Hitoshi Narita
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Hitoshi Narita is a Japanese
naval architect This is the top category for all articles related to architecture and its practitioners. {{Commons category, Architecture by occupation Design occupations Occupations Occupation commonly refers to: *Occupation (human activity), or job, one's rol ...
, researcher and business executive. He was one of the Managing Directors of Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding Co. in the 1990s. He is currently senior advisor for science and technology at the US
Office of Naval Research The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is an organization within the United States Department of the Navy responsible for the science and technology programs of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Established by Congress in 1946, its mission is to plan ...
's International Field Office, Asia.


Early life and education

As a child growing up in
Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...
, Japan, he recalls having been fascinated by large mobile structures—airplanes, ships, trains—anything which was large, mechanical, and moved. He believes that his career interests were sparked by having watched the large cargo ships coming in and out of the ports near his home.Office of Naval Research (US)
"Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh admits Office of Naval Research engineer to United Kingdom's Royal Academy of Engineering,"
Press release. November 11, 2002.
Narita earned a B.A. in Naval architecture from the
University of Tokyo The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...
, a M.A. in Naval architecture from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...
with
Fulbright Scholarship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...
, and a Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of Tokyo.


Career

At Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding Co., Narita started out in ship design, and went on to work in research and development. Narita developed the world's first use of the catamaran-like design for large commercial ferries—the "small waterplane area twin hull" or SWATH configuration. The demonstrated stability and seaworthiness of these ferries led to the increased use of a similar vessel design in contexts, including naval ships, oceanographic survey ships, pleasure crafts and sightseeing boats. Narita lead the team developing the novel Mitsui Integrated Duct Propeller (MIDP), which was designed to increase fuels saving in large ships. The MIDP effectively mitigated the constant erosion caused by cavitation from the ship's propeller on the conventional propeller duct by moving the duct forward and by realigning a non-symmetrical duct adapted to the stern flow. The MIDP increased propeller efficiency and virtually eliminated the shipyard downtime which was formerly necessary for repairing the erosion problems. The substantial fuel savings has been demonstrated in over 200 ships, including all of Exxon's Very Large Crude Carriers. New ships have been incorporated MIDP in their design, and older ships have been retrofitted. In the 1990s, Narita was given broader responsibility for managing Research and Development, as well as business development at Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding. During this period, Japanese ocean-going shipbuilding industry has evolved into two distinct sectors and today's second tier or medium-sized firms build close to half the nation's output of large ocean-going vessels. Narita was well-positioned to monitor this diversification in the industry. For a time, Narita was one of the Managing Directors of Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding Co. in the 1990s. In 2002, Narita's contributions to naval architecture—particularly the SWATH configuration and the MIDP assembly—were recognized by his election to Fellowship of the
Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senio ...
, joining an elite group of only 86 other Foreign Members in the Royal Academy. The Royal Academy of Engineering's 2002 "New Fellows' Dinner" took place at the
Drapers' Hall The Worshipful Company of Drapers is one of the 111 livery companies of the City of London, formally styled The Master and Wardens and Brethren and Sisters of the Guild or Fraternity of the Blessed Mary the Virgin of the Mystery of Drapers of ...
,
Throgmorton Street Throgmorton Street is a road in the City of London that runs between Lothbury in the west and Old Broad Street in the east. Throgmorton Avenue runs from the north side of Throgmorton Street to London Wall. History It is named after Nicholas ...
in London; and pre-dinner photos commemorating this gala event were organized in the Drapers' formal Drawing Room.The Drapers' Company
"Banqueting," the Drawing Room.
-- click to see digitized image.
Narita is currently senior advisor for science and technology at the US
Office of Naval Research The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is an organization within the United States Department of the Navy responsible for the science and technology programs of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Established by Congress in 1946, its mission is to plan ...
's International Field Office, Asia. Narita played a significant role in steps which led to establishing Japan-US joint participation projects, which meant Japan's
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology The , or AIST, is a Japanese research facility headquartered in Tokyo, and most of the workforce is located in Tsukuba Science City, Ibaraki, and in several cities throughout Japan. The institute is managed to integrate scientific and enginee ...
(AIST) in 2001.Japan, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology
AIST history
/ref> He helped to partner AIST with the US
Naval Research Laboratory The United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is the corporate research laboratory for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. Located in Washington, DC, it was founded in 1923 and conducts basic scientific research, appl ...
.


Honors

* International
Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) is an award and Scholarship, fellowship for engineers who are recognised by the Royal Academy of Engineering as being the best and brightest engineers, inventors and technologists in United K ...
( FREng), 2002. * , purple ribbon, 1990. * Medal of the Minister of Transport, 1989. * Medal of the Kanto District Marine Bureau, 1988. * Ichimura Prize, 1981.


Notes


References

* Koenig, Philip C., Hitoshi Narita and Koichi Baba. (2001)
"Strategies and outcomes in the two sectors of the Japanese shipbuilding industry,''
''Journal of ship production.'' Vol. 17, No. 3, pp. 174–182. (published by the
Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) is a global professional society that provides a forum for the advancement of the engineering profession as applied to the marine field. Although it particularly names the naval arch ...
) * Narita, Hitoshi and Philip Koenig
"Austal Ships and Incat Australia: Shipbuilding Competitiveness via Product Differentiation and Focus
', ''Shipbuilding and Ocean Technology: Asia-Pacific Region.'' (published by the U.S. Navy, Office of Naval Research International Field Office in Tokyo). * _______________. (1962)
''A Step Response Analysis of Damping and Virtual Inertia of a Pitching Ship.''
Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press. CLC 12965336 {{DEFAULTSORT:Narita, Hitoshi Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Japanese naval architects Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering People from Nagoya