Liaison Associate Akiko Yamahana, at your service! Liaison means “together" in French. It was only after I joined this office that I heard about the position of Liaison Associate.

When I was introduced by our president as “Ms. Yamahana, with Liaison," I just smiled politely and greeted everyone, but wondered “What's he talking about? Liaison! What's that? Who? Me?"

But anyway, that's what I do. I work together. I put people together. When an idea goes from being an outcome of joint research, to the invention stage, and then on to the joint patent filing stage, I as Liaison Associate assist the university professors and corporate representatives. My specialty as an Associate is in joint patent applications. This is position is something new for CASTI.

Favorite food: Stews
Looking forward to: An evening drink
Working toward: Being a baseball scorekeeper. Mastering mahjong. Reading all books by Ryotaro Shiba (Japanese historical novelist)
… So that's me. I'm honored to have the chance to work in this new position, and I will give it my best effort!