It is my great pleasure to be appointed as the IEEE Kansai Section Chair for two years starting January 2025. I have been in charge of Student Activities and Chapter Operations in the Section for 8 years since 2007, and as Member and Geographic Activities (MGA) activities, I have also served as a member of Japan Council ExCom (Vice Chair and Chair in 2017-2020), which coordinates Japan Sections’ activities, and as an Officer/ExCom member of Region 10, which covers Asia-Pacific Region, from 2010 to the present. The IEEE Kansai Section is the second largest Section in Japan with approximately 2,200 members, which has grown steadily from 1,500 members when it was founded in 1999, and has remained stable over the past 10 years while the number of members has declined in related technical institutes/societies in Japan. Within the Section, there are 14 Chapters that conduct technical activities, student activities based mainly on the Student Branches affiliated in seven universities. Affinity Groups of Life Members, Women in Engineering, and Young Professionals are also very active in the Section. In addition, ten IEEE Milestones, which recognize historical achievements in IEEE-related technical fields that have been developed at least 25 years ago and that have made significant contributions to the development of local communities and industries, have been recognized. This fact demonstrates that the Section has a strong industry-related activities too. In the next two years, together with Mikio Takabayashi, Shunpei Kameyama, and Seiki Hiramatsu from Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, who will lead the Section as the Officers, I would like to make my best effort to increase the membership value to all members of the Section, to promote its activities, and to attract potential members. I look forward to working with you all.

Takao Onoye
IEEE Kansai Section Chair