Foundational contributions of K. Asai and H. Tanaka to fuzzy optimization

The first researchers to publish an operationalization of the Bellman and Zadeh's original approach to “Decision making in a fuzzy environment” [1] were H. Tanaka and K. Asai in their 1973 article [2] which was published in English in 1974 [3]. These two researchers developed many fundamental theories and methods including novel concepts of fuzzy operations research [4] with their collaborators. They went beyond the original proposal for fuzzy optimization set forth by Bellman/Zadeh. They are important founders of fuzzy optimization. This paper gives an overview of their great contributions to fuzzy optimization.