The Takeda Award Forum 2002
 | |
|
My name is Nakamura. I am very grateful to be receiving this award. I had also prepared presentation materials but, as Professors Akasaki and Amano were going to make similar speeches, the Foundation asked me to make a speech without presentation materials, so that is what I will now do.
I was a corporate researcher. Professors Akasaki and Amano were researching at a university, but in my case I was at a company. Now I will talk about how I came to do research on light emitting devices (LED).
I was a graduate of Tokushima University - I graduated from a master's course at the University. I graduated from the electronics department, and after graduating, like most of the students in Japan, I wanted to join a big company. If we could enter big companies, we would be guaranteed lifetime employment as a salary man. Though I also intended to be a lifetime salary man, fate intervened, and it turned out that I needed to stay in Tokushima prefecture, for various private reasons.
Though I decided to stay in Tokushima, there was no company where I could use my electronics specialty, as Tokushima was a rural prefecture. I asked my supervising professor for an introduction to a company which was located in Tokushima prefecture, and I was introduced to Nichia Chemical Industry Co. Ltd (Nichia). Nichia's main products were fluorescent materials. Nichia was a chemical company in which fluorescent materials were developed and produced. My supervisor, Professor Tada at that time said, "You have to realize that you should resign yourself to being unable to apply your specialty, because the company is a chemical company and there is no job which uses an electronics specialty. You should work only thinking about looking after your family."
So I entered the company in such a frame of mind. Nichia was a company with 180 employees and yearly sales of 2-3 billion yen. The sales were all fluorescent materials. I was assigned to a development department when I entered the company. Though the name was the 'development department,' it consisted of section chief and two staff, as the company was such a minor enterprise. By chance, when I joined the department I was given as a research theme the development of crystal growth for the semiconductor gallium phosphate (GaP). This is a well-known crystal, which can be used for green and yellowish-green LEDs. I entered the world of LED development. At that time I felt extremely lucky, because I liked to study semiconductors. My professor said that "you should resign yourself to being unable to apply your specialty," but the actual situation was the opposite and I felt extremely lucky.
The company was, at that time, looking like it would go out of a business at any time. The previous year there had been an enforced lay-off, and it was a period in which the signature of your section chief was necessary when we wanted to get even small materials such as a pencil. I wondered whether the company was going to go out of business suddenly. However, the research theme, which I was ordered to tackle, was the crystal growth of the semiconductor GaP and I felt extremely lucky. I was entrusted with this research and worked alone. However we had little money to spend, and almost nothing, such as instruments, to do experiments with. Anyway I had to do this research, so I became hell-bent on doing experiments on the crystal growth.
At that time a horizontal Bridgeman method was used, and in this method it was necessary to put the raw materials inside a transparent quartz tube and so in order to do this I spent from morning to evening welding quartz tubes. Unlike a university, a company must produce manufactured goods. In a manufacturing company, making goods is the basic purpose. I of course was fond of reading technical books, but my work did not make progress as I was researching by myself. The chief urged me to start manufacturing something as soon as possible. So I spent almost every day welding quartz tubes, inserting raw materials and heating them in the furnace - where they would explode with a loud "bang." As I made the experiments in a company in the country, such troubles were permitted. If such explosions were to happen in the city, such operations would be shut down immediately.
I continued these kinds of developments for about 5 years - I researched GaP for 3 years and after that I did gallium arsenide (GaAs) for the next 3 years. In the research of GaAs, I did nothing but quartz welding. After I entered the company I did quartz welding from morning till evening almost every day. I was just a quartz-welding technician at that time! I couldn't imagine my present situation. At that time I thought that my whole life was over. I thought that I would end my life as a quartz-welding technician. As it turned out, I am now in a very different situation for one reason and another.
After I developed the GaP material, I went out to sell it. I did all the work - research and development, manufacturing, quality control and sales - because our company was a chemical company and so there was nobody who understood even the basics of semiconductors and who could explain and sell the material. Therefore I had to go out and do the selling by myself. I visited companies countless times, and I asked the people at those companies to buy the GaPc and they agreed to examine the product. After they examined the characteristics of the product, they said that the characteristics like those of other manufacturers and so they asked what were the merits of buying Nichia's product, and also about things like the management of quality control. Since I was doing everything myself I was not so confident about everything. I was even asked to reduce the price of the devices down to one half! The result was that I could not sell more than one million yen's worth per month.
