Spring 2019

A news magazine presented by Hokkaido University

Litterae Populi Spring 201901

R ec ent Ne w s f rom
Hok k a ido Un iver sit yContents

03

Feature: Evolution

16

Refining: Theoretical Chemistry18

Alumni Interview

20

Letters from Ambassadors and Partners

22

140 Years of Challenge

24

Topics26

Campus Landscapes

04 Nitobe Education System
10 Hakodate Campus
14 Slavic-Eurasian Research Center

Satoshi Maeda
Professor, Faculty of Science

Litterae Populi
Litterae Populi is a bi-annual magazine
with the latest news about Hokkaido
University. Its name is Latin for “lettersof the poplar trees.”

Zensaku Yoshida
Dairy Farmer, Cow Artisan

Feature:Evolution

Hokkaido University has been forging a history for the more than
140 years since it was initially founded as Sapporo Agricultural
College. Remaining true to its heritage, the university has
continued to move forward and pursue learning in order to gain
new wisdom for the benefit of society.
This feature highlights three initiatives that are steadily
evolving as Japan enters a new era following the new emperor'saccession to the throne.

Litterae Populi 2019 Spring
Published by Public Relations Division
Kita 8, Nishi 5, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0808, JAPAN.
pr@oia.hokudai.ac.jp
https://www.global.hokudai.ac.jp
Edited by the Litterae Populi Planning and Editing Team
Cover photo by Akihito Yamamoto (HARE-BARE SHA-SHINN)
Photos by Hiromi Terashima (Kotoha-sha)
Production assisted by Morikatsu Sato (Morikatsu Sato Design Office)Printing by Iword Co., Ltd.
Cover photo taken at The Second Farm

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Litterae Populi Spring 2019

Photo of the Hokkaido University Museum

Litterae Populi Spring 201903

The Evolving Nitobe Education System
An exchange session at the Nitobe School Mentor Forum.

Nitobe Education System
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Litterae Populi Spring 2019

Hokkaido University launched Nitobe College in 2013 and Nitobe School in
2015. These educational programs, collectively called the Nitobe Education
System, were named after Dr. Inazo Nitobe, known as the first cosmopolitan inJapan and the self-proclaimed “bridge across the Pacific.” Inheriting his spirit,
the Nitobe Education System is continuing to evolve in order to foster a newgeneration of global leaders like Nitobe who will lead the way in this new era.

Litterae Populi Spring 201905

Feature: Evolution

Evolution | Nitobe Education System

Hokkaido University opened Nitobe College, a
special undergraduate program, in April 2013. This
interdisciplinary program open to students at theuniversity’s 12 undergraduate schools has offered courses
and events that are uniquely designed to develop global
perspectives and leadership skills.
Two years later, in April 2015, Nitobe School, aspecial graduate program, was launched. Open to students
of all the university’s 21 graduate schools, the program
has encouraged students to develop creative common
knowledge through intensive team-based learning withEnglish as the common language.
The college and the school are collectively called the
Nitobe Education System, and they have the shared goalof developing globally minded world citizens while at thesame time evolving independently of each other.
The university decided to combine the college andthe school in April 2019 to provide a more integrated
undergraduate and graduate curricula while leveraging
the best features of both programs. The merge is expected
to further enhance the efficiency and effectiveness ofeducation by promoting deeper interactions between theundergraduate and graduate levels, for example, by allowing
undergraduate students to take graduate courses according
to their progress in study and examining new courses thatwill bring undergraduate and graduate students together tofacilitate their interactions.

A New Initiative: The Two-Step Program
Nitobe College started to review its program in the 2017
academic year and reorganized it into a two-step program
consisting of the Foundation Program for first-year students
and the Honors Program for students from their second
year until graduation. This structure will be maintained in

the new program in the 2019 academic year.
In the one-year Foundation Program, students work tolearn the importance of leadership skills and enhance theirunderstanding of the international community, but theyfirst must pass an essay examination (approx. 600 words) in
April for provisional enrollment.
Provisionally enrolled students take Nitobe College
Foundation courses and discover their reasons to study
abroad based on their own interests and career goals. These
courses are designed to motivate students to think forthemselves about studying abroad by providing informationon the university’s overseas study programs and offering
the opportunity for students to listen to faculty members
and students who have experienced studying in a different
country.
Through these courses, which employ active learningtechniques, students also learn the importance of leadershipand teamwork skills, as they are divided into teams andengage in group discussions about what ideal leaders arelike and what qualities they should have. “Receiving
awareness-raising education immediately after enrollment
makes a huge difference in the students’ campus lives,”
says Professor Junji Yamaguchi, Vice-Principal of Nitobe
College and Nitobe School.
As well as taking these compulsory courses, students
must also acquire a certain number of Nitobe College points,
which are given when they participate in events sponsoredby the College, and they must achieve a certain level ofEnglish proficiency (TOEFL-iBT score of 61, TOEFL-ITP
score of 500). Students who satisfy these requirements are
officially enrolled in October.
After official enrollment, students must take Nitobe
Seminar courses, in which Fellows selected from Hokkaido
University alumni provide practical education. During

Students engage in a practical seminar with a Fellow during a Nitobe Seminar.

06

Litterae Populi Spring 2019the seminar course, each Fellow chooses a theme, suchas urban issues, environmental problems, or challenges
facing tourism. The course members are divided into teams
of approximately five students, and each team then does
research on the theme to propose a solution. Students workon their team’s concepts, perform onsite inspections, anddiscuss possible solutions before making their presentationsin front of all Nitobe College students in the last class.
Professor Yamaguchi explains, “Even when students see
the same things onsite, different students identify different
problems. By discussing the problems while clarifying theirdifferences, students find common ground, and solutions
to the problems. Fellows participate in that process as
facilitators.”

Striving to become leaders in a global society
The Honors Program, which starts in the second year ofenrollment, is intended for students who have completed
the Foundation Program and aspire to foster true global
leadership skills through active learning.
The Honors Program has only one compulsory course:
Overseas Study. Students study abroad in line with thesignificance and goals which they have carefully consideredthrough the Foundation Program. The availability ofdifferent types of programs tailored to the goals of students
make the Honors Program very appealing.
The International Internship Program, which offers
the opportunity to work at a business abroad, is steadily
increasing in popularity among students. By enabling
students to practically develop comprehensive skill setsthrough internships at overseas businesses, the program has
generated a highly favorable response among students who
participated.
There are many other unique innovative programs. For

Nitobe Seminars include fieldwork. The photo shows students
on a tour of the Sapporo Central Wholesale Market.

example, the Taiwa (Dialog) Program offers the opportunity
for students to have one-on-one dialogs with Fellows of theirchoosing. It’s a valuable program in which students canshare their ideas with Fellows, who are Hokkaido University
alumni with extremely varied experiences. Students candiscuss their current situations, hopes, and worries andthen, with the advice from the Fellows, finetune their futuregoals .
There are also courses offered outside the university.
Career Development Seminars are two-day residentialtraining courses for career development in which students
engage in group work together with Fellows and faculty
members. Advanced Fellow Seminars are residential training
courses where students engage in group discussions onthemes they choose, such as Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs), and make presentations about their discussions.
Professor Kazuyori Yuhazu, Assistant-Principal of Nitobe
College, eagerly says that, going forward, he hopes to makethe seminar courses open to Nitobe School students so that
undergraduate students can receive advice from them.

A group of students make a presentation at the Nitobe Seminar Plenary Presentation Session. Students who make great presentations
are commended and are invited to present at the Nitobe College Enrollment Ceremony in the following academic year.

Litterae Populi Spring 201907

Feature: Evolution

Evolution | Nitobe Education System

A Message from a Nitobe School Alumna

Yuriko Saheki(Psychology and Behavioral Research Group, Advanced Research Center,
Shiseido Co., Ltd.)

