After long years of fighting tooth and nail for academic funding, professor Fumio Ouchi has found a new passion—handcrafting beautiful violins. 

Ouchi, 76, a specially appointed professor at Tohoku University and a professor emeritus at the University of Washington, spent nearly half a century in the United States.

He specializes in materials science—researching glass, metal, ceramics, semiconductors and other substances for manufacturing purposes.

Ouchi, like other academics in this field, always had to juggle work on multiple projects simultaneously, just to secure enough research funding from outside sources to hire staff.

Hoping to obtain funding from the U.S. Department of Defense and NASA for research programs related to national security, he and his wife, now 75, obtained U.S. citizenship more than 20 years ago.

The academic budget required was 60 million yen ($410,000) to 70 million yen per year. Failing to reach that sum would mean he couldn’t proceed smoothly with his next research project.

Ouchi had seen colleagues over the years lose their jobs after losing out in the dog-eat-dog world of academia.

Although pursuing research step by step through trial and error was fulfilling, Ouchi was always thinking about how to raise funds, even when not at work.

“I had to keep running all the time,” said Ouchi. “I did not have time to think about whether it was really good for me.”

LONELY BRAINSTORMING

The turning point came in 2020. Stricken by the global COVID-19 pandemic, his campus in Seattle was temporarily closed.

Classes were held online in video conferences. Instead of commuting to work, Ouchi had more time alone to think.

Ouchi, who had already turned 70, felt that he “should do something new, instead of simply competing stiffly with other academics.”

Born in Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward, Ouchi spent his childhood hunting for and collecting electronic parts from junk left in a vacant lot by the U.S. occupation forces.

While still in elementary school, he built a radio with the junk parts by copying a wiring diagram he found in a magazine.

The word “USA” on the junk inspired the young boy to dream of one day working in manufacturing in North America.

Ouchi first went to the United States in 1975. He started off in Florida, where he spent some time as a student.

He then built his career at a company, a university lab and elsewhere in search of challenging new environments. He lived in unfamiliar places in Wilmington, Delaware, and suburban Seattle.

VIOLIN FOR GRANDDAUGHTER

From all these busy years, one particular memory stands out among the rest.

Ten years ago, his 3-year-old granddaughter started playing the violin in the United States.

Watching the child holding a small violin, Ouchi imagined, only vaguely, that she might one day play an instrument he would craft just for her.

“How wonderful it would be if she grew up and performed with the violin I made for her,” Ouchi said, recalling his feelings.

Ouchi himself was unsure why that thought came to mind.

However, he had always been surrounded by music. His mother is a singer, his wife teaches piano and his daughter is a pianist.

One thing was certain: He wanted to “create something outside of academia.”

In the summer of 2022, Ouchi and his wife relocated to Matsumoto in Nagano Prefecture.

The city is rich in culture, particularly in music and art, and is known for its thriving production of wooden-stringed instruments.

He began to dream of “crafting a violin someday” and reached a decision.

TRY TO IMPROVE UNTIL AGE 90

Ouchi began attending a violin-making workshop on the outskirts of Matsumoto in February the following year.

He currently receives instructions once every two weeks from Shinichi Izutsu, 88, who makes instruments for Ryu Goto and other renowned violinists.

Silently carving curved designs out of wood, Ouchi carefully touches the surface of Izutsu’s violins, trying to understand the difference between the master craftsman’s instruments and his own.

“An artisan and a scientist resort to different processes to produce a violin,” Ouchi said, grinning. “This is intriguing.”

Ouchi completed his first violin last spring. He is planning to present it to his granddaughter during a trip to North America in the fall.

“Tackling new projects is fun, just like in my research life,” Ouchi said. “I would like to keep trying and improving my techniques until I’m about 90.”

Ouchi is at present working on his second violin, which he started in April. His current goal is faithfully reproducing a Stradivarius violin from a blueprint he found in the library.

Ouchi intends to give the Stradivarius replica to his wife, whom he has been with for many decades, once it is finished.