Ken Kodama, Ph.D.

Fellow

Transportation is often said to be “similar to blood vessels in human beings, and has the important role of conveying people and goods.” This is true, of course, but I have come to think that it actually has one more role--“conveying happiness.” What I have seen during my work up to now are not difficult reports, but lovers riding happily in tandem on a motorbike in a city in Vietnam; elderly citizens facing difficulties in a semimountainous rural area in Japan because the buses aren’t running; and the smiles brought about by the installation of an elevator in a train station. While continuing to be involved in the research of cities and transportation, I hope to create cities with low environmental impact and also cities full of smiling faces.