Enrolled in Nitobe School in 2015

What sets Nitobe School apart from other graduate programsis that students spend most of their time in discussions andpresentations in English and little time in lectures. Active learningwith an output-based approach was a valuable experience. English
has become the official language of Shiseido, the company I workfor, so English communication skills are essential at work. I feel
I’m building on my experience at Nitobe School.
At Nitobe School, I met students of different nationalities,
backgrounds, interests, values, and future visions. I believe it
served me well to have experienced real diversity at school. Even
today, after graduation, my friends from Nitobe School are sourcesof courage and aspiration.
What I liked about the school was its high faculty-to-student
ratio. I was fortunate that the faculty members were all eager toteach, joining our discussions through to the end even outside

A microcosm of the international community
built within the campus
A main feature of Nitobe School for graduate students isthat all classes are taught in English. Here, international
students account for nearly one-third of all the students,
and Japanese and international students learn together.
Professor Yamaguchi, the Nitobe School Vice-Principal,
says, “In contrast to international students, who are activein group work, Japanese students are reserved and quiet.
This difference causes the latter to feel frustrated at first, but
within six months or so, Japanese students become just as
engaged in discussions as their international counterparts
are. The process whereby students work hard together isakin to the process whereby people venture out into theinternational community. One of the remarkable features ofNitobe School is that it offers the opportunity for Japanese
students to work closely with students from other countries
on campus in Japan.”
Nitobe School also has a well-developed educational
program whose forward-thinking initiatives include
taking cutting-edge approaches to classes, such as byintroducing project management techniques, providing
academic support based on portfolios developed by theschool, and introducing a mentor system to encourage
students to interact with working members of society who
have completed Nitobe School or a graduate school of theuniversity. The school’s ever-evolving, uncompromising
education prepares students to recognize the roles they
will play in society, to demonstrate leadership, and to play
pivotal roles in the international community.

University, who is known for his engagement in a wide
variety of international activities. It is worth noting that theplan to launch the new undergraduate program had been
under development for more than a year, but that the vision
for the program became clear only after it was named after
Dr. Nitobe. Professor Yamaguchi looks back on those days
with a smile and says, “I was impressed by the power of thename because it gave us a direction to go in.”Inazo Nitobe entered Sapporo Agricultural College
some 140 years ago. “The Nitobe Education System passes
on his spirit to students in the 21st century,” Professor
Yuhazu says. “Under this system, I hope we produce highly
motivated young professionals like our alumni who kindly
advise current students as Fellows after making inroads
onto the world stage.”
Hokkaido University students will continue to follow
Inazo Nitobe onto the world stage as a new generation of
global leaders.

classroom hours. We also had many valuable opportunities tointeract with mentors working at the front lines of their industries.
The school gave me moments of introspection and ample
opportunity to talk about my dreams. It also showed me that I
myself must seize the opportunity to make those dreams cometrue. I hope current students will pluck up their courage and taketheir first steps forward.

Messages from Current Nitobe College Students

Hiroki Asa (a second-year student in the School of Agriculture)

Kanami Suzuki (a junior in the School of Law)

Enrolled in Nitobe College in 2017

Enrolled in Nitobe College in 2016

Nitobe College attracts students who are interested in international
exchanges, and it’s truly stimulating to talk with like-mindedstudents.
The college offers appealing courses. The Taiwa (Dialog)
Program gave me an invaluable opportunity to talk directly with
Hokkaido University alumni. The network of personal contacts I
have built at the college has become priceless to me, along with mycontacts at the School of Agriculture and at the club I belong to.
In the International Internship Program, I worked at NTT
Communications (Thailand) Co., Ltd. in Bangkok, where I gained
valuable experience: I was assigned to frontline jobs, including
assisting with the organization of the company’s 60th anniversarycelebration and customer service.
Up until I joined the internship program, I’d believed that
English speaking skills were indispensable for globalization.
Thailand, where I served as an intern, is like Japan in that English
is the predominant foreign language. It goes without saying that
English proficiency is important, but even more important is
the ability to get your point across clearly. I realized through myinternship that to do so, we must try to communicate no matter
what language we use: English, Japanese, or the local language.
There are lots of things we can learn only by experience, so I
hope many students will participate in this program.

I entered Nitobe College because I wanted to take up the challengeof studying abroad, which I’d vaguely longed for since high school.
I went to the University of British Columbia in Canada for amonth during spring vacation when I was a first-year student.
College students in Canada have diverse cultural backgrounds.
By getting a firsthand look at them studying together while
respecting one another’s differences, I was truly able to understandthe importance of diversity and cross-cultural exchanges. It was
an invaluable experience, because I was able to understand theirimportance only superficially until I actually studied abroad.
In Canada, I keenly realized my lack of English proficiency,
which gave me the push to improve my English skills and study
abroad again. So, when I became a third-year student, I entered
the International Internship Program and did an internship at
Thai Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. in Bangkok. During myinternship, I had the opportunity to talk with the president of thecompany. I was impressed when he said he wanted to become abridge between Thailand and Japan. He inspired me so much that
I hope to someday serve as a bridge between Japan and elsewherein the world.
If you have any interest in studying abroad, I urge you togive it a try, even if just on a whim. Studying abroad is tough, buthugely rewarding, and you can learn a lot.

Under the name of Nitobe
Nitobe College and Nitobe School were named after
Inazo Nitobe, a member of the second graduating class of
Sapporo Agricultural College, the predecessor of Hokkaido
08

Litterae Populi Spring 2019

Reports and other publications on Nitobe College andNitobe School. Books featuring Nitobe College initiatives
are commercially available.

Litterae Populi Spring 201909

Passing on the Spirit of
Sapporo Agricultural College to
the Present and Future

Left: The Oshoro-Maru V, anchored at the Portof Hakodate. On the day when interviews forthis article were conducted, preparations for
departure the following day were under way inbad weather.
Abobe: The nameboard for the first-generation
training ship Oshoro-Maru is on display, alongwith a photo album, at the Fisheries Science
Center (a branch of the Hokkaido University
Museum) on the Hakodate Campus.
Right: The anchor of the Oshoro-Maru IV. It
was used until 2014 and is now on display.

The Hakodate Campus
Hokkaido University’s Hakodate Campus is far from Sapporo Campus,
but the School, Graduate School and Faculty of Fisheries Sciences at
Hakodate are said to have inherited the ethos of Sapporo Agricultural
College. These institutions aim to develop with local communities and tocontribute to the wellbeing of humanity by pursuing new possibilities forthe oceans, most of which we still know very little about.
Traditions of fisheries studies handed down fromthe inaugural class of Sapporo Agricultural
College
Sapporo Agricultural College (SAC), today’s Hokkaido
University, established the School of Fishery in 1907,
about 30 years after its founding, but the history of fisheries
studies goes back to when the college was established.
Kazutaka Ito, a member of the inaugural class of the SAC
who graduated with distinction, is known as the founder ofthe Hokkaido Salmon Hatchery in Chitose. Kingo Miyabe,a member of the second graduating class of the SAC and abotanist, engaged in a systemic study of kelp species. Kanzo
Uchimura, another member of the second graduating class
who became a great thinker, majored in fisheries science, and10

Litterae Populi Spring 2019

his work was on the embryologic development of abalone.
Although the institution was an agricultural college, students
engaged in fisheries studies presumably due to the close
relationship between the Japanese diet and the sea. Against
the backdrop of a Japan surrounded by seas and blessedwith abundant aquatic resources, fisheries science has roots
in Japan which are underpinned by Hokkaido University.
A significant characteristic of the School, Graduate
School and Faculty of Fisheries Sciences is their focus on
both fisheries science and oceanography in education andresearch. It would be fair to say that few other colleges
around the world, let alone in Japan, enable students tostudy both fisheries science—looking into the ecology ofmarine creatures and exploring the possibilities of using

them as food resources—and oceanography—looking into
oceanic conditions, including temperatures, minerals, andcurrents. By learning both fields, students find out about
the ocean before learning about creatures living there. Asa matter of fact, students are exposed to a wide array offields—all fields related to oceans, from land areas to thesea floor. Subjects covered include marine products, which
are indispensable sources of food, the fishing industry,
which concerns the securing of marine products and thus
relates to livelihoods and society, and even global oceanic
conditions. A broad perspective is needed to address thechallenges we face, such as changing marine environments
and declining aquatic resources. Based on the idea ofsustainable fisheries science, the School, Graduate School
and Faculty of Fisheries Sciences look into various impactsof global environmental changes and the protection andutilization of biological resources in view of their relations
with society.