In the course of time I was asked to do development work on gallium arsenide (GaAs). GaAs can be produced using a similar method to GaP, and I developed it by myself within 3 years. This GaAs is the material which is used for red and infrared LEDs - so once again there was a connection with LEDs! I developed the GaAs crystals over 3 years and then I went out selling again. This too would not sell for the same reason as before. Next I developed the epitaxial growth of gallium aluminum arsenide (GaAlAs) and this time I went as far as developing practical infrared and red LEDs, which I was asked to develop by the sales people who had customers requirements. I manufactured the above LEDs using a furnace that I built myself, as there were no funds available to buy one. In 4 years, I succeeded in developing infrared and red LEDs. However, these devices could not sell more than 1 or 2 million yen.
All in all, in the period of 10 years from entering my previous company (Nichia), I made all of the manufacturing line - from raw material to device manufacturing. However these devices could not sell more than 1 or 2 million yen. As I built everything during the 10 year period, I became highly acquainted with the LED technologies.
Unfortunately, the devices which were developed did not sell well, and so the company spoke badly of me. I was seen as a freeloader. Through my research, the profits that the company earned from fluorescent materials were being poured down the drain. So the top brass, who had served a long time, spoke badly of me. During the first 5 or 6 years after I entered the company, they would say things like "You are going to bring the company down" "When are you going to make something that sells?" After 10 years had passed they asked me to abandon such developments and at that time I felt that it was impossible to stay in the company. Of all the experienced people in the development department, only I was left. There had been several people in the department in the past, but they were transferred to the fluorescent division because the LEDs were not selling well. I was left in the department and everyone blamed me for the poor results. So I felt hard done by and ended up thinking that I wouldn't even care if they sacked me.
Whilst I had been developing LEDs during those 10 years, I had always had a desire to try and develop a blue LED. I proposed again and again to my boss that we attempt the development of the blue LED, but he said that it was impossible to perform such development in this small, rural company because of the lack of money, researchers, expertise, and so on. That was actually the truth and I also thought that it was impossible to develop blue LED. So although I had wanted to try for the previous 10 years, I held back. However after completing my 10th year, I was urged to quit the company and so I blew a fuse. I decided to propose the development of blue LED, which I wanted to develop, and if it was impossible then I would resign the company.
As I thought that if I proposed the development plan to my boss, it would go nowhere. So I appealed directly to the company founder - this kind of action was possible in such a small-scale venture enterprise and this was a merit of the company. I thought that even the founder would not permit the proposal, but I was ready to quit anyway if I was refused, so it was worth a try. The founder's name was Mr. Nobuo Ogawa - he was the president at the time, but he died this year. I asked him to let me develop a blue LED, and he just said "OK." I thought he was either lying or that he thought he wouldn't need to spend any money on it. So I stuck my neck out and said "We need a budget of several hundred million yen in order to complete the development of blue LED." He replied "OK." Moreover, I asked him to permit me to study abroad at Florida University for one year. Againc "OK." Everything was OK in just 5 seconds - it was that easy.
I got permission from the founder, but the executive director and those below him were vehemently opposed to the plans. When they met with me, they immediately said "What are you doing this time? You're going to pour more money down the drain." However, I had got permission from the president, so I began the development of the blue LED. I went abroad to Florida University where I wanted to study MOCVD, and on my return I started practically the research of blue LEDs.When I was at University of Florida, the doctorate students ridiculed me. I only had a master's degree at the time I went to University of Florida. The students in the laboratory asked me whether I wrote technical articles and I replied I had not written any articles. When I was in the company, the company prohibited me from writing any articles or from making speeches at academic conferences. When I said I did not write any articles and also did not have a doctorate degree, the students treated me like a technician. In the United States undergraduates are treated as technicians. In the US corporate researchers inevitably have a doctorate degree. At that time I had been unaware of this, so it annoyed me and I resolved that, on my return to Japan, I would write articles and get a doctorate degree. Japan has a unique system that we can obtain a doctorate degree without attending a course - instead you can apply for the degree with a doctoral thesis. In order to do this, I ignored the company's system, which prohibited the writing of articles, and I wrote and presented articles, as I didn't fear the sack.
As professors Akasaki and Amano explained earlier, there were two kinds of the materials: one was zinc selenide (ZnSe) and the other was gallium nitride (GaN). Many researchers throughout the world were researching ZnSe. In the research of GaN there were very few, and only Professors Akasaki and Amano were doing such research in Japan at that time. If one thought about which was easier to write articles about - ZnSe or GaN - then GaN was easier because many researchers were researching ZnSe, but very few researchers were looking at GaN. As I had no experience of writing articles, I thought if I selected ZnSe then I could not compete at writing articles. This was one reason why I selected GaN as a material. Firstly I bought the MOCVD equipment that was on the market at the time, and then I began to start the crystal growth of GaN. However when I used the commercially available equipment, I got absolutely terrible results. This is because, as Professor Amano explained earlier, it was necessary to add some modifications. As this was only my first experience, I had not done this.
