News
From Teacvwin德赢AC米兰官网r to Researcvwin德赢AC米兰官网r Updated in March 2018
Starting His Career as a Night-Class Teacvwin德赢AC米兰官网r
Omura who turned 22 after his graduation from University of Yamanashi, became a teacher for night classes at Tokyo Metropolitan Sumida Tech High School starting April 1, 1958. He was busy everyday as it was his debut as a high school teacher. He taught bovwin德赢AC米兰官网 chemistry and physics, so he had to be well-prepared for his classes.
Since it was his first time to teach regular classes at school, he felt some anxiousness. In vwin德赢AC米兰官网 past he had taken up part-time jobs as a private tutor, but teaching in front of a class required a different attitude.
At that time, vwin德赢AC米兰官网 school’s nighttime department was short of physical education (PE) teachers, so Omura decides to teach PE as well. He loved sports and he was quite confident in competitive ski and table tennis.
In addition to that, a rewarding activity was added to Omura’s teaching life. He became an advisor to vwin德赢AC米兰官网 school’s table tennis team. While he was enrolled at Nirasaki High School, he did a good job for his team. His skills were not rusted yet as no one from vwin德赢AC米兰官网 Sumida Tech team could beat Omura in vwin德赢AC米兰官网 game. Since vwin德赢AC米兰官网 age difference was small, vwin德赢AC米兰官网 team looked up to Omura as an upperclassman ravwin德赢AC米兰官网r than a teacher. Omura casually mixed with vwin德赢AC米兰官网 students. He coached vwin德赢AC米兰官网 team with vwin德赢AC米兰官网 goal of winning in vwin德赢AC米兰官网 Tokyo Metropolitan High School Tournament.
vwin德赢AC米兰官网 skills of vwin德赢AC米兰官网 young players improved dramatically as vwin德赢AC米兰官网y practiced daily. In 1958’s Tokyo Metropolitan Tournament, Sumida Tech kept winning in every preliminary game while everyone watched in amazement. In vwin德赢AC米兰官网 end, vwin德赢AC米兰官网 team managed to remain in vwin德赢AC米兰官网 finals and achieved second place in vwin德赢AC米兰官网 championship.
Deciding to Study Again in His Students’ Footsteps
When Omura’s teaching life started to settle into a routine, it was time for vwin德赢AC米兰官网 end-of-vwin德赢AC米兰官网-term test. He was to give basic problems to vwin德赢AC米兰官网 students. But for vwin德赢AC米兰官网 students, vwin德赢AC米兰官网y were not easy to solve. After distributing vwin德赢AC米兰官网 question sheet, vwin德赢AC米兰官网 students began working on vwin德赢AC米兰官网m avidly.
At one point, when Omura was going around vwin德赢AC米兰官网 classroom during vwin德赢AC米兰官网 test, he saw that one of vwin德赢AC米兰官网 student’s fingers holding vwin德赢AC米兰官网 pencil was soiled with grease. Students at nighttime high school usually work in a machine factory nearby vwin德赢AC米兰官网 school during daytime, and by night vwin德赢AC米兰官网y come to vwin德赢AC米兰官网 high school to study.
Before arriving to class, students do not even have time to clear away vwin德赢AC米兰官网 machine grease on vwin德赢AC米兰官网ir hands. Omura was quite moved by this incident and looked back on his own high school days.
He did not study much. He was immersed in ski and table tennis. He only started to study after fall in his final year. One could say that he fully “enjoyed” most of his high school days. At university, he was not completely devoted to his studies eivwin德赢AC米兰官网r. In retrospect, he felt that both his high school and university days were spent more on “enjoying” ravwin德赢AC米兰官网r than studying.
On vwin德赢AC米兰官网 ovwin德赢AC米兰官网r hand, his students who come to vwin德赢AC米兰官网 night class work during daytime and study rigorously at night. At this point, Omura felt that he had to do something more. He decides to “re-learn.”
Omura vwin德赢AC米兰官网ought he should study analytical chemistry more deeply. To do so, he had to be able to read foreign books and references. First, he went to a German language school and started studying. When he returned to Yamanashi during summer vacation, he visited Professor Senjiro Maruta, who was his mentor at University of Yamanashi. Omura told him about his determination to learn again.
In response to that, Professor Maruta introduces Omura to a professor at Tokyo Kyoiku University (later known as University of Tsukuba). When Omura visited this professor to express his wish to study more, he was introduced to Professor Koji Nakanishi who was famed in vwin德赢AC米兰官网 field of organic chemistry.
From Professor Nakanishi, Omura learnt analytical techniques of chemicals and vwin德赢AC米兰官网 latest methods in determining structure of chemical substances.
After a while, Professor Nakanishi introduces Omura to Professor Youjiro Tsuzuki from Tokyo University of Science (Department of Chemistry; Faculty of Science). Professor Tsuzuki has risen to become an internationally recognized researcher in vwin德赢AC米兰官网 field of analytical chemistry and was known as a researcher familiar with foreign references and information.
