The Contribution of Education and Research at Keio University to Industry: What is Modern Jitsugaku (Science)?

2022/08/16

I am Suzuki from the Faculty of Science and Technology. Today, I would like to give a lecture titled "The Contribution of Education and Research at Keio University to Industry: What is Modern Jitsugaku (Science)?" I would like to talk while incorporating about half of the content on the theme of "Yukichi Fukuzawa to Me."

As I looked at the painting by Yukihiko Yasuda ("Yukichi Fukuzawa Lecturing on Wayland's Political Economy"), I grew to love it, thinking that this is where the young Yukichi Fukuzawa, then 33 years old, was. He had not yet written Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning), and I imagine he was not that famous at the time.

Since it had been about 10 years since Keio University (Fukuzawa Juku) was established in 1868, I thought there might have been about 100 students, but there were only 18. Seeing the students in the back looking toward Ueno, I felt that I, too, would have liked to be among those 18 students at Keio University at that time.

I learned from watching Professor Yukihiro Ikeda's YouTube mini-lectures and other sources that Francis Wayland, though described as an economist, was a person who excelled in the humanities in general and said that "science systematically shows the laws established by God." The words science, laws, and systematically showing were probably words that Fukuzawa loved. In the field of natural science, Fukuzawa is said to have liked Newton very much, and Newton is the only one who showed science systematically.

Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning) was influenced by Wayland. In particular, it was greatly influenced by The Elements of Moral Science, and there are parts that are partial translations of it. I still wonder if "science" can be attached to "moral," but since Fukuzawa was a very morally strict person, he wrote Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning) as a kind of triad of Wayland's economic books, Moral Science, and the Confucianism he originally had as a foundation. It is said that he purchased many copies of Wayland's economic books for his students during his second trip to America (1867).

I looked at what the curriculum of Keio University was like at that time. Yukichi Fukuzawa gave lectures on Wayland's economic books at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Also, Tokujirō Obata gave lectures on Quackenbos's history of the United States at the same time on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Quackenbos's "Lectures on Natural Philosophy" were also held, and this book served as a reference for Fukuzawa's "Illustrated Primer of Natural Philosophy" (1868). In addition, there were sessions like Mr. Coming's "Reading of Human Physiology," and although I don't think the terms humanities or sciences existed at the time, I get the impression that there were quite a few natural science subjects.

Fukuzawa's Research Bulletin Kyurizukai, Japan's first introductory book on natural science, is not read very much considering it was the first in the country. However, if you look at the table of contents, I think you can see Fukuzawa's intentions. For example, Volume 1 says, "Chapter 1: On Heat, Chapter 2: On Air." I think what Fukuzawa was thinking about most at the time was that the Industrial Revolution had occurred in Britain and black ships had come to Japan by the power of steam engines, so he wanted to make more use of that power. Chapter 1, On Heat, says, "All things expand when heated and contract when cooled. There is no being, animate or inanimate (everything in the natural world), that does not receive the virtue of heat." It sounds a bit like thermodynamics. I imagine he was conscious of things like Watt's steam engine.

Chapter 2: On Air. "Air surrounds the world like a sea. There is no place within or without all things where air does not fill (there is no place without air)." Compressing air while burning steam in an engine or the like. Usually, one starts with Newtonian mechanics, but for Fukuzawa, was this the most important thing first?

Volume 2, "Chapter 3: On Water, Chapter 4: On Wind, Chapter 5: On Clouds and Rain, Chapter 6: On Hail, Snow, Dew, Frost, and Ice" is about meteorology. There were no weather forecasts back then. So, for example, living in Nakatsu as a child, he witnessed sudden winds blowing or sudden rain ruining fields and washing people away. He probably thought that meteorology was important and wondered why it rained. I think this is an important starting point for scholarship.

