Biohistory journal, Spring, 2006

Biohistory journal, Spring, 2006: Index > The abundant creation of forms understood from a general sense of strangeness

An examination from the leaves The abundant creation of forms understood from a general sense of strangeness

Hirokazu Tsukaya and Keiko Nakamura

Upper: Plantains from Okazaki Lower: A comparison of plantain leaf size shows that the three on the right are stunted. (The writing indicates the production region.) [Photograph provided by Dr. Naoko Ishikawa] Dr.Tsukaya:     Dr.Tsukaya Japan is a treasure house of wild grasses. The relationship between these wild grasses and human beings is quite interesting. Weeding has been assiduously performed at old and venerable temples and shrines, so the plantains have become smaller. This already has been recorded in the Honzo Zufu. Dr.Nakamura:      If the plantains at the Itsukushima Shrine and the Mii Temple were smaller during the Edo period, they changed rather rapidly. But we’ll preserve them, because their form is their essence. Dr.Tsukaya:      When the plantains get smaller, there will be no change in the cell form and size, but the number of cells is reduced. I want to see the essence of form creation to determine why the small cells enable creation in their original form. When I look carefully, I unexpectedly feel a general sense of strangeness. That leads to discovery. Dr.Nakamura:      The sense that something is strange arises from the accumulation of the time one has spent looking at various things. When one observes well, a sixth sense - not logic - enabling understanding begins to function. That is connected to direct observation.

After the Dialogue / Hirokazu Tsukaya        I think I first found out about Keiko Nakamura when I was a high school student. I saw her several times on an educational program on TV. Before that, I also knew her as the translator of Double Helix, or as the author of several explanatory articles.       During her first program, I was probably not the only viewer who thought that she was wasted as merely an interviewer, perhaps because she a female researcher. After a while, I remember that she began to express her own opinions from her own perspective.       Now, after having viewed her from afar, I broke out in a cold sweat when I thought whether our conversation formed an interview or not. But it was a lot of fun while we talked, and we continued talking for long after our scheduled time. I had not foreseen that something like this would happen when I was a high school student. That it occurred is probably due to the open atmosphere of the world of biology. Imagining Mr. Tsukaya as a high school student, I am thankful that he has become such a wonderful researcher whose opinions I really want to hear. (Keiko Nakamura)

Dialogue

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