The Fifth Meeting of Tokyo Section Executive Committee was held in NTT Advanced Technology Corporation in Otemachi, Tokyo on the morning of Wednesday, December 12, 2001. Secretary Koyanagi presented the 2001 activity report and submitted a draft plan for the 2002 activities, both of which were approved. Then Treasurer Hori reported the expected financial statements for 2001 and proposed a budget plan for 2002, both of which were approved. After that, the Fellow Nominations Committee announced new 41 Fellows in Japan elected for the 2002. Included in these were 30 members belonging to the Tokyo Section.

View of Executive Committee Meeting
New Fellows of 2002

The Second Meeting of the Chapter Operations Committee (a committee in the IEEE Japan Council) of 2001 was held in the Gakushi-kai Bunkan in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo on the afternoon of Tuesday, November 27, 2001. Committee Secretary Mukai reported the Chapter-supporting expenses spent in 2001 as well as how these supporting expenses were used by each chapter. The committee reported that, out of 37 Chapters, only half of them used Chapter-supporting expenses. The meeting participants felt it necessary to further promote the use of Chapter-supporting expenses to vitalize Chapter activities. The criteria for determining Chapter support as well as recent examples were presented. The representatives of each Chapter reported on their activities from June through November, 2001, which was followed by a lively discussion. Vice-Chair Akira Kurematsu is to accede to the post of Committee Chair of 2002.

View of Chapter Operations Committee

The organization and activities of Student Branches in Japan are as follows.

This year, new branches were organized in Ritsumeikan University and Kyoto University. So far, 11 branches have been organized in universities across the country. In addition, Yamaguchi University has applied to set up a branch and is waiting for approval from the Headquarters. Branches are being organized in Kagawa University, Kyushu University and Kyushu Institute of Technology. All the existing branches have been very active. The following illustrate a few examples of their activities.

Student Paper Competition and Lectures at Tokyo Institute of Technology Branch

The TIT Branch held lectures twice and also a student paper competition in 2001. A lecture entitled "Support Vector Machines and Kernel Based Methods" by Dr. Klaus-Robert Muller was held on Thursday, March 1, 2001, and a lecture entitled "My exciting experience in EDA world" by Mr. Fumiyasu Hirose was held on Wednesday, June 13, 2001. The student paper competition received ten entries, of which three papers received awards.

Student Paper Competition at the Hokkaido University Branch of the Sapporo Section

A Sapporo Section Student Paper Competition was held on Sunday, October 21, 2001. Since, besides domestic conferences, international conferences are gaining importance as an opportunity for presenting research results, the Hokkaido University Branch held a competition to provide the opportunity for students to experience writing and presenting papers in English.

Competition results
Year 2000	Presented papers: 15	Award-winners: 2
Year 2001	Presented papers: 17	Award-winners: 2

Third HISS at the Hiroshima Section

The third HISS (Hiroshima Student Symposium) was held on Friday and Saturday, December 14 and 15, 2001. There were two keynote speeches: "The Present situation of and future vision for information communication" by Mr. Noriyuki Shigeta, Director, Chugoku Bureau of Telecommunications of Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications, and "Earth as seen from outer space: from Japan to the world" by Dr. Yoji Furuhama, Director, NASDA (National Space Development Agency of Japan). In the two panel discussions entitled "Research and patents" and "Future of information communication," students participated as panelists alongside specialists and actively presented their views. The Symposium also offered "Excellent Presentation" and "Excellent Paper" awards to motivate students to participate in the various activities of the Symposium.

View of the Japan Council Committee meeting
2002 IEEE Japan Council Committee organization

• Tokyo Section's Year 2002 General Assembly will be held at 2.30 p.m. on Thursday March 14, 2002, in the Presentation Hall at the NTT Musashino R&D Center.　
  Your participation is most welcome.

• Have you renewed your IEEE membership for the year 2002?
  By using your IEEE Web Account, you can renew your membership make online.

  Online Renewal
  Web Account Registration

• If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at the Tokyo Section's office: 　
  　mail to tokyosec@ieee-jp.org