On October 27, a celebration was held at RIHGA Royal Hotel Kyoto in Kyoto City to honor Dr. Toshihide Ibaraki, the third president of Kyoto Computer Guraduate Institute (KCGI) and currently serving as president emeritus, with the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Commander in Chief (Spring 2024).
Professor Naoki Kato of the University of Hyogo served as the promoter's representative, calling on those who had been old friends of Dr. Ibaraki, his students, and KCGI faculty and staff to attend the meeting.Prof. Daio Ito of the University of Electro-Communications and Prof. Hiroyuki Uno of Osaka Public University, who are also the founders of the KCG Group, served as the moderators.During the dinner and chat, congratulatory speeches were made by Jun Igarashi, Dean of the Graduate School of Informatics, Kyoto University, Hiroyoshi Minami, Vice President of Kwansei Gakuin University, and Shojiro Nishio, President of Osaka University.There was a live jazz performance by KCGI Professor Nizza Melas, a world-renowned singer-songwriter and lead vocalist for the entertainment group "Cirque du Soleil.Finally, Dr. Ibaraki gave his acknowledgements along with numerous memorable episodes.
Prior to the ceremony, a memorial concert was held at the 6th floor concert hall of KCGI Kyoto Ekimae Satellite and Kyoto Computer Gakuin Kyoto Ekimae Campus, where international pianist Kyoko Tagawa, a professor at KCGI, and world-renowned soprano Kisako Yamamoto performed seven pieces including "Toast" from Verdi's opera "La Traviata" to celebrate Dr. Ibaraki's award.
The Order of the Sacred Treasure is conferred upon those who have served with distinction in public service for many years.Dr. Ibaraki holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Kyoto University and a Master of Engineering degree in Electronic Engineering from the same university.He is a professor emeritus at Kyoto University, and has been a research fellow at the University of Illinois, a professor at Toyohashi University of Technology, and a professor at Kwansei Gakuin University.He is an honorary member of the Operations Research Society of Japan and the Scheduling Society of Japan, and a fellow of the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery), the IEICE, the Information Processing Society of Japan, and the Japanese Society for Applied Mathematics.He became the third president of KCGI in April 2010 and served until March 2023.
