Kenichi Kanatani retired in 2013 from Okayama University, where he is now Professor Emeritus. While working for Gunma University and later Okayama University, he published a number of notable scientific papers on computer vision. Highly respected around the world, he has been elected a fellow of IEEE, IAPR, and IEICE, and has published 18 textbooks: 10 in Japanese, six in English, and two translations.His textbooks are highly regarded by both educators and students for providing thoughtful explanations from students' perspectives and they have been used in a number of Japanese universities. For this contribution, in 2012, he received the Publication Award from the Japanese Society for Engineering Education. Recently, Professor Kanatani published seven textbooks on various subjects, including numerical analysis, technical English writing, geometry and algebra, and computer vision (four in Japanese, and three in English). All of these are very popular nationwide. In particular, his textbook on technical English writing is very suited to students of computer and information science, providing many example sentences involving technical terms related to computer applications. This is in major contrast to many existing textbooks on scientific English writing, which mostly focus on medicine, biology, physics, chemistry, mechanics, and electronics. He has also contributed to IEICE journals numerous educational articles, which I am sure many have found helpful.
In addition, even after retirement, he has energetically delivered lectures, seminars, and tutorials on how to conduct scientific research and how to write good technical English at various meetings and conferences organized by academic institutions, including IEICE. Since 2016, he has served as Advisor to the Japan Society of English for Research. What is remarkable is that he is an author of educational textbooks whilst continuing to work as an active scientific researcher, presenting his own research and giving invited lectures and courses not only in Japan but around the world. This is one reason why his textbooks and his talks attract such wide-ranging attention.
For his outstanding contributions, as described above, of writing excellent textbooks and giving instructive lectures on information mathematics and technical English writing, he is fully deserving of this award.
