JAPAN PRIZE NEWSTHE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
FOUNDATION OF JAPAN (JSTF)
Shi sei Kaikan, 1-3, Hibiya-Ko en,Chiyoda-ku , Tokyo, Japan 100
Tel. 0 3 (3 5 08) 7691

No. 10DECEMBER1991

Categories Chosen for the 9th Japan Prize in 1993
The Science and Technology Fo undati o n o f Japan announced
that the two ca tegories for the ninth Japan Prize, to be award ed in
1993, would be "Safety Engineerin g and Disaster Mitigation" and"Molecular and Cellular Technology in Medicine ", the concepts o f
whi ch are as in the right column.
The Japan Prize, launched in 1985, is an international prize
award ed to scientists and researchers who have made original
and outstanding achievements in science and technolo gy. The
recipients are reco gnized for contributing not only to the progress o f science and technology, but also to peace and prosperity
for mankind.
Every year, two fi elds of research are selected for the award o f
the Japan Prize; the Prize is usually award ed to one person ineach ca tegory, although the prize has so metim es been shared.
The Japan Prize is one o f many pro jects sponsored by theFo undati on to create greater awareness and understandin g o fscience and technology.
The Japan Prize laureates receive certifi cates of merit andcommemorative medals in additon to suppl ementary cash
award of ¥5 0 million per award fi eld.
Regarding the concepts of catego ri es chosen for the 9th Japan
Prize in 1993, the explanati ons are made in th e following Q&A
format by Dr. Jiro Kond o, the chairman of the 1993 Fi elds
Selection Committee and the president o f the Science Council ofJapan; Dr. Takeshi Sato , the chairman o f the "Safety Engineeringand Disaster Mitigation" subcommittee and th e president, Kanazawa Institute of Technolo gy; and Dr. Michiyoshi Harasawa, thechairman o f the "Molecular and Cellular Technology in Medicine"
subcommittee and the director o f Tokyo Posts & Telecommunica ti ons Hospital.
Q: We would like to have th e
Chairman's comments on w hy thetwo categori es o f "Safety Engineerin g and Disaster Mitigati on"and "Molecular and Cellular Technology in Medicine" have been
selected .
A: Firstly, I would like to explain
about "Safety Engineerin g andDisaster Mitigation ".
In 1990, th e United Nati ons
started a program called "Internati onal Decade for Natural
Disaster Reducti on" (I DNDR) .
Dr. Jiro Kondo, Ch airman of There have been large scale natu th e 19 9 3 Fi eld s Sel ection
ral disasters such as the high tid es
Committee
in Banglad esh and the vo lcanic

Concepts of the Categories
Safety Engineering and Disaster Mitigation
Mankind can su ffer from the loss of life and property as a res ult of natural
disasters or accidents caused by seemingly small faults in highly developed
large man-machine systems. It is very important for human welfare and prosperity to prevent these accidents and disasters and to promote safety.
The Prize for 1993 will be award ed for outstanding achievemen ts relating tosafety pro motion and disaster mitigation in such resea rch fields as: riskassessment in technical systems, engineering research on accidents and hazards,
technical contribution s to mitigate natural disas ters, engineering developments
to re duce the effects of disasterson ci ti es and civil structures, scientific researchon th e planning of evacuati on meth ods and disaster mitigation and further
comprehensive and internati onal research activities on the implementation inactu al projects of th e results of basic research.

Molecular and Cellular Technology in Medicine
Progress in molecular and cellular technology in life sciences has resulted
in the evolu tion of medical knowledge and techniques. This progress is not restricted to analysis of the pathophysiology of diseases, but also extends to thedevelopment of techniques for the monitoring and diagnosis of disord ers and to
the production of biologically active substances for medical trea tment.
Th e Prize for 1993 will be awarded for outstand ing achievements in the development of molecular and cellular technology rel atin g to th e analysis, diagnosis
and treatment of diseases or re lated aspects of medicine whi ch contribute tohuman welfare.

eruptions of Mt. Pinatub o in the Philippines and Mt. Unzen in
Japan, the earthquake in North India and the fl oods continuing
for several months o f the Yangtze River in China, which havecaused w idespread damage and loss o f life.
Technology cannot stop such natural disasters as earthquakes,
fl oods, volcanic erupti ons and tidal waves, but it can reduce thedamage, caused by such disasters.
Meanwhile, w ith the development of technolo gy, large manmachine systems have been built whi ch in turn may cause large
scale accidents, hazards and disas ters affectin g the community.
In this fi eld , technology can be the key to promoting safety andpreventing accidents and disasters and to protectin g human lives
and properti es .

