Professor Yasuo Masai was born in 1929 in Tokyo. He studied geography at Tokyo Bunrika University (presently University of Tsukuba) and there he was awarded a master’s degree (1953) and a doctor’s degree (1962) in science. Before receiving his doctor’s degree, he had studied abroad at Michigan State University, where he was awarded a PhD in geography (1960). He is an Emeritus professor of Rissho University, where he has taught geography for 16 years after teaching at Ochanomizu University for 10 years, and at the University of Tsukuba for 9 years.
He was the chair of the ICA Commission on Urban Cartography from l980 to 1987 and he organized meetings in Düsseldorf, Sofia, Tokyo, Perth, and other cities. He was also a member of the ICA Awards Committee from 1994 to 1997. He was also a national delegate of Japan at many ICA conferences. He was president of the Japan Cartographers’ Association from 1993 to 2000, and he became an honorary member in 2007.
He has published many books as an author or editor, including the Atlas of Tokyo (Heibonsha), Travels with Urban Maps (Hara-shobo), the Atlas of the World (D. Kindersley, Japanese edition), and others. One of his major academic contributions is a 1:20,000 Restored Urban Land Use Map of Edo (the old name of Tokyo as the feudal capital of Tokugawa Japan). This is a multicolor-printed map, scientifically converted from an old, geometrically imprecise map to a modern, accurate map to show land use coverage.
Because of these outstanding works, Professor Yasuo Masai is awarded with an Honorary Fellowship of the ICA.
Prof. Michael P. Peterson has an outstanding career in education research and service to the disciplines of cartography and geographic information science. His record of teaching accomplishments and awards, his excellent research particularly with topics of maps and the Internet, and his significant record of service to the his university, the discipline, and the ICA are exemplary of an ICA honoree. Professor Peterson has served the ICA as an exceptional Chair of the Commission on Maps and the Internet from 1999 to the present. His accomplishments as Commission Chair include expanding the research and educational frontier of Maps and the Internet, maintaining an exceptional Website for the Commission, conducting numerous short courses and workshops for the Commission in places around the world including Warsaw, Vienna, Madrid, Tokyo, Karlsruhe, Guangxhou, and Denver, Knoxville, and Shepherdstown in the United States. Publications by Professor Peterson under the auspices of the Commission include Maps and the Internet, a seminal book on the domain subject of the Commission.