35 The Words of 'Kaki no Tane' (Persimmon Seeds)

Highlight:
Japan seems confident that it is number one in the world in various spiritual matters, but it is doubtful how much confidence it has in science and its applications. Original and groundbreaking ideas produced by Japanese people are viewed domestically as more dangerous than explosives. When they see the same ideas realized and succeeded by Westerners, they feel relieved and begin to imitate the results. Their greatest pride is to say, 'We have created something that is not inferior to foreign products.' However, by the time they have done so, the next world-leading achievement is already being created abroad.
↓ And what I thought
This also applies to modern science and technology. In Japanese science and technology, the tendency to value Western research and disregard domestic products continues. The fundamental ideas are imported from the West, and even if one prides oneself on having created something excellent by following in their footsteps with a 'catch up and overtake' mentality, it does not last long; in the meantime, foreign countries have started producing even better things at lower costs, or the next world-leading achievement is born. It should be fine to conduct research and education based on 'created scholarship' in Japan as well, but I feel that there is still a lot of 'learned scholarship.' Is there not a trend of being proud of having rivals abroad and citing their papers, while not being happy to have Japanese rivals and not citing their papers?

Main Text:
'Kaki no Tane' (Persimmon Seeds) by Torahiko Terada (Iwanami Shoten, Iwanami Bunko, Green 37-7, April 1996) is a book with a title that seems like the predecessor to 'Hitotsubu no Kaki no Tane' (A Single Persimmon Seed) by Masataka Watanabe, which I covered in the 33rd installment. I bought and read this over 20 years ago, but since Mr. Watanabe's book was recently published, I opened this book for the first time in a while.

This book is a collection of many short essays written by the author, Mr. Terada, and has been read by many people to date. Although the contributions were made to a haiku magazine, it contains several pieces that offer a glimpse into Terada's attitude toward science as a physicist. In this article, I will introduce them.

The early 20th century, when Mr. Terada was active, was the dawn of disciplines that elucidate the micro-world, such as quantum mechanics and atomic physics, and these were actively researched in the West. While challenging such cutting-edge topics, Mr. Terada also focused on physical phenomena seen in everyday life. These seem to have been criticized as derivative, but today the study of such phenomena is called complexity science, and its significance is recognized. The analysis of these phenomena requires theoretical methods different from conventional science. Mr. Terada believed that 'mainstream science has only solved problems that could be solved,' and he dealt with complexity science as a phenomenon different from the micro-world.

Mr. Terada seems to have believed that one should not be captivated by what is popular in the West, but must promote research that is 'unique to Japan.' Borrowing the phrase 'unique to Japan,' he was sounding an alarm to the Japanese people who were running only toward imitation without creating anything themselves. Below is a quote from a part of the text where this is clearly expressed (from the short essay 'Normandy' in this book).

'Japan seems confident that it is number one in the world in various spiritual matters, but it is doubtful how much confidence it has in science and its applications... Original and groundbreaking ideas produced by Japanese people are viewed domestically as more dangerous than explosives. When they see the same ideas realized and succeeded by Westerners, they feel relieved and begin to imitate the results. Their greatest pride is to say, "We have created something that is not inferior to foreign products." However, by the time they have done so, the next world-leading achievement is already being created abroad.'

This warning also applies to modern science and technology. Although it is said that Japanese science and technology are at the top of the world, the tendency to value Western research and disregard domestic products continues. The fundamental ideas are imported from the West, and even if one prides oneself on having created something excellent by following in their footsteps with a 'catch up and overtake' mentality, it does not last long; in the meantime, foreign countries have started producing even better things at lower costs, or the next world-leading achievement is born.

It should be fine to conduct research and education based on 'created scholarship' in Japan as well, but I feel that there is still a lot of 'learned scholarship.' Is there not a trend of being proud of having rivals abroad and citing their papers, while not being happy to have Japanese rivals and not citing their papers?