[Special Lecture Series for Members] 150 Years after Gakumon no Susume: Living through a Period of Great Change 

This event now concluded.

  • Speaker: Kohei ITOH (President of Keio University)
  • Date: Wednesday, April 26, 2023, 6:30-8:30 pm
  • Venue: Iwasaki Koyata Memorial Hall
  • Language: Japanese (without interpretation)
  • Admission: 5,000 yen/person (registraion required)
    *This event is exclusively for I-House members.
  • Gakumon no Susume (An Encouragement of Learning) was published 150 years ago during a period of great social upheaval known as the Meiji Restoration.

    The author, Yukichi Fukuzawa, is said to have written the book to give Japan and the Japanese people advice on overcoming the unprecedented challenges facing the nation by explaining the fundamental attitudes people should maintain in their lives.

    The world today is once again experiencing great change due to growing inequality, rising geopolitical tensions, and a raging pandemic. How we as individuals live through this chaotic and turbulent era will greatly influence the future direction of society. In this lecture, Professor Kohei ITOH, President of Keio University, will give his account of the insights Gakumon no Susume which offers in the actions we should take now during this period of historical change.The discussion will be followed by a question-and-answer session and a reception.

    Kohei ITOH (President of Keio University)
    Kohei ITOH graduated from Keio University and received his M. S. and Ph. D. in Engineering from University of California, Berkeley. He joined Keio University as a faculty member in 1995 and became a full professor in 2007. He served as Dean of Faculty and Graduate School of Science and Technology of Keio University between 2017 and 2019, and as the Chair of Keio AI and Advanced Programming Consortium between 2018 and 2021. His main focus of research has been quantum computing, quantum sensing, and quantum physics, which led to more than 330 journal publications. He is one of 210 Council Members of Science Council of Japan representing approximately 870,000 scholars of the country to propose and advice academic and scientific policies in Japan, and has served on numerous executive boards including the Physical Society of Japan and the Japan Society of Applied Physics. He leads the Program Director of Quantum Information Technology in the MEXT Quantum Leap Flagship Program for researchers representing the field. He is a recipient of the Japan IBM Prize (2006) and the JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) Prize (2009). He is also a founder of the IBM Quantum Computer Network Hub at Keio University.