But, as in the field of natural science, there surely were some things that could be obtained only through running risks. Although it is hard to say what they are, this way of thinking and decision-making to be creative in any way has formed a fundamental core in myself as a scientist. So far, I have achieved only 1% of what I set as goals in my life and hope to continue such adventures toward the remaining 99%.

Searching for the best place to continue these adventures, I came to RIKEN BSI about a year ago. Because the research environment here is even much better than that of where I was right before as a staff scientist, the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, I feel strong pressure in myself as well as from tax payers that I need to achieve something. If not, it would mean that what I chose to do or how I did it was wrong and, therefore, I should be ready to accept being accused of for being an incompetent researcher with no excuses.

Many other researchers in BSI, I imagine, are under similar pressure. This is probably not so bad because appropriate amount of stress activates our brain. Besides, we should never waste the tax payers'money under these days'recession. Nevertheless, we should also be aware that excess stresses lasting for too a long period would weaken individuals so severely in both physical and mental terms that one would not even think of attempting adventures. An optimum balance is important. In this context, I feel that the BSI is now undergoing an extremely critical period. Though I cannot find a proper expression, I think we need to create and maintain supporting atmospheres among individuals and laboratories throughout the institute.

Another source of pressure on the researchers is the personnel system based on term contract, which is kind of new to the Japanese society. When I came to RIKEN for the first time, I even thought "This relatively dark atmosphere could be due to the non-tenure system". However, even when researchers get so-called life-long positions, this is only until they become 60 years of age or so, and I expect that this traditional concept of life-time employment will disappear when the researchers in their twenties or thirties at present reach that age. In addition, professional researchers should consider themselves as being like the players or managers of professional football clubs because being able to live on science is indeed a privilege and because our goals should not be set at a national or Japanese level but rather should be beyond the global standard. Still, we should bear in mind that all of us like those professional football players share the anxieties about the future, so I believe that it is an obligation for us to express that we are making positive efforts to solve such anxieties. Such efforts will also lead to successful recruitment of good scientists in the future.