Recollections of My Young Days: —The Pleasure of Creation—

I was bashful by nature. In elementary school, I was enthusiastic about painting pictures, posters, and calligraphy, and making butterfly specimens and models. When I entered the middle school of Seikei Gakuen, I was fortunate to have good teachers and friends. Prof. Kusatao Nakamura taught us the “Preciousness of the pureness of heart”, which is the principle of my life. After World War II, school classes reopened. I was deeply moved by the lecture of botany by Prof. Fumio Maekawa, and had a notion that I should like to make research my lifework. I went to high school and had the worries of my life. During that time, it was the book Gakusei ni atau by Prof. Eijirou Kawai, and a speech by Prof. Tadao Yanaihara, that sustained my heart. In 1953, I entered the postgraduate course of the University of Tokyo, and received the guidance of Prof. Yuichi Ochi. This matter was decisive for my life. First of all, I developed a new medium, BL agar, for culturing intestinal bacteria, and then I discovered that Bifidus bacteria was one of the predominant organisms in human adults. This discovery became the basis of my research until today. For two years from 1964, I studied abroad in Germany and made good friends, to whom I owe an inestimable debt of gratitude. After returning to Japan, I discovered a number of rules governing the intestinal ecosystem. Thus, a new interdisciplinary field, intestinal bacteriology, was established. Subsequently, I discovered the health effects of fermented milks and oligosaccharides and proposed “biogenics”. I firmly believe that the fruit of creation is granted as a result of endeavoring with a pure heart.