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I hope that an outstanding achievement
deserving of the Japan Prize will be selected.
The seco nd catego ry selected is "Mo lecularand Cellular Technology in Medicine".
One of the areas of scientific activity which
has shown remarkable development during thelatter half o f the century is "life sciences". Thisparticular field includes DNA recombination
technolo gy.
Medical diagnosis and treatment can apply
this new technology and there is much expectation that the resulting achievements will savehuman lives. This could not be achieved byconventior,al therapeutic technology.
This ca tego ry is already the subject of advanced research in both med icine and physiology and a number of scientists and researchers
have been awarded Nobel Prizes in this field .
However, our selected category is based on a
new co ncept and view and we hope a breakthrough which has actually been proved tocontribute to the diagnosis and treatment ofdiseases will be selected.

* * * * * *A 1993 Fields Se lection Co mmittee meeting* * * * * *Q: What specific areas of research
can be included, by way of example, in the category of "Safety
Engineering and Disaster Mitigation"?

Q: What specific areas of research
can be included, by way ofexample, in the coverage of thecategory of "Molecular and Cellular Technology in Medicine"?

A: Some of the areas which canbe includ ed under "Safety Engineering" are research into safetyassessment, analysis and evaluation, basic principles of engineering design, man-machine interface
and safety control and the achievements made with respect to theLJr. Takeshi Sato, Chairman
promotion of safety.
For "Disaster Mitigation" areasof the "Safety Engineeringand Disaster Mitigation"
which can be included are countermeasures for earthqu akes,
subcomm ittee
floods and droughts, landslips
and landslides, volcanic eruptions, strong winds, tidal waves,storm surges and high waves.

A: Some of the areas which ,_ctn
be included are not only the development o f medical techniques
and biologically active substances for medical monitoring,treatment and prevention, butalso rem arkable developmentsin embryo-biology, somatic cellgenetics and molecular genetics
Dr. Michiyoshi Harasawa,
Chairman of the "Mo lecular having useful applications inand Cellular Technology in medicine.
Medicine" subcommittee

A Letter from Dr. Corey to the Japan Prize NewsTh e following is a letter sent specially for the Japan Prize News by Dr. Elias JamesCorey (USA), the laureate of the 1989 Japan Prize (in the fi eld of Preven tative Medicine)
Dr. Corey was born in 1928. He now is a professor at Harva rd University. In 1989
he received the 5th Japan Prize for his "pioneering contributions to the syntheses ofprostanglandis and related compounds of great therapeutic value". In 1990 he wasawarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry.

Since our return home after the Japan Prize events of April
1989, Claire and I have often remembered the many interesting
and fri end ly people that we met in Japan during, before and after
the Japan Prize Week, and we have wished for a way to keep intouch. So, we are very pleased to have an opportunity to transmit
to the Japan Prize News thi s brief account of our more recentactivities.
New England , like Japan, enjoys four distinct and special
seaso ns, and as I write thi s note, the transition from summer tofall is evident not only in the crisp , cool weather, but also in thefoliage which has just started to assume the bright colors ofautumn. It has been a summer of unusually fine weather, and thegarden around our house, which had been so beautiful during thepast few summers, surpassed all records.
Our springtime stay in Japan in April 1989 was followed byanother beautiful spring which awaited us on returning toCambridge. That lovely, extended , double sprin g, which weremember fond ly, was fo llowed by a wonderful summer with

