Journal of Computer Chemistry, Japan
Online ISSN : 1347-3824
Print ISSN : 1347-1767
ISSN-L : 1347-1767
追悼寄稿
A Tribute to John Takashi Shimozawa Sensei
Brian T. NEWBOLD
著者情報
ジャーナル フリー HTML

2017 年 16 巻 1 号 p. A4-A5

詳細

My initial contact with Shimozawa sensei was at the annual meeting of the Committee on the Teaching of Chemistry of IUPAC, in Cassis, France in 1977. We both attended as National Representatives of our respective countries, Japan and Canada. We met again in this capacity in a number of different countries (e.g.Yugoslavia, Portugal, United Kingdom). We both had a keen interest in Chemical Education, and seeking how to improve it at the national and international levels. This proved to be a strong bond between us that would have some interesting consequences. I noticed that Shimozawa sensei had a fine ability to focus well on the various issues under discussion. It also became quickly evident that he had a friendly disposition and a pleasing sense of humor.

A close association developed between us, aided by sustained correspondence, and in 1984 Shimozawa sensei invited me to come to Saitama University as a Visiting Professor for six months. The timing was convenient for me and I accepted for a term that was later increased to an eight months visit as a JSPS Fellow. It became one of the most interesting and useful experiences of my life. It was understood that was as well as lectures and research, I would be invited to assist with the preparations for the Eighth International Conference on Chemical Education, scheduled to be held in Tokyo the following year.

I arrived at Narita airport, Tokyo, on March, 14th, 1985 and Shimozawa sensei, accompanied by his daughter Julia, was waiting there to welcome me. They took me to the Keio Plaza hotel to rest and acclimatize. A few days later, they returned, together with Maria Fumiko Shimozawa, and drove me to the Campus of Saitama University where I was to live comfortably in the International House for most of my stay in Japan. They helped me to get installed in my apartment - a very useful gesture, much appreciated, which gave me a fore-taste of the wonderful hospitality that I was to receive throughout Nippon. I soon found a bicycle in good condition (one of many abandoned by students) and used it for local transportation. I solved the food needs problem by shopping at a nearby store. As a chemist, I felt capable of cooking for myself in my well-equipped apartment. Soon, Shimozawa sensei kindly invited me to join him and colleagues regularly for meals at the local, very popular, Denny's restaurant.

I used the bicycle to go to Shimozawa sensei's laboratory where my office was located, and students walking to classes on seeing me would bow to me, so I would bow back to them, even while riding - this gesture seemed to amuse some of them !My office was situated next to that of Shimozawa sensei and sometimes I could hear the telephone there ring when nobody was around... I told him about that and asked if I should answer, and he said go ahead. So,after learning the correct way to answer in Japanese, I responded several times and all went well. Until, one day a voice on the line said in English,"Good morning Professor Newbold, how are you ?" - it was Michinori Oki sensei, Co-Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the 8-ICCE !

Shimozawa sensei was the hard-working Secretary General of the 8-ICCE, who played a key role in coordinating the diverse preparations for the International event. I attended most of the meetings of the Organizing Committee which were held at the headquarters of the Chemical Society of Japan in Tokyo. Shimozawa sensei drove me to the first few meetings, and I quickly realized how good a driver he was as he expertly handled the very dense traffic close to the city, while at the same time listening to traffic circulation reports on the car radio. However, as soon as I learned how to use the railway confidently, I traveled alone by train to the remainder of the meetings. Following advice, I never used Express trains, even though the slower local ones stopped 17 times between the Campus and Tokyo Central. It was during one of the drives that Shimozawa sensei mentioned that driving was his favorite hobby.

I noticed, first-hand, at the meetings that the members worked very hard to ensure that the preparations attained the highest possible quality. My work, in Saitama, consisted of checking the English language content of submitted texts (manuscripts and abstracts), and making corrections where necessary.

The Eighth International Conference on Chemical Education was an outstanding success with more than 550 participants coming from over 50 countries.

Besides my work for the 8-ICCE, I had a full program of chemical education lectures, and other talks, and all of the arrangements for these, including much travel, were made by Shimozawa sensei. In all, I gave 24 of them in universities and colleges (14), high schools (4), and other institutions (6). Two of the universities, namely : Hokkaido University (Sapporo), and University of the Ryukus (Okinawa) involved long-distance travel. Shimozawa sensei told me, jokingly, that his initials(J. T. S.) meant John's Travel Service, and I, not to be outdone, responded by saying that mine meant Brian's Travel Network! The many contacts made during my sejour led to several fruitful collaborations later with Japanese colleagues that resulted in 13 journal publications. One of them is shown below

T. Yoshimura, Y. Aoyama, H. Ohtake, Y. Sasamura, J. T. Shimozawa, and B. T. Newbold, Development of Software for Chemical Education Using Multimedia Techniques, J. Chem. Software. Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 73-82 (1996).

My wife Evelyn and I had the great pleasure of hosting Shimozawa sensei and Julia twice at our residence in Moncton, N.B., and during one of these visits "we" drove down to Boston, USA together for several scientific events.

During my long years of service on the CTC/IUPAC it became clear to me that Shimozawa sensei was very well- known worldwide. At the end of my stay (November 12th 1985) he came with me on my return flight to Canada, via San Francisco, and together, we visited the University of California, Berkeley. We met for the last time at a chemistry conference in Hiroshima in 1997.

J. T. S. was a fine teacher and researcher, as well as a splendid host and a great organizer. He made important contributions to chemistry and international chemical relations. I am most grateful to Shimozawa sensei for the great help and advice he gave me. We were good friends for almost 40 years - he will be sorely missed.

Farewell, J. T. S. Domo arigatou gozaimashita, Rest In Peace.

 
© 2017 Society of Computer Chemistry, Japan
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