori University)
Takahiro Oyama is excited to join the JSPS San
Francisco oﬃce as a par cipant in the JSPS Overseas Internships for University Administra ve
Staﬀ Program. In his year here, he is in charge ofadministra ve aﬀairs for the Japanese University
Network in the Bay Area (JUNBA) along with coordina ng workshops for administra ve staﬀ of Japanese universi es in the U.S. He is also in chargeof publishing the JSPS newsle er. Last year, heworked at the JSPS headquarters in Tokyo, where
he coordinated mul lateral research collaboraon between research ins tu ons in Japan andother countries. Originally a staﬀ of the To ori
University , he will work with the JSPS San Francisco for one year from his start date in April. During

his stay, he aims to learn about the Englishteaching curriculum in the U.S to learn how to
improve university students’ TOEFL skills. Also, helooks forward to deepening his cultural understanding by visi ng the historic places in California.

Kosuke Takahashi (Shimane University)
Kosuke Takahashi joined the JSPS San Francisco Oﬃce this April. He is in charge of accoun ng
and maintaining the oﬃce website. Last year, heworked in the Interna onal Policy Planning Division at the JSPS headquarters in Tokyo and was incharge of the Interna onal Joint Research Program and the Interna onal Prize for Biology. He is
originally a staﬀ of Shimane University, and will
work at JSPS SF for one year under the JSPS Overseas Internships for University Administra ve
Staﬀ Program. During his stay here, he aims tolearn about Ins tu onal Research (IR) at universies in the U.S. Also, he looks forward to enjoying

the vast nature and delicious seafood of California.

Japan Society for the Promo on of Science (JSPS)
San Francisco Oﬃce
2001 Addison St., #260, Berkeley, CA 94704
Email: webmaster@jspsusa‐sf.org

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