Back when smartphones and email messaging were still unheard of, there was a story that Tsuyoshi Mori (1928-2010), a mathematician and professor at the University of Kyoto, was fond of telling.
It went to the following effect: The phone number of the university’s math classroom was 6735, which, in Japanese, is “roku-nana-san-go.” But instead of that, the university’s young mathematicians habitually referred to the number as “rokushichi sanjugo,” which is the Japanese way of saying “6 x 7 = 35” when reciting the multiplication table.
According to Mori, the university had no dearth of students as well as teachers who didn’t quite know their multiplication table. But Mori stressed with humor that Kyoto University valued tolerance in mathematics. “The more power to mathematicians if they can make do without (the multiplication table),” he quipped.
Masaki Kashiwara, 78, project professor at Kyoto University’s Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences, is the recipient of the 2025 Abel Prize–often referred to as the “Nobel Prize of Mathematics.”
I was impressed by how the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters extolled Kashiwara on its website, where the originality of his thinking was likened to a “bridge that joins Japan with Antarctica.”
To confess, I am a mathematics “outsider” who wasn’t even aware how Abel and Nobel differed. So, there is no way I can fully appreciate the greatness of Kashiwara’s achievement.
However, I can at least believe that cutthroat competition must be going on at the forefront of mathematics research.
At Kashiwara’s place of work, there is said to be this caveat, handed down through generations of researchers: “If you get up in the morning and tell yourself that you will immerse yourself in mathematics all day, you will never go far. Instead, you must be thinking about mathematics when you fall asleep, and by the time you wake up, you must already be in the world of mathematics.”
Kashiwara must be blessed with extraordinary talent, yet knows he must never stop striving harder, albeit with a touch of tolerance.
“Mathematics is beautiful,” he says. I heartily applaud his accomplishment.
–The Asahi Shimbun, April 5
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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.
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