Research Topic
Using quantitative data and mathematical models to study complex systems

Things that consist of various elements working together are called “systems.” In my research, I combine mathematical models and quantitative data to understand a range of systems from theoretical and experimental standpoints. Elucidating the laws underlying systems will enable us to reach a deeper understanding of human beings and society, potentially enabling us to predict conditions in the future and control these conditions to be more favorable.

Research Topic
Theoretical analyses of algorithms and their practical implementation.

My research interests focus on the theory of algorithms and computational complexity of mathematically formalized problems, in particular, combinatorial optimization problems such as tree pattern matching and graph data mining. Currently I am also interested in how to easily integrate such theoretical formalization, or models, with empirical knowledge and techniques. I teach students how to evaluate, improve, and renovate algorithms and how to realize them into a running software.

Research Topic
Research on manuscripts of Japanese classical literature and their expressions

I study the expressions in kana literature in the Heian period such as waka and narratives. My literary research is based on accurately compiled differences between various versions and empirical data aggregated from a philological standpoint. I teach students specific methods necessary for logical inquiry into the nature of the literary work.

Research Topic
Japanese medieval history using the methodology of digital humanities

My research involves analyzing Buddhist texts, manuscripts and other historical documents held by temples by means of the methodology of digital humanities. Concretely, I use various tools, such as text mining,to extract specified strings of characters and wordings and compare them, drawing inspiration from similar research in Chinese and Western languages. My aim is to deepen our understanding of Japanese thought and religion as seen in historical documents from a dynamic perspective by fully applying this kind of methodology to the study of Japanese history.

Research Topic
Development of technology for effective storage, search and use of big data

Today’s advanced information society is not only seeing overflow of data but also its complexity. People solve various problems by collecting information from such data and acquiring new knowledge through using them. I teach students the skill to store, search and use appropriate data for solving the problems they deal with.

Research Topic
Descriptive, theoretical, and experimental syntax of natural language

I work on the development of a theoretical model explaining various syntactic phenomena in natural language. Furthermore, I examine the validity of the theoretical model by experimentally testing the hypothesis about linguistic competence and performance.

Research Topic
Study of how robots can affect human recognition and behavior

We humans recognize bipedal-walking robots and pet robots as social beings with which to interact and nurture relationships. I aim to deepen our understanding of the influence that robots can have on human recognition and behavior, and explore where a particular type of robot should be used so that it can perform at its best. I hope to contribute to solving problems faced by human society by shedding light on how robots can connect people with people, and people with society.

Research Topic
Modelling of the Japanese grammatical and semantic resources applicable to large corpus analyses

I am engaged in the study and description of Japanese language both in written and spoken forms. I am trying to work out a computational model of grammatical and semantic resources applicable to analyze large corpus, which allows us to improve information retrieval and conversational agent systems.

Research Topic
A system for recommending the optimum hashtag when posting an image on social media

Did you know that studies have found that on Twitter, tweets with more hashtags do not attract more views? This means that we now have to identify the individual hashtag that will convey a tweet’s appeal to its maximum advantage. The goal of my research is to develop a system that recommends the optimum hashtag when posting a tweet with an image attached. I hope to create a system that helps extend the reach of tweets and which is easy for anyone to use.

Research Topic
Digital humanities: utilizing computing in the pursuit of humanities research

I aim to empirically clarify the structures by which musical phenomena spreads and changes from a quantitative viewpoint. In concrete, developing technology that supports discoveries and analogies about the characteristics and effect relationships hidden in culture, and creating structures that allow us to understand phenomena that are behind the data. The knowledge and methodologies I provide to carry out each project are not limited to music or classics: they are highly versatile and can be applied to other fields, such as fine arts, iconography, social sciences and geopolitics.

Research Topic
Formulation of research methods in scientific fields from a statistical perspective

The purpose of my research is to develop statistical methods to extract necessary information and remove noise from measured data, mainly in the field of physics, and offer such methods to researchers. I aim to establish scientific methodologies to replace the conventional approach, which depends on the intuition and experience of researchers, so that anyone, whether specialist or otherwise, can engage in research activities.

Research Topic
Research on the art of Japanese Shinto-Buddhist syncretism

My main interest lies in understanding religion of the people in the past and how they expressed their belief through the art. My current work focus on the art of Shinto-Buddhist syncretism, especially in Koyasan area, known as the center of Japanese Shingon esoteric Buddhism. I am also interested in ancient East Asian musical instruments. We lost some of them, but the images remained in the arts such as Buddhist sculptures and paintings, and they give us useful hints to solve the mysteries of ancient times.

