Following Kokichi Sugihara, the 3rd Director of MIMS, I served as Director of MIMS for four years from April 2019 to March 2023. At first, I was planning to switch to another person in a year or two, but before I knew it, four years had passed. During those four years, MIMS has experienced various major events. The first year, 2019, was the final year of the six-year project period of our “Center for Mathematical Modeling and Applications (CMMA)” under the official “Joint Usage/Research Center program” of MEXT. Fortunately, we received the highest S rating in the end-of-term evaluation and were allowed to continue the project until FY 2025. The following year, 2020, was a year in which the entire society was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, and many MIMS projects were forced to undergo major alteration. On the other hand, there were some positive aspects in that unfortunate event, as we were able to launch several new online programs that turned out to be successful.

　In April 2021, the founding director of MIMS, Professor Masayasu Mimura, passed away. I remember the great shock and sadness that we all felt. Many people from overseas also expressed deep regret over his passing, which reminded us of the extent of Professor Mimura’s popularity over the world. There were many other events that have happened over the past four years, but we were able to cope with most of them successfully thanks to the cooperation and untiring efforts of everyone who has supported the activities of MIMS. From this April, I hope that MIMS will continue to prosper under the new policy of Director Hiraku Nishimori.

　It is my great pleasure to have served as the MIMS Director from April 2017 to March 2019 in continuation with the first director Masayasu Mimura and the second director Ichiro Hagiwara. In this period, we have carried out three main missions, the development of the study of Mathematical Modeling and Applications, the management of MEXT Joint Usage/Research Center for Mathematical Modeling and Applications, and the development of researches for MEXT Private University Research Branding Program “Meiji University Doing Mathematical Sciences”. As a new trial, we started Mimura Prize in Mathematical Modeling and Applications, and selected two distinguished researchers as the prize winners in each year of 2017 and 2018. MIMS is a small institute but should carry out many events. I express my sincere thanks to MIMS fellows, MIMS research fellows, and MIMS administration office stuffs for their strong support, without which I could not have done my duty as the director. Finally, I hope new director Hiroshi Matano will take strong readership to develop MIMS activities more than before.

　I thank you cordially for your continued support.

　Meiji Institute for Advanced Study of Mathematical Sciences (MIMS) was approved as Joint Usage/Research Center by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) in April of 2014. I appreciate deeply your instruction and cooperation for our satisfactory activities for the last 1 year. By the way, I had served as the director of MIMS for 8 years in total that are 2007 (MIMS establishment),2008-2012 (Global COE program by MEXT),and 2013-2014 (Joint Usage/Research Center). I think carefully that the diversity of our organization is necessary for the further progress of MIMS, and so I determined to retire from the director in March of 2015. Here, I would like to express our gratitude to everyone for the support. From now on, I will support the new director as vice director. Please continue your support for MIMS.