The Oshoro-Maru: An indispensable part of thehistory of the School of Fisheries Science
The ocean covers 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, butlittle is known about it. Against this backdrop, the School,
Graduate School and Faculty of Fisheries Sciences put apremium on fieldwork in the ocean, and not just on lab
experiments. Upon entering the School of Fisheries Sciences,
students venture out on the sea in a training ship to learn
what it is like to be at sea, something they can never learn inthe classroom, including how to collect aquatic animals andoperate certain equipment. Classes using a training ship
are also offered in Freshman Seminar general education
courses and are very popular. Training ships have been suchan integral part of the history of the School of Fisheries
Sciences as an important venue for education and researchthat they have become synonymous with the school.
The first-generation training ship was built in 1909,
only two years after the School of Fisheries was establishedat Sapporo Agricultural College. The ship was named theOshoro-Maru, and the current one is the Oshoro-Maru V.
Today, the School of Fisheries Sciences has two training
ships: the Oshoro-Maru (1,598 tons) and the UshioMaru (179 tons). They are used not only by students foreducational purposes, but also by overseas researchers as
research vessels.

Litterae Populi Spring 201911

The Oshoro-Maru sailed to the Arctic last year andthe year before as part of a national Arctic research project
known as Arctic Challenge for Sustainability (ArCS),launched in September 2015 and funded by the Ministryof Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
In this project, the National Institute of Polar Research(NIPR), the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science andTechnology (JAMSTEC), and Hokkaido University haveplayed the key roles. The Arctic is the perfect location tomonitor climate change. When using the Oshoro-Maru as
a research vessel, the School of Fisheries Sciences publicly
announces the research objectives and other details, andrecruits researchers from around the world to board theship. An example of a voyage goes like this: The ship leaves
Hakodate, sails across the Pacific to pick up researchers at
Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands, and proceeds to
its destination to conduct research. Once the research iscompleted, the ship goes back to Dutch Harbor to drop off
the researchers and then returns to Japan. This international
research project allows graduate students to participate,giving them invaluable experience.

Human resource development that broadens
the possibilities of fisheries science
The enrollment limit of the School of Fisheries Sciences
has been 215 students for many years. The school attracts
unique students with different motivations, including those
who love fish or sea lions and those who wish to go to sea,
from across Japan every year. After enrolling, students
spend their first year in the First-Year Education Division
before moving on to pursue their studies at the School ofFisheries Sciences from their second year, a school in which
they are assigned to the Department of Marine Biology, theDepartment of Applied Marine Science, the Department
of Aquaculture Life Science, or the Department of Marine
Bioresources Chemistry. They spend their first and second

years at Sapporo Campus, and their third year onward at
the Hakodate Campus. Some find it tough to be away from
Sapporo Campus but develop a special bond together out
on the sea during practical training and other fieldwork.
Professor Nobuo Kimura, the Dean of the School,
Graduate School and Faculty of Fisheries, says “What we
can teach at our school is the knowledge that’s currently
available, but it may not offer the best solutions. Actively
looking for better solutions that may or may not exist is sure
to broaden the possibilities of fisheries science. I hope ourstudents are improving their ability to think for themselves.”
While many graduates of the School of Fisheries
Sciences go on to graduate school, many others land jobs
at various private and public organizations, including foodcompanies, cosmetics makers, and government offices.
Many students obtain the qualification of curator, some ofwhom take positions at museums, aquariums, zoos and thelike. The wide range of places where graduates are employedreflects the diversity of the fields covered by the School ofFisheries Sciences.
Today, the School, Graduate School and Faculty ofFisheries Sciences are promoting exchanges with many
overseas universities, chiefly in Asia, based on international
exchange agreements. For instance, these institutions
invite faculty members from the National University ofSingapore, one of the top universities in Asia, to jointly
teach courses in English at the Hokkaido Summer Institute,offering the opportunity for students at both universities tolearn together. Such collaborative programs with overseas
universities have steadily been growing in number.
The School and Graduate School of Fisheries
Sciences host many international students. They also
accept trainees from other parts of Asia and Africa via theJapan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Whenthese students and trainees return home, they share theknowledge of fisheries science which they gain at theseschools, thereby helping to spread that knowledge aroundthe world and to develop human resources. These endeavors
will lead to global efforts to protect and harness the oceans.

Research projects that lead to community
revitalization
Many research projects that are under way at the Faculty ofFisheries Sciences have the potential to transform medicine,diet, and industry. Professor Hajime Yasui catapulted
gagome kelp (Kjellmaniella crassifolia), which was once
regarded as a nuisance in the harvesting of Japanese kelp,
into fame. Today, gagome kelp is a specialty of the Hakodate
region, a product known throughout Japan not only as apopular souvenir but also as a health food. By elucidating
and publicizing the functional components of gagome
kelp, such as fucoidan and fucoxanthin, Professor Yasui
succeeded in commercializing and industrializing it.
Research on sturgeon species conducted by Professor
Shinji Adachi and his fellow researchers also has thepotential to foster a regional industry. Sturgeon once
inhabited Hokkaido, and it is said that Takeshiro Matsuura(1818–1888), an explorer of the late Edo period, saw asturgeon approach his boat with its nose above the surface
during his survey of the Teshio River. Like salmon, sturgeon
are born in rivers, grow up in the sea, and reproduce in therivers of their birth. Research on the artificial hatching andculture of sturgeon is under way to reintroduce the Sakhalin
sturgeon (Acipenser mikadoi), now extinct in Japan, into an

Under Associate Professor Shigeho Ijiri, students conduct
experiments on eels.

ecosystem and to establish a sturgeon industry. Sturgeon
aquaculture has already begun in Hokkaido, including in
the towns of Bifuka and Shikaoi. Such aquaculture is noteasy, as sturgeon grow slowly and their breeding involves
the difficulty of determining the precise timing of hormone
injections to induce ovulation. Professor Adachi has long
visited and advised local aquariums and research institutes
on sturgeon rearing and breeding. Thanks to his efforts,
these facilities have become able to increase the numberof sturgeon. As well as sturgeon roe being used as caviar,
sturgeon flesh is also edible. The day may soon come when
dishes featuring locally cultured sturgeon are served inrestaurants in Sapporo.
Other noteworthy research at the Faculty of Fisheries
Sciences which aims to address issues directly associatedwith fisheries in Hokkaido includes studies to prevent
damage to fisheries in the Erimo area, more specifically theincidental capture of harbor seals in fishnets and the damage
to fish catches caused by harbor seals, and studies to create
stable kelp beds to stem the decreasing kelp production in
Hokkaido. Researchers continue to take on challenges inorder to achieve the practical application of their researchfindings.

Endeavors to contribute to the wellbeing of
humanity
Seaweed and gagome kelp products launched in the market
based on research outcomes, the fruits of many years of researchby Prof. Hajime Yasui and other researchers.

Some of the Controlled Environment Rooms, which have aquariums of varying sizes for marine life.

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Litterae Populi Spring 2019Students hold the sturgeon they are raising.