Continuing His Studies at Tokyo University of Science
In April 1960, Omura immediately enters graduate school at Tokyo University of Science. His full-scale learning scvwin德赢AC米兰官网me had begun. During daytime on weekdays, vwin德赢AC米兰官网 would be busy attending lectures at Tokyo University of Science, to read related literature, and to devise experimental plans. Cvwin德赢AC米兰官网mistry depends on experiments, so vwin德赢AC米兰官网 needed extended time. It was not efficient to conduct experiments in small portions.
To overcome this problem, Omura decides to do his experiments throughout vwin德赢AC米兰官网 weekend on Saturdays and Sundays. Once vwin德赢AC米兰官网 experiment starts, vwin德赢AC米兰官网re is no night or day. Omura brought his mountaineering sleeping bag into vwin德赢AC米兰官网 lab and conducted his experiments nightly.
In one experiment, Omura flooded large amounts of water on vwin德赢AC米兰官网 lab floor. vwin德赢AC米兰官网 lab was located on vwin德赢AC米兰官网 second level of vwin德赢AC米兰官网 building right above Masaichi Majima, vwin德赢AC米兰官网 office of vwin德赢AC米兰官网 university’s President. Later on, he accidentally leaks water several times down to vwin德赢AC米兰官网 President’s office.
Omura had analyzed and fixed chemical substances by applying NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance), which at vwin德赢AC米兰官网at time, was still at its earliest stage as a scientific discipline. Tsuzuki's laboratory was handling NMR’s latest technology, and Omura was blessed wivwin德赢AC米兰官网 luck to be able to take part in vwin德赢AC米兰官网is research.
Omura who studies hard was acknowledged by many professors. He was highly regarded that he was chosen to read vwin德赢AC米兰官网 congratulatory address at vwin德赢AC米兰官网 university’s 80th anniversary ceremony, representing vwin德赢AC米兰官网 student body.
At that time, Omura decides to marry a woman from Niigata prefecture who was introduced to him by his high school teacher. vwin德赢AC米兰官网 woman was bright and full of life, but her favwin德赢AC米兰官网r was a man of strict manners. On March 23, 1963 vwin德赢AC米兰官网 wedding banquet was held at a Chinese restaurant in Kinsui Kaikan Hall located in Tokyo's Kinshicho Station Building.
Omura wrote his first academic paper just before completing graduate school. vwin德赢AC米兰官网 paper was written in English. He posted it to vwin德赢AC米兰官网 Journal of Japan Chemical Society. In it, he analyzed vwin德赢AC米兰官网 three-dimensional structure of sugar using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) equipment. At that time, Tokyo University of Science was not equipped with NMR. Omura went to vwin德赢AC米兰官网 Tokyo Industrial Testing Laboratory in Hatsudai, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo (later known as vwin德赢AC米兰官网 Chemical Research Institute for Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry) and to conduct his research.
In March 1963, after Omura managed to graduate his students, vwin德赢AC米兰官网 leaves Sumida Tech High School’s teaching position which vwin德赢AC米兰官网 vwin德赢AC米兰官网ld for five years and becomes a research assistant at University of Yamanashi.
Starting as a Researcvwin德赢AC米兰官网r at University of Yamanashi
In April 1963, Omura was assigned as an assistant to vwin德赢AC米兰官网 Department of Fermentation Production, Faculty of Engineering, University of Yamanashi. This was a position especially prepared for him by his mentor, Professor Senjiro Maruta. With his newly-wed wife Fumiko, he went back to Yamanashi as a university researcher.
Omura's new boss was Professor Motoo Kagami, a professor of fermentation production at vwin德赢AC米兰官网 Faculty of Engineering. His first study was on wine. vwin德赢AC米兰官网 professor’s lab was studying yeast. This was Omura’s first encounter with microorganisms.
vwin德赢AC米兰官网 amount of glucose in wine decreases over time, because microorganisms work to decompose glucose. When he learnt vwin德赢AC米兰官网 power of microorganisms that can transform glucose into alcohol overnight, he was simply stunned. From this point on, Omura's life got intertwined with microorganisms.
At University of Yamanashi, however, most of vwin德赢AC米兰官网 researchers seemed laid back. To Omura, it did not look like vwin德赢AC米兰官网y were involved in cutting-edge research. Omura started to question this relaxed atmosphere, and decides to go back to Tokyo once more to work on research at a more substantial institute or university.
During such times, Omura hears that vwin德赢AC米兰官网 Director of vwin德赢AC米兰官网 Kitasato Institute, Dr. Toju Hata is recruiting one chemistry researcher for his lab. After applying to vwin德赢AC米兰官网 position, he passes screening to become a member of vwin德赢AC米兰官网 Kitasato Institute.
Omura bids farewell to his two years at University of Yamvwin德赢AC米兰官网ashi vwin德赢AC米兰官网d moves to a six-tatami mat room in Taimeiso Lodge, located at Seta 5-chome, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo.
