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During a researcher's life, as in life in general, one may experience events that change one's life. In my case, my encounter with two directors at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (now Cancer Research UK) in Great Britain marked such a change. Perhaps because of fearlessness peculiar to young people or a naturally brazen personality, I sent presumptuous letters to several research institutions overseas requesting a position. In these missives, I wrote, 'I am a Japanese researcher who would like to perform research at your institution and would appreciate it if you would consider employing me.' As I think of those letters now, I blush. Of course, many places ignored these letters, but a few sent polite replies. Among those, the ICRF stood out because Sir Walter Bodmer, who was the director of the ICRF, replied by saying that he would be visiting Japan for an international academic conference, where I would be speaking, and that he would be glad to meet with me there.
He set aside some time at the conference to listen to my presentation to help me prepare. He stopped me at points to offer advice and listened intently throughout the rehearsal. When it was over, Sir Bodmer said, "Thank you, that was very interesting," and, with a broad smile on his face, offered me his hand (which was much larger than mine, in fact both his wife and he physically towered over me). Thus, in spite of my audacious request for an interview with the director of the ICRF, I happily started my post-doc career.
Just as I became accustomed to a life at ICRF, Sir Walter Bodmer resigned from his position and was succeeded by Dr. Paul Nurse, who later received the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. As there were always Japanese researchers working in his laboratory, I would sometimes go and chat with the people there. Although I did not have many chances to talk with Paul, who was always very busy, when we spotted each other he would smile and greet me in Japanese. Perhaps not worth mentioning, but 'Kon-nichi wa' was one of the few bits of Japanese he had picked up from the Japanese researchers working there. Apparently, he could also be heard saying, 'Shigoto shiro yo!' (Get back to work!), 'Okiro!' (Wake up!), and other more serious things in Japanese, however, I did not hear these things myself.
I once saw Paul discussing a project with the student in charge of it. As he listened, he offered soft words of encouragement and agreement. After adding just a touch of criticism and advice, he said, "Thank you, that was interesting," and left. These experiences with both the old and new directors of the ICRF and their manner towards their students and me provided me with my single greatest lesson during my stay abroad. That these two men listened so intently to young researchers and provided words of encouragement such as, "That's interesting," or "I'd like to hear more later," was in such contrast to my previous experience I was hit with a revelation. To put it rather simplistically, whereas Japanese culture emphasizes fault-finding, British culture emphasizes encouragement. Which approach increases productivity more is different according to the time and circumstance, I sometimes think about such things while reading the fable "The North Wind and the Sun" to my children or while drinking tea in my office. And, I believe that thinking about such things might be fruitful to the future BSI research. |
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