NOTE of Edinburgh Life of Tsutomu Fujinami @JAIST

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31st October, 2009

moving to Edinburgh

img274.jpgI moved to Edinburgh in August 1992. I was working for Hitachi until then, but found it difficult to pursue my studies, if any, with them. I was not trained as an engineer as my colleagues were and was not sure whether I could contribute to their business. I needed to be trained as a scientist. I thus decided to enroll myself in the Centre for Cognitive Science, University of Edinburgh. I was already twenty-nine years old and it was obviously risky. I felt still there was no way but changing my circumstances drastically to be myself.

Semantics of natural language

img276.jpgI studied the semantics of natural language in the framework called Situation Semantics. The theory is partly influenced by Ecological Psychology and it was challenging to formalize it mathematically. I turned to the theory of parallel computation, namely, the pi-calculus, to analyze some aspects of Situation Semantics. It was good exercise and I learnt how to use logics in analyzing linguistic phenomena. I spent after all three years in Edinburgh to complete my Ph.D.

the hill

img273.jpgWe lived in a part of a classic building in the south of Edinburgh. Just behind our house, there was a hill, where you could oversee the whole city. We walked the hill almost every evening after our supper. Rabbits were around in early summer and cows grazed in pasture. As I approached to the top, I felt an excitement. Cold and strong wind blew me up. The city sank in the darkness. I gazed the scene silently. I gradually understood that the horrible weather made man tough.