Research Topic
Investigation of cognitive processes using cognitive modeling

Causality is said to be basic to human thought. I am working to elucidate the process of human thought by studying how humans acquire causal knowledge, from the viewpoint of cognitive science. Cognitive science is an interdisciplinary field that uses findings and research methods from various fields to understand cognition. Particularly, I am interested in investigating cognitive processes by comparing the results of behavioral experiments against predictions derived from cognitive modeling.

Research Topic
Dynamic structure of multimodal interaction

I examine the mental state and thinking process of those who express in interpersonal communication through the integration and complementary relationship of verbal and non-verbal aspects. I also research the mechanism of humans’ acquisition of physical skills based on the verified data of physical movements, and specifically demonstrate the process where humans learn movements through mimicking as a skill inheritance model.

Research Topic
Schools and education from a sociological perspective

My research consists of an objective, in-depth consideration of schools and education from a sociological perspective. I have previously used a statistical approach in studies entitled “Social classes that make use of shadow education in the form of cram schools and distance learning, and the effects of shadow education” and “The effect of experiencing violence in infancy and childhood on attitudes toward the acceptability of corporal punishment.” Understanding these issues from the new framework of sociology will bring to light the true status of issues concerning education and schools.

Research Topic
Analysis of visual works utilizing the approaches of cinema studies and statistics

I digitalize images from movies, animations and other visual works to foster a scientific understanding of what these images communicate and what effects they have. My research requires, in addition to a statistical approach, an understanding of social trends and knowledge in various disciplines in the humanities, such as philosophy, history, literature, aesthetics, folklore, cinema studies and sociology. By examining visual works from diverse viewpoints, we can shed light on the association between visual culture and society.

Research Topic
Analyses of the interface between syntax and morphology, explication of linguistic change in time and space

I specialize in the comparative research and theory construction in Asian languages, as well as the mechanism of linguistic change through language contact. I teach students how to analyze linguistic data with a linguistic method and put the results together in a verifiable way, and provide them with the practical skill of linguistic data analyses using the inductive or deductive method.

Research Topic
Logical and psychological study of the cognitive functions of diagrammatic representations

I approach the issue of the functions and anti-functions of diagrammatic representations from the viewpoints of both logic and psychology. I use the method of mathematical logic to form hypotheses on how diagrammatic representations express information and how they help our thinking and understanding. The hypotheses are then tested through psychological experiments.

Research Topic
Cognitive mechanisms of object recognition in cultural contexts

My recent research focuses on the cognitive mechanisms of reading diagrams such as tables and graphs. In order to read a diagram properly, we need to rely on conventional knowledge about how the diagram is constructed and how it corresponds to the external world. How we recognize objects and patterns in such cultural context is examined using a psychological method.

Research Topic
Quantitative analysis of formation of trends, comparative urban studies

I study how the cultures of different countries are expected to be merged and reorganized in the increasingly globalizing contemporary society and how human cultural activities are being rewritten. I teach students how to extract behavioral data from image, music, fashion and literature of different cultures, how to form their influential relationship and how to compare and contrast them.

Research Topic
Experimental and corpus-based research on the sounds of language

My research interest lies in phonetics and phonology, which are subfields of linguistics. I address issues such as how speech sounds are produced and perceived, what acoustic properties they have, whether there are regular patterns in their alternations, and whether speakers are psychologically aware of such patterns. I often use corpus-based and experimental approaches.

Research Topic
Ethnological and historical survey and study of human cultural heritage

Human activities consist of coordinates on the temporal and spatial axis, and each phenomenon there is normalized by the thematic axis called behavior. I provide students with the skill to computerize various human behaviors from a phenomenological viewpoint, and the methodology to evaluate the phase of spatio-temporal connection and interpret human behavior.

Research Topic
Theoretical characterization of multivariate data analysis methods and development of a new method

My research interests include multivariate data analysis methods, social network analysis, sports data analysis, matrix decomposition-type multivariate analysis methods and symbolic data analysis methods. I teach students the theory and application of various methods of multivariate data analyses and provide them with the practical problem-solving skill using statistical science.

Research Topic
Research on the methodology of linguistic description and study of Japanese and English usages

I deal with linguistic descriptions and usages in various linguistic phenomena in English and Japanese. I encourage students to utilize various corpora and seek for the best method of analysis for a variety of linguistic phenomena, and teach them the methodology of linguistic analyses for solving their respective research questions in linguistics.

Research Topic
Development of methods for obtaining behavioral data, quantitative study of cultural and social phenomena

In addition to sociometric theory, my current study is focusing on various social issues and cultural phenomena including consumer behavior, pro-environmental behavior, organizational culture and cross-national comparison of identity and values. I provide students with the method of data science for investigating collective patterns of human behavior based on the survey data.