Fisheries science is an interdisciplinary field of study
involving various topics, such as communities, industry,
diet, and global environment/resource issues, and it
requires a network of people from diverse backgrounds.
Efforts by the Faculty of Fisheries Sciences to broaden its
networks with other educational and research organizations
at the university and with communities, industries, overseas
researchers and other parties will lead to the developmentof fisheries science. The faculty is also active in concluding
cooperation agreements with local municipalities.
Professor Kimura says, “We always keep in mind how
we can help develop local industries and local humanresources. The School, Graduate School and Faculty ofFisheries endeavor to develop with local communities andto contribute to the wellbeing of humanity through researchand education with an eye toward the world.”
The Hakodate Campus promises to open new horizons
for fisheries science.
Litterae Populi Spring 201913

Slavic-Eurasian Research Center

Aiming to Better Connect theWorld in Order to Pioneer a
New Future
The Slavic-Eurasian Research Center (SRC) has
enjoyed a solid position for the more than six decades
since it was initially established as the Slavic Research
Section in 1953. It continues to play an essential roleas the only research center dedicated to Slavic Eurasianstudies in Japan.
The Slavic-Eurasian Research Center (SRC) was initiallyfounded as the Slavic Research Section in 1953 and was
reorganized and renamed a couple of times before its
establishment as the Slavic Research Center in 1978 and
the Slavic-Eurasian Research Center in 2014. Though smallin scale, the SRC engages in a wide range of activities asJapan’s only research center for comprehensive studies on
Slavic Eurasian areas. The scope of research conductedat the center has widened from the former Soviet Unionand former Communist countries in Eastern Europe tocover the Eurasian continent, addressing various themes
including history, politics, economy, culture, religion, andlanguage.
Today, research projects at the SRC are based on fourpillars: comparative studies between Slavic Eurasian areas
and other areas, Northeast Asian studies, Arctic studies,and border studies and tourism. “Since numerous countries
share borders in the areas covered, issues unique to borders

have become the new focus of our attention,” says Professor
Manabu Sengoku, the Director of the SRC.

The only research center dedicated to Slavic
Eurasian studies in JapanThe SRC Library and the Hokkaido University Library keep
countless resources of international importance to Slavic
Eurasian studies, including microforms, books, and otherpublications. These resources are systematically collected by
the SRC’s Information Division and they include themedcollections. In fact, the university has one of the world’s
most extensive collections related to Slavic Eurasian studies.
These resources are also available to researchers elsewherein Japan and abroad because the SRC also serves as a joint
usage/research center for collaborations, thereby making
Hokkaido University a magnet for researchers.
Playing a central role in research activities at the SRC
are fewer than 20 full-time faculty members who comprise

Above: Some of the SRC’s resources from between the late Edo period and the Taisho era.
These valuable resources show the conditions of those days.
Below: The SRC Library has a large number of books, maps, and microforms.

the five sections of the Research Division. It is difficult
for those full-time faculty members alone to cover all the
research themes, so visiting researchers, overseas guest
instructors, and more than 100 co-researchers from theuniversity and elsewhere in Japan also participate.
The SRC hosts about six overseas guest instructors
every year, who are chosen from foreign universities.
The ratio of applicants from the West to applicants from
Russian-speaking countries is roughly fifty-fifty, and many
applicants seem motivated to use the wealth of resources atthe center. “Applicants exceed 100 in some years,” Professor
Sengoku says, sounding pleased with the favorable response
from applicants.
Many graduate students also engage in research at
the SRC. The center offers cooperative programs at theGraduate School of Humanities and Human Sciences,
accepting students from within and outside of the university.
These programs cover a wide range of Slavic Eurasian
themes. The SRC also has funds to develop young talent,
dispatching graduate students abroad for one to three weeks
and encouraging them to interact with researchers at hostinstitutions.

Disseminating research outcomes throughvarious channels
The SRC disseminates research results through various
media and occasions, including at symposiums, at seminars,
in journals, and recently, through social media.
The center hosts international symposiums twice ayear, in summer and winter, at which prominent scholars
from abroad also participate. The symposiums provide avenue for exchanges among researchers in Slavic Eurasianstudies around the world and an opportunity for the SRC
to promote itself.
The SRC also holds other events, including one-off
seminars, outreach programs, and quarterly public lecture
meetings.
The center publishes peer-reviewed academic journals(two in Japanese and two in English). Each journal hasa print circulation of only about 100 copies, but they arealso published online for readers around the world. In
recent years, the center has worked to build a databaseon Slavic studies. The database includes photos taken in
Sakhalin, Siberia, and the Russian Far East between thelate Edo period and the Taisho era (from the mid-19th toearly 20th centuries) and data on elections and politicalparties in Eastern European countries after the regime
transformation. These resources are collected and managed
by staff of the Information Division.

Border studies for regional revitalization
Border tourism is attracting attention these days. New
tourism resources are being developed with a focus on
people’s cross-border movement, cultural exchanges,
and economic activities, and the SRC also views border
tourism as one of its pillars. The lives of people in borderareas often differ from those in capital areas, and you canexperience lifestyles and cultures different from your own
14

Litterae Populi Autumn 2018

The SRC Library’s holdings include newspapers publishedin Russia, Central and Eastern Europe, and Central Asia,
which offers a spectacular sight.

when you cross a border. The term “border tourism” wasadded to Gendai Yogo no Kiso Chishiki (The Encyclopedia ofContemporary Words) recently and is reportedly expected
to be a key element of regional revitalization. Japan has
already seen local governments and travel agencies organizing
tours to maritime border areas and bordering countries/
regions, and faculty members of the SRC are also involvedin organizing such tours.

Serving as a hub for Slavic and Eurasian studies
Since researchers in Slavic and Eurasian studies work at
different organizations, it is crucial that they collaboratebeyond their organizational boundaries. Professor Sengoku
shares one of the SRC’s visions: “As the nation’s only

An international symposium held at the SRC in December
2018. The event saw the participation of many overseas researchers.

A well-received ongoing exhibition series on border tourism
at the SRC section of the Hokkaido University Museum.

research center dedicated to Slavic and Eurasian studies,
we’re committed to playing the role of a hub for scholars.”
And this vision is a global one, not limited to Japan, as
shown by the SRC’s contributions to the launch of the East
Asian Conference on Slavic Eurasian Studies in 2009 withresearchers in Japan, China and South Korea—a conference
that has come to attract participants from many countries
every year and that helped bring the 2015 World Congressof the International Council for Central and East European
Studies (ICCEES) to Japan.
SRC networks continue to expand around the world
every day.
Litterae Populi Spring 201915

The Artificial Force Induced
Reaction Method, a driver of
future prosperity

16

Litterae Populi Spring 2019

Satoshi Maeda
Professor, faculty of Science

A doctor of science, Satoshi Maeda specializes in theoretical chemistry and computational chemistry. After receiving his Ph.D. fromTohoku University, he became a fellow (PD) of the Japan Society for
the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and then assumed an assistant professorship under the Hakubi Project at Kyoto University. He was appointed an assistant professor in the Faculty of Science, Hokkaido
University, in 2012, and promoted to an associate professor in 2014
and to professor in 2017. He has been the director of the Institute for
Chemical Reaction Design and Discovery (ICReDD) since 2017.
He is expected to play an even more significant role as a trailblazer
in theoretical chemistry and as the founder of the new academic
field “Chemical Reaction Design and Discovery (CReDD).”

