JAPAN PRIZE NEWSTHE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
FOUNDATION OF JAPAN (JSTF)
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No. 15JANUARY 1996

American and Japanese Scientists Named as Laureatesof the 1996 (12th) Japan Prize
The Science and Technology Foundation of Japan (Chairman: Jiro
Kondo) announced that an American scientist, Dr. Charles Kuen
Kao, 62, who helped to pioneer research on wide-band, low-loss
optical fiber communications, and a Japanese doctor of medicine, Dr.
Masao Ito, 67, who helped to elucidate the functional principles andneural mechanisms of the cerebellum, have been named as laureatesof the 1996 (12th) Japan Prize. The two scientists will be honored
during a Prize presentation ceremony scheduled to be held at the
National Theatre in Tokyo on Friday, April 26, 1996. Both will
receive a certificate of merit, commemorative medal and a cash
award of ¥50 million (about US$500,000).
Dr. Kao is Vice Chancellor and President of The Chinese

University of Hong Kong and Dr. Ito is the System Director-Generalof Frontier Research Systems at The Institute of Physical andChemical Research (RIKEN) as well as President of the Science
Council of Japan.
A total of 238 nominees for the 1996 prizes were recommended by
top scientists and academics from around the world, comprising 86
nominees in the category of Information, Computer and Communication Systems and 152 nominees in the category of Neuroscience.
The Japan Prize was created to commend scientists andtechnologists throughout the world for major scientific andtechnological achievements that advance peace and the prosperity of
mankind.

j Category of Information, Computer and Communication Systems \Reasons for Award: For pioneering research on wide-band,
low-loss optical fiber communications
Dr. Charles K. Kao (U .S.A.)
Vice-Chancellor and President, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
The construction of information and communication
network, which is expected tobring forth an extensive social
innovation from the end of
this century toward the
beginning of the next, owes
very much to the recent
progress in the communication technologies. Above
all , the development of
optical fiber communication
technology, which allows totransmit a large quantity of information at reduced loss , hasintensively promoted the progress. The optical communication
system is composed of optical fiber to transmit light, semiconductor
laser to emit light, photo diode to detect light, and various optic
components to control the flow of light signals. In particular, theoptical fiber has provided significant motive power to the growth of
optical communications, owing to its low loss and enormous
capacity of signal transmission in the single mode fiber, andexcellent mechanical properties such as small diameter, andadequate tensile and bending strength.

The research on optical communications has been substantiallystarted in 1960 by the invention of laser, and followed by studies
simultaneously in three facets: light source, transmission line andlight detector. The laureate, Dr. Kao reported, in a paper publishedin 1966 in collaboration with Mr. G. A. Hockham, a foresight, in
concrete terms, for the potential of massive optical communications
based on single mode optical fiber, through estimation oftransmission capacity of single mode optical fiber and transmission
distance derived from the magnitude of expected loss and acceptable
light power. Subsequently, Corning, Inc. developed low-loss opticalfiber in 1970, to make a long stride to the commercialization of lowloss, large-capacity optical fiber communication and to open theway to the realization of Dr. Kao's foresight. In this way, theachievement of Dr. Kao and his coworker has played a leading andpioneering role in a series of efforts for exploiting transmission lines
based on fiber optics, and provided tremendous impact to the further
development of optical communication technology, acquiring highesteem in the international communities.
As mentioned in the above, the candidate, based on his foresightfor the potential capability of optical fiber to transmit broadband
information at low loss and on experimental demonstration of its
feasibility, has exerted a sizable impact to the exploitation of opticalfiber communications, which is currently under way to the world
wide applications.
In conclusion, Dr. Charles K. Kao is a meritorious recipient
deserving the 1996 (12th) Japan Prize.
(Born in November 1933, 62 years old)

JAPAN PRIZE
Category of Neuroscience
Reasons for Award: Elucidation of the functional principles and neuralmechanisms of the cerebellum
Dr. Masao Ito (Japan)
System Director-General, Frontier Research System, The Institute of Physicaland Chemical Research (AIKEN); President, Science Council of Japan

