the first message I received from
another foundation was by telephone call
it was around the 5:00 p.m. of October
1st and actually people told me
something happens maybe before 4 o'clock
so we are completely free out of these
things and we're concentrating with my
colleague about the our paper in the
manuscript editing and suddenly my
secretary came with some stiff face and
nope that they opened the door and you
have to take the phone so I was not so
sure what's going on something bad or
good I took the phone and the person
recording was said dr. Perlman so I made
it to catch the point and then I had a
very nice and pleasant conversation but
often I heard there is a fake call and
so of course he also mentioned I asked
him to send the email to just confirm
and I won so I received the email it was
real and so we told everybody in the
love and of course my family and other
kind of the good exciting
celebration - I mean the nice picture. And
the picture we took then was posted on
the website of the Nobel Foundation so
it was a very exciting and a pleasant
and unforgettable incidence in my life
there are several reasons first I have
to decide whether go to medical school
or law school or several other choices
of course I went to medical school are
strongly influenced by my father and
also I mean the family reason and
secondly I read the biography of Hideo
Noguchi who was the very interesting
doctor with the United States in his 20s
and become professor in the Rockefeller
Institute and he found these ciphers as
a cause of the policies and also he died
in Ghana during his study on the yellow
fever pathogen so that was very striking
and I went medical school and the other
reason I've had a friend only a father
and son and he died of the stomach
cancer very acute and I was very much
you know very sad and I thought what I
can do anything
for this type of the diseases
so cancer immunotherapy has been I mean
idea has been around many decades before
Jim Allison and myself demonstrated in
the above system the reason why many
people failed one after another is they
didn't realize the immune system is
already suppressed by the tumor growth
so if we push the accelerator of the
immune system while the immune system is
under the strong brake there is no way
they can drive the immune system forth
and only the people find the major
immune negative regulator means a break
that was say therefore and pd1 and Jim
Allison first showed say therefore
blockade can cure the cancer in animal
model and soon after we found a pit I
mean the we found a pity one before but
we demonstrated pd-1 blockade can also
cure the cancer unfortunately the pretty
one is less toxic video and blockade I
mean and has chronic and now it used in
a wide spectrum of tumors starting from
melanoma lung cancer renal cancer
stomach cancer meaning that's slightly
advantage of the PD one over C therefore
C therefore has a very strong activity
and sometime too strong
also a bit side effect is stronger
I received many prizes of course before
the novel prize and this is a probably
last prize I get but I felt when I see
the patient and saying they were saved
by the therapy we developed is the most
moving and also the time I feel my life
has some meat so that was the very very
you know unforgettable and I was so very
touchy and I feel I feel about it I'm
not the clinician but I've involved some
clinical trials and the one lady who had
a big tumor
this is ovarian tumor and doctor of
course thought hopeless but she
recovered and there was almost five
years ago and treatment lasted one year
and she is still tumor free and enjoying
her life one time I saw she playing golf
so there was a real amazing and similar
story
I pray golf myself and I have a friend
who told me this is my last round
in my life because I had lung cancer but
if what about maybe half a year was so
later he came back and I just started
the treatment you developed and he just
completely cured was fantastic well
unfortunately the our treatment is still
not complete only 20 to 30 percent our
responders and we have a long way to go
but now this is the just beginning and
many many scientists in the industry
jumped in so I hope this therapy of the
or widely used and reach to the almost
everybody in the world hopefully by the
end of the century
just like the infectious diseases almost
completely eradicated in during the last
century
I hope the century will be remembered at
the century of the cancer treatment
that's my
yes I think so
always especially in the life science we
don't know exactly where is the best
target nobody knows which mountain we
should crime we have to try many things
so for that purpose everybody has to
think different idea and have to
discussion so diversity are including
everything gender nationality different
culture maybe age you have some very
brave young people very brave that's
good and each people has more experience
and that's very important well to make
yourself a good scientist I always say
first you have to have curiosity if you
don't have any curiosity you better
choose something else and then we so to
be good scientists we have to solve
something new so something new usually
not easy because it's difficult that why
it remains unknown so you need enough
courage to tackle this difficult
problems and you need a courage and that
is a challenge so challenge with courage
and I call this three primary see and
then once you decide to tackle you have
to concentrate and continue
and the eventually you build up
confidence so this is another three see
that's my what I tell to my students I
never tried to keep my curiosity it
comes from inside when I learned
something in you I always oh this is
quite interesting but why and curiously
just endless it comes from inside
well there are civil level as a general
science the first incident I was
enchanted of charmed by the years
Natural Science is the very tiny tiny
ring around the Saturn which is watched
through the telescope at the elementary
school that was first I got very much
interested want to be astronomer and I
read many books but then later switched
the medicine because I read a biography
of a Hideo Noguchi and the second very
critical moment maybe the time to come
back to Japan so I was another big
choice in my life whether I stay in
United States keep going
and many people advised to stay but I
decided to go back to Japan
that's 74 other kind of turning point in
both cases
I was very fortunate my decision was
correct or correct because I made
something retrospectively well for my
science I have so many important mentor
or advisor the first mentor Osama
Hayashi who discovered oxygen gas oxygen
directing cooperation into the organic
compounds gave my solid background in
science and also international fearing
science has to be international it's not
the local thing and the next person who
opened my eye to the molecular minerals
is Donald Brown of Carnegie Institution
of Washington and without him I never go
into this particular field and then I
went to very latest laboratory where I
actually started this antibody
diversification so those three are very
important during my scientific career
well I didn't have any resistant
fortunately my parents very supportive
in a very different psychologically and
financially they support it and then the
my family a wife and children I was kind
of work Holly I don't spend much time
with my family I feel sorry for them but
they just allowed me to concentrate on
the my research so I'm very fortunate so
playing golf I completely forget about
the science and I concentrate but the
the reason why I like golf game it's not
a competition it's kind of the fight
against yourself
for example if you hit a bad shot you
get angry but you get angry against
yourself and always you have to think
very carefully because every time you
hit the ball run into different
conditions sometimes grass thick
sometimes you know different weather and
you always have to think but it's a
different type of challenge but I can
completely forget about my science and
it's also very enjoyable
for scientific career I think I made two
major contributions one is the I found
the molecular mechanism for the antibody
diversity namely antigen induced
antibody diversity class switch
recombination and somatic mutation and
this pd-1 break discovery and its
application to cancer immunotherapy but
these days I'm still working so I'm very
much pleased this of my two lines now
coming to very close because can see me
no therapy depends Lots on your gut
microbiota and gut microbiota regulation
depends on IG a secretion and the
molecule I discovered for antigen
induced memory AI D does I found another
important molecule and do two molecules
collaborate to maintain our gut
microbiota and this is important for
homeostasis and also anti-tumor immunity
so that's my scientific contribution but
for for the person life I had a family
and two children fortunately both doing
well some is the medical doctor
physician and daughter is the
embryologist working science field and
what's rest I also served
the administration in the medical school
and I also served as the scientific
adviser to the Prime Minister almost 10
years ago and I don't know whether I
made something through this type of the
administrative work but at least I tried
to improve scientific environment
