My dog and I: contributions from researchers
Three 春雨直播app researchers (in experimental physics, history and electrical engineering) write for the magazine on the theme of “a dog and a researcher,” sharing details about their own beloved dogs!
A dog and an experimental physicist
Tomiyoshi Haruyama
(Project Professor, )
Leak here, woof, woof
Sand is a five-year-old miniature dachshund weighing seven kilograms. He was my son’s dog, but following my son’s marriage and more children, there was no longer room for him at my son’s house, so he came to live with us three years ago. When Sand takes a nap in my lap on Sunday afternoons, I also feel sleepy.
In cryogenic experiments, if the cryogenic vessel has leaks, the experiment cannot be conducted, so a special device is used to carefully inspect the vessel leakage. The vessel inside is vacuum depressurized and helium gas is sprayed from outside of the vessel. If there is a leak, the helium gas is sucked in and the location of the leak can be detected. In the early days of cryogenic technology, it is said that cockroaches were used to search for leaks. When a female cockroach is placed inside the vessel, her pheromones leak out, attracting male cockroaches on the outside, and then the location of the leak can be determined.
Sand has a good nose, and so I have hit upon a good idea: using the dog to check for leaks. If I place dog food inside the vessel and seal it, Sand will react if the vessel has any holes or cracks. Instead of “Dig here, woof, woof,” he will bark “Leak here, woof, woof.” It is said that a dog’s sense of smell is more acute than a human’s by an order of magnitude of several tens of thousands. So, Sand might be able to find leaks with super high sensitivity. Maybe I can obtain a patent for this… And then Sand sneezes, awakening me from the dream. When Sand is sitting on my lap, I can happily daydream about such fanciful ideas.
A dog and a historian
Fumiko Sugimoto
(Professor, )
Experiencing the world with my dog
Dogs perceive the world and express their intentions in a manner that is quite different from humans. This does not prevent them from sharing joy with humans, however. Photographer Hideaki Sato, who took a canoe down the Yukon River with author and canoeist Tomosuke Noda and his dog Gaku, said: “When you spend a lot of time with a dog, you sometimes forget that it is a dog.” When one realizes this, one begins to ask what exactly is the essence of what it means to call an individual a “dog” and what it means to call an individual a “human.”
In 2010, the year before the Great East Japan Earthquake, we met a young Norfolk Terrier and named it Gaku, after Tomosuke Noda’s dog. We have applied the kanji character “岳” (also pronounced “gaku”) to this little dog’s name. 岳 means a majestic and beautiful mountain range that exists in an ideal world in Asian culture. We started to take canoe trips with our 岳 in Fukushima Prefecture, before it was hit by the devastating earthquake. I had been conducting research into the history of Japan with a focus on how people had perceived their own historical spaces and the wider world in each period, and the time I spent with 岳 gave me new insights as a researcher. And when I see how earnestly 岳 watches a rally between two tennis players, I also definitely forget that he is a dog.
Living with a dog means that you go out with your dog and you encounter the “worlds” of other people, animals, plants and inorganic objects, which signifies that you have chosen to live within the Japanese society constructed of these “worlds.” When walking in Tokyo with 岳, I often see signboards prohibiting dogs. For example, at the entrance to many small- to medium-sized parks, which should be places for relaxation and refreshment, there are signs that prohibit you from bringing dogs into the park. In 2019, when I visited Paris to give a lecture at the Paris Diderot University (now the University of Paris Cité), I stayed in the accommodation for researchers located in the Latin Quarter. While there, I often saw dogs relaxing with their human families on the subway, in cafes and in other places. It was clear that Japanese society is very different from French society. In Japan, dogs are treated like luggage, only allowed on the subway if they are bundled up in a bag.
Kazuo Ishiguro looked at the ruthlessness of human beings in our relationships with things in his brilliant first-person novel Klara and the Sun (Japanese translation published by Hayakawa Publishing in 2021), the main character of which is an AF (which apparently stands for Artificial Friend) that is available on the market. A close examination of the relations between human beings and “non-humans,” enhancing our sensibilities toward “non-humans” and thinking about what it means to be a “non-human” might help us to better respect diversity, providing a counterweight to ideas that value specific criteria such as productivity and homogeneity and seek to eliminate those that do not meet these criteria.
A dog and an electrical engineer
Yutaka Terao
(Assistant Professor, )
Dogs are a must for academic conferences!
It is widely known that international academic conferences and related banquets provide researchers with not only a chance to present their own research results, but also an opportunity to collect and exchange information about what is going on in their field in other countries. I have a three-year-old male dog named Omusubi, which is a “Malchi,” or a mix of Maltese and chihuahua. My dog helped me with this exchange of information at just such an event.
Last year, I met up with a French researcher who I hadn’t seen for two years at a banquet held after an international academic conference. He is conducting aircraft-related R&D at a French company, and I wanted to ask him about his job. It was difficult at first for me to bring up my questions since I hadn’t seen him in such a long time. But when he started talking about his Japanese wife’s dog, which she had taken to France with her, I showed him photos of my dog and from there the conversation flowed easily. He even emailed some photos of Omusubi to his wife.
After talking enthusiastically about our dogs and perhaps with the help of alcohol, I was finally able to ask my questions and ended up learning a lot from him, for which I feel grateful to Omusubi.
Talking about dogs can help you connect with people beyond national borders! When I go to this year’s international academic conference, I’m considering putting lots of photos of Omusubi on my smartphone.