The discovery of innovative chemical reactions andthe products of such reactions can produce profoundsocioeconomic ripple effects. At present, however, newchemical reactions and products can only be discovered
through trial and error involving innumerable experiments,
which are time-consuming and laborious. Against thisbackdrop, Professor Satoshi Maeda of the Faculty of Sciencehas been engaged in the development of automated methods
to predict chemical reactions, products, and reaction paths
based on quantum chemical calculations rather than on
experiments.
Professor Maeda says, “A special TV program featuring
Einstein that I happened to watch when I was an elementary
school student sparked my interest in the world of atoms andmolecules and inspired me to become a scholar as I wondered
if I could produce everything by putting together individual
atoms like building blocks.” After graduating from Nagano
Prefectural Yashiro High School, he entered Tohoku
University in 1998, where he joined the Laboratory ofTheoretical Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry of theFaculty of Science. “This lab focused mainly on experiments,
but my supervisor, Professor Koichi Ohno, kindly read anddiscussed passages from foreign books on computational
chemistry every morning with me. After about half a year, I
took notice of the challenge of searching for reaction paths,
for which only limited progress had been made, and later on,
I decided to work to address this challenge myself.”
When he was a Master’s student, Professor Maeda tooka hint from his discussions with his supervisor during thosemorning reading sessions and proposed the anharmonic
downward distortion following (ADDF) method, which wasdeveloped as an automated reaction path search method. He
made the ADDF method his central research theme as hewent on to a doctoral course and engaged in postdoctoral
work as a JSPS research fellow.
Professor Maeda joined Kyoto University’s Hakubi
Project in 2010. “Professor Toru Fushiki, Director of the
Hakubi Center for Advanced Research, told me I wouldn’t
have to publish any papers or apply for any patents during thefive years in which I would be working on the project, but that
I should find a seed that would grow to bear a large flower infive years.” The advice from Professor Fushiki inspired him to
give it a try and attempt an innovative approach, because hehad come up against the limits of the ADDF method despite
having continued to focus on it, he says.
This change of perspective led him to propose a newautomated reaction path search method known as theartificial force induced reaction (AFIR) method. In the
AFIR method, a computer simulation is used to apply virtual
mechanical force (artificial force) to reactants A and B topush them together, for example, to induce a reaction, andthe product AB is automatically predicted. The method alsoenables the quick prediction of various reaction paths basedon relatively easy computation. While the ADDF method
can be applied only to reactions of small molecules, the AFIR
method can also be used for those of large molecules and is
expected to be applied to reaction mechanism analysis andfunctional molecular design.

Groundbreaking research that goes beyond theconventional framework of theoretical analysis
Professor Maeda looks back on when he assumed an assistantprofessorship in Hokkaido University’s Faculty of Science in

A pair of starting materials (reactants)

Application of artificial force to thestarting materials to induce a reaction

EnergyRefining:
Theoretical Chemistry“Automated reaction path search methods”
developed through encounters with various people

Application of
artificial force

High-energy
state

The productInteratomic distanceA schematic of the AFIR method
The black line in (b) shows relations between interatomic distances and energies when the starting materials A and B combine to form AB (the product).
On this energy function, it is computationally difficult and time-consuming toovercome the high-energy state before AB is formed. With the AFIR method, acomputer simulation is used to apply virtual mechanical force (artificial force)to push A and B together. When the force is applied (the red line in (b)), A and B
drop in the low-energy direction and the product AB is automatically predicted.
The AFIR method has enabled the quick prediction of various reaction paths byrelatively easy computation.

2012: “I was still in my second year on the Hakubi Project,
but I applied for a tenure-track position to be mentored byProfessor Tetsuya Taketsugu of the Faculty of Science, forwhich applications were publicly invited. I was able to assume
the position thanks to a reference from Professor Koichi
Ohno.” He has since devoted himself to research basedon the AFIR method, which includes the Development of
Molecular Technology for Designing Chemical Reactions
Based on Automated Reaction Path Search Methods, which
was selected as a project for the Core Research for Evolutional
Science and Technology (CREST) of the Japan Scienceand Technology Agency (JST). In this research, he worked
to make strides toward generalization by expanding the
AFIR method to enable its application to various chemical
reactions such as organic reactions, photochemical reactions,and crystal-structure transformations. “In the beginning, I
developed the AFIR method only for reactions of organic
molecules and organic chemicals, but I was able to develop
it to allow its diverse application to all kinds of reactions,
including catalytic reactions, enzymatic reactions, and otherbiological ones,” Professor Maeda says.
In October 2018, the Hokkaido University project
to establish the Institute for Chemical Reaction Design
and Discovery (ICReDD) headed by Professor Maeda
was selected for the World Premier International ResearchCenter Initiative (WPI) of the Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). Professor
Maeda describes the direction the institute should pursue:“My personal goal is to lay the foundation for research on
chemical reaction design and discovery using the methods
I’ve developed. The overriding aim of the institute is toestablish, as a strategy, a series of steps ranging from reaction
path prediction by computational science to databasedevelopment and data extraction based on information
science and onward to actual synthesis.”
Professor Maeda will continue his research based on
the AFIR method towards establishing a new academic
discipline by fusing the three disciplines of computational,
information, and experimental sciences.

An outing with students
from his seminar

Mountain climbing used to be ahobby of Professor Maeda. These days,
however , he is snowed under withresearch , so he goes on outings withstudents from his lab for a little bit of relaxation.

Litterae Populi Spring 201917

Alumni Interview

Taking Up the Challenge of Cheesemaking
with a Spirit of Exploration
Learning from Failures to Aim Higher

Mind if I ask you to share your memories from your days in
the Explorers’ Club?
Not at all. I crossed the Kushiro Wetland midwinter pulling asled and spent 20 days walking on drift ice around the Shiretoko
Peninsula. I also took one-year leave to join the university’s teamfor an academic expedition to the Aleutian Islands. I was 19
years old back then, the youngest member of the team, and was
assigned to cooking and carrying baggage. Later on, I traveledalone in Latin America by bus and thumb. In those days, travel
guidebooks weren’t that popular, but I had nothing to be afraidof. The Explorers’ Club became famous when its members,
who were my seniors, and others made the first manned hotair balloon flight in Japan. They made the burner and basket
on their own, and machine-sewed hot-air balloons in the gym
using donated fabric.

Mr. Yoshida, his eldest
son, and the husbandof his eldest daughter
producing cheese. They
produce only as muchas they can make on
their own to ensurehigh-quality.

What made you decide to enroll in the Department of
Animal Science in the Faculty of Agriculture?
More than anything, I wanted time to myself. So, I followed theadvice of a fourth-year student in the Explorers’ Club and joined
the Department of Animal Science. I hardly attended class, so I
didn’t so much as touch a cow until after graduation.

I heard you often go abroad despite your busy schedule.
I visited Nepal in 2016 to teach cheesemaking a second time.
The first time was around 1998, but a major earthquake hit
Nepal several years ago and buried the village where I’d taught
cheesemaking under mud and glacial ice, killing four of the five
students I’d taught. I was asked to teach cheesemaking again.
I’ve visited Bhutan almost every year for the past six years. I went
there for the first time six years ago to learn about a Bhutanesecheese known as philu, which was described as “tastier than any
cheese in Europe” in a book I read in my high school days. The
book was Hikyo Bhutan (Mystical Bhutan), written in 1959 by
Dr. Sasuke Nakao, the first Japanese citizen to visit the country.
The families I met on my first trip there were nomadic herdersof yaks, a bovid with long hair. These families made their livingby making philu cheese from yak milk. I was so fascinated bytheir lifestyles that I’ve been there five times to learn about theirculture and to study their cheesemaking.

Inside a maturation chamber seven meters undergroundpacked with Parmigiano-Reggiano- and Comté-stylecheeses. This chamber takes advantage of the naturalenvironment.

