German-Japanese relationships in biochemistry: a personal perspective

Abstract

The first Institute of Biochemistry in Japan was founded by Leonor Michaelis from Berlin at Nagoya in 1922, and there have been numerous interrelations between Japanese and German biochemists since. Some such relationships are presented here from a personal point of view as one illustrative example, which could be extended amply by the experience of many other scientists from the two countries. Fruitful exchanges are facilitated by organisations such as the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH) and the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschienst (DAAD) or the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and by the many bilateral agreements between universities and research institutions.

Keywords: glutamine metabolism; glutathione; oxidative stress; redox biology.

Fig. 1

Reminiscing the research times in the 1970s at the Johnson Research Foundation in Philadelphia during the Society for Free Radical Research International (SFRRI) Meeting at Kyoto in 2000. From left: Nozomu Oshino (Osaka), Alberto Boveris (Buenos Aires), Helmut Sies (Düsseldorf).

Fig. 2

“Oxidative Stress” (Sies, H., ed.) in Japanese translation 1986. Back cover: Noh mask, the Japanese equivalent of Janus face. Translation was performed by Prof. Masayasu Inoue and his team, then at Kumamoto University.

Fig. 3

Ebselen researchers together. From right: Hiroyuki Masayasu (Daiichi Co., Tokyo), Helmut Sies (University of Düsseldorf), Erich Graf (Nattermann Co., Cologne).

Fig. 4

Professor Nobuhiko Katunuma, Tokushima University, exercising Kendo (1987).

Fig. 5

Leonor Michaelis, Professor of Biochemistry of the Aichi Medical College (now Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya University) 1922–1926. Left: Michaelis wearing a Japanese kimono. Right: Professor Leonor Michaelis in his Biochemistry Laboratory with his research assistants and students at Aichi Medical College in Nagoya. From: T. Nagatsu (20), with permission of the copyright holder.

Fig. 6

Tea ceremony experienced at Kyoto by two medical students. From right: Ema Toyokuni (Kyoto) and Katharina Sies (Freiburg), March 2015.

Fig. 7

Conference on Oxygen Homeostasis and its Dynamics, Keio University, Tokyo 1996. Note the portrait sculpture of Yukichi Fukuzawa, Founder of Keio University at upper left.

Fig. 8

From the17^th Biennial Meeting of the Society for Free Radical Research International, held at Kyoto International Conference Center, March 23–26, 2014. The colleagues are, from left: Holger Steinbrenner, Helmut Sies (both Düsseldorf), Xingen Lei (Ithaca).

Fig. 9

Professor Shinya Toyokuni at Burg Linn near Düsseldorf, April 2016.