Ms. Tomomi is a member of the Sendai Board of Education. Currently she is in charge of food service facilities in Sendai elementary and middle schools.
“I am responsible for all operations concerning food service in Sendai schools. For instance, I organize the supply of kitchen fixtures and appliances and oversee contracts on facility development, among other duties. There are eighty elementary and middle schools with kitchens and five school meal centers in total, but some centers outsource cooking to private sector producers. In that case, I also act as a coordinator, fix contracts, and so on.”
Ms. Tomomi procures all necessary utensils and supplies, from giant cauldrons to tableware used by children. She always has to make the best choice, finding a balance between usability, safety, and cost.
“Food is the source of life, and eating properly is even more vital for children, who are still growing. It is most important to provide them with safe and reliable food services, which means promoting food education, reducing the risk of allergic reactions, and increasing sanitation management in both kitchens and canteens. Every day as I start my work, I ask myself what I must do in order to accomplish these tasks.”

According to Ms. Tomita, in high school she developed an interest in psychology, and so when the time came to select her major as a second-year university student, she chose behavioral science.
“I entered the Faculty of Arts and Letters at Tohoku University because I wanted to know what people thought and how they acted. But ultimately I spent my time there thinking about what made people happy. The main line of inquiry in my studies was, “How do people feel in specific situations?”
Ms. Tomita admits that she has always been the type to work diligently and untiringly. She had a perfect attendance record throughout her school years, and kept that habit after she entered university. Playing in the Tohoku University Wind Orchestra and completing her internship did not prevent Ms. Tomita from getting top grades in every course. Ms. Tomita’s efforts together with the high quality of her graduation thesis earned her the Tohoku University President's Award.
“I received a lot of useful advice from the professors and senior students of our department when I was writing my thesis, but one quote cited by Professor Satō Yoshimichi sticks in my mind even now. He told me that we were ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’. This is a metaphor for new discoveries based on already accumulated knowledge. Indeed, I have learned that nothing is more crucial for a student and a researcher than to scrutinize prior research and dig up their own personal ‘worthy questions’. You do not study because you are told to — rather you investigate the topic of your own choice. This is the very appeal of university life.”