Celebrity File Japan by Lint


		重要語句
■ This week's celebrity from Japan is Koichi Tanaka. Mr. Tanaka was an unknown person even in the field of chemistry but he quickly became a household name on October 9 of 2002 when he won the Nobel Prize. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences decided to award half the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to John Fenn and Mr. Tanaka "for their development of soft desorption ionization methods for mass spectrometric analyses of biological macromolecules." The other half of the award went to Kurt Wuthrich for similar research.		unknown 無名の chemistry 化学 household name 有名人 desorption 脱着 ionization イオン化；電離 spectrometric analysis 機器分析 macromolecule 高分子
■■ Simply put, the work of these three men allows researchers to examine proteins better and understand their functions. This has led to promising applications in the study of foodstuff control and early diagnosis of breast cancer and prostate cancer. Overnight, Tanaka went from obscure researcher to world-famous scientist. Millions of Japanese can relate to his pre-Nobel situation: a lowly corporate employee whose talents were not recognized by the hierarchy of his company. In fact, when Tanaka first made his discovery in 1987, his employer Shimadzu Corporation only awarded him 11,000 yen. After Tanaka won the Nobel Prize, Shimadzu was so embarrassed for overlooking his talents that they immediately gave him a promotion and named a laboratory after him.		simply put 簡単に言えば foodstuff 食品 diagnosis 診断 breast cancer 乳がん prostate cancer 前立腺がん obscure 目立たない lowly （地位・身分が）低い hierarchy 支配層 embarrassed ばつの悪い思いをする overlook …を見落とす
■■■ So just who is Koichi Tanaka? For starters, he is only 43-years-old, one of the youngest recipients ever. He is the first Japanese to win the Nobel Prize in natural sciences without a doctor's degree. The quiet research and development engineer at Shimadzu likes to wear jeans during his commute and changes into a company uniform later. One of his Tohoku University professors remembers Tanaka as a "quiet student" and others remember him as friendly and full of ideas. The native of Toyama City lives in Kyoto in a 3LDK with his wife whom he met through an arranged marriage. Friends describe him as "eccentric," because he sometimes goes to society meetings wearing shorts and a skinhead haircut.		recipient 受賞者 doctor's degree 博士号 commute 通勤 arranged marriage 見合い結婚 eccentric 風変わりな
■■■■ The media in Japan and all around the world have fallen in love with his shy, awkward style. After having lunch with Prime Minister Koizumi, a reporter asked him what he ate but he couldn't remember. Embarrassing yes, but the people loved it. On November 3, Emperor Akihito conferred the Order of Culture on Tanaka at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Several Academic societies, many of which had never heard of Tanaka, are now rushing to make him an honorary member.		awkward 不器用な embarrassing ばつの悪い confer …を授与する honorary 名誉（上）の
■■■■■ Koichi Tanaka is set to formally accept the Nobel Prize on December 10 in Stockholm.

－written by Brock Spore

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