1. What does it mean to switch genes on?

The other day, I attended a lecture by Takeshi Okada, a former Japanese national football team coach, in Nagano City.

Under the theme of “Toward a Society that Supports and Helps Each Other in the Community,” Mr. Okada introduced the challenge of nurturing children in Imabari City, who are full of zest for living.

I was deeply impressed by the superb lecture.

It was organized by Manabiya Mebuki (Representative: Sachiko Nagai), which works in Nagano City to support young people who are struggling to become independent after graduating from high school due to family circumstances and other factors, as well as elementary, junior high, and high school students who do not attend school.

Both Mr. Okada and Ms. Nagai are involved in educational support projects with the aim of helping young people grow as human beings and develop their character through the power of mutual assistance in which local people support each other.

When I had a chance to talk with Mr. Okada, I introduced Ms. Nagai’s activities to him, and empathizing with Ms. Nagai’s philosophy, he came to support the activities of Manabiya Mebuki.

Mr. Okada, the chairman of Imabari FC, traveled to Nagano City the day after a match was held in Matsumoto City. Hearing that he was going to give a lecture there, I decided to attend.

In his lecture, Mr. Okada introduced the idea of “switching genes on” of the late Kazuo Murakami, professor emeritus of the University of Tsukuba (specialized in genetic research; passed away in April 2021), which he shared.

This is explained by Professor Murakami in his book Korona no Ango (Code of Coronavirus) as follows.

Genes have a switch, which is repeatedly turned on and off according to the environment and circumstances.

(Omission) The switch can be turned on or off depending on how we feel and how we live.

(Omission) The secret to being your ideal self is to live in as lively and positive a state of mind as possible.

(Omission) What if you get sick?

(Omission) There are plenty of positive aspects to the experience of being ill, such as realizing who really matters to you, or coming up with ideas you had not thought of before thanks to the time off work.

When you think this way, you can view everything that happens to you as positive and you can turn your good genes on.

Professor Murakami gives the following examples of genes being turned on.

One is the true story of a 48-year-old housewife who was diagnosed with terminal uterine cancer and whose doctor had given up on her, but after continuing to give thanks every day for being alive, her cancer miraculously disappeared without a trace.

Another is the story of Jacques Mayol, a free diver who managed to descend to 105 meters by reducing his heart rate to about 20 beats per minute and holding his breath for as long as five minutes. It is impossible for normal humans to survive such extreme conditions.

It is said that Mr. Mayol fell in love with a female dolphin when he was young, and learned how to hold his breath longer and control himself underwater while swimming with her.

Perhaps the genes of the unparalleled MLB superstar Shohei Ohtani who is famous for his double-sword style, and the youngest player ever to win eight shogi titles Sota Fujii have also been turned on.

The aforementioned Mr. Okada and Ms. Nagai, who are making superhuman efforts to achieve a society where people support and help each other in the community, driven by the voluntary cooperation of the people around them without relying on government subsidies, must also have their genes turned on.

2. The driving force that turns on the genes is altruism

The common denominator of people whose genes are turned on is altruism.

Even if you pray for a long life when you are terminally ill from cancer or if you resent the bad luck of having cancer, your genes will not turn on.

It is thought that in the aforementioned case of the housewife, her genes were turned on because she continued to be thankful for being alive at the moment.

If Shohei Ohtani and Sota Fujii are only aiming to win against opponents and achieve higher grades, their genes will not be turned on.

It appears to me that because they love baseball or shogi so much and are doing their best to overcome the challenges in front of them, their genes are turned on and they are able to achieve good results no matter who their opponents are.

In the same manner, both Mr. Okada and Mr. Nagai seem to love so much to watch the children develop a zest for living and brighten their lives and form fine personalities by helping them become independent.

That love must turn their genes on.

Professor Murakami explains that living with positive thinking turns on your genes, and even when you are sick, there are positive aspects.

Positive thinking is supported by a sense of joy and happiness.

It is not when we gain wealth, status, or honor that we feel deep happiness and joy, but when we are appreciated by those around us. Or it is when we get help during our time of need.

A scholar of Oriental thought Yoshifumi Taguchi, whom I have studied under for many years, repeatedly emphasizes the following points.

There are only two kinds of humans: oneself and others.

Selfish people, who always put their own interests first, are not appreciated by those around them and often do not get help when they are in trouble.

They end up living a lonely life in isolation.