Zensaku Yoshida
Dairy farmer, Cow Artisan| School of Agriculture Graduate |Mr. Zensaku Yoshida runs a cheesemaking farm in a
mountainous region of Okayama Prefecture. For its lovingly
handcrafted cheeses, the farm is flooded with orders fromrestaurants and other businesses across Japan. Thirty years after
he began cheesemaking, he talks about his thoughts on his
career and college days.
I heard you were born in Okayama Prefecture. What wasyour childhood like?
When I was a boy, I liked to disassemble whatever I could find.
My father used to say, “Don’t give him a screwdriver.” The more
I was told not to disassemble things, the more eager I was totake them apart; I dismantled various things, including myfather’s camera and a large wall clock in our living room. The
problem was that once I took them apart, I couldn’t put themback together.
What were your high school days like?
My high school was oriented toward preparation for college
entrance examinations, so I don’t recall anything exciting from18

Litterae Populi Spring 2019that time. I joined the track-and-field club, but I was a bookworm
who frequented the library to read books about expeditions andadventures. The books include those written by Dr. Naomichi
Ishige, who has traveled around the world and is known forhaving an “iron stomach,” and those authored by the late Dr.
Eizaburo Nishibori, who was the leader of the Wintering Partyof the first Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition. I didn’t
study at all back then.
What made you decide to enter Hokkaido University?
The authors of most of those books on expeditions andadventures were from the explorers’ clubs of Kyoto University
or Hokkaido University. I preferred Kyoto University, but myteacher told me I wouldn’t pass the entrance exam. Since I
didn’t want to study an extra year to pass, I chose Hokkaido
University. Although I chose it reluctantly, I’d already readbooks written by Professor Ukichiro Nakaya, including Fuyu
no Hana (Flowers of Winter) and its sequel, Zoku Fuyuno Hana,
which I found are well written essays.

What impression did you have of Hokkaido University inthose days?
It was a great institution with an open-minded atmosphere.
Faculty members were also broad-minded. One day, when I
went to class, the instructor asked me why I was there. I said I
came to attend the class, and he asked me to join him because he
was going to take to the streets for a demonstration. Those were
the good old days. I feel grateful to my teachers because they
allowed me to graduate without having to repeat a year.
What made you start making cheese?
After graduation, I worked in Tokyo for five years. But I couldn’t
help feeling out of place in Tokyo and at the company where I
was working. So, I started to feel like I should change jobs. In
those days, I made fermented foods such as natto (traditional
fermented soybeans) and miso (bean paste) in my small
apartment. When I read an article featuring an elderly couple
making cheese in Normandy, France, in a Kurashi no Techo(Living Handbook) magazine, I thought I’d be able to makecheese if I had a cow. This is how I started making cheese, but I
couldn’t make it at first. I went to France to learn cheesemaking
and won the Yano Award from the Dai-ichi Life Insurance
Company, with a prize of 500,000 yen (approx. US$5,000).
What’s cheesemaking like?
Cheesemaking is part of manufacturing. In manufacturing, thefinished product depends on the quality of raw materials, so tomake delicious cheese, I see to it that I take good care of my cows

and produce delicious milk while steadfastly doing everythingelse I can. All the routine tasks are essential. The weather andhumidity, which vary daily, also affect cheesemaking, andtechniques used in France don’t necessarily work in Japan. We
make cheeses that are suited to the local climate, and the cheeses
have distinctive flavors.

Can you tell us about any life principles you live by?
There are various ways to make our dreams come true, butwhenever I’ve found myself unable to make up my mind or
at a crossroads, I’ve been sure to make a choice that promises
difficulty. By doing so, I’m sure to succeed. Nobody likes
difficult situations, but the difficult path can be very rewarding.
Finally, could you please share your expectations of
Hokkaido University and give a message to the current
students?
Sure. I visited Hokkaido University the other day to teachcheesemaking to students in the Department of Animal Science.
They were very serious. Excessive seriousness stifles creativity, so
I want students to think outside of the box, even if they get
scolded for doing so. When we went for drinks after class, I told
them that if they find something wrong, they should speak out.
Colleges will be finished if students can’t think outside the box
anymore.

Gifts to Mr. Yoshida givenby the Bhutanese people.
From left: female headwear,
a cowbell, and a rope madefrom yak hair.
PROFILE
Zensaku Yoshida, born in Okayama Prefecture in 1955, graduated from the
Department of Animal Science in Hokkaido University’s Faculty of Agriculture in 1979. After a five-year stint at a private company, he started a dairy farmin the Kibi-kogen Highlands of Okayama in 1984 and began making cheesein 1988. He has been producing cheese on the same farm where the milk is
produced, a process called “fermier,” and has gained a following across Japan.

Litterae Populi Spring 2019

19

From

Russia and Kazakhstan

Letters from Ambassadors and Partners

This issue features contributions from HU Ambassador Viktor I. Korsunov, the Chairperson of the
Friends of Hokkaido University Association in Sakhalin State University, and HU Ambassador Gulmira
Sultangalieva, the Professor of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (Almaty). We interviewed them incommemoration of the opening of our brand-new satellite office in Moscow, which manages the RussianFederation and CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) area.

1

2

1

Dr. Viktor I. Korsunov

Dr. Gulmira Sultangalieva

Head of the International Relations Department, Sakhalin State University, Chairperson of the Friends of Hokkaido University Association in
Sakhalin State University, appointed as a Hokkaido University Ambassador in November 2018

W

university system. I think that the
SSU as well as many other Russian
universities will be able to join somenew Japanese-Russian research projects and academic programs.
When I am in Sapporo, I spend
any free time just walking in thestreet. I do like this city; its downtown, its architecture and parks, its
underground. I think that Sapporo is
the most beautiful city in Japan in allseasons. Although it is not my native
town, I feel like home there. My native town Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk is muchsmaller. The SSU is the only University in the Sakhalin region, quite different from Sapporo with its many
universities. Still, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
is a unique place for foreigners, as
there are some places of interest likethe beautiful, old Japanese building
which houses the Sakhalin Regional
Museum and the only museum of
the kind in the world—the Literaryand Art Museum of Anton Chekhov’sBook “Sakhalin Island.”Overall, Hokkaido University
has good reasons to be proud of its

hile I was not surprised when
I was asked to become an
HU Ambassador, I felt honored to
become an HU Ambassador for two
reasons: Hokkaido University is oneof best higher education institutionsin Japan, and the first international
agreement of Sakhalin State University (SSU) on interuniversity cooperation was signed with Hokkaido
University in 1989.
I have been involved in different
joint projects with Hokkaido University for more than 25 years (the firstagreement with Masanao Takeda wason 1989!), including the RJE3 Program . In addition, we also promotestudent and faculty exchange programs with HU such as HUSTEPand the JLCSP , which have been on
the agenda for more than 20 years.
Regarding the new Moscow Office, I am sure it’s a very good idea
to establish a Hokkaido University
Office there. Moscow is the capital of
Russia and thus the center of university life in my country. Sakhalin State
University is part of the all-Russian12

3

history, university campus, remarkably talented scholars, faculty, staff
and students, and international cooperation. However, we should keep
in mind that international cooperation based merely on economic andpolitical agreements between thegovernments is not enough for mutual understanding between the communities or nations; it must be basedon intellectual and moral solidarityof the peoples. The HU Ambassador
and Partner program will surely lead
us to new great achievements. Let’sbe ambitious together!

1. East Russia-Japan Expert Education Program. The RJE3
program is intended to develop the professional groups thatplay leading roles in the fields of sustainable environment,sustainable culture and sustainable development in the Far
East and the Arctic Circle.
2. The Hokkaido University Short-Term Exchange Program.
A “junior year abroad” type program designed to provide
undergraduate students from affiliated universities with theopportunity to study at Hokkaido University
3. The Japanese Language and Culture Studies Program.
A “junior year abroad” type program for undergraduate
students majoring in Japanese language and culture fromaffiliated universities with the opportunity to study at
Hokkaido University.

