Overview

The latter part of the twentieth century has been called the golden age of mathematics. Much of the luster of this period comes from the contributions of European, Chinese, and American mathematicians. However, to dwell entirely on their contributions does a disservice to the mathematicians from Japan because this era has certainly been a golden age for Japanese mathematicians, too. In the latter decades of the twentieth century, Japanese mathematicians made significant contributions to several fields of mathematics and helped launch the field of computational mathematics. In so doing, they not only helped expand knowledge of traditional mathematics, but helped enlarge the very boundaries of their profession by taking advantage of increasingly powerful computer technology. This, in turn, had important effects on mathematics and many aspects of modern society.

Background

Japan has long been accused of being...