The toast proposed by Dr. Toshio Hirano
(Professor, Next President of Osaka University)

Greetings and a toast at a party to celebrate the completion of the new research building.

Ladies and gentlemen, as in the introduction I just received, I am Toshio Hirano, the President-elect at Osaka University.

Before we raise our glasses in a toast to this occasion, I would like to say a word in salutation of the event.

I believe that the latent power of a university is determined by the percentage of effort the institute can expend on basic academic research, and from the fundamental standpoint that a university is the "seat of learning and education," I firmly believe that Osaka University must continue shine a bright light throughout this and the next century as well in its efforts to expand its foundation.

Starting with the vaccination clinic founded by Ogata Koan, the linage of Osaka University's tradition of involvement with infections and immunology has continued on from Professor Aihiko Sata, the first President of Osaka Prefectural Medical University, the former 5th President, Professor Arao Imamura, the former 11th President, Professor Yuichi Yamamura, and the former 14th President, Professor Tadamitsu Kishimoto, and now the torch has been passed on to Professor Shizuo Akira, the present Director of the Immunology Frontier Research Center (IFReC), culminating in a new research center in Japan. This research center is a part of the foundation Osaka will work from during the rest of this and on into the next century. As the next President, nothing could make me happier.

As a base for research in the field of immunology, for Osaka, Japan and indeed, the whole world, the Immunology Frontier Research Center is the source for a wide variety of my expectations for the future, and I would like to propose a toast to those expectations, as well as to your good health and future contributions.

Ladies and gentlemen, let us join together to raise a toast in honor of the occasion,

Cheers!