Dr. Masao Ito was born inNagoya, Japan. He graduatedfrom The University ofTokyo School of Medicine
and received his M.D. in
1953 and his Ph.D. in 1959.
As his doctoral dissertation,
he worked out the electricalactivity of spinal ganglion
cells with intracellular microelectrode. During his postdoctoral training in Dr. John
Eccles' laboratory at theAustralian National University ( 1959-62) he studied the ionicpermeability of inhibitory post-synaptic membranes of spinal
motoneurons and established the theory that the ionic permeability
depends on the size of hydrated ions.
From 1962 he systematically analyzed the neuronal circuits of the
medulla and the cerebellum at The University of Tokyo School of
Medicine and discovered the inhibitory action of the cerebellar
Purkinje cells. At that time, it was believed that only interneurons
with short axons exhibited an inhibitory action in the spinal cord andbrain, and no one imagined that the Purkinje cells, which are the big
projection neurons that provide sole output from the cerebellar
cortex, exhibited an inhibitory action upon the target neurons. Thus
his discovery had great impact on our understandings of themechanism and role of inhibitory synapses in the spinal cord andbrain. He also found, in collaboration with Dr. Kunihiko Obata, thatthe chemical transmitter substance that mediates Purkinje cell
inhibition is y -aminobutyric acid. This finding established the factthat y -aminobutyric acid acts as a chemical transmitter substance invertebrate central nervous systems. Then he accomplished a seriesof systematic researches on cerebellar neuronal circuits, the resultsof which were published in the book "The Cerebellum as a Neuronal
Machine" (Springer-Verlag, 1967) co-authored by Drs. Eccles andSzentagothai.
In 1970 he found that a part of the cerebellum, the flocculus, has adirect connection with a basic reflex circuit, the vestibulo-ocularreflex. Further analyses of this connection led his proposal in 1972
of a hypothesis that the flocculus is the center for adaptive control
that modifies the dynamics of the vestibulo-ocular reflex by meansof error signals from the retina. This hypothesis states that the
cerebellum functions as a device that provides reflexes withadaptability, and opened a new era of research on the cerebellar
mechanisms. Thereafter he and his colleagues succeeded in proving
this hypothesis by various experiments. These achievements
elucidated the general principle of mechanisms of cerebellar motor
learning, for which he was awarded the Fujiwara prize in 1981.
The "flocculus hypothesis" on the adaptive control of thevestiburo-ocular reflex shared a basic operational concept with the

Marr-Albus theory of cerebellar function which assumed a specialclass of synaptic plasticity in the cerebellar cortex and which
thereby proved the learning capability of cerebellar cortical neuralcircuits. At that time many eminent experimentalists had attempted
to prove the synaptic plasticity hypothesis in vain. In 1982 hesucceeded in discovering a synaptic plasticity, the long-term
depression, in the neural circuits of the cerebellar cortex . The longterm depression is the basic of the learning capability of cerebellar
cortical neural circuits, and the discovery of this synaptic plasticity
provided us a basic understanding of the mechanisms of cerebellar
motor learning. He received the Japan Academy Prize and theImperial Award in 1986 for this discovery.
In 1984 he published a book "The Cerebellum and NeuralControl" (Raven Press, New York), wherein he compiled knowledge
on the structure and function of cerebellar neural circuits andformulated general principles along which the cerebellum works.
Then he conjectured that these principles are applicable to higher
brain functions, such as cognition, and provided a theoretical basis
for recent noninvasive methods of measurement of human brain
activity. It is now generally accepted that the cerebellum plays animportant role both in motor and cognitive functions.
In 1989 he moved to the Frontier Research System in the Instituteof Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN) and organized newlaboratories to study molecular processes of the long-term
depression. He and his collaborators elucidated roles of intracellularsecond messengers such as cGMP that lead to phosphorylation of
glutamate receptors. Using knowledge from molecular/cellularresearch, they succeeded in inducing a reversible learning deficit bytemporally inactivating the long-term depression. This achievement
is the first direct demonstration of a causal relationship between the
cerebellar long-term depression and motor learning. He has been
President of both the Neuroscience Society of Japan and the
Physiological Society of Japan for many years and, since 1994, hastaken on the important responsibility of promoting the whole field of
scientific research as President of the Science Council of Japan. He
has also served as President of the International Brain Research
Organization and the International the Union of Physiological
Sciences. He has been elected to the Japan Academy, Royal Society,
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Armenian Academy of
Sciences and Russian Academy of Sciences.
As described, Dr. Ito's achievements which uncovered the designof the brain through analyses of structure and function of neuralnetworks have been truly outstanding, creative and the mostsuccessful representation of modern neuroscience research.
In conclusion, Dr. Masao Ito is a meritorious recipient deserving
the 1996 (12th) Japan prize.
(Born in December 1928, 67years old)

JAPAN PRIZE
Members of The 1996 (12th) Japan Prize
Selection Committee
Post

Name
ChairmanJiro Kondo

Chairman, The Science and Technology Foundation of Japan
Director-General, Research Institute of Innovative Technology
for the Earth

Selection Panel for Category of Information, Computerand Communication Systems
ChairmanHiroshi lnose

Director General, National Center for Science
Information Systems

Director General, National Institute for Advanced
Acting Chairman
Yasuharu Suematsu Interdisciplinary Research
Member
Hideo Aiso

Chairperson and Professor, Graduate School ofMedia and Governance, Keio University

MemberEiichi Goto

Professor, Faculty of Science, Kanagawa University

MemberYasuhiko Yasuda

Professor, School of Science & Engineering,
Waseda University

International Exchange Activities
The Science and Technology Foundation of Japan maintains a
close relationship with the Nobel Foundation in Sweden. Every year
it sends two Japanese students to the Stockholm International
Youth Science Seminar (SIYSS), an annual meeting held during theNobel Prize Week in early December sponsored by the Swedish
Federation of Young Scientists and supported by the Nobel
Foundation. The participants in the 1995 seminar were Mr. Hideyuki
Mieda, a second-year student at the Department of General
Education at the Medicine, Hokkaido University; and Mr. Satoshi
Nakazawa, a first-year doctor's course student majoring in electronicengineering at The University of Tokyo, The Faculty of Engineering.
Both reports follow .

Hideyuki Mieda
Department of General Education at the Medicine,
Hokkaido University
The climax of the Stockholm International Youth Science Seminarmust be participating in the Nobel Prize Awards Ceremony. How
wonderful it is for a young scientist to witness the most honorable
moment in science.
But if I were to be satisfied only with taking part in the ceremony,that would be to observe a formality alone. I could enlarge myexperience by understanding the achievements and the ways ofthinking of the laureates.
In this sense also, theseminar was significant.
For I had opportunities tolisten to the laureates'
lectures and to talk with
them.
When I spoke to them,full of eagerness , theyanswered all my questions. It was a moment ofsupremebliss for me. I
Dr. Mario J. Molina, winner of Nobel Prize for
could hardly distinguishchemistry and Mr. H. Mieda

Selection Panel for Neuroscience
Chairman
Tsutomu Hiroshige

Professor Emeritus, Hokkaido University

MemberYasuo Kakimoto

Professor Emeritus, Ehime University

Memberlchiro Kanazawa

Professor, Faculty of Medicine, The University ofTokyo

MemberKiyoshi Hama

Director General, Okazaki National ResearchInstitute, Institute for Physiological Sciences

MemberYasushi Miyashita

Professor, Faculty of Medicine, The University of
Tokyo

Chairman Jiro Kondo receives
the list of recommended candidates from Dr. Hiroshi lnose
and Dr. Tsutomu Hiroshige

any more between reality and dreaming.
The seminar was crowned by events related to the Nobel Prize these were the "flowers" - but there was also a concrete outcome.
The occasion bore fruit. That is to say, students from all over theworld communicated with one another. The culture of each wasdifferent, depending on their nationality. But there was an intellectual
atmosphere of having much in common during the time we were
together. I was stimulated by the differences of culture and ways ofthinking. And I felt we had a lot in common. Other participants musthave felt as I did. I think that is the reason why we became closer
friends during the seminar.

