Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan
A. General Works
Human Activities for Knowledge
Collection: The Providence Athenaeum in Providence, USA, a library since 1836 (2015). The style of the building is Greek Revival, and the sides of the shelves that reach the ceiling resemble the columns of a Greek temple.Reading: “Reading is not history,” a message from Wardah Books in Singapore (2016).Observation: The Sydney Observatory, Australia’s oldest observatory on a hill overlooking Port Jackson (2008). One of its functions was to measure time through astronomical observations, and the yellow time ball on top of the tower signaled the exact time to ships by moving up and down.Experiment: The High Energy Accelerator Research Organization in Tsukuba, Japan’s largest particle physics laboratory (2024). This accelerator generates and observes composite particles by colliding electrons and positrons at near-light speeds, enabling the discovery of new laws of physics.Thinking: The Thinker at the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia, originally created for the Gates of Hell but often seen as a tangible symbol of contemplation (2015).Research: The study of Kumagusu Minakata (1867–1941), a Japanese naturalist, biologist, and folklorist, in Tanabe, next to the deep forest of the Kii Mountains (2023). He stayed in the U.S. and U.K., published many papers in Nature, and then lived mainly in Tanabe as an independent researcher, studying nature and leading a conservation movement.Diffusion: A mimeograph machine that helped diffuse knowledge in Singapore (2016). At the Malay Heritage Centre.Interaction: Benjamin Franklin founded the first American learned society for the exchange and development of ideas in Philadelphia (2015).
