UTokyo President’s Log

We welcomed Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim of Malaysia at UTokyo.

Prime Minister delivered a lecture titled “Humanity in a Human-Machine Civilization.” His thought-provoking lecture which focused on future society where human beings and AI coexist was attended by many students and researchers from both Malaysia and Japan. They had a valuable opportunity for meaningful dialogue and interaction across borders and disciplines. I hope that Prime Minister’s visit this time will further deepen academic exchange as well as mutual understanding between the two countries.

I attended a ceremony to commemorate the relocation of the University of Tokyo New York Office. The office was opened in 2015 as a base for UTokyo’s education, research and community engagement activities in North America. It has since been utilized as a place for interaction among UTokyo researchers, graduates based in New York and local companies and universities. In order to further enhance UTokyo's presence there and accelerate global collaboration, UTokyo New York Office was relocated in May.

During the ceremony, to which we invited UTokyo graduates working mainly in New York, local companies and officials at diplomatic missions abroad, we had a conversation about the education that UTokyo College of Design, scheduled to open in autumn 2027, should aim at. We will press ahead with our global activities toward our 150th anniversary next year.

I spoke at a leadership dialogue in New York which was co-hosted by Japan Society, Daikin U.S. Corporation and UTokyo. The event was titled “The Future of Global Education and Workforce in the Age of AI.”

Having business leaders based in New York as the audience, we discussed how work and education should be in the age of AI. At a session which Professor Miles Pennington of UTokyo also attended, we had an opportunity to talk about UTokyo College of Design, of which Professor Pennington is scheduled to serve as the dean. We had a very meaningful time.