On retiring as Director of RCLIP (Ryu TAKABAYASHI)

RCLIP was established in 2003 as part of the activities of the 21st Century COE Program, which was adopted by Professor Tatsuo Uemura as the base leader, and at that time it was called the Waseda University Intellectual Property Law Research Center, and in 2008 it continued its activities until 2013 as part of the activities of its successor Global COE Program. Since then, it has continued its activities as the Waseda University Institute of Intellectual Property Law (also known as RCLIP), which is an organization as a project research institute. With the exception of RCLIP, there are no organizations that have continued for nearly 20 years as an activity of the 21st Century COE Program, which was adopted in 2003. 

During that time, I continued to be involved in research activities in the organization as the director of RCLIP, but with the mandatory retirement age of 70 in 2022, I have decided to retire as the director of RCLIP. There are many things I would like to say about my retirement, but I would like to avoid repeating myself as an elderly person retiring at the age of 70, and I have written a message for the Faculty of Law's Themis magazine this April that will support Waseda in the future, so I would like to quote them in this column to block the blame. 

"After 17 years as a judge and 28 years as a scholar." 

I have been a judge from April 1978 to March 1995 and an academician at Waseda University from April 1995 to March 2023. Prior to that, he was a judicial trainee for two years from April 1976 to March 1978, so in total he had been involved in judicial practice, research, and education for a very long time. As for the duties of a judge, at first I felt rewarded as a left jury member of the collegial body, handling large cases such as medical malpractice cases and state compensation cases, and then I began to feel rewarded by handling small litigation cases between private individuals on my own and being appreciated by both parties. Furthermore, as I was transferred, my duties and interests changed to handle cases in a completely different intellectual property department and to conduct theoretical research in cutting-edge specialized fields as a Supreme Court investigator, but it was around this time that I was guided by a revelation that I left practice and pursued a career as a researcher and educator. I started as a researcher and educator as late as 42 years old, and I really enjoyed studying with seminar students who were like young people, changing from working with veteran Supreme Court justices until then. After two and a half years of overseas research in the U.S., Waseda University established the Waseda University Institute of Intellectual Property Law (RCLIP) as a 21st Century COE and Global COE for 10 years, and I am very proud of the fact that Waseda was able to produce a large number of excellent scholars of intellectual property law who can compete in the world by actively interacting with researchers from Asian countries, Europe and the United States. 

Overall, it has been a very varied 47 years, including job transfers and job changes, and the difficulties associated with change have not been unusual, but in the sense that all of the changes and difficulties have been new challenges, they have been very enjoyable and have always made me feel new and rewarding. These changes at key points were not only the result I was looking for, but many of them were prepared in front of me as if they were inevitable. When I was debating whether to change from a judge to a scholar, my late father once told me, "Lady Luck has no hair on the back," but even if luck appears in front of you, you can't attract it unless you take action. 

There is no doubt that those of you who have entered Waseda University have a bright future in store for you. Due to the influence of the coronavirus, there will still be various obstacles to study and university life. However, I would like you to throw these obstacles aside and draw Lady Luck to your own bright future with your own strength, and shape your university life and life. 

〈 Ryu Takebayashi (Director of RCLIP)〉