Story
Filmed in cooperation with Takuya Nakakura,
4th year student majoring in Electrical, Electronics and Information Engineering,
Bachelor's Program in Engineering
Connecting the Vision of Founding President Kawakami to the Future: “Developing Original Knowledge for the Future”
At the first undergraduate entrance ceremony held on April 18, 1978, the founding president, Masamitsu Kawakami, expressed the following thoughts:
“I firmly believe that one of the most important missions of universities is not only to create new academic knowledge and technologies, but also to nurture individuals with creative and original abilities. […] It is clear that what our country needs most is the ‘enhancement of originality.’ Therefore, I believe that the mission, goals, and policies of this university are self-evident. In other words, this university must aim, above all else, to ‘enhance originality.’”
Founding President Kawakami also expressed the university’s philosophy as follows:
“Our university aims to be a ‘University of Ideas’ built upon the three pillars of VOS. Here, V stands for Vitality, O for Originality, and S for Services. It is my sincere hope that the university’s faculty, staff, students, and alumni will never forget this concept.”
The vision of Founding President Kawakami, as embodied in the calligraphy of the word “Originality,” was preserved as a tangible legacy to be passed on to future generations. However, as time went by, fewer faculty, staff, and students were aware of this calligraphy, and the “Originality” piece quietly remained through the years.
Amidst this situation, the significance of the university’s 50th anniversary reignited our passion. It prompted us to once again reflect on what defines the essence of our university and to create a new symbol for the future. This passion began to inspire us quietly, but steadily and surely.
As we reach our 50th anniversary, we united the thoughts and aspirations of the faculty, staff, students, alumni, former faculty and staff, and everyone else connected to the university. Together, we created a logo and tagline that symbolize the university’s journey and vision.
Logomark
In celebration of our 50th anniversary in 2026, we have created a new logomark expressed the university’s fundamental philosophy symbolized by its motto,”VOS” (VITALITY, ORIGINALITY, and SERVICES) . This commemorative logo symbolizes that the philosophy will succeed unchanged even if the university’s administration is transformed by the changing times, and it will be a source of new value creation.
Tagline
Based on our unchanged philosophy since its founding, this new tagline indicates that our university will continue to passionately challenge the unknowns, develop original knowledge for society, and lead sustainable development for both the region and the world.
The spirit of VOS, as articulated by Founding President Kawakami, continues to live on in the hearts of our faculty, staff, students, and alumni, and will never be forgotten.
With a passionate commitment to transforming the unknown into the known and applying it as technology that serves society, we aim to remain a university that drives sustainable development in our region and the world. With this in mind, President Shigeharu Kamado took up the brush to create the calligraphy of the word “Development”. Inheriting the vision set forth by the founding president, we will continue to use “Originality” as our driving force as we advance toward even greater “Development”.