I started this research at 1989. Professors Akasaki and Amano already had many years of experience. Professor Akasaki started this research in the 1970s and Professor Amano started it at the beginning of 1980s. As I was a newcomer I could not get any results. The price of the MOCVD equipment was 2 hundred million yen which made me feel pressure to get some results. So I began to modify the equipment in my own way, just like Professor Amano did. I continued making these modifications everyday for one and a half years. Usually I made the modifications in the morning, but when I could not make modifications in the morning I did them in the afternoon. And one and a half years later, it was summer of 1990, I invented Two-Flow MOCVD to work. When I used this to grow GaN crystals, I could get results superior to the data of Professors Akasaki and Amano, which had been the best in the world up until then. I was absolutely delighted. This was the first time in my life that I had produced "a world best," "a world first"c such kind of top data. At that time nobody in the company could understand what that was like.
Using the modified equipment I made various crystals one after the other and over a 2-3 month period I produced several "first in world" and "best in world" results. For example, the indium gallium nitride, that Professor Amano told us he had been unable to get, could be created simply. Furthermore, when I somewhat modified the structure of the LED devices, I could get an extremely bright light. I also made various other breakthroughs, including obtaining p-type GaN. In 1989 when I just started the research of GaN, Professors Akasaki and Amano presented their way of getting p-type GaN. At that time I was just starting the research, and I was shocked to hear it. As I had the intention to develop the first p-type GaN in the world, the success stumped me. So I checked the article on getting p-type GaN and realized that p-type GaN was being obtained by irradiation with electron beams. I actually started trying to get p-type GaN in 1991 and I presented an article in 1992. I had succeeded in getting p-type GaN simply by heat treatment. Once again it was the quality of the equipment that had allowed me to produce such good quality p-type GaN.
The 2-flow MOCVD was built in summer of 1990, and after that I got good data within a few months. The invention of the Two-flow MOCVD is covered by patent 404, ownership of which is now being disputed with my former company under the patent law. By using this patent my former company got good results: a blue LED that emitted strong light and a good laser diode.
I applied for this patent promptly. As I explained earlier, the company prohibited publishing articles and speaking at academic conferences. Even applications for patent types that were subject to public disclosure were prohibited. All patent applications were limited to "know-how" applications (not made public by the patent office). As I explained earlier I wanted to submit articles. After I succeeded with Two-Flow MOCVD, I submitted the articles in secret. Before submitting the articles, I made patent applications as a way of covering my back once the articles were publicized. Writing the articles was the incentive for pursuing my research, and before publishing them I always made confidential patent applications. Thanks to these patents, my former company is doing well. They have used the patents to sue many rival firms. The have even made a claim against me. This claim in the united state resulted recently in my winning, which I am very happy about.
After all this, I succeeded in commercializing the blue LED in 1993. This device emitted bright light of which the intensity was more than 100 times brighter than previous devices. When this device was announced, no one believed it immediately, but people who tested the device practically were surprised. I also developed and announced the commercialization of green LED in 1995. I achieved the first laser oscillation in late 1995 and succeeded in the commercialization of the blue laser in about 1999. In the meantime I made several hundred patent applications and about 50 important patents were granted which produced profits for my former company.At that point all of the work was finished and I didn't have anything to do in late 1999. After that, this being Japan, my job was reduced to checking and stamping documents. As I was the acting general manager, I did a lot of document stamping - it was my only job. I felt I would go senile if I carried on like that, and wanted to resign. At that time I had offers from American universities, which I started to think about seriously and ended up deciding to go to America. For similar reasons, I think that Mr. Kouichi Tanaka will resign from the company soon. If not, I don't think that one can make progress as a person. Hanko (signature seal) stamping is not workc
In consequence I decided to go to America. I had offers from about 10 Universities. Firstly I had an offer from UCLA, but finally I decided that UCSB (University of California, Santa Barbara) was the best for me considering the living environment, my specialist research field, and so on. As soon as I transferred to America, though it's not my intention to badmouth my former company, the company began to say that the University and I were suspected of leaking trade secrets. Actually we were sued over this in December 2000. The suit was an accusation of the leaking of trade secrets. I blew a fuse when I found out about the action, and one year later I sued my former company over the ownership of patent 404 and compensation for the patent. Concerning the trade secrets suit, on October 10 this year I won the part that was filed in the United States. That was hard, I can tell you! Though I go off on a tangent, I want to say that if you resign from your company and transfer to another position with a venture business, then there is a strong possibility that you too will be sued over leakage of trade secrets. In fact, even if a person in their 40s or 50s resigned and transferred to a University, he would be sued. If a person started a venture and made research in a similar field to his previous company, he would definitely be sued. Under these circumstances, it would be almost impossible for me to establish my own venture company. Therefore a new system, where young undergraduates, and other young people like Dr. Amano, can start venture business easily, must be created. In Japan now there is no such system - I hope that situation is remedied. I think various systems are bad in Japan.
