Hirokazu Kobayashi CEO, Green Insight Japan   Co., Ltd. Professor Emeritus and Visiting Professor, University of Shizuoka Usually, when a part of the device is damaged, its functionality decreases, and when it is repaired, its functionality is restored. Genome editing, introduced in 2012, cuts specific genes at specific locations among the 30,000 genes of individual higher animals and plants, resulting in substitutions, deletions, and insertions when repaired. This results in

Hirokazu Kobayashi CEO, Green Insight Japan  Co., Ltd. Professor Emeritus and Visiting Professor, University of Shizuoka In 1996, the ban on importing "genetically modified (GM)" crops into Japan was lifted. Immediately after that, concerns about food safety g rew. The term corresponding to “GM” is meant to be "gene recombinant" in Japanese, which carries a more significant meaning. Most people know that the blueprint of the human body is written in "genes," so it is unsurpri

Hirokazu Kobayashi CEO, Green Insight Japan   Co., Ltd. Professor Emeritus and Visiting Professor, University of Shizuoka The leading cause of death in Japan is cancer, which disproportionately affects the elderly population. Rheumatoid arthritis is also a significant health concern, with 825,000 people suffering from the condition. Biopharmaceuticals, or biologics, have a proven track record of effectively treating these diseases through targeted injections. The global marke

Hirokazu Kobayashi CEO, Green Insight Japan   Co., Ltd. Professor Emeritus and Visiting Professor, University of Shizuoka   There has been a recent buzz about the movie "Oppenheimer." Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967) was the first director of Los Alamos National Laboratory during World War II, led the Manhattan Project, and played a leading role in developing the atomic bomb. The development of science and technology has contributed to the prosperity of humanity, and the atomic

Hirokazu Kobayashi CEO, Green Insight Japan   Co., Ltd. Professor Emeritus and Visiting Professor, University of Shizuoka   The number of monthly visitors to Japan reached 3.04 million in April this year, surpassing the number before the COVID-19 pandemic, which is believed to have ended. The amount spent by foreigners visiting Japan is at a record high, exceeding the pre-pandemic level by about 10% in 2019. Ironically, the weak yen has become a "selling point" for Japan.   N

Hirokazu Kobayashi CEO, Green Insight Japan   Co., Ltd. Professor Emeritus and Visiting Professor, University of Shizuoka   Everyone would want to be present at their parents' last moments, but do they say what they want to say before they take their last breath, like in the deathbed scene of a TV drama? Regardless of the cause of death, the answer seems to be "No." In my case, both my parents were cared for at a nursing home in Fukuchiyama City in Kyoto Prefecture, but last

Hirokazu Kobayashi CEO, Green Insight Japan   Co., Ltd. Professor Emeritus and Visiting Professor, University of Shizuoka People's gestures, speech, and voices do not change much after 55 years, whereas faces and personalities change so much that it is hard to tell who they are. Recently, I attended a seventy-year-old alumni association in my junior high school. “Seventy-year-old” is called “古稀 (koki)” in Japanese. "古稀 (koki)" is said to originate from a line in Du Fu's (712-