Named in honor of Kenji Hiwatashi (1922– ), electrical engineer at NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) from 1947 to 1979, on the occasion of his Kiju celebration (77th birthday). A pioneer in the field of human visual information processing research, Hiwatashi authored nine books and co-authored another 20, some of which have been the fundamental textbooks used by researchers in this field. More recently, he served as a professor at the Institute of Information Sciences and Electronics, University of Tsukuba (1979–1986), and as professor of electronics at Meisei University (1986–1996). (M 35495) _ _.