Then in late 2000's, he moved his lab to Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, with a new research focus on human metabolomics. The studies have been uncovering intriguing changes in human blood occurring with aging or diseases.
When I visited his office in Kyoto during my honeymoon trip in 2011, he gave me a couple of tea cups and an Okinawan textile. Sometimes, it is these little kind gestures that are remembered.
On 2021, he was turning 80, which is an auspicious age (sanju 傘寿; "umbrella age") in Japan. To cerebrate the occasion, a life science symposium gathering lab alumni in Kyoto, Japan, was planned to be held on 2021.
I got the first notice on 2020. Then Covid came. The symposium was postponed by one year.
This past April 2nd (Saturday) 2022, we had the symposium.
As Covid is still ongoing in Japan, situation was quite fluid for some time (e.g., travel restrictions, facility availability, mask mandate, is gathering in person ok?). It must have been a major headache for organizers.
The symposium was held in a hybrid (online/in-person) format with select speakers including Dr. Yanagida himself.
I was attending through Zoom (for scientific talk) and through another chatroom app called gather, as directed by organizers. Never used the app, but the use was easy enough and the old-role-playing-game-ish format was interesting.
About 70 people were present, in person and zoom participants from the world (UK, US, SG, JP) combined.
As I have been working on scientific subjects not directly related to many of alumni', and as my base is in the US, I have not been in close contact with the Yanagida lab alumni much. It was nice to know that many alumni members have established themselves, working as professors in prestigious universities, or even as Dean of graduate university.
Even if we discount survivor's bias, when we apply a principle of "a teacher's success can be measured with students' success", Dr. Yanagida is still plentifully successful.
I heard he is closing his lab in Okinawa later this year. I don't know the plan afterwards; staying active or retirement. But witnessing a successful scientist's life journey (so far and ongoing) is certainly inspiring.
[For Yanagida life science symposium participants]
