• Health and Well-Being: development of intelligent games and research on applications of game AI techniques for promotion of health, including of art therapy, using various types of state-of-the-art game interfaces
• Artificial Intelligence: research on AI techniques such as deep learning, evolutionary computation and real-time search as well as their applications to procedural play generation for live streaming as well as procedural content generation, and to development of high-performance or adaptable game AIs (general video game AI, fighting game AI, etc.)
• Games with A Purpose: research and development on human-based computation games or games with a purpose (GWAP) aiming at cutural image data collection such as ukiyo-e descriptions and ukiyo-e image similarity data.

In addition, I had been an associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics (IEEE TCE) during 01/2022-12/2023. I was a general chair for 2023 International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling (ICIDS 2023) and a guest editor for IEEE CEMag Special Issue on Metaverse and eXtended uniVerse (XV): Opportunities and Challenges for Consumer Technologies. During 2021 and 2022, I was the inaugural chair of the Entertainment and Gaming (ENT) Technical Committee, IEEE Consumer Technology Society (CTSoc). I was a tutorial chair at the 2022 IEEE Conference on Games (CoG 2022). I was a speaker at APNNS/IEEE-CIS Education Forum Series: Deep Learning and Artificial Intelligence Summer School 2022 (DLAI6), a guest editor of IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology (TVT): Special Issue on Immersive Virtual Reality Simulation for Vehicular Technology, a competition chair at CoG 2021, a guest editor of IEEE Transactions on Games (ToG): Special Issue on Serious Games for Health, a general chair of 2020 IEEE Conference on Games (CoG), a guest editor of IEEE Transactions on Games (ToG): Special Issue on Game Competition Frameworks for Research and Education, and an editorial board member of Encyclopedia of Computer Graphics and Games (ECGG) by Springer. I was a Programme Co-Chair of the 7th International Conference on Serious Games and Applications for Health (IEEE SeGAH 2019) and a co-organizer of NII Shonan Meeting - Artificial General Intelligence in Games: Where Play Meets Design and User Experience I was competition chair at CIG 2017. I co-organized both CDCI-05 Computational Intelligence and Games at WCCI 2016 and IEEE CEC 2015 Special Session on Computational Intelligence and Games.

During 2007-2011, I participated in "Digital Humanities Center for Japanese Arts and Cultures", a nationally approved program called the Global COE. During 2002-2006, I participated in "Kyoto Art and Entertainment Innovation Research", yet another nationally approved program called the 21^st Century Centers of Excellence (COE). FYI, I co-supervised the Games and CG Club (RIG++) here during 2004-2010.

As for my other volunteering academic contributions, I am now a technical committee on Awareness Computing (IEEE-SMC), and IEEE CIS Games. I have reviewed papers for the following journals (in alphabetical order):

• ACM Computers in Entertainment (CiE) (Also Guest Associate Editor)
• Computers & Graphics
• Education Research International
• Fuzzy Sets and Systems
• IEEE Access
• IEEE Signal Processing Letters
• IEEE Trans. Computational Intelligence and AI in Games
• IEEE Trans. Fuzzy Systems
• IEEE Trans. Games
• IEEE Trans. Multimedia
• IEEE Trans. Neural Networks
• IEEE Trans. Signal Processing
• IEEE Trans. Systems, Man, and Cybernetics
• International Journal of Computer Games Technology
• International Journal of Machine Learning and Cybernetics
• ISRN Artificial Intelligence
• Journal of Advanced Computational Intelligence and Intelligent Informatics (also Guest Editor for Special Issue on Intelligence Techniques in Computer Games and Simulations, Vol.12 No.2, March 2008)
• Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
• Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics
• Neural Networks
• Replaying Japan
• Swarm and Evolutionary Computation
• The Journal of the Computer Games Community/LI>
• The Journal of Game Amusement Society
• The Journal of Personalization Research User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction
• The Journal of the Institute of Image Electronics Engineers of Japan
• The KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems
• The Scientific World Journal
• Transactions of Information Processing Society of Japan
• Transactions of the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers
• Transactions of the Virtual Reality Society of Japan

