Hiromasa Ito was born in Tokyo, Japan, on August 31,1943.He received the B.S. degree in communication engineering, and the M.S. and Ph.D> degrees in electronic enginieering from Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, in 1966, 1969, and 1971,respectively. In1972, he joined the Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University, where he is currently a Professor, and the Head of the Ppplied Quantum Optics Research Division. From 1975 to 1976, while on leave froom Tohoku University, he was with the Ginzton Lavoratory, Stanford University, where he was involved in research on parametric oscillators. Since 1998, he has been a Team Leader of the "Tera-Photonics" project of the Photo Dynamics Research Denter, RIKEN, Sendai, Japan. His research iterests have included lasers, nonlinear optics (especially using periodically domain inverted structures), semiconductor lasers, and coherent terahertz-wave generation. Dr. Ito is a memver of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers(IEICE), Japan, the Japan Society of applied Physics the Optical Society of Japan(OSJ), the Lase Society of Japan, and the Optical Society of America(OSA). He received the 1971 Yonezawa Award, the 1989 Best Paper Award presented by the IEICE, Japan, 2000 OSA Fellow and Best Paper Award presented by Laser Society of Japan. The science and technology of Photonics and Quantum Optics are fields in which our nation has accumulated great potential. The development of superior fundamental science and technology is expected to bring forth technological innovation and industrial paradigm shifts. In PREST ( Precursory Research for Embryonic Science and Technology )in individual type research, individual researchers in various fields, using their own expertise and technology, will perform research that is aimed to trigger technical innovation in the long history of optical science.More precisely, the research will have broad and highly original themes that cover the generation, detection and control of light-from fundamental studies aimed to explicate new phenomena to research that pursues innovation of elements and systems. 　For example, as it is becoming increasingly common for us to handle a wide range of optical pulses-from nanosecond, picosecond, femtosecond, and even to attosecond-the discovery of a variety of new physical phenomena is expected to occur as a result of operating light at these high energy concentrations. In parallel with this, I believe that a new development period will come for techniques to manipulate and measure light. Through research into these areas, it is expected that there will be new findings, discoveries of new phenomenon, and industrial innovation through the establishment of new measurement and manipulation technologies, all of which will enable us to do that which could not be done before. 　In this area of research, we envision the work done by individual researchers developing into new scientific and technological fields in the future.