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children, family and students. The backlog ofwork was quickly cleared , and my research andteaching fl ourished . In fall of 1989 I received
from the government o f Japan the Order o f theRising Sun, Go ld and Silver Star, for my ro le inthe development of many leading Japanesechemists over a forty-year period. The award
was presented in Boston at a splendid lunch byMr. Kensaku Hogen, Consul General (see pictureat ri ght side). In addition, I was named an honorary member of the Pharmaceutical Society ofJapan and the Chemical Society of Japan.
In January 1990 I visited India for the firsttime as Keynote speaker for an international
meeting in New Delhi. Almost thirty form er
Indian students and many Indian fri ends
made my stay a wonderful and unforgettable
experi ence.
The spring o f 1990 brought several honorary
degrees and pleasant commencemen t visits forClaire and me. The highlight w&s a trip to th e
University o f Helsinki which celebrated its
35 0th anniversary in June 1990. On the way we
had a marvelous holiday in Paris with our threechildren, each of whom had just compl etedstudi es. David received the Ph.D. d egree in - --- Chemistry-Molecular Biology from Berkeley;John received a Diploma in Classical Music
Composition from the Paris Co nservatory, and Susan graduatedfrom Harvard College.
In August 1990 I travel ed to Japan to receive an honorary LLD .
degree from President Yo shio Ban of Hokkaido University and tolecture there and at an International Meeting in Oiso . My former
students in Japan arran ged a wonderful reunion, our third , whicheven included some of th eir own students, altogether a gro up ofabout eighty.
In October 1990 I learned o f the award o f th e 1990 Nobel Prizein Chemistry and for the next several w eeks was extremely busy.
Our whol e family traveled to Stockholm f0r the Nobel ceremonies, lectures and festiviti es which we enjoyed very much. ClaireDr. Corey re ceived the 1990 Nobel Prize inChem istry wearing the Order of the RisingSun, Go ld and Silver Star

Dr. and Mrs. Eli as J. Coreyand I were invited back to Stockholm for th e 1991 Nobel Prize
events as part of the 90th anniversary Nobel Jubilee. Among themany delights of the visit to Sweden was the surprise meetin gwith the lovely young lady, Kawamura-san, who had presented
Claire with a bouquet of flowers at the Japan Prize Banquet.
So far thi s year I have been able to devo te most o f my time toresearch which has go ne very well. The most exciting advancesof the past few years include: ( I ) the development of molecularrobots for the assembly of complex molecules from simpler
ones, (2) advances in the understanding of steroid biosynthesisat the fine molecular level and also determination of relevant
enzyme and gene sequences, and (3) the completion of several
very intricate syntheses of complicated bioactive molecules. My
research group retains its internati onal make-up, exuberant spirit
and youthful brilliance. It is an endless so urce of inspiration.
I am very much looking forward to a return visit to Japan inAugust 1992 for an International Meeting in Tokyo.

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Foundation's Special Seminar
held in Fukuoka City
The Foundation held its general science and technology seminarfirst time outside Tokyo on November I , 1991, in Fukuoka City. Thespecial seminar was co-sponsored by Fukuoka City Government.
The Foundation has held the monthly seminars in Tokyo to develop and disseminate information and id eas regarding scienceand technology.
The Foundation has invited distin guished Japanese scholars,scientists and engineers as the seminar lecturers. The lecturers atth e Fukuoka City special seminar were Prof. Isao Karube from theUniversity of Tokyo's Research Center for Advanced Science andTechnology, and Prof. Masao Mukaidono from Meiji University's
Department of Co mputer and Science. Prof. Karube presented"Biocommunication - th e Keyword for the 21st Century", whi leProf. Mukaidono presented "The Reality of Fuzzy theory" toapprox. 230 seminar participants.
Prof. Karube, in his lecture, emphasized "The task of sciencein the 21st Century is said to be the science of mind and the biocommunication is expected to tri gger it." He further explained
about vari ous biosensors already in actual use and a scope forthe biocommunication which will apply such biosensors.
Prof. Mukaidono told "The Fuzzy th eory is a mathematicalth eory to deal with fuzziness which would be essential for scienceand technology amiable to man and particularly important idea
to bui ld a human-o ri ented informati on society." and further madedetailed explanations on w hat part of Fuzzy theo ry would be interestin g and why it would be useful in actual applica tions.
A survey simultaneously conducted during th e Fukuoka City
special seminar found that majority o f the audi ence desired th esem inar to be held regularly in Fukuoka City and that since th e
lectures had been presented in ra ther plain and easy contexts
th ey were able to comprehend them. The Foundation plans tohold the seminar with a different program in Fukuoka City next
year with the cooperation of Fukuoka City Government.
The forthcoming programs of the Foundation's monthly seminar in Tokyo will be "Environment and Ecology - In Search for a
Better Global Society," "Science o f Clo thing - for comfo rtable
life" and "Protection from man's aging - th e most fami liar but
difficult problem ."Prof. lsao Karube

Prof. Masao Mukaidono

IIScenes at tl1 e Fukuoka City special semin ar(upper and left)