Professor, Chair of Department of World History, Historiography and Source Studies, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (Almaty),
appointed as a Hokkaido University Ambassador in January 2018T

he first thing that came to mymind when I received the offer
to become a Hokkaido University
Ambassador was a feeling of honor
and pleasant surprise. As an Ambassador, I want to contribute to collaboration between Hokkaido University and Al-Farabi Kazakh National
University (KazNU), so that more
people from Kazakhstan will becomeacquainted with the history and culture of Japan, and also with initiatives
to develop curricula for foreign students at Hokkaido University, and facilitate the invitation of students andscholars from Hokkaido University
to KazNU.
It is well known that Hokkaido University is an active participant in the international scientificcommunity. Evidence of this can befound by looking at the Slavic Eurasian Research Center, which conducts specialized, interdisciplinary,comparativist studies on the historyof empires, the Soviet Union, thepost-Soviet space, Central Asia, andEastern Europe. This Center is theinitiator of the organization of scientific conferences, seminars with the

involvement of leading scientists of
the world, publications of scientificmonographs in the areas of research
center. I participated in the Foreign
Visitors Fellowship Program, whichgave me the opportunity to work in
the Center for nine months from July
2007 to April 2008. I took part in
the wonderful scientific Winter International Symposium “Asiatic Russia: Imperial Power in Regional andInternational Contexts” and related
seminars, consulted with Japanesescientists like professors Tomohiko
Uyama, Kimitaki Matsuzato, Norihiro Naganawa, and many others. I
had the opportunity to present the results of my research at the annual session of the Association of Researchers
on Russian History.
I am pleased to hear of the opening of the Hokkaido University Moscow Office, as I believe that this is an
important step in establishing cooperation between Hokkaido University and universities not only in the
Russian Federation, but also in theentire post-Soviet space, including
Kazakhstan. I hope that this center
will become a local meeting place of

1. Prof. Korsunov and Prof. Balitskaya with HU
students (Faculty of Education) participating inshort-term exchange program (ESD program) in
the SSU (September, 2018).
2. Prof. Korsunov received the Letter of Honor
from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan
Taro Kono handed by the Consulate General ofJapan Ryuichi Hirano (October, 2018).
3. Aerial photo of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.
4. Administration building of Sakhalin State
University.
320

Litterae Populi Spring 2019

2

4

3

4

leading scientists of the post-Soviet
space, to promote academic mobilityof students, teachers, and scholars.
My first impression of the city of
Sapporo was immediately expressedin one phrase: how could Sapporo
have so much in common with thecultural capital of modern Kazakhstan, Almaty? Mountain panoramas, gardens, groves, boulevards, airsaturated with the smell of flowers,
and wide streets are just some of thesimilarities. The history of the development of these cities also has many
similar points: both are young cities,
the development of which began in
the second half of the nineteenth
century. The most surprising thingis that they are located at the same
coordinate of northern latitude - 43°.
Finally, I am thankful to Hokkaido University for trusting me forthe appointment as an HU Ambassador. I believe that Happiness comesout of contentment, and contentment always comes out of service, so
serving as an HU Ambassador is agreat honor for me.

1. Celebration of “Nauryz” in KazNU. Horseback Falconry with agolden eagle is a cultural symbol for the Kazakh people. Nauryz is
the Persian New Year, the day of the vernal equinox.
2. The campus of KazNU is located in a picturesque place in thefoothills of the Zailiyskiy Alatau, the center of culture in Almaty.
3. The Triumphal Arch of Al-Farabi KazNU Alumni “Mangilik el”
was opened in 2017. Mangilik el is the idea of a people who live
observing history, the present and the future.
4. Professor Sultangalieva and scholars from Japan including HU’s
Slavic-Eurasian Research Center (September 8, 2018).

Litterae Populi Spring 201921

Hokkaido University Archives

140 yearsofchallenge
SCENE-10

1895-1907
Sapporo Agricultural College:
25th Anniversary

6

7

2

1

8

1. Sapporo Agricultural College, edited by the Sapporo Agricultural College Student
Association (1898, Hokkaido University Archives).
2. Green arch, modeled after the Arc de Triomphe (1901, Hokkaido University Archives).
3. Yuzo Hoshino (1899, Hokkaido University Archives).
4. Group photo taken on the day of the 25th anniversary ceremony(1901, Hokkaido University Archives).
5. Fourth-year students in the regular course dressed in red tailcoats and “silk” hats(1901, Hokkaido University Archives).
The second person from the right in the second row is Yuzo Hoshino, and the fourth
person from the left in the third row is Takeo Arishima.
6. The venue for the ceremony and party on the second floor of the drill hall(1901, Hokkaido University Archives).
7. The 25th Anniversary Athletic Meet (1901, Hokkaido University Archives).
8. The illuminated drill hall (1901, Hokkaido University Archives).
9. Takeo Arishima (1901, Hokkaido University Archives).
The person in the middle is Arishima, and to his left and right are his classmates
Kokichi Morimoto and Hiroshi Mori.

3

4Making a case for the establishment of Sapporo Imperial
University

5

The SAC: 25th anniversary

On May 14, 1901, the SAC held a ceremony and party
commemorating the 25th anniversary of its founding with theengagement of local community members. Invitations were sent
to numerous people, ranging from alumni and those related to
the Hokkaido Government, higher education and agriculture
to a government minister and Diet members. A huge green archmodeled after the Arc de Triomphe was erected at the main gateof the SAC, and on its top was a school emblem-like decorationof a star surrounded by ears of rice. Another green arch wasconstructed at the entrance to the event venue, the drill hall(today’s Sapporo Clock Tower), and a large framed board withthe phrase “Happy 25th Anniversary” written in millet grain
and black soybeans was posted on the façade of the building.
Inside the venue were portraits of Dr. William S. Clark, the first
vice president of the SAC, and Kiyotaka Kuroda, the Director
General of the Hokkaido Development Commission, as well asa board on which “BOYS, BE AMBITIOUS” was written in
English in uppercase letters. At the ceremony, President Shosuke

The Sapporo Agricultural College Student Association
published a brochure entitled Sapporo Agricultural College inJune 1898. The association was a student council focusing onliterary activities, and the brochure, edited by students in thecollege’s regular course (honka), aimed at providing information
about the college to prospective students and the public at large.
The brochure consisted of four articles: 1. Sapporo and Studies,
which outlined the learning environment in Sapporo, 2. Sapporo
Agricultural College’s Past, which illustrated the history of thecollege, 3. The Presence of Sapporo Agricultural College, which
described the college’s faculty members, curriculum, facilities,
and tuition, and 4. Recommendations for the Establishment of
Sapporo Imperial University. The last article was prompted by
the June 1897 establishment of Kyoto Imperial University by
the Ministry of Education as the second university following
Tokyo Imperial University, because Sapporo Agricultural
College (SAC) looked upon itself as an academic center on parwith a university. After the publicationof this article, the college worked“What sets our college apart from other schools is its principles ofwith local governments in Sapporo
continue to work on the development of the college so as toand Hokkaido toward elevation to
university status.
“For eternal happiness and immortal honor, we shall always aim
In those days, the SAC wasat a crossroads. In 1895, the SAC,
and devote all our time to learning to stand on our own two feet.”which had been administered by the
Hokkaido Government, was placed under the direct control
Sato outlined the history of the college and said, “What setsof the Ministry of Education, which led to the college’s
our college apart from other schools is its principles of pursuing
reorganization and curriculum changes. The government thenboth learning and virtue. I hope we continue to work on theceded massive tracts of government land to the college, whichdevelopment of the college so as to contribute to the wellbeing
later turned the land into experimental farms and forests. Inof society.”
1898, President Shosuke Sato submitted the Proposal for theCompletion of the SAC anthem
Expansion of Sapporo Agricultural College to the Minister
Students played a central role in organizing the post-ceremonyof Education, and a decision was made to relocate the college
party, during which they sang the newly minted anthem of theto a new campus. In 1901, the college celebrated the 25th
SAC to a piano accompaniment. The lyrics of the song titledanniversary of its founding, gaining the opportunity to look
Tokoshie no Sachi (Eternal Happiness) were written by Takeo
back on its raison d’etre.
Arishima, a senior in the SAC’s regular course. His journal
entry of April 21, about three weeks before the event, indicates
22