However, when he asked the great Confucian scholars of the time, they would say things that were not explanations at all, such as that it rains when the sky gets dark and clouds appear. He probably wanted to explain it somehow. Explanations like "Water becomes a flat surface no matter what container it is put in" or "Dew condenses to become frost, and rain changes to become snow. Although the states of rain, snow, dew, and frost are different, their essence is all the same" really resonate with me. I feel he had a very scientific heart.

In Volume 3, "Chapter 7: On Gravity, Chapter 8: On Day and Night, Chapter 9: On the Four Seasons, Chapter 10: On Solar and Lunar Eclipses," the story of Newtonian mechanics appears for the first time. "The feeling of gravity is extremely subtle and extremely grand. It acts nearby on the ground and extends far to the stars." "The sun is always quiet and its light does not change. The world turns by itself, creating the division of day and night (the sun is always quiet and its brightness does not change; day and night are created because the earth rotates)."

Fukuzawa also actually performed experiments in science. As recorded in his autobiography, he enjoyed trying physics and chemistry experiments while struggling with original books at Ogata Koan's Tekijuku. He manufactured hydrochloric acid and ammonia. It's funny how his whole body became smelly and dogs barked at him. "If you have zinc chloride, you can attach tin even to iron" (Autobiography). I don't think there are any faculty members in the Faculty of Science and Technology who could understand this part. Because we don't do it now. He was doing experiments to coat iron with tin and galvanize iron with zinc.

Since there weren't many glass bottles at the time, people would go to buy sake and return the tokuri (sake bottle) after finishing it. But he used them for science experiments and didn't return them to the liquor store even after finishing the sake, so he wrote that the liquor store complained. He was doing experiments by putting hydrochloric acid or sulfuric acid in tokuri.

From my perspective, I have a very strong image of Yukichi Fukuzawa first learning science-related subjects and then moving into social sciences such as political thought. As evidence of this, when he first went to America, Americans proudly showed him plating (Galvani's electroplating), saying, "You probably don't know about this, do you? I'll show you." However, Fukuzawa said, "I know all about it." He wasn't surprised at all, saying, "This is done by the power of Galvani."

On the other hand, what Fukuzawa was surprised by was that the social system was completely different from Japan's. Things like the high status of women and the fact that no one knew Washington's descendants.

The world he came to know through natural science was a world of strict laws. It can be seen that he thought about various political ideas based on that. Newtonian mechanics allows for predictions. For example, you throw a ball. If you know the initial velocity and angle, and you know the air resistance, you know when and where it will fall. I feel like he entered political thought with that kind of thinking.

Today, I want to think about "How can education and research at the Juku develop and contribute to industry? Is there any hint if we explore Yukichi Fukuzawa as a human being?" Rather than Yukichi Fukuzawa's ideology, I believe that Yukichi Fukuzawa as a human being is quite applicable in 2022. As a tool, how Yukichi Fukuzawa lived, thought, and acted serves as a great model for today's world.

There are various definitions of jitsugaku (science), but "jitsu" (real/practical) is perceived as being empirical in contrast to "kyogaku" (empty learning). The definition I like best is the "power to create reality." How to create reality in 2022. In other words, modern jitsugaku (science). Today, the word innovation is often used. I think modern jitsugaku (science) is what directly contributes to creating innovation, developing society, and evolving.

I graduated from the Department of Inorganic Materials at Tokyo Institute of Technology. In graduate school, I studied nuclear engineering, and the late Masao Yoshida, former director of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant at TEPCO, was my senior. Like anyone else, when I was young, I often had doubts about the world and read extensively. I read through the Iwanami Bunko series and Chuo Koronsha's "Great Books of the World." Newton's Principia was among them, and at that time, I read such books at a pace of about one per day. I had a purpose in my own way; at that time, I felt the world was so bad and was going through a period of great doubt about society. And Jean-Jacques Rousseau was one of my emotional supports.

