Born in 1976 in Aichi, Usami is exploring the mysterious quantum world in solids through optical experiments. He is an associate professor at the University of Tokyo. He received Ph.D. in physics from Tokyo Institute of Technology. He spent five years at Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen between 2008 and 2013. His current research interests are magnetic substances, rotating objects, and 2D materials with special emphasis being on the aspects of time-reversal and rotational symmetry.