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Congratulations and welcome to the University of Tokyo. I am Shin-ichi Ohkoshi, Dean of the School of Science. On behalf of the Graduate School Deans, I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to all of you. It is my great pleasure to witness the beginning of this new chapter in your lives and to share this delightful moment with your families and everyone involved.

I am professor of the Department of Chemistry in the School of Science. Since 2006, I manage the Physical Chemistry Laboratory. This laboratory was initiated by Prof. Kikunae Ikeda in 1896. He is known as the “Father of physical chemistry in Japan.”

Today, I would like to share the story of Kikunae Ikeda, with the keywords “encounters” and “insights.”

In 1899, Kikunae Ikeda went to Germany to study under Prof. Friedrich Ostwald, a world-leading chemist who later wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Kikunae stayed in Ostwald laboratory for 2 years and aggressively learned physical chemistry.

In 1901, Kikunae Ikeda returned to Japan, bringing back physical chemistry as a new academic field in Japan. He published many bibles of chemistry, educated the students, and built the foundation of modern chemistry.

At that time, the nutritional status of many Japanese people was low. To improve the nutritional status and enrich Japanese food, Kikunae Ikeda focused on the sense of taste. There were known to be 4 basic tastes, sweet, bitter, sour, and salty tastes. Kikunae Ikeda noticed that the good taste in Japanese food cannot be categorized into any of these four tastes. He started research using kelp, “konbu” in Japanese, which is often used in Japanese food to add good taste. In 1908, by boiling nearly 40 kilograms of kelp, Kikunae Ikeda extracted 30 grams of Monosodium glutamate and later named it “umami” as the fifth basic taste. At that time, nobody believed the finding of this fifth taste. However, the discovery gained its scientific evidence by the finding of the “umami” receptors on our tongues in 2002. It took 94 years to prove the fifth basic taste, “umami”. UMAMI is the essence of Japanese food, WASHOKU, and now the terms UMAMI and WASHOKU are known around the world.

After the discovery of umami, Kikunae Ikeda immediately submitted a patent, which was granted three months later. He handed over the patent to Mr. Saburosuke Suzuki of Suzuki Pharmacy. Kikunae and Saburosuke worked together very hard towards practical application, and finally commercialized the product branded as “Ajinomoto” which means the source of taste in Japanese. Suzuki Pharmacy is now a worldwide food company, the Ajinomoto Company. The collaboration between Prof. Ikeda and Ajinomoto Company is one of the earliest examples of industry-academia collaboration. Kikunae Ikeda’s encounter with Saburosuke Suzuki was crucial to elevate the discovery of “umami” to a seasoning product. In my laboratory, even now, we preserve the exact evaporating dish that Kikunae used to extract Monosodium glutamate from kelp.

Dating back to 1901, Kikunae Ikeda stayed in London for 4 months after his studies in Germany. In London, he lived in the same apartment as another Japanese man. The name of the man is Soseki Natsume, who would later become the great Japanese novelist. He later wrote, “Dr. Ikeda is a man of great wisdom and interest in many things. He is also a man of great insight and fine character.”* Soseki Natsume gained insight from Kikunae's scientific and objective way of thinking, and then, his writings drastically changed from emotional to objective literature, leading to the world famous novel I Am a Cat, in Japanese 吾辈は猫である, which objectively depicts human behavior through the eyes of a cat. In the following years, Soseki Natsume continued to publish many famous works, and built the foundation of modern Japanese literature.

Now, I inherit Prof. Ikeda’s laboratory. I am using the same office, which is preserved just as it was with the same bookshelves. Gazing at the bookshelves, I always think about the minds of Prof. Ikeda. His spirits are carried on to our present research. Our laboratory is developing new materials hoping to enrich our daily lives.

As an epilogue, there is no doubt that Kikunae Ikeda was an inspiring person to Soseki Natsume, and at the same time, Soseki was also a valuable person for Kikunae. When Kikunae Ikeda died at the age of 71 years old, on his bedside was a book that he was reading until the previous night. The book was I Am a Cat. Soseki had already left the world 20 years before. When Kikunae took his last breath, I imagine that he was reflecting on the young days he spent with Soseki Natsume in London. The two distinguished professionals, the scientist Kikunae Ikeda, and the novelist Soseki Natsume, were bonded with a lifelong friendship.

Encounters with others give us new insights. This is especially true when you are deeply devoted into something. Please develop a high level of expertise and polish your professional skills as a top-level researcher. Then, encounter with others from various fields, and gain new insights that could drive you to new discoveries.

Today is the first day of your encounters. Once again, I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to all of you. Thank you.

*Quoted from Meiji Literature Complete Works, Vol. 55: Collection of Soseki Natsume, edited by Kenji Ino, Chikumashobo, 1971.

OHKOSHI Shin-ichi
Dean of the School of Science
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October 1, 2024