#日 radical

[kanjiexplained]

Kanji of the day: 暗

暗 - Darkness, disappear, shade, informal, grow dark, be blinded

Kun: くら.い、くら.む、くれ.る On: アン (Pinyin: àn | an4 )

Pictophonetic: 音 indicates the sound (pinyin yīn | yin1), 日 (sun) indicates the meaning.

Memorization trick: this pictophonetic kanji can, with a bit of a stretch, be read pictophonetically in English! 音 means sound/noise, but can also be interpreted as pitch like in 高音 (high pitch, soprano) with pitch also meaning pitch-black and pitch-dark.

Strokes: 13 Radical: 日 sun, day

[skiddo-xy]

璐

I have got to say it is so great at a Chinese learner to be on the "bottom-of-my-heart loving and being fascinated by Chinese characters because of the meaning and components etc" side of the spectrum than the "these are stupid and hard to learn" side. Just a thought I had.

Titled 璐 because I think I saw this somewhere on my main source of absorbing and retain characters which is going through the filmography of Chinese-language actors and actresses since i love names in particular.

[languagelvlup]

i really enjoy writing out song lyrics to practice kanji even though YES I KNOW SONG LYRICS SOMETIMES INCLUDE KANJI THAT AREN'T COMMONLY USED because it's fun and looks pretty :))

[liesonthefloordramatically]

But I miss you But there's no comin' home There's no comin' home With a name like mine

[dawns-jp-babbling]

今日のいいこと: 朝、この歌を思い出しました… 子供の時この歌は大好きでした。

Today's good thing: I remembered this song today... I loved it when I was little

[russenoire]

this is so important. so many japanese language learners are terrified of kanji and JSL resources in general are shite at teaching them.

Now I'm wondering how countries like Japan and China teach literacy.

Since kanji / hanzi don't really have that much in the way of phonetic elements, they kinda have to teach them by memorization and I don't think they have many reading comprehension problems over there.

(Although both countries do have supplementary phonetic writing systems in the form of bopomofo and pinyin for China, and the kanas for Japan)

--

FAVORITE SOAPBOX TOPIC UNLOCKED!

RELEASE THE KRAKEN!

It's a little closer to teaching vocabulary than spelling, but the same kinds of principles apply: You teach the building blocks, like the traditional radicals, which aren't so different from teaching Latin and Greek roots in an English class for English speakers.

And, as a matter of fact, lots of those radicals do predict pronunciation, just not in every single case. They can also be clues to meaning, but again, not absolutely consistently. Many characters have a sound-cueing radical on one side and a meaning-cueing radical on the other. It's just that only some are still useful in the modern day, while others are more like the English word 'plumbing' where knowledge of Roman lead pipes explains why this word comes from the one for lead, but the root probably wouldn't help a kid learn the word in the first place.

One similarity to teaching phonics would be teaching students to tell very complicated and similar characters apart: you want to help a student spot all the little building blocks of the character and then spot the ones that are different, not just glance at the whole character and get a general overall vibe. If you do a whole look-based approach, too many characters are too easy to mistake for one another.

Remembering a bajillion Chinese characters is hard if you're trying to memorize them in a year and not all of elementary school, but I think people who don't read them underestimate how many component parts there are and how approachable they can be if you start by learning fundamentals, not just memorizing a few individual characters as though they have no relation to anything else.

They're actually pretty systematic, just in the way that English spelling is with its overlapping systems and historical artifacts, not in the way that highly regular Spanish spelling is.

Having taken a lot of Japanese classes, I will say that Japanese as a foreign language textbooks often do a piss poor job of this and totally do teach kanji in a sight words-y way... But my Mandarin class started with important foundational concepts that served me well in Japanese later even if I bombed out of Chinese class at the time.

Can you tell how irritated I am by all the foreign language learners who think characters are sooooo hard when, really, it's just their crappy textbook? Haha.

They're moderately hard in the way that learning a full adult spectrum of vocabulary is hard, but people do that for foreign languages all the time. The countries that use characters do tend to make sets that are smaller for certain kinds of applications, same as we have things like simple English wikipedia, but a literate adult will always know lots more, whether it's from their career in engineering or their predilection for historical romance novels.

Uh... anyway, the answer is "Bit by bit in elementary school, just like in any other country".

[daily-hyosatsu]

A beautiful and interesting name I'd never seen before! 善如寺 is read Zennyōji or Zennyoji. It belongs to only about 480 people, but all the kanji are quite useful!

善 can be read よ.い, い.い, よ.く, よし.とする, or ゼン. It means virtue, goodness, or good. Specifically, it means good as in morally good, or good in an elevated context; for everyday normal things that are pleasant or agreeable, use 良い (also read よ.い or い.い).

如 means in the manner of, like, or the same as. It's read ごと.し, ジョ, or ニョ.

寺 is read てら or ジ. It's the reason that, for a second, I assumed that this house was a very, very boring-looking temple. (More on actual temple and shrine names here.)

Also, 寺 is useful as a radical too!

侍 (+亻person) = Samurai

待 (+ 彳 going-person) = Wait

持 (+ 扌 hand) = Hold, have

詩 (+ 言 word) = Poem, poetry

特 (+ 牛 cow) = Special

時 (+ 日 day) = Time

痔 (+ 疒 sickness) = Hemorrhoids

等 (+ 竹 bamboo) = Etc.

[mushimatsu]

choromatsu handwriting post

compiled all of choromatsus handwriting that i could find bc i love him

i realize these were all made by different teams and have different sources (anime/games/webkuji/etc) but there are some similarities between them all and i think its cute. i'll try to make it easier for ppl that cannot read japanese too

(note: some of these may or may not be valid criticisms, im not a native japanese speaker but i got my bachelors in japanese. idk if this means anything to anyone im just pointing out things that im noticing and maybe it will be interesting to you. if you notice anything else interesting feel free to add)

commonalities i noticed:

sometimes will combine multiple character strokes into one (normal thing to do, i've seen some native speakers do this)

with a few exceptions (mt takao for some reason), generally neat handwriting. proper and easy to read. not too big, not too small, not over stylized, but not messy either. very choromatsu

letter in s1e24

very nice handwriting, legible and neat. this is closest to how i think i would picture his handwriting. i know that the staff across different ososan things probably don't care too deeply about keeping minute handwriting details consistent and that's why they're all gonna look different but i like this one best for him.

new years cards in s2e13

very cute, love the stupid drawing of himself. everything very nice and tidy. to me these characters look a much curlier and rounder than the ones in the letter.

for both the letter and the new years cards it looks like he was careful to properly write out all the strokes of the kanji, even for more complicated ones like 緊張 and 就職. we see in mt takao that his handwriting gets a LOT messier. i know the real reason is because it was probably different animators that did his handwriting, but i'm choosing to believe that in canon it's because both of these are more fancy/formal letters addressed to people, whereas the trip guide is just for him and his brothers and doesn't necessarily need to look nice.

also i adore his tendency to add little drawings to things, like this and the mt takao guide he's everything

trip guide from mt. takao s3e8. his handwriting here, for some reason, is exceptionally bad especially compared to everything else. he writes like a little kid and i love his shitty little drawings. he's so cute.

my teachers would always correct my kanji down to the tiniest strokes, if i wrote like this is class i would get scolded so bad. you can see him combining his strokes together for 記念撮影, this will continue for the other pictures too. cute detail imo

the 昼 in 昼食 is