Dr. Hideo Kuwahara completed the Master's program in Electronic Engineering at the Graduate School of Engineering at the University of Tokyo in 1974 and joined Fujitsu Laboratories Limited in the same year. He has been engaged in the research and development of optical fiber communication systems since the early days and was awarded a doctorate in engineering from the University of Tokyo in 1984. He was the Director of the Optical System Laboratory of the company from 1991, the Senior Vice President of Fujitsu Network Communications, Inc. in the United States from 1999, the Deputy Director of Network System Laboratories of Fujitsu Laboratories Limited from 2003, and the Director of the company from 2004. After serving as a Fellow of the company, he retired from the company in 2017 and was appointed an Honorary Fellow. He is currently active as an Honorary Fellow of Fujitsu Limited.

For many years, he has been a leader in the research and practical application of large-capacity optical fiber communication and has been active in increasing Japan's presence in the photonics field.

He undertook pioneering research in the 1980s on coherent optical modulation/demodulation technology, which is the mainstream of current long-distance optical fiber communications. By modularizing various modulation/demodulation devices, he realized the optical phase modulation-polarization diversity demodulation method, which is still widely used. He raised the technology, which had been at the level of confirming the principle in the laboratory until then, to a practical level that could be implemented in an existing system, and was awarded the Kenjiro Sakurai Memorial Prize in 1990 for his achievements. In the 1990s, he worked on optical amplification technology and wavelength division multiplexing transmission technology. While research institutes worldwide were competing for development, his research group recorded the world's first 1.1 Tb/s transmission in 1995. This was featured in the Guinness Book of Records. Furthermore, through his subsequent practical research, he significantly contributed to the acquisition of businesses and markets in Japan and the United States by domestic system manufacturers and device manufacturers and made the high technological capabilities of Japan known globally. The practical application of this technology has dramatically increased the capacity of optical fiber communications by a factor of 10,000 over the past 30 years, and has led to the progress of the Internet and cell phones, making it an indispensable social infrastructure that supports today's advanced information society.

In the activities of academic societies, at the IEICE, he has held important positions such as Chair of the Technical Committee on Optical Communication Systems, Director of International Coordination and Publicity, Director of Finance, Auditor, and Vice President, and has contributed to the development of the IEICE. Overseas, he was appointed Chair of the IEEE Photonics Society, as the second Japanese person in history, and demonstrated outstanding leadership and contributed significantly to enhancing Japan's presence in the photonics field. He was awarded the Achievement Award in 1998, the Distinguished Achievement and Contributions Award in 2021 by the IEICE, and the title of Fellow by the IEICE and the IEEE. Furthermore, he has had a significant influence on the promotion of science and technology centered in the photonics field through numerous academic activities in Japan and overseas, including the Advisor for Innovative Technology Promotion, Council for Science and Technology Policy, Cabinet Office, Government of Japan, and he has also worked to foster future generations.

As mentioned above, he has contributed significantly to the foundation for Japan to lead the world in the research and practical application of optical fiber communication technology. Dr. Kuwahara’s achievements in the academic and industrial development of the field of electronic information and communication are highly remarkable, and we recommend Dr. Kuwahara as an Honorary Member of the IEICE.