• The 2021 IEEE Conference on Games (CoG 2021)
• The 30th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI 2021), Senior Program Committee
• The 2021 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (IEEE CEC 2021)
• The 2021 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO 2021)
• The second annual Association for Computers and the Humanities (ACH) conference (ACH 2021)
• The 25nd Game Programming Workshop (GPW-20)
• The 16th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (AIIDE'20)
• The 8th International Conference on Serious Games and Applications for Health (IEEE SeGAH 2020)
• MCS 2020 (Monte Carlo Search Workshop at IJCAI 2020)
• The 29th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI 20), Senior Program Committee
• The 2020 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (IEEE CEC 2020)
• Digital Humanities Conference 2020 (DH 2020)
• The 15th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (AIIDE'19)
• The 24nd Game Programming Workshop (GPW-19)
• The 2019 IEEE Conference on Games (CoG 2019)
• The 16th Conference on Advances in Computer and Games (ACG2019)
• The 28th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI 19), Senior Program Committee
• The 2019 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO 2019)
• The 2019 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (IEEE CEC 2019)
• The ACH2019 Conference
• Joint 10th International Conference on Soft Computing and Intelligent Systems and 19th International Symposium on Advanced Intelligent Systems (SCIS&ISIS2018)
• The 14th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (AIIDE'18)
• The 23nd Game Programming Workshop (GPW-18)
• 2018 IEEE 7th Global Conference on Consumer Electronics (GCCE 2018)
• The 2018 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC2018)
• 10th Computer Science and Electronic Engineering Conference (CEEC 2018)
• The 2018 IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games (CIG 2018)
• The 2018 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO 2018) - Digital Entertainment Technologies and Arts (DETA)
• The 11th International Conference on Game and Entertainment Technologies (GET 2018)
• The 10th International Conference on Computers and Games (CG2018)
• The 2018 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (IEEE CEC 2018)
• Edutainment Conference 2018
• The 2018 International Workshop on Network and Systems Support for Games (NetGames 2018)
• The 2017 IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence (IEEE SSCI 2017)
• The 22nd Game Programming Workshop (GPW-17)
• 2017 IEEE 6th Global Conference on Consumer Electronics (GCCE 2017)
• The 2017 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC2017)
• 9th Computer Science and Electronic Engineering Conference (CEEC 2017)
• The 18th annual European GAMEON Conference (GAMEON 2017) on Simulation and AI in Computer Games
• The 2017 IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games (CIG 2017)
• The 10th International Conference on Game and Entertainment Technologies (GET 2017)
• The 2017 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO 2017) - Digital Entertainment Technologies and Arts (DETA)
• Joint 17th World Congress of International Fuzzy Systems Association and 9th International Conference on Soft Computing and Intelligent Systems (IFSA-SCIS 2017)
• Game AI Special Track at the 30th International Conference on Industrial, Engineering, Other Applications of Applied Intelligent Systems (IEA/AIE 2017)
• Edutainment Conference 2017
• The 2017 International Workshop on Network and Systems Support for Games (NetGames 2017)
• The 2017 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (IEEE CEC 2017)
• Game Physics and Mechanics International Conference 2017 (GAMEPEC 2017)
• The 4th IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence for Human-like Intelligence (CIHLI 2016)
• The 21th Game Programming Workshop (GPW-16)
• The 5th IEEE Global Conference on Consumer Electronics (GCCE 2016)
• The Ninth International Conference on Advances in Human-oriented and Personalized Mechanisms, Technologies, and Services (CENTRIC 2016)
• The 2016 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC 2016)
• The Special Session on Computational Intelligence and Games at the 8th Computer Science and Electronic Engineering Conference (CEEC 2016)
• The 2016 IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games (CIG 2016)
• The 17th annual European GAMEON Conference on Simulation and AI in Computer Games (GAMEON'2016)
• The IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence 2016(IEEE WCCI 2016)
• The 2016 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO 2016) - Digital Entertainment Technologies and Arts (DETA)
• The 9th International Conference on Game and Entertainment Technologies 2016 (GET 2016)
• Edutainment Conference 2016
• The 20th Game Programming Workshop (GPW-15)
• The 16th annual European GAMEON Conference on Simulation and AI in Computer Games (GAMEON'2015)
• The 2015 IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence for Human-like Intelligence (IEEE SSCI 2015)
• The Eighth International Conference on Advances in Human-oriented and Personalized Mechanisms, Technologies, and Services (CENTRIC 2015)
• International Conference on Culture and Computing 2015 (Culture and Computing 2015)
• The Special Session on Computational Intelligence and Games at the 7th Computer Science and Electronic Engineering Conference (CEEC 2015)
• The 2015 IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games (CIG 2015)
• Game Physics and Mechanics International Conference 2015 (GAMEPEC 2015)
• The 2015 IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems (FUZZ-IEEE 2015)
• The 8th International Conference on Game and Entertainment Technologies 2015 (GET 2015)