The research theme which I am doing in America is, of course, using GaN - similar to what Professor Amano talked about, it is the so-called 'brighter LED.' Moreover I am managing the Solid-state Lighting Center, and there the research is aiming to produce bright white light of such an intensity that it can replace normal fluorescent tubes. Though the efficiency of the white LED is about twice that of incandescent bulbs, it is still is less half that of fluorescent tubes. So in order to replace all fluorescent tubes with white LEDs, it is necessary to increase the light emitting efficiency more. I am putting all my effort into this. If it could be attained, all of the light sources could be changed to new white LEDs.
As was mentioned earlier, GaN transistors are anticipated. In America research in electronic devices of GaN is flourishing, and the US military is investing a great deal of money in the research of high power and high frequency devices - the budgets are quite huge. The military research grants given to corporations and universities are of the order of approximately 0.5 to 1 billion yen per year. Nowadays in Japan, I hear that the government isn't giving much money for research into GaN and I wonder if Japan will fall behind. There is, of course, a reason that there is military demand for the research of GaN. For example if devices are made from GaN, it can be possible to get very tough devices. On the outside of the space station, which is now under construction using the space shuttle, transistors made from GaN have been simply placed in the open and are test-working. This is not possible with silicon transistors, nor with GaAs transistors - only GaN gives this performance. By using GaN, very tough transistors are possible. Such kinds of tough testing are being done because the military needs very high reliability devices.
Another important theme, which is the same as Professor Amano's theme, is the research of ultra violet light emitting devices. This device can be used as a countermeasure against bio-terror. Within a few months of the World Trade Centre attack, the military was asking for the development of bio-terror countermeasures. One example is a sensor for detecting anthrax bacteria. For detecting such kinds of anthrax bacteria, it is essential to use ultra violet light emitting devices. If we search for ultra violet light emitting devices, presently GaN-based material is the main one. Because of that, I am now making a great effort on this theme.
As you can see, I am currently working on various themes. By the way, as I am a professor of an American university, I employ about ten students. The American doctoral program students are quite different from Japanese students. Though I don't know what the present students are like in Japan, but the American students are quite different from the Japanese students of my student days. The doctoral program students are particularly excellent. Basically, none of them are thinking of joining big companies. They are working on their research with the intention of either joining a venture company or establishing their own venture company after they graduate from university. Moreover they excel in their specialties. In Japan, all the students intend to enter big companies.
As I say frequently, Japanese students have no confidence in their own capability. Since they are children, they must study for the preparations for the university entrance examination. Though they may have their own dreams at primary school age, after that they are forced to study only for the preparation for the university entrance examination. Entering university itself becomes their dream, and so the moment they enter university their dreams are over. While at university they enjoy campus life. When they graduate university, they have no confidence in their ability and so they tend to want to join stable, big enterprises or to become public employees. As a result they become lifetime salary men, as you know well. As I say often, if we join a big enterprise, we are forever 'salarymen' no matter how much effort we put in. Even if one becomes a general manager or department manager, it is no big deal. Accordingly, I think a new system should be developed, such that, like America, graduate students can establish venture companies and achieve the 'American Dream.'
The reason why I mention the above is that in actual fact the future gap between Japan and the rest of the world in terms of Science and Technology is set to widen more and more. Up until now, Japan has concentrated on manufacturing products, but nowadays manufacturing faces hard competition with China and so on. That's what I was saying before - the system which Japan has established is a manufacturing oriented system. In the system all the students went through the difficult entrance examinations and as a result similar, average people - just like robots - were educated and supplied to the big enterprises as 'salarymen' to contribute to manufacturingc always manufacturing. However I think this kind of approach is very serious when I look at a situation with China and the like. And so the government earnestly urges us to make an effort to produce creative products or to start up ventures. However, if the fundamental systems, such as the university entrance examination, are not made so that the young people's way of thinking changes, I think that, whatever the government, does nothing will ever change.
And concerning universities, there are huge differences between the United States' and Japanese universities. In Japan it is quite unusual for professors in universities to talk about money. And it is also unusual for students to talk about money. In the United States professors who can get money are estimated to be excellent professors. As I have said many times, most of the professors in the engineering faculties in the United States do consultancy for corporations. They are in the faculty of engineering. They get money privately from consulting corporations. They get the money privately - it is their own money. There is no limit on how much they can receive because it is private business. A highly capable professor might consult for 5 to 10 companies. The fees for the consultations add up to a huge amount of money. The amount may be in the region of ten million yen, and all of it is private income. In Japan a professor in a faculty of medicine consults to some drug manufacturing company and get consultation fee, and has to go to jail because of getting illegal gratuities. He is just consulting, but in Japan consulting lands you in jail. The professor is a very capable person, and so the company sends some money as a consultation fee (seen as a bribe in Japan) and asks for his help. Were he an incapable professor no company would asks for consultation. For only capable professors are asked to consultant. In the United States such capable professors are respected, but in Japan they are sent to jail. In this situation professors have no incentive. Even though professors have no incentive themselves, they ask the students to study hard - the students aren't interested. In the United state which professors do students want to study under? The professors who can earn a great number of consulting fee 'bribes' attract the most students. A capable professor gets lots of consulting fees, performs good research and he establishes a venture company. And then he earns huge amount of money by succeeding this venture. Students in the United States can watch and learn naturally how their professors get consultant fees and how their professors establish venture companies. Students learn what is the best way to establish and manage a venture or learn about the venture capital system. After that the students naturally dream of establishing venture company for real, and realizing their 'American Dream.' On the other hand, if Japanese professors do the same as American professors, they go to jail. They do only academic research. Only academic research.
As I am on this tangentc I spoke at a student venturec BLS or something like thatc in the University of Tokyo. A group of people, mainly students of the University of Tokyo, made an organization which would help create venture businesses. I gave a lecture to that group and afterward talked with the students. They are hell bent on establish a venture, but their professor at the University of Tokyo got extremely angry to hear that students were to take part in such an organization. He says that university is a place for academic research and not the place to earn money. He says that to take part in that organization is not permitted. He went as far as saying that if a student in his laboratory takes part in the organization, he would be ordered to leave. So it looks like the students take part in the organization in secret and continue to look into venture businesses. On the other hand, the Japanese government is starting to promote a venture system centered on the University of Tokyo, but the words and the actual intention are not the same. Therefore students get frustrated that whilst the Japanese government promotes venture activity, and students want to create ventures through their organization, the professors themselves are much too conservative and think that such venture activity is not necessary.
In venture company, as I have often said, creative new products can be developed because you can extremely challenging things without any hesitation. The reason why I succeeded in developing the blue LED was simply that I was in such a small enterprise. I didn't enter a big mainstream company - by chance I entered a small enterprise, situated in the countryside around Anan city in Tokushima prefecture, which was just like a venture company. This small company was just like a venture company, and so I could start on an extremely challenging theme simply by getting the permission of the president. So a venture business, where you can attempt research that goes against accepted wisdom, is a good thing. As you know well, Microsoft and such other companies are all venture companies started by students, because, in such venture companies, people can try extremely challenging things and creative new products can be developed. In big enterprises, it is something that is difficult to do. Of course it is not impossible start unconventional research in a big enterprise, but a big company is principally a manufacturing company. And in such a big enterprise, when the company starts working on a blue LED, or similar new theme, people will without fail hold a big meeting and set up a project team for it. In big enterprises many groups were researching the blue LED. After I succeeded in making a blue LED, I had the chance to talk with people from these big enterprises. They told me that they formed project teams, with about 10 researchers, in order to achieve a blue LED, and then firstly they discussed what was the best material for it. Typically at those meetings nine out of ten of the researchers would propose that ZnSe was the best material for blue LED. This ZnSe could produce very good crystals at that time and so common sense said that ZnSe was the most suitable material for it. If one foolish individual suggested selecting GaN, he would be told he was talking nonsense. He would be asked, angrily, whether he knew how difficult this crystal was to produce - how rough it was, and would be told that he should go back to university to study again. Accordingly such a person naturally adopted the common view. Moreover the hanko (signature stamp) of many senior managers was necessary to permit a new project to start and so the concept of a new project was pushed toward accepted wisdom. Therefore, though this is perhaps extreme, I think that creative new products can succeed only in a venture company where an individual can concentrate on the new project without any censure. I think that big enterprises are about everybody cooperating to manufacture things, and so the creativity of venture companies must be cultivated more and more. I have digressed a lot from my original topic, but at this point I would like to conclude my talk. Thank you.Question and answer time
Questioner 1: One question is why you pursued legal action in Japan instead of in America, though your judicial action in America seemed to be easier to win. Another question is how much is your annual income compared with the income at your former company in Japan.