I also read Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning) around that time. So my encounter with Yukichi Fukuzawa was when I was about 20 years old. There is a book by Shinzo Koizumi titled "Yukichi Fukuzawa" published by Iwanami Shinsho, which also left an impression on me. At that time, I didn't know he was the President of Keio University, but he wrote about his memories of interacting directly with Yukichi Fukuzawa as a child, and I thought, "I'm jealous" (laughs). He described in great detail how Fukuzawa, wearing a yukata, played with young Shinzo along with his own grandchildren, and how a mosquito flew by and he slapped his own shin with his large palm, causing blood to splatter.

When reading Yukichi Fukuzawa's books, especially One Hundred Discourses of Fukuzawa, the word "ukiyo" (floating world) often appears. It's the "ukiyo" as in "money makes the world go round" or "out of touch with the world." "Uki" originally meant painful or bitter. "Uki-yo" (bitter world) was the original form, referring to a world where there are many painful things. It gradually changed to "ukiyo." This is pessimistic in Buddhist thought.

Some people say that a sense of pessimism drifts through Fukuzawa, but for example, he says things like this: "To be born is a promise to die, and death is not something to be surprised at" (One Hundred Discourses of Fukuzawa, "The Human Heart is Vast and Boundless").

I think the fact that Yukichi Fukuzawa grew up poor and of low status was very significant. And he was smart. He saw many things. When a human is born, they cause their mother pain, and when they die, they suffer from illness. There are times when one chooses death because of too much pain. I read Fukuzawa's books while thinking that he surprisingly didn't like this world much. Despite being so influenced by the West, descriptions of God's love, being glad to be born human, or thanking God never appear.

For example, "If the Way of Heaven were truly supremely benevolent and philanthropic, it would be better not to let a mother in difficult labor have a child from the beginning. Rather than killing people through the pain of illness or always playing the prank of making them suffer in vain, it is the law of benevolence not to let this person be born" (ibid., "The Way of Heaven is Acceptable to People"). In Fukuzawa's time, there were no hospitals to take people to for C-sections as there are now, so I think childbirth was very difficult. He felt various contradictions in this world, even saying that not letting suffering people be born in the first place is mercy. This is entirely my imagination, but although Yukichi Fukuzawa himself lived quite a long life, I think he was someone who thought very strongly about what to do with this unmanageable floating world.

"Know that abandoning the floating world is the foundation for crossing the floating world vigorously" (ibid., "One can only be vigorous by viewing things lightly"). I think these are very meaningful words. Yukichi Fukuzawa has a moral strictness. And he practices it himself. He also works very hard at his studies. However, the charm is that at the very end, there is a part of him that says "it doesn't matter," and I think this is what would appeal to young people today.

Doing things with one's life on the line or committing hara-kiri to apologize is nonsense. Therefore, he is somewhat pragmatic, since he is working in this real world of the floating world. The paradox is that by doing so, one can conversely cross the floating world vigorously. I think it's amazing that he saw it through to the end.

In One Hundred Discourses of Fukuzawa ("Hopes for the Future"), Fukuzawa writes, "Confucius is the saint of morals, Newton is the saint of physics." To briefly explain what kind of person Newton was, it is questionable whether he was truly a physicist; his masterpiece Principia translates to "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy." He expressed nature using mathematics. That is completely different from people before him. It is questionable whether Fukuzawa understood this mathematics, but I believe the fact that cosmology and such appear in One Hundred Discourses of Fukuzawa is due to Newton's influence. What surprised me was that Yukichi Fukuzawa, who was negative about many things, practiced the idea that Newton's rigor systematizes natural laws, that "natural laws are the allies of humans," and that if you understand the laws, you can understand many things.

He writes that if one possesses knowledge like Confucius and Newton, life may become happy and society may become harmonious. He says that human happiness and society will become harmonious.

There is a CD of Shinzo Koizumi talking about Yukichi Fukuzawa ("Shinzo Koizumi Talks about Yukichi Fukuzawa," Keio University Press). It's a lecture from Keio's 100th anniversary, and in it, he says, "The master wanted to know why it rains." I thought, so Shinzo Koizumi says this too.

