about Sako Laboratory

In collaboration with the Lee/Ueno Laboratory (Professor Nobuaki Lee and Assistant Professor Sei Ueno, Department of Computer Science, Media and Information Course), Sako Laboratory is engaged in research on music information science based on speech processing technology and related pattern recognition technology, and on automatic sign language recognition. Every year, around three fourth-year undergraduate students are assigned to the laboratory, and if students entering the postgraduate (master's) course and international students and graduate students from other universities are included, the group has a size of a little more than 10 students (30 at most if the Lee/Ueno Laboratory is included).

Research topics

For an overview of our research, please see the introduction to our main research topics and the list of previous theses. Research topics are defined after being assigned to a laboratory and after meetings with teaching staff. Details are usually worked out gradually over a period of one to two months, with repeated weekly meetings. The basic approach to setting a research topic is to take the student's interests and inspiration as a starting point and then, with the advice of the teaching staff, to investigate similar and related research, gradually exploring and converging on the aims and questions of the research.

Activities

In addition to laboratory activities such as study groups and debriefing sessions, other laboratory events (ranging from research-related activities to regular drinking parties and seminar trips) are organised jointly with the Lee/Ueno laboratory.Research groups are organised with units of approximately three to four students of different years (to be reviewed each academic year) with close research interests, who read papers and texts in a round-reading format and support the undergraduates in their research progress.Each student has a research meeting with a teacher once a week for fourth year undergraduates and once a fortnight for Masters students.Regular meetings are important, with an emphasis on 'face-to-face' meetings, whether or not progress is being made.

Location

The students room (approx. 100 m2), seminar room (shared with other laboratories) and teacher's room (Sako's room) are located on the 4th floor of Building No. 20. Normal research activities are carried out in the students rooms, research group meetings and meetings with Sako are held in the student rooms, and seminars with the Lee/Ueno laboratories are held in classrooms or meeting rooms on NITech. In the students room, each student is allocated a desk with a portable laptop and two external monitors.

For Intersted students

Our laboratory actively recruits international students who have high potential. I welcome students who are interested in research related to music and sign language and who have a strong desire to study in Japan. International students who wish to apply for admission and research supervision by me at NITech should send an This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with the following information and materials. An online interview will be arranged if necessary.

  • Curriculum Vitae
  • Reasons for application (any format)
  • Research plan (maximum 2 A4 pages, any format)
  • Evidence of research activities (e.g. published papers or thesis)

The requirements for international students are summarized below:

Required skills 

Firstly, students must have a level of English, mathematics and computer science sufficient to pass the University's postgraduate examinations. Programming skills are also required. No specific language is required, but you must have a working knowledge of at least one of the major programming languages, such as C/C++, Java or Python. Finally, the candidate must have the ability to plan and design research projects equivalent to that of an undergraduate, and to write and present basic research papers.

Language

Either English or Japanese will be used for research supervision and thesis writing. It is not necessary to be proficient in Japanese beforehand, but we would like you to study Japanese as much as possible after joining the programme and be able to communicate in simple Japanese with your fellow students in the lab. I believe this will enhance the quality of your studies in Japan.

Cooperativeness

Research is basically carried out and completed by each student individually, but it is carried out in the context of cooperative activities in which students help each other within the laboratory. In fact, group activities are particularly emphasised in Japan. I welcome those who can work together with other Japanese students, communicate actively and respect each other in research activities.

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