Intellectual Curiosity
I am not the kind of person who can give a serious answer to what is most important in the pursuit of learning. However, there is one thing I believe is essential for academics—both research and study—and that is to have "intellectual curiosity." With intellectual curiosity, you naturally start to wonder "why" and "how." The act of "thinking" about anything is extremely important. The same may be true in the world of sports. You gain little by just moving your body blindly. You need to constantly think about what you should be doing now and act accordingly.
In the fields of materials engineering and material strength, which I am interested in, the "surface" is said to be extremely important. Why is that? Why is the surface so crucial? The reason is that the surface of a material is always exposed to the harshest environments. Think about the machines and structures around us. Unfortunately, machines simply wear out over time with use. In the case of us humans, we sometimes... grow day by day. (Though personally, that has long since stopped.) But artificial objects are not like that.
Metals are widely used all around us, serving as materials for various machine parts. When we consider metals as components that make up a machine, the causes of their damage and deterioration are corrosion, wear, and fatigue. There is a negative synergistic effect among these "three major factors of material damage" (a name I've coined myself). For example, when a surface wears down from friction during use, that area becomes more susceptible to corrosion. Once corrosion progresses, small holes called pitting corrosion are formed. Stress concentrates at the edges of these holes (corrosion pits), making it easier for fatigue cracks to initiate from there. These fatigue cracks gradually propagate during use, and eventually, the machine will break.
Fracture accidents caused by metal fatigue can sometimes result in the loss of many lives. For example, the crash of a Japan Airlines flight in 1985 was concluded to be caused by "metal fatigue." With the ultimate goal of eliminating such tragic accidents from the world, I am engaged in daily research on "the surface modification of metals."
For metals, it's enough if the surface is good. But humans are different. In the case of humans, if you only put on a good appearance, you might be bad-mouthed behind your back: "He's all superficial. There's no substance to him..." To enrich your inner self, intellectual curiosity is important. I truly hope that the young people reading this will cherish their intellectual curiosity and approach everything they do with it.
As an aside, the attached illustration (picture) is our lab's mascot. It was drawn by someone from RIKEN, with whom we are still conducting joint research. For some reason, it's a picture of a chicken with glasses incubating an egg. Apparently, it was drawn with the image of "Komotori" (a pun on my name and "bird") hatching an egg to raise chicks (students). Unfortunately, I can't presume to say that I am "nurturing students." But I like it a lot and use it everywhere. In fact, someone made a 3D clay model of it... and that is also displayed in our lab.