Another story, which I think many people know, but I'd like to introduce because I love Yukichi Fukuzawa at this time, is a book called Rangaku Kotohajime (The Beginnings of Dutch Studies). It was written by Sugita Genpaku, but the original manuscript was burned in a fire, and it was unknown if there were any copies. Then, a translation colleague of Fukuzawa's named Kanda Takahira found a copy at a street stall in Yushima. Yukichi Fukuzawa was thrilled. Rangaku Kotohajime is Sugita Genpaku's memoir about the hardships of translating Tafel Anatomia (New Book of Anatomy).

He was so excited and asked to let them copy it anyway. So they all copied it together and first went to the Sugita family to pay their respects. He pleaded with them, saying, "This book won't sell, but please let me publish it," and he published it. At that time, he wrote the preface ("Preface to the Second Edition of Rangaku Kotohajime") and wailed. Some people say Fukuzawa was only about making money, but seeing Yukichi Fukuzawa shedding tears and wailing over the memoir of someone who died 100 years ago makes me feel that he was perhaps carrying a sense of loneliness.

In 1990, right during the bubble era, I went to America. This significantly changed my thinking about industry-academia collaboration. I went to Case Western Reserve University in Ohio. The person who first analyzed and announced the rocks that Apollo 11 brought back from the moon invited me. At this time, Japanese companies were at their peak. People from Japanese companies would come to America in large numbers for academic conferences, charter a bus, and all go home. I thought they were only into applications, but companies at the time poured money into basic research as well. The professors there were saying that Japanese companies are amazing and we can't compete with them.

I wanted to try working for a wonderful Japanese company at least once. This is, after all, the "jitsu" (real) of the real world and jitsugaku (science). There, I wanted to work among patents and professional groups. The infrastructure is also excellent. In terms of impact on industry, having production technology is a strength. We are not just competing in development.

It is a battle of how the university will fight here. When people hear industry-academia collaboration, they have an image of getting along, drinking sake, and having a fun social gathering, but it's not like that at all. I joined the Tungaloy Technology Research Institute in 1993, and I felt that companies were superior to universities in terms of research and development.

After this, I took up a post at Keio in 1996, and what surprised me was that Yagami was a prefab building at the time. I was shocked. It was very cramped, there was no equipment, and things like nails were sticking out from the floor. Then a senior professor told me, "Please do your best, you can do whatever you want." At that point, honestly, I thought I was finished (laughs).

Then, in 2003, I was allowed to serve as a program manager for the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry at NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization), and I came to understand the country's science and technology support system quite well. After becoming a professor in 2005, I became involved in the management of the faculty and started buying various things like electron microscopes.

When I give lectures, there are quite a few students who are in poor mental health or sleeping. I am also an escapist type, so I talk about how the reality of society is painful, and when I say, "At times like that, I feel healed when I look at atoms lined up through an electron microscope," they react. I make diamonds, and when I was a full-time lecturer, I developed a technology to coat the inside of ordinary plastic bottles with a diamond film to prevent oxygen from entering and carbonation from escaping, and I am still doing it. When you put in gas and coat it, carbonation doesn't go out and oxygen doesn't come in.

Also, as an application of that, when a blood vessel narrows, a stent is inserted. However, blood clots attach to the expanded stent again. That's why people say they felt fine after surgery but felt bad again after three months. For that purpose, I coated it with a material that blood doesn't stick to.

I am also working on the concrete of the viaduct under Kyoto Station. The Shinkansen was built before the Tokyo Olympics, so it is over 60 years old. It's dangerous because the viaduct hasn't been changed at all. I was conducting demonstration experiments to prevent crack expansion and neutralization of concrete. I am doing familiar things like this.

I would like to introduce three students I thought were great in today's education and research during my long teaching career. It was an experience where three students who broke out of their shells jumped into my place.

One is still in the Faculty of Letters studying archaeology and stone tools. She is a female student who scientifically analyzes stones and studies stones from 20,000 years ago, but she jumped into my place, entered the doctoral course of the Faculty of Science and Technology from the Faculty of Letters, and left after getting her doctorate. She is very strong-willed and doesn't give up. "Journal of the American Ceramic Society" is a top-tier journal that ordinary students can't get into, but she kept submitting papers even if they were rejected, which was amazing. She is a student who obtained a Doctor of Engineering and realized the theme of merging humanities and sciences.

Next is a student of "one-person medical-engineering collaboration." He came to me from Keio's School of Medicine because he absolutely wanted to make things, and he also obtained a Doctor of Engineering. He does clinical work and basic research in the School of Medicine and also has a doctorate in the Faculty of Engineering. I named it one-person medical-engineering collaboration.

The third is a student who is doing research in the Faculty of Science and Technology, but belongs to the Faculty of Economics and has also passed the bar exam. He is very excellent and came to me during his high school days at Juku. He does things at his own pace no matter what. I think he is still about 22 years old, but he has been writing papers in English since high school and it has been decided that he will go to Oxford. I am emailing various professors saying, "Please make sure he comes back to Keio in the future."

What I thought at this time was that even as the Director of KLL (Keio Leading-edge Laboratory of Science and Technology) or the Director of the Office for Research Coordination and Administration, I couldn't move money freely. Even if I appealed to the Vice-President at the time, they said there was no money to support such a child. I think this is a big problem. So I was troubled and said, "Don't you hate Keio University now?" and he looked down and laughed, but as expected of him, he went to a high-ranking person at a certain telecommunications company and got about 2 million yen just like that. But I thought something had to be done about this.

According to Rousseau's Emile, or On Education, the word education comes from the Latin word meaning "to draw out" or "to lead out." Drawing out what the person originally has. This is difficult to do at today's Keio University, which is not a small-group system, but it is important today to give various guidance once they enter a laboratory and to have contact with society before going out into it.

Yukichi Fukuzawa also wrote, "If we calculate the average number of students, they only spend and the income is not very satisfactory" (One Hundred Discourses of Fukuzawa, "The Value of Education is Not Necessarily High"). He says scholars' income is not high (laughs). I think it's the same now as it was then, but I am also talking with deans of engineering and science and technology faculties across the country at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's Basic Technology Research Group about why doctorates and scholars are so unstable. This might be unique to Japan. In places like Germany, if you get a doctorate in mechanical or manufacturing fields, you have no trouble finding a job at all. In Japan's case, there are various problems, such as not being able to enter society if you stay at a university for a long time. I think we have to do something about this.

Industry-academia collaboration didn't matter until before the bubble. It didn't matter what you did at the university or if you were just playing around. However, Japanese companies started failing, and people started saying, "Why is only the university playing around when everyone is suffering?" So industry-academia collaboration started around 1990, and later in 2000, the Keio University Leading-edge Laboratory of Science and Technology was established, and we had to work hard. Until then, if you teamed up with a company, people said various things like it was dirty.

What I thought was interesting about Keio is that there is an organization called the Keio Engineering Society. This is advanced and was already established in 1961. I have also been very indebted to it, and Keio's strength lies in such things.

The problem is how to fight with collaborating companies, and when we think about how far our technology will work in this real society, I think most people's won't. You might say, "No, Professor, you're getting so many contracts and 1 million or 2 million yen is coming in," but you have to look closely at the content. Some are just using students for 1 million yen because they want manpower, or because they are collaborating with national funds, they have to team up with a company.

After all, the basic concept that we should make some big invention within Keio University, have companies ask to do it together, and start by receiving a certain large amount of money must not collapse. Otherwise, it would conversely mean being invaded. This is a battle. I have experienced it many times, but in the end, I get a tap on the shoulder saying, "The organization has changed, so could you please refrain from coming starting next year?"

I still don't really understand the definition of a venture; is it a person who starts a business, an entrepreneur? If Yukichi Fukuzawa saw this, he might say, "A person who starts a business? Isn't that obvious?" However, I think this way of thinking is absolutely necessary for Keio University from now on. In particular, I think we must make it so that students can start ventures while taking classes.

I myself became the Director of KLL in 2013 and realized the importance of students talking to corporate developers. There is a research presentation for companies called KEIO TECHNO-MALL that attracts about 2,000 people, where students wear suits and talk to developers from various companies at the Tokyo International Forum. I think this is a very good thing. Even things that are no good when I teach them become persuasive when they say, "A person from company XX told me this." Also, there is the joy when one's research is recognized.

When I was the Director of the Office for Research Coordination and Administration, I had to know what kind of research all faculty members were doing. If I don't even know in the Faculty of Science and Technology, there's no way I'd know (laughs). What kind of faculty members are doing how much useful work. That's how we merge humanities and sciences. Keio University cannot win unless we realize that 1+1=3. If we're not careful, 1+1=0. What I mean is that fighting often occurs. Also, if they merge just because they want money, they often break up when the money runs out. Collaboration that doesn't become like that is important.

Since the year before last, I was fighting COVID-19 at the Office for Research Coordination and Administration headquarters in Mita, but around this time the year before last, all campuses were closed, so I put up the catchphrase "Keio University will not stop research" and was doing nothing but web meetings with Vice-President Okada (then Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology). And we proceeded with DX with the cooperation of all faculties. What I thought was good at this time was that there were people in all faculties who were interested in promoting digitalization across the entire Juku. This was very interesting. I thought we could become one by listening to the intentions of all faculties, conducting surveys, and holding management meetings. It's exactly what they call a "one team" in rugby.

I hope there are many such things. Even if all faculties are impossible, two or three faculties must always be in collaboration. Currently, there are many requests from the government asking, "What does Keio University think?" I don't like this. This leads to "Then who is thinking about that?" but since a team cannot be formed suddenly, it is necessary to form one in advance.

Teams cannot be formed easily. Even if you suddenly call and say, "Won't you do research with me? You're doing good research," since they are fellow professors, it would be seen as none of your business. I think a certain amount of top-down is good. What is needed for top-down is money. And it must be money that can be used freely. Keio University doesn't have much of this. I think the executive members are trying to create more of this now. For example, if we ask people in the Faculty of Economics or Faculty of Letters in Mita, "What can you do with the Faculty of Science and Technology, School of Medicine, and SFC?" and if it's a good proposal, we give 500,000 yen, and if we repeat this, I think it will definitely succeed. I believe that what comes first is money that can be used freely.

Incorporating new technology, creating new value, and making impactful changes in society. Everyone and their dog is saying innovation, but Yukichi Fukuzawa also says that scholarship is just a technique for accomplishing things, and scholarship is not the final goal. Then what is the goal? Perhaps the university is not accomplishing things. I think we need to think about this again.

Being inside a university and not encountering the reality of human society is what is commonly called swimming practice in a field. I believe that now is an era where organizations out of touch with the world, namely universities, compete with the floating world. This is not a mild thing like collaboration, but a competition. We can consider that we have been losing until now.

According to Ginjiro Fujiwara, Yukichi Fukuzawa said, "What I am about to say to you all is the business of students. It is a single word that there are very many things that should be made real during one's studies, without necessarily waiting until after graduation" (Ginjiro Fujiwara, Yukichi Fukuzawa: Words of Life). It's quite interesting. I thought that surprisingly, in 2022, Keio University might be moving back toward the era of Wayland.

I think the fact that the university has a hospital is a strength. This is not out of touch with the world. It is in closest contact with the public. When you go to the reception, there are many ordinary people, and this is the floating world. Information here is very important. I think we should continue to advance research in medical sciences and pharmacy based on the hospital.

Also, I think we must do familiar things associated with daily life through the merging of humanities and sciences. I mentioned the curriculum of Wayland's era earlier, and it is a merger of humanities and sciences. Even now, for example, if you look at psychology, I have an image that everyone gathers and does well. I think the sciences should also collaborate with the Faculty of Economics and Faculty of Business and Commerce, and advice from the Faculty of Law is necessary.

In the end, money that can be used freely becomes important. Because you can't do as you please with funds from the government. And if we don't create many 1+1=3s, if we just let them do as they please, it might become 1+1=0 and self-destruct. I think someone should take the lead.

Yukichi Fukuzawa says, "The attitude of humans should be to view the floating world lightly and not be too enthusiastic," and that only by viewing one's own body, home, wife, and children lightly does the courage to enter water or fire arise, and "abandoning the floating world is the foundation for crossing the floating world vigorously" (One Hundred Discourses of Fukuzawa). I think viewing the things of the floating world lightly is, after all, important. If you view them too heavily, you will definitely hide it when you fail. I think it's very bad for the university if such things increase, and I think it's okay to have things like "Isn't it fine, this is a failure" even if you fail.

The question is, "Will Fukuzawa's thought, the human Fukuzawa, be applicable in the floating world of 2022?" In 1901, Yukichi Fukuzawa died, and a dark, militaristic era continued for about 45 years until the end of the war. After the end of the war, exactly 45 years later, I feel like Fukuzawa research is being revived.

And another 45 years have passed, and it was around 1990 when popular songs also ended. Songs that led the era generally stopped appearing here. And from here, for me, a dark era has continued. There isn't much ideologically. So, when wondering what to do, I think this Fukuzawa thought is very good. It's not very religious, and it's very solid and refreshing.

Fukuzawa's thought is systematized. So it's easy to handle. Once you understand it to a certain extent, you can think about how Yukichi Fukuzawa would think about various things. I think this is important. For example, during COVID-19, I wonder what Yukichi Fukuzawa would have done. I don't think he would have been resting at home at all. He would probably do something that serves as a model for words and actions in the floating world.

I really want people to know Yukichi Fukuzawa when they are young. When I ask various people, people who have retired in their old age are re-reading Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning). That's fine in its own way, but I want the people of the future to use it as a tool for crossing the floating world.

Ginjiro Fujiwara says that Yukichi Fukuzawa should be popularized. If we learn while saying, "This person is quite human too," I think the attitude toward industry-academia collaboration and ventures at the university will also change. When you fail and feel down, I think Yukichi Fukuzawa would think, "Well, it's fine, it's no big deal."

There is the core of Yukichi Fukuzawa, natural science was added to it, and his character was formed around the Tekijuku era. On top of this, Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning), Things Western (Seiyō Jijō), and An Outline of a Theory of Civilization are placed. I wonder if this is becoming a hindrance to getting closer to Yukichi Fukuzawa. People might think it's an old story anyway, or why they have to read about Western things now. So, I think that if we can skillfully extract just the foundation of natural science and the core of Yukichi Fukuzawa and apply them to 2022, they will be fully applicable, and that is why I discussed Yukichi Fukuzawa today.

What was Yukichi Fukuzawa fighting against? He wasn't particularly fighting against the new government, nor was he fighting against life. I think it was, after all, the floating world. I think Fukuzawa was fighting against things that humans can't do anything about, like dying, suffering, or what to do. And it feels like he ran a 100-meter dash.

Today's lecture includes quite a bit of my own speculation, but I would like to incorporate Fukuzawa's thought into Keio University's industry-academia collaboration and ventures, and somehow bring it to reality while earning money. Thank you very much.

(This article is based on a lecture given at the Yukichi Fukuzawa Wayland Economic Book Lecture Commemorative Lecture held at the Mita Campus North Building Hall on May 13, 2022. The original text of Yukichi Fukuzawa in the text is based on the Collected Works of Yukichi Fukuzawa (Keio University Press).)