She studied computer architecture at university and joined one of the leading telecommunications companies in Japan. She engaged there in research in the field of cryptography. After that, she worked for a major electronic appliance manufacturer. She engaged in the design and development of security functions and copy protection technologies for their famous game console. In 2012, she joined NICT. She has been in her current position since August 2019.
NICT is my third workplace. At university, I studied computer architecture. After graduation, I joined one of the leading telecommunications companies in Japan. From there, my career as a researcher in the field of cryptography started. I was blessed with wonderful leaders and colleagues there. They helped me develop, in just a few years, to a level where I can make a presentation at one of the top conferences in the industry. After working there for 10 years, I was invited to join a major entertainment company that was proposing a cryptographic technology at the time. I worked in the corporate group for nine years, engaging in the development of copy protection technologies and new encryption technologies to protect the contents of their famous game console. Then I thought I wanted to utilize, in a public research institute, the specialized knowledge and technologies that I had gained. To realize this wish, I joined NICT. My main purpose of joining NICT is to be involved in science and technology policies relating to cryptographic and other technologies from a public standpoint, not that of a private company. In fact, after joining the institute, I have been able to participate in work at a higher level than I had expected. I am truly glad that I took on the challenge.
Currently, I am in the role of the Managing Director of Strategic Planning Office, Strategic Planning Department. Meanwhile, I am also a researcher, and I am working on a demonstration experiment using a cryptographic technology in cooperation with a private company. I was suddenly appointed to the Managing Director of Strategic Planning Office. Until then, I only focused on working hard on our own research projects. However, I am now in a position to examine a medium- to long-term plan for the next five years while considering the entire organization, social needs, and technological trends. I want to create an environment where each researcher can help the institute to grow while fully demonstrating their strengths. The biggest difference between us and a private company is that we use the national budget to carry out our research. Thus, our researchers must be aware, too, that we must decide how to use money with a high sense of ethics.
We can conduct research and development from a medium- to long-term perspective. I think this is the biggest advantage of working as a researcher at NICT. Many companies judge whether the research will generate profits from a short-term perspective. By contrast, at NICT, we choose research themes by placing an emphasis on whether the research should be conducted as a national mission, with a medium-to-long-term perspective. NICT provides researchers with an environment where they can immerse themselves in working on research themes selected in such a way. Thus, I believe that this is an ideal environment for researchers. Moreover, NICT gives high priority to the implementation of research results into society. Accordingly, we always bear in our mind that we must think of ways to return them to society. Research themes change with the times. I think it is important for both researchers and organizations to take on new challenges flexibly without sticking to one theme too much. NICT offers an environment where both men and women can work in a way to suit their life stage. I would like people who aim to work in a research position to come to see us themselves.
Bank transfer frauds, such as "it's me" scam, target the elderly. In the past, each bank representative kept an eye on suspicious withdrawals to detect such frauds. Our new plan is to share, beyond the boundaries of banks, the results learned from transaction statement data in encrypted form to improve the accuracy to detect illegal remittances. Because transaction details are personal information, we do not allow the data itself to be shared between banks in the demonstration experiment that we are working on. Instead, we plan to enable sharing of only the information necessary to improve detection accuracy in encrypted form.
As a wife and mother, I spend my weekends mostly doing housework such as cooking. When doing housework, I guess I think in a different way from when I am working on research projects. Good ideas often pop up at such times. I was thinking about changing jobs to NICT while I was preparing Japanese Traditional New Year's dish. I remember that I made a firm decision then to move to a new environment.
*Photo is for illustration purposes only.
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