Dr. Tomo Tanaka was the originator of the Chubu-OU relationship. He is also the grandfather of the Japanese program at Ohio. He procured small but effective grants from Chubu to help start that program. He and his wife were extremely impressive individuals. He left a tenured professorship in physics at an Imperial University in Japan to come to the USA. The reason he did so was because his eldest son was autistic, and Japan did not have a support system for such individuals at that time. Their son eventually earned a Ph. D. and had a much more successful life because of his parents’ decision.
Another anecdote which he shared with me was that he was sent into Nagasaki right after the dropping of the atomic bomb. His task was to assess the damage created by the bomb and report to the government about it. Professor Tanaka was also instrumental in the creation of a program which assisted Ohio professors in becoming visiting professors at Chubu. Such professors were invited to spend a quarter or more time as a guest of Chubu university. I was one of those professors and I cannot emphasize enough how wonderful that visit was. The visiting professor was provided with a spacious apartment in Nagoya and an automobile for traveling to and from the campus. The president of Chubu hosted us at his house and on several other occasions. For example, he let us use his seats at the local Sumo competition and took us to see a cormorant fishing event. One of the more notable events which were arranged for us was visiting the Japanese plant where the F-16 fighter jet was being built under a lease arrangement with the USA.
Our host during our visit was President Yamada who was a son of the founder of Chubu and an outstanding educator. He was honored by the government for his service, and I was grateful to be invited to the ceremony. Chubu prospered under his administration and has grown to be an impressive university in Japan.
In the beginning Chubu was probably more advantaged by the relationship between Ohio and Chubu. But as time went on Ohio received many benefits as well
We now host a visiting professor at Ohio each year. We also have a study abroad program at Chubu. Chubu sends large numbers of students to Ohio each year.
The late Dr. Louis Wright and I started a program to honor the fortieth anniversary of our relationship with Chubu. We commissioned a portrait of the Ohio campus to be given to Chubu. It was painted by OU professor Gary Pettigrew, and it looked across the Hocking River from the campus to the Ridges and featured the Cherry trees donated to Ohio by Chubu. It now hangs in a prominent place at Chubu.
Perspectives on my visit.
Japan has a very interesting and complicated culture. It is a group of islands with minimal natural resources. Agriculture is challenging and labor intensive. For example, only 30% of the land is relatively level or flat. The rest is hills and mountains. This is only one example of the pressures upon the relatively large number of people living under these conditions.
I found the Japanese people at first to be very reserved and formal. But over time I came to know them as a warm and caring people living under many challenging conditions. One constant constraint is that it is crucial to avoid causing any form of embarrassment for yourself or the people you are dealing with. This has been called “keeping face”. One interesting consequence of this practice is that bicycles are not locked up when they are left at Subway entrances. Why? Anyone who was caught stealing one would probably bring great shame upon their family.