Nakamura: Concerning the judicial action, as you say I want to do it in America. However my judicial action is against Nichia over the patent ownership under Japanese law. Though I think that the handling of cases in America is fairer than in Japan, and I would like to pursue legal action in America, my judicial action is under the patent law in Japan, and so I have no other choice but Japan. This is the reason, although I would like to pursue the judicial action in America.
Another question is concerning my earnings. I resigned Nichia in 1993 and at that time my annual income was 16 million yen in all. The salary of a university professor is guaranteed for 9 months and the amount is $160,000. The salary for the other 3 months I must get from research funds. In total my annual earnings are $220,000. It is my publicized salary - I get private earnings through consulting, but I can't talk about this. Anyway, there is an absolutely enormous difference in the salaries. As I said earlier, researchers in Japan are just salary men.
Questioner 2: I am very impressed by your excellent achievements, and in fact made a presentation about your work when I was asked to give a lecture. I wonder why there are not more people like you in Japan. And I hope that you will contribute more to the development of our country. Presently in Japan there are many misuses of foreign words, where we put them into katakana and change their meaning. As you live in a foreign country now, I would like to know what you think about the Japanese culture, civilization and education system.
Nakamura: It is a difficult question that I can't answer briefly. In Japan is a single race, the Japanese, and so in Japan there is a kind of situation of national isolation, with us only speaking Japanese. Now we are in the age of globalization. If we don't become multicultural and learn to speak other languages, I feel a strong sense that Japan would be left alone. America is composed of many races and there are many kinds of people. In contrast Japan seems to be in a situation of national isolationc to answer your question briefly.
Questioner 3: I heard that American students go on to master courses and doctorate courses whilst receiving a salary. However in Japanese universities students have to pay fees to do study and research. I think that in such difference situations, the motivation of the students is not the same. If Dr. Nakamura was an assistant or an assistant professor, I would like to hear how you would raise the motivation of the students. I am really keen to hear your suggestions.
Nakamura: Japanese students are already burned out due to the university entrance examination. Accordingly that question is very difficult to answer. My personal opinion is that until you get rid of the current university entrance examination, nothing can be done. Students of universities are robotized by the preparations for the entrance examination. Japanese students waste their youth on overcoming this 'Ultra-Quiz.' Japanese students still spirited when they enter primary school. But as they progress through the grades of primary school, junior high school, senior high school and university, the Japanese students become more inactive step by step. The students rote-learn the solutions to the university examination - the 'Ultra-Quiz.' That is extremely tough - no one can do it so they all lose confidence. When the students are asked what their dreams are, very few students raise their hand and give an answer. If I was in such a situation, I couldn't raise my hand either. The Japanese students bullied by this most exclusive and difficult examination - this Ultra-Quiz - therefore they are filled with frustration. As it seems pitiful to keep urging these students on, I too can't say any words of encouragement. This is the actual education system used in Japan to train Japanese lifetime salary employees. On the contrary American students don't suffer this kind of pressure. Throughout the period of primary school, junior high school and senior high school, they enjoy their life freely - just like play. As they are able to play freely during their adolescence, they grow up stress-free. As I am sure you agree, I think that youth is the most important period. All of the energy of the intellectual ability and physical vigor of youth are poured into memorizing solutions for this Ultra-Quiz, the results of which destroy their confidence - this is education in Japan. In America students play freely while school age, consequently American students are overconfident. As you know, Americans are excessively confident. This was caused by their growing up without stress. Whether they are capable or not is another question. However, when they go to universities and find a theme they like, because they have self-confidence they study really hard and make good progress. Therefore I think that there is no way of letting Japanese universities become active in the present situation without first changing the university entrance examination system.
Tarui: I think there are other questions that people want to ask, but the scheduled time is over. Now I will close the Q&A session. Professor Nakamura, I appreciated your speech. Thank you very much.
Nakamura: Thank you.
The Takeda Award Forum 2002
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét