Collaboration from East and West is key to spurring innovation, and the University of Tokyo should become an academic hub for that purpose, its president says.
Makoto Gonokami, 57, was appointed president of the prestigious institution, better known as Todai, in April. He's determined to ensure the university serves as an academic center in which people with different values can come together to collaborate, helping to keep the institution's position as a leading university in the region.
"It's known academically that diversity is essential for the preservation of species, and the same is true for human beings — by cooperating together with different perspectives, we can come up with an innovative idea that can contribute to establish a better, sustainable human society," Gonokami said in an interview with The Japan Times last month.