On the other hand, an altruistic person who always does his or her best for others will be appreciated by everyone around him or her, and everyone will want to help him or her when he or she is in trouble.

Such a person can lead a pleasant life.

It is clear which life we should choose as human beings.

Altruism is the key to a pleasant life, and that is where positive thinking comes from. As a result, people have a lot of fun and their genes are turned on.

3. Education to turn genes on

When I appeared on a late-night TV program the other day, the issue of education came up in the discussion.

One participant expressed the opinion that increasing the number of teachers alone would not improve the quality of education, and this is true.

As it is clear from the preceding section, in order to motivate children to learn and to promote character development, it is necessary to educate children who value altruism.

If children can fully understand the importance of altruism and learn how to live by it, they can develop a positive thinking mindset.

Then their genes will be turned on.

For children to be able to practice altruism, it is important to find something they are good at. When they find something they are good at, learning becomes more enjoyable.

Eventually, through what they are good at, they will be able to cheer up and help those around them. This leads to altruism.

Each child has a different personality and different abilities.

One child is good at math, another is good at sports, another is good at music, and others are good at cooking, dancing, animation, and a thousand other things.

It is the teacher’s mission to pay close attention to the personality of each student and continue to strive to provide the most suitable educational opportunities for each student.

Children who are guided by such teachers understand their own strengths, respect altruism, and make those around them happy through their own abilities and personality.

This is the ideal education.

In order for this to happen, teachers are also required to have the ability to provide such guidance. It is important to nurture teachers who not only have the ability to teach academic subjects, but also consider it their mission to promote character development and to do their best for children.

Teachers are increasingly busy these days with issues other than study, such as monster parents, classroom disruptions, and truancy.

It is necessary for teachers to understand the personality of each child and to set aside as much time as possible to focus on education to develop it.

To this end, it is also necessary to help teachers deal with monster parents, classroom disruptions and truancy, as well as to reduce the administrative burden on them.

In order to create an educational environment in which teachers can fully demonstrate their abilities, it is essential to secure personnel to assist them.

The best way is for the national government to secure a budget and to assist in securing teachers and assistants to them.

However, given the current shortfall in tax revenues and the huge accumulated deficit of the Japanese government, it is impossible to secure the necessary budget across the country.

Suginami City, Tokyo, set up a teachers’ training school called Suginami Shihankan (Suginami Institute for Teacher’s Training) from 2005 to 2011 to train teachers on their own with tax money from residents of the City and hired them as teachers in elementary schools in Suginami City outside the quota, thereby creating a system to expand educational content in the City.

Under the guidance of the aforementioned Mr. Taguchi, Suginami Shihankan emphasized the Five Rules for Teachers as a set of guidelines for teachers.

These were (1) motivate children to learn, (2) nurture humanity, (3) cultivate social skills, (4) establish norms, and (5) find, recognize, and develop the seeds of qualities.

This is the very essence of the image of a teacher required for education to turn on the genes.

Even today, about 60 graduates of Suginami Shihankan support Suginami City’s educational foundation.

Given the severe educational environment surrounding elementary and junior high schools these days, in addition to such teacher training, it is necessary for local residents to make efforts to recruit people who can play supporting roles for teachers, such as dealing with monster parents, dealing with classroom disruptions, supporting truant children, and assisting with administrative tasks.

It is also important to, through such measures, create an environment where teachers can easily set aside time to develop each child’s personality and abilities.

Of course, it is difficult to secure such a budget in regions with small populations and limited financial resources. However, there are some regions where it is possible.

Such regions should take the lead in tackling local educational issues and rebuild Japanese education from where they can. I think this is what is required now.

I have repeatedly argued that Japan has a major role to play in an increasingly unstable world order.

As consensus building among nations becomes more difficult and rule-based order formation comes to a standstill, it is necessary for people to play a complementary role in order formation by cooperating with each other on a moral basis beyond the borders of nations.

This is based on the concept of mutual cooperation between modern Western social thought and traditional Eastern thought, and I have said that Japan, where traditional Eastern thought lives on a political, economic, and social institutional foundation based on modern Western social thought, should play a role in presenting this model to the world.

In order to disseminate such information to the global community and put it into practice on our own, we need human resources to take on this role.

We will create a system of education that turns on the genes as described above through the power of local mutual aid, and produce people who are highly motivated to contribute to the stability of the world order.

This is the mission required of Japan today, is it not?