“Wondering why” and keeping your curiosity are important!

This year’s Nobel Prize winners for Physiology/Medicine were announced on October 1st. The recipients were Dr. Tasuku Honjo from Kyoto University, Japan and Dr. James Allison from MD Anderson Cancer Center, Texas. The two of them independently discovered proteins that act as brakes of the immune system and found that pharmacologically blocking these molecules allows the immune system to fight cancer. The drug “Optivo”, which uses this mechanism, was first approved in Japan in 2014 and is now approved in over 60 countries to treat cancer.
In his interview, Dr. Honjo states that his motto in research is “Curiosity drives what I want to know”. In an interview performed 30 years ago, he stated that “by figuring out how biology works, I want to find ways to cure cancer and other incurable diseases”. Now, he has accomplished this dream by curing cancer using the immune system. He tells students aspirating to become scientists, “Observe with your own eyes. Think with your own brain. Don’t quit until you’re satisfied and never give up.”
Dr. Honjo’s words reinforce the importance of maintaining an inquisitive mind, keeping a positive attitude, and accomplishing tasks until satisfied. Regardless of age, I felt even more compelled to maintain my curiosity and inquiry, and listen to the insatiable curiosity of the students.

Goals（Slogans）chosen！Starting in October

We solicited slogans from students that represent goals that make their student life at JLSP more fun and fulfilling. We voted for 11 of the best slogans. Congratulations to the awardees!

Work on homework gradually but daily
6th grade　（Benioff Nina） October
Keep up with both regular and Japanese language school
7th grade Abe Fuka November
Homework is there for your future
1st grade　Saito Riku December
Use Japanese for both play and study at JLSP
1st grade　Slocum Alice January
Saturday is fun learning Japanese at JLSP
5th grade Namba Nanako February
We are all someone’s treasure
1st grade　Sudo Kaito March
Learn not only the language but the heart of Japanese
9th grade　 Yamaguchi Hiroki April
If you do your homework consistently, learning at JLSP will be more fun (the slogan spells “children” in Japanese)
3rd grade　Weir Tomoki May
Take good care of things that you borrow from others more than what you own
10th grade　 Shinagawa Yumi June
It’s fun reading books in Japanese
1st grade　Pedersen Koa August/Sepetember
Writing neatly makes everyone feel well
1st grade　 Abe Keiju October
※Some of the slogans were modified by adding Kanji characters

※We sent participation prizes to everyone and special awards to those who had their slogans selected. We thank Keisen Associates Patent Law Office for donating these prizes and awards.

Reading award announcement

☆Congratulations on the Yokozuna Award！
Kindergarten
K1 Kato Seim ※200 books
K1 Kashiwagi Kohsuke ※200 books
K1 Senat Hana
Elementary School
4th grade Yorioka Yuma
Japanese language course
1st class Lam Doanh Nhat
1st class Heinrichs Tia

Announcement from the Library

We are soliciting requests for new book purchases for 2019. Please use the request form available at the library and submit by 10/27. Please take note of the following when filling out the request.
（１） We only accept requests form current students at JLSP.
（２） We can purchase cartoon books only if they are educational in nature.
（３） We will not honor your request, if we feel that the requested book is inappropriate for the JLSP library.
※We eagerly await your requests