Photo/Illutration Shimon Sakaguchi speaks to the media after the announcement of the Nobel Prize laureates at the University of Osaka in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, on Oct. 6. (Takuya Tanabe)

What is the boundary between the self and that which is not the self? Could that boundary be inconsistent and erratic?

This deeply philosophical question is said to have motivated Shimon Sakaguchi, a co-winner of this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, to pursue a career in immunology.

The human body is a strange thing. Its immune system, which is meant to serve as the “security guard,” can also become the “invader” at times.

Sakaguchi came to believe this obvious contradiction must exist for a reason. And this led him to his prize-winning research and discovery of regulatory T cells.

His father, who was a high school teacher, had studied philosophy. This probably influenced Sakaguchi’s boyhood hobbies—painting and reading famous works of literature.

But he chose science as his field of study at the urging of his father, who believed this to be the surest way to avoid being drafted into the military.

Early in his career, Sakaguchi said, his research was sometimes rated as “dubious at best.” But instead of being discouraged and giving up, he actually enjoyed the research.

According to The Analects of Confucius, “He who knows is not equal to he who loves.” I suppose this could also be rephrased into “He who favors is not equal to he who enjoys.”

The science magazine Newton once quoted Sakaguchi as saying to the effect, “Every human endeavor takes time.”

There are trends in the research community, but Sakaguchi always believed in going slow and steady: “We mustn’t forget this, especially because everything is so easy to obtain in this day and age.”

To return to the philosophical question about the self, the difference between the self and that which is not the self ultimately leads to this profound question: Who am I?

An extraordinary scientist is perhaps someone who may waver, but still believes totally in oneself and enjoys it.

—The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 7

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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