Toshimitsu Asakura received his M.A. in 1960 from Boston University and his Dr.Eng. in 1965 from the University of Tokyo. In 1971 he became a professor at the Research Institute of Applied Electricity at Hokkaido University. He was also guest professor at the International Cooperation Center at Tokyo Institute of Technology, since 1980. In 1997, he retired from Hokkaido University and moved to Hokkai-Gakuen University. Asakura is a fellow of OSA, and a member of SPIE, the Physical Society of Japan, the Japan Society of Applied Physics, the Institute of Electronics and Communication Engineers of Japan, the Institute of Electrostatistics of Japan, the Japan Society for Laser Medicine, the Laser Society of Japan, and the Physics Education Society of Japan. He received an Optics Paper Award from the Japan Society of Applied Physics in 1962, the Hokkaido Science and Technology Award in 1986, OSA’s C.E.K. Mees Medal, and several other awards.