• The 2015 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO 2015) - Digital Entertainment Technologies and Arts (DETA)
• The Fifth International Conference on Information Science and Technology (ICIST 2015)
• The 2nd International Research Conference on Emerging Information Technology and Engineering Solutions (EITES 2015)
• The IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence 2014 (SSCI 2014)
• The 2014 International Workshop on Network and Systems Support for Games (NetGames 2014)
• The 15th annual European GAMEON Conference on Simulation and AI in Computer Games (GAMEON'2014)
• The Sixth IEEE International Conference on Awareness Science and Technology (iCAST 2014)
• The 2014 IEEE 3rd Global Conference on Consumer Electronics (GCCE 2014)
• The 2014 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC 2014)
• The Seventh International Conference on Advances in Human-oriented and Personalized Mechanisms, Technologies, and Services (CENTRIC 2014)
• The 2014 IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games (CIG 2014)
• The 7th International Conference on Game and Entertainment Technologies 2014 (GET 2014)
• External evaluator for faculty reappointment at Entertainment Technology Center, Carnegie Mellon University, April, 2014
• The 2014 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO 2014) - Digital Entertainment Technologies and Arts (DETA)
• The 2013 International Workshop on Network and Systems Support for Games (NetGames 2013)
• The 14th annual European GAMEON Conference on Simulation and AI in Computer Games (GAMEON'2013)
• The 17th Asia Pacific Symposium of Intelligent and Evolutionary Systems (IES 2013)
• The Fifth IEEE International Conference on Awareness Science and Technology (iCAST 2013)
• The Sixth International Conference on Advances in Human-oriented and Personalized Mechanisms, Technologies, and Service (CENTRIC 2013)
• International Conference on Culture and Computing 2013 (Culture and Computing 2013)
• The 2013 IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games(CIG2013)
• IADIS Game and Entertainment Technologies 2013 (GET 2013)
• Digital Humanities 2013 (DH 2013)
• The 2013 IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems (FUZZ-IEEE 2013)
• IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence 2013 (SSCI 2013)
• External reviewer for faculty promotion and tenure at the University of Texas-Dallas, 2012
• The 13th annual European GAMEON Conference on Simulation and AI in Computer Games (GAMEON'2012)
• The 2012 FTRA International Workshop on Advanced Future Multimedia Services (AFMS 2012)
• The 15th International Conference on Network-Based Information Systems (NBis 2012)
• The 2012 IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games (IEEE CIG 2012)
• The Fourth IEEE International Conference on Awareness Science and Technology (iCAST 2012)
• IADIS Game and Entertainment Technologies 2012 (GET 2012)
• Digital Humanities 2012 (DH 2012)
• The Ninth International Symposium on Neural Networks (ISNN 2012)
• Digital Humanities 2012
• External reviewer for START Programme Postdoctoral Fellowship, Icelandic Research Fund
• The 2011 FTRA International Workshop on Advanced Future Multimedia Services (AFMS 2011)
• The 3rd FTRA International Conference on Information Technology Convergence and Services (ITCS-11)
• The Third IEEE International Conference on Awareness Science and Technology (iCAST 2011)
• 2011 IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems (FUZZ-IEEE 2011)
• The Eighth International Symposium on Neural Networks (ISNN 2011)
• The FTRA 2010 International Workshop on Advanced Future Multimedia Services (AFMS 2010)
• The 11th annual European GAMEON Conference on Simulation and AI in Computer Games (GAMEON'2010)
• The 2nd International Symposium on Aware Computing (ISAC 2010)
• PhD external examiner for The Leon Recanati Graduate School of Business Administration, Tel Aviv University (2009-2010)
• The 9th Annual Workshop on Network and Systems Support for Games (NetGames 2010)
• The 5th International Conference on E-learning and Game (Edutainment 2010)
• 2010 IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems (FUZZ-IEEE 2010)
• The 2010 IEEE International Conference on Information and Automation (IEEE ICIA 2010)
• The Seventh International Symposium on Neural Networks (ISNN 2010)
• The 10th annual European GAME-ON Conference (GAME-ON 2009)
• GAMEON NA North America 2009
• The 5th International Conference on Intelligent Information Hiding and Multimedia Signal Processing (IIHMSP-2009)-IS34
• The 4th International Conference on E-learning and Game (Edutainment 2009)
• 2009 IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems (FUZZ-IEEE 2009)
• The 9th annual European GAME-ON Conference (GAME-ON 2008)
• GAMEON NA North America 2008
• The 3rd International Conference on E-learning and Game (Edutainment 2008)
• The 8th annual European GAME-ON Conference (GAME-ON 2007)
• IFIP 5th International Conference on Entertainment Computing (ICEC 2006)
• IFIP 4th International Conference on Entertainment Computing (ICEC 2005)
• The 6th annual European GAME-ON Conference (GAME-ON 2005)
• ICCBR05 Workshop on Computer Gaming and Simulation Environments
• KES 2005 invited session on Natural Language Processing and Text Mining in Medicine (NaTeMed2005)
• 2004 International Conference on Control, Automation and Systems (ICCAS 2004)
• The Joint Third International Conference on Intelligent Technologies and Third Vietnam-Japan Symposium on Fuzzy Systems and Applications (InTech/VJFuzzy' 2002)
• The Second International Conference on Intelligent Technologies (InTech' 2001)
• The 1998 IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems
• The 1997 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems