is an associate professor at 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 ...

. He was born in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, Japan and is of Japanese nationality. Most of the research that Sakai conducts focuses on

neurobiology Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions, and its disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, ...

History

Sakai has worked at many institutes. Following completion of his PhD, he began working as a research associate at The University of Tokyo. Three years following this he moved to

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

for two years. His first year he worked at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

as a research fellow in the Department of

Radiology Radiology ( ) is the medical specialty that uses medical imaging to diagnose diseases and guide treatment within the bodies of humans and other animals. It began with radiography (which is why its name has a root referring to radiation), but tod ...

. The second year he was a working fellow at

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 ...

. In 1997 Sakai moved back to Japan and worked in the Department of Cognitive and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Tokyo as associate professor. Currently he is working in the Department of Integrated Science at the same university. He is a member of the Japan Neuroscience Society and the Society for the Neurobiology of Language.

Neurobiology

Much of the early work that Sakai collaborated on deals with the brain in relation to humans and apes. He has stated that the brain is much like a movie in that it gathers a string of stimuli and delivers them to the brain, which then encodes them into a memory.

Language

Some of the focus of Sakai's research is related to

language acquisition Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language. In other words, it is how human beings gain the ability to be aware of language, to understand it, and to produce and use words and s ...

. In an online article published by

ScienceNOW ''Science'' is the peer-reviewed academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and one of the world's top academic journals. It was first published in 1880, is currently circulated weekly and has a subscrib ...

in which rewiring of the brain is emphasized, Sakai comments on human uniqueness of the brain compared to apes. The articles states that through evolutionary time, language has become more specialized due to a rewiring in the brain through the

arcuate fasciculus In neuroanatomy, the arcuate fasciculus (AF; ) is a bundle of axons that generally connects Broca's area and Wernicke's area in the brain. It is an association fiber tract connecting caudal temporal lobe and inferior frontal lobe. Structure ...

. Human Uniqueness is related to the

Design Features of Language Hockett's Design Features are a set of features that characterize human language and set it apart from animal communication. They were defined by linguist Charles F. Hockett in the 1960s. He called these characteristics the design features of langu ...

proposed by

Charles Hockett Charles Francis Hockett (January 17, 1916 – November 3, 2000) was an American linguist who developed many influential ideas in American structuralist linguistics. He represents the post- Bloomfieldian phase of structuralism often referred to ...

. Sakai also has composed research on the brain and reading written language relating to words and sentences. Sakai's work has shown the different area of the brain that work when reading individual words and when reading sentences.

Publications

Sakai has written and collaborated on over 33 original articles, 31 books and magazines, and 39 review articles.

Awards

*2001- 1st Japan Neuroscience Society Young Japanese Investigator Award *2002- The 56th Mainichi Publication and Culture award *2005- The 19th Nakaakira Memorial award

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sakai, Kuniyoshi Japanese neuroscientists 21st-century Japanese biologists Academic staff of the University of Tokyo Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Scientists from Tokyo Metropolis