Satoshi Nakazawa
The University of Tokyo, The Faculty of Engineering
The Nobel Prize Awards
Ceremony ended . Next,
the Nobel Banquet washeld at the city hall . On
the stage at the hall there
were ballet and opera
performances and thenthe laureates made theirwonderful speeches. Everyone felt the emotion oftheatmosphere
andshared in the radiance of Mr. S. Nakazawa (Second from right) withthe occasion . Brilliant foreign st udents
tapestries were hung from the windows of the hall.
I closed my eyes to shut out the flash of the cameras, but I could
still see before me the scene of the laureates hugging each other indelight after the ceremony ended.
I thought to myself: This is one tapestry. Here are different people
from different cultures who have woven themselves into thattapestry as individual threads. And in the tapestry one sees a single
beautiful dream, as envisaged by Nobel as his contribution to thepeace and happiness of mankind.
I felt intense pleasure at being on the spot, and I hoped that we
could inherit the dream.

JAPAN PR~ZE
Foundation's Annual Science andTechnology Seminar Held in Fukuoka

Categories Selected
for the 1997 (13th) Japan Prize

A special annual seminar to discuss the general science andtechnology in plain language was held on November 30, 1995, inFukuoka, one of Japan's largest cities. This is the fourth year that
this seminar has been held in Fukuoka.
In Tokyo, the Foundation has held a monthly seminar for thegeneral public since March 1989. In this seminar, famous scientists
lecture about various topics in science and technology in plain
language to develop and disseminate information and ideas
regarding science and technology. The Tokyo seminar witnessed the68th meeting in December 1995 .
The Fukuoka version of the seminar was launced in 1990 as aresult of an agreement reached between the Foundation and the
Fukuoka City Municipal Office marking the establishment of the
Fukuoka Asian Culture Award.
The 1995 Fukuoka special seminar was held in the Fukuoka City
Women's Center, Amicas, attended by some 200 people. The lecturers
were delivered by Prof. Miki Wadachi of the Dept. of Physics,
Faculty of Science, The University of Tokyo; and Jiro Kondo,
President of the Foundation and Professor Emeritus, The Universityof Tokyo. Prof. Wadachi spoke of the developments of non-linear
sciences and the 21st century, and Prof. Kondo spoke about prediction
and counterplan - from forecast of an earthquake to the economy.

The Science and Technology Foundation of Japan has announced
the two categories for the 1997 (13th) Japan Prize. The categories
are "Systems Engineering for an Artifactual Environment" and"Biotechnology in Medicine."

Concepts of the Categories
Systems Engineering tor an Artifactual Environment
The world is composed of -- and human actions take place in -an environment of artifacts in modern society . Systems
engineering plays an important role in the creation andmanagement of artifacts for the sustainable development of an
artifactual environment, with a view to enhancing the welfare of
mankind .
"Systems Engineering for an Artifactual Environment" covers awide variety of technologies and knowledge systems for thecreation of an artifactual environment such as design engineering,product engineering, measuring and control engineering, robotics,
knowledge engineering , computational sciences , safety andreliability engineering , standardization , quality control engineeringand so on .
The 1997 Japan Prize will be awarded for achievement in theabove technologies and knowledge systems, or contribution toprogress of related basic disciplines and technologies.

Biotechnology in Medicine
Rapid progress in biotechnology has led to advances in medical
sciences, resulting in the development of new methods ofpreserving and improving human health . The prosperity of thehuman race in the 21st century and beyond will depend on ourability to wisely apply the fruits of medical research to theunderstanding of human diseases.
The 1997 Japan Prize will be awarded to the scientist who hasmade a significant contribution to medicine through a discovery in
the field of biotechnology including molecular biological technology
and organ transplantation that not only promotes an understandingof human diseases , but also markedly improves our ability toprevent, diagnose and treat those diseases.

The audience at the Fukuoka City Special
Seminar (upper)
Dr. M. Wadachi (right)
Chairman Jiro Kondo (lower)

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