On November 2, 2023, we held the “Nanophoton’s 20th Anniversary Party” at Rihga Royal Hotel in Nakanoshima, Osaka. Many people came and we had a great time. We are filled with gratitude. I will introduce the details of the party in a separate newsletter. Here I would like to tell you a little about the “Nanophoton 20th Anniversary Magazine” that we handed out to everyone who attended that day.

Mr. Nemoto, who was in charge of the Email magazine at the time, told me that every company has a company history and publishes it for each milestone year. Although I thought that Nanophoton was still too young to talk about its half-life as a company, 20 years old was the coming-of-age ceremony. I thought it would be a milestone for sure, so I decided to hold a 20th anniversary party and create a company history for the 20th anniversary.

But it was hard work.

I don’t remember much of the past. If we had decided to publish a commemorative magazine after 20 years, we would have taken pictures at each milestone and kept data about the company, but no one was thinking 20 years ahead. Everyone was just trying to get through each day.

So I have no memory in my mind and no record in the company. I regret that I should have at least taken pictures of the company landscape when it was founded; it was many years before the iPhone was introduced, so I never took pictures in my daily life. When I retired, everyone published a retirement commemorative journal, but even then I could not find a single photo of me in a lecture, in an experiment, or in a seminar. I was not a record-keeping maniac at all, but someone who was always in the position of being taken by others. Moreover, I had not organized or stored any of the photos taken of me. The photo of myself that appears at the beginning of this commemorative publication was taken by a professional photographer at RIKEN on some occasion. I am too young to be embarrassed. This was also used many times at the society (Optica) where I was President last year.

The anniversary book chronicles Nanophoton’s 20 years of challenges and failures over time. However, since it is a celebratory commemorative journal, it does not describe the really tough times. I am glad that my memory is hazy and the record is inadequate.

Nevertheless, we interviewed people who have been involved with Nanophoton from its inception to date, and they provided us with data and photos.

For those who were not able to attend the party, this commemorative magazine will give you an idea of how Nanophoton, with no man, money, time, or place, has survived the past 20 years, launched five Raman microscopes, and is serious about the new challenges of the future “Nanophoton 2.0”. We hope that those who were not able to attend the party can see in this commemorative magazine how serious we are about the new challenge of “Nanophoton 2.0”.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who took time out of their busy schedules to attend our 20th anniversary party. We also look forward to your continued association and support.

3 November, 2023
Nanophoton Corporation
Chairman and Representative, Satoshi Kawata