Fungi, Viruses, and SFC | Jin Nakazawa, Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies / Director of the Shonan Fujisawa ITC / Professor, Faculty of Environment and Information Studies
2021.11.16
This summer, an incredible number of mushrooms grew at SFC, so many that it was hard to believe it was a university campus. I don't recall seeing mushrooms at SFC when I was a student, so the campus must have matured. I've been taking commemorative photos of the particularly impressive ones, so I'd like to introduce this year's top contenders.
First, on the far left is probably an *ibotengutake* (warty false death cap), or perhaps a *tengutake* (false death cap). We also occasionally see *benitengutake* (fly agaric) at SFC. They are all highly poisonous, so it's best to just classify them as "those dangerous ones." The one in the middle looks for all the world like a *kikurage* (wood ear mushroom). But I can't be sure. There seems to be a poisonous mushroom called *kurohanabiratake* that resembles it. And the mushroom on the far right, which looks as sweet as a pancake, is the tricky one. It's a type generally known as "*iguchi*," and it's said that until recently, the saying was "*iguchi* are not poisonous." However, poisonous varieties have apparently been found, so caution is advised. But! The more I research it, the more I can't help but think it's that mushroom used in Italian cuisine. I wonder if I'm wrong. In my field of information science, I couldn't uncover the truth beyond this point. Everyone, in the future at SFC, you might find more of these "could it be?!" types of things growing. But unless you are a "master" specializing in mushrooms, you must not touch, lick, or, needless to say, eat them.
Around the time the mushrooms stopped growing, the new semester was approaching. At SFC, to ensure proper ventilation and conduct in-person classes without worry, we are monitoring the carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration in major classrooms in real time.
The red glowing LED in the lower left of the leftmost image is a Wi-Fi-connected CO2 sensor, and as shown in the center image, the values can be constantly checked on a webpage. If the CO2 concentration in a classroom exceeds 800 ppm, a security guard is dispatched to confirm that the doors and windows are open. This 800 ppm standard is based on calculations by Professor Miyamoto of the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies and his lab students, making it safer in terms of ventilation than the 1,000 ppm stipulated by the Building Standards Act. As shown in the rightmost photo, we first diffuse CO2 into the classroom using a liquefied carbon dioxide gas cylinder and a fan. Then, by opening the doors and windows and measuring the decrease in concentration with the CO2 sensor, we can determine the classroom's ventilation rate. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Professor Miyamoto and the students of the Miyamoto Lab, as well as Green Blue Inc. in Yokohama, for their cooperation in this measurement and real-time monitoring. It made me feel that the campus is made better by incorporating such knowledge, including that from the local community. As it gets colder, we may hesitate to ventilate by opening doors and windows. However, I believe that at Keio University in the 19th century, they likely held heated discussions in drafty Japanese houses, so if we put our minds to it, we can manage as well.
So far, this semester seems to be progressing smoothly. The number of COVID-19 cases within Keio, which at one point had risen to several dozen per week, dropped to almost zero by the end of the summer. In response, our activities are gradually returning to normal, with student organizations being permitted to hold in-person activities upon application.
I serve as the head of the track and field club. Just the other day, I went to the "All-Keio Athletics Festival" held at the Hiyoshi Athletic Field. Of course, I wasn't the one running. On that day, blessed with a perfectly clear sky, the university's track and field club, along with the clubs from Keio Senior High School and Shonan Fujisawa Senior High School, showcased the results of their daily training, making for a wonderful competition. The stadium was rather empty because the baseball team's Waseda-Keio rivalry game was being held right behind it, but for now, let's celebrate their victory in the Tokyo Big6 Baseball League. Many SFC students, both past and present, have been members of the track and field club. Some of them have competed and excelled in the Olympics and Paralympics. In the recent Hakone Ekiden qualifying race, they have been improving their position year by year. It is truly wonderful that student activities are becoming active again like this, and I wholeheartedly support them and pray that this situation can be sustained.
Mushrooms live on, unseen, literally down-to-earth, yet freely extending their mycelia, and when the season comes, they pop up. In education, research, and extracurricular activities as well, the results of daily efforts sprout one after another like mushrooms, and the spores they release become the seeds for the next activities. It seems that sometimes the result can be a poisonous mushroom, but incidentally, I've heard that the poisonous component of the *tengutake* is also its umami component. This gives me as much to think about as the phrase Professor Tokuda and Professor Murai often used: "Spicy and delicious mean the same thing."