NEWS
Mr. Kazuo Kitahara, ICU Professor Emeritus, receives Spring Decorations
Update: June 1, 2026
On April 29 (Wed.), the recipients of the 2026 Spring Decorations were announced. Mr. Kazuo Kitahara, ICU Professor Emeritus, was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure.
Mr. Kazuo Kitahara, whose specialized field is physics, joined our university as a professor (at the time) in 1998 and contributed to the university's development for 13 years until his retirement in 2011. He served as Dean of Students for one term (two years) beginning in 2002. Around the same time, from September 2002 to August 2003, he served as President of the Physical Society of Japan, and from July 2003 to September 2005, he served as Member of Science Council of Japan. In 2011, he was awarded the title of Professor Emeritus by ICU.
Award comments from Mr. Kitahara:
I am deeply honored to have received this award. I understand that this recognition is based on my research and teaching in the field of non-equilibrium statistical physics, as well as my broader contributions to education. I would like to take this opportunity to once again express my gratitude for the support and guidance I have received from so many people over the years.
In particular, during my tenure at ICU from 1998 to 2011, I lived in the University Housing on campus. This allowed me to interact daily with faculty and staff, undergraduates, graduate students, and visiting researchers from abroad, enabling me to devote myself fully to my work. Furthermore, the university chapel held great significance for my wife and me, and our days there constantly reminded us of the connection between academia, education, and faith.
During my tenure, I became involved in the activities of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP), the Physical Society of Japan, and the Science Council of Japan. I was able to plan and organize several events related to the "International Year of Physics" in 2005 on the ICU campus and in Mitaka City, and I also launched the "International Physics Olympiad" project for high school students. These were joyful memories filled with many meaningful encounters. Since 2005, I have been involved in the Science Council of Japan's "Science and Technology Literacy" project, and since 2008, in the "Discipline-Specific Quality Assurance in University Education" project. For two years starting in April 2018, after my retirement, I was allowed to use an office at the Science Hall to conduct follow-up research on the "Reference Standards for Discipline-Specific Quality Assurance in University Education." In a sense, it was a project that explored the nature of an academic community that transcends disciplinary boundaries.
Through these activities, the question of "what is a community?" weighed heavily on my mind. While studying the Bible, I learned that the corresponding Greek word "koinonia" derives from "koinos" (meaning "mixed" or "common"). I discovered that the origin of "community" lies in the Pentecost account in the Acts of the Apostles, where people from all over the world--speaking different languages and coming from diverse backgrounds--came together and achieved mutual understanding. Since 2018, I have been serving as a pastor at a church in Tokyo. For the remainder of my life, I hope to do my small part to ensure that local communities, academic communities, and faith communities are brought to life as "koinonia" (communities of the mixed).