Litterae Populi Spring 20199his determination to stay up all night to finish the lyrics:“Tonight, I have to write the lyrics of the song we’ll sing at the25th anniversary celebration, so I’ll probably need to stay up
all night.” As if responding to the refrain “Tomo tare, nagaku
tomo tare (Be friends, be friends of eternity),” his journal entries
in those days include expressions of his affection for friends,
including “I’ll stress how much we should value friendship andpray that friendships with our classmates will continue to thrivein this world and beyond” and “Exchanges with friends are themost beautiful among all the flowers of love that flourish in thisworld.” With graduation just around the corner, he may havebeen reminiscing about his school days, trying to savor every last
moment before graduation.
A close friend and classmate of Arishima’s, Yuzo Hoshino,later recalled the 25th anniversary celebration in detail: The
illuminations of the drill hall marked the first time a building
was decorated with lights in Sapporo. Students from the
Department of Civil Engineering put up huge tents using logs
to serve food and drinks to attendees. In the afternoon, an

pursuing both learning and virtue. I hope wecontribute to the wellbeing of society.”higher. We cultivate ourselves day and nightathletic meet was organized, attracting numerous spectators. In
a lantern procession held at night, Hoshino, Arishima and otherfourth-year students participated, all dressed in red tailcoats
and “silk” hats. The tailcoats were made of cheap cloth, and the“silk” hats were made by covering cardboard with black fabric.

Anniversaries as opportunities for self-reflection andevaluation

The 25th anniversary celebration demonstrated the pride of the
SAC at a turning point, and six years later, in 1907, the SAC
was elevated to Imperial University status as the Agricultural
College of Tohoku Imperial University.
Hokkaido University has since celebrated its milestone10

10. Report on the 25th Anniversary Ceremony and Party(1901, Hokkaido University Archives).

anniversaries—the 50th, 80th, 90th, 100th, 120th, and 125th
anniversaries—in various ways, including by documenting theuniversity’s history, holding exhibitions, lecture meetings, andceremonies, and constructing commemorative buildings. These
anniversary projects have reflected the current situations of theuniversity. A scholar of college history once said that anniversary
projects, which are ways to look back on the history of thecollege, are opportunities for self-reflection and evaluation.
Another excellent opportunity will come to review thestatus of Hokkaido University when it celebrates its 150th
anniversary in 2026.
Ho k k a i d o Un i ve r s i t y

HISTORY
1895-1907

1895 March
April
September1898 JanuaryJune1899 FebruaryJune1901 March

May
1903 July
1907 September

The SAC receives tracts of government-owned land from the
Hokkaido Government (later turned into experimental farms).
The SAC is placed under the direct control of the Ministry of
Education.
The land owned by the SAC alumni association is transferred to
the SAC (later turned into experimental farms).
President Shosuke Sato submits the Proposal for the Expansion of
Sapporo Agricultural College to the Minister of Education.
The Sapporo Agricultural College Student Association publishes
the Sapporo Agricultural College.
The decision is made to relocate the college to a new campus.
The construction of the new college building begins at the newcampus site.
The SAC obtains forests (later turned into experimental forests)
from the Hokkaido Government as a source of maintenance funds
to support the college.
The 25th anniversary ceremony and party are held.
The new college building is completed, and the SAC relocates to a
new campus.
The SAC is elevated to Imperial University status as theAgricultural College of Tohoku Imperial University.

Hokkaido University Archives
This facility collects, classifies and preserves historical documents andrecords of Hokkaido University. It also conducts investigations andresearch on its history.
Litterae Populi Spring 201923

To p i c s
Associate Professor Shigeru Aoki selected
to lead the Japanese Antarctic Research
Expedition (JARE)

The Grand Chariot Supercomputer. Grand Chariot is French for the Big Dipper.

New Interdisciplinary Large-scale Computing
System Now in Operation
The Information Initiative Center has introduced a newinterdisciplinary large-scale computing system consistingof a supercomputer system and an intercloud system, andhas launched services under the new system.
The new system constitutes the backbone of theuniversity’s support for researchers in Japan and elsewhere,
as it serves as a joint usage/research center that integrates
academic information infrastructure at the university.

class storage and remote backup services are also available
for the long-term storage of research data.
To ensure efficient cooling of the system, theInformation Initiative Center has introduced a watercooling system in addition to the conventional air-coolingsystem.
The new interdisciplinary large-scale computing
system is user-friendly for students and researchers within
and outside of the university, and the Information Initiative
Center welcomes joint research with private businesses
and joint international research. The system is expected toenhance networking through data sharing and utilization,and to contribute to the promotion of collaboration andinformation-sharing across Japan.

Hokkaido University Associate Professor Shigeru Aoki ofthe Institute of Low Temperature Science was selected to
become the leader of the 61st Japanese Antarctic Research
Expedition. The decision was made at the 153rd JARE
general assembly meeting, hosted on November 8th by
the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports,
Science and Technology. This marks the first time that a
representative from Hokkaido University has been selected
for the post.
The 61st Expedition corresponds to the fourth yearof the “Japanese Antarctic Research Project Phase IX”, a
6 year-long project launched in 2016. The main theme ofthe expedition is “Variations of global systems revealed by
Antarctic observations”, and will consist of observational
activities on glacial, marine, and sea ice properties, utilizing
the “Shirase” research vessel in order to try and further
explain the relationship between ocean waters and ice
sheets. The expedition will be carried out over a four-month
period from late 2019 into 2020. Preparations including
member selection, training, and acquiring supplies, will be
conducted over the upcoming year.
Sharing his thoughts on his selection, Dr. Aoki
commented “I feel somber, as being leader of the expedition

is a serious responsibility. The international community is
expecting results from the Japanese research being conductedin the Antarctic. In addition to continuing to build on thepast 60 years of work that JARE has undertaken, I would
also like to successfully conquer new challenges during the61st expedition.”
Dr. Aoki has previously been a member of the 39th
Winter Expedition, as well as the 43rd and 56th Summer
Expeditions. He has also participated in several Australiansponsored research ship expeditions. In addition to his
duties as leader of the 61st Expedition, Dr. Aoki will also
serve as leader of the Summer Expedition.

Photo taken by Kazuya Ono.

A ceremony was held on January 10, 2019, to mark the launchof the Hokkaido University Interdisciplinary Large-scaleComputing System.

With the world’s 95th fastest supercomputer and ahigh-performance cloud system centered on bare-metal(physical) servers, the new system provides peak computing
performance with about 20 times the peak speed of the oldsystem.
What’s more, a network of servers distributed overa wide area from Hokkaido to Kyushu is available as an“intercloud package” to support researchers in fields related
to wide-area networks and distributed systems. PetabyteThe water-cooling system.

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Litterae Populi Spring 2019

Hokkaido University Associate Professor Shigeru Aoki during the Umitaka-maru research expeditionin 2012 in the Southern Ocean.

Litterae Populi Spring 201925

Campus Landscapes

Memories of Spring
Photographer: Akihito Yamamoto

At this time of year, when it is getting warmer day by day, the balmy breezes you feel on
your face and the fragrances in the air provide a seasonal color palette. Close your eyesamid this seasonal change and you may recall the days when you felt excited about yournew life.
You may remember the day when you looked hopefully on your nascent campus life orwhen you felt a rush of excitement—feelings of anxiety and exaltation—as you embarked
on the journey of your career.
Occasionally recalling feelings from your younger days is sure to rekindle youraspirations.

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Litterae Populi Spring 2019

a

b

c

d

a. Graduate School of Engineeringb. Entomology and Sericulture Halldbc. The Second Farmad. Graduate School of Agriculture

c
N

Main
Gate

North13
Gate

Litterae Populi Spring 201927

https://www.global.hokudai.ac.jp/

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Litterae Populi Spring 2019