Mayu Muramatsu: Japanese People and Scientific Research

2022/05/19

One of my favorite books is Shusaku Endo's "Silence." The main reason is that it makes me think deeply about the essence of Japan through the "ideological disconnect between the West and Japan" seen in the persecution of Christians. Shusaku Endo was a Christian, but apparently, he was baptized as an infant. Unlike those who became believers by choice, the book suggests he suffered from the gap between original Christianity and the version of Christianity that he, as a Japanese person, could accept.

I feel the same way about research. The field of mechanics that I am currently researching was born in the West. Mechanics was shaped by many great scholars such as Newton and Leibniz, who were active in the 17th century. I believe they were able to construct such a beautiful academic system precisely because they did not doubt the existence of an overwhelming God who determines the rules of the world.

I, too, have been drawn to that beauty and have continued my research. However, I feel that even if a genius mathematician of Wasan (traditional Japanese mathematics) had existed during the Edo period when Newton was active, it would have been difficult for them to conceive a theory at the same level. Similarly, today, I have the impression that the scale preferred by the general Japanese public is distant from the global scale. Even if I force myself to conduct research in the same way, it feels like fighting on someone else's turf. Even if I write an impactful paper or win a Nobel Prize, I feel it is essentially different from doing research that resonates for 200 years, like Galois, who died in a duel at age 20 and left behind almost no papers.

So, how can I, as a Japanese person, continue my research and compete in the future? This is what I have been thinking lately.

Japanese people have a tremendous ability to accept external things and make them their own. This becomes collective intelligence and has shaped Japanese identity. That blood must flow through me as well, and I wonder if utilizing this is what makes my research uniquely mine and uniquely Japanese.

Having reached this conclusion, my style has recently shifted from following overseas trends to incorporating and transforming things I personally find interesting. Since I started thinking this way, I feel like I've been able to relax.

With the development of communication technology, we live in an era where information from the West can be obtained almost in real-time. I want to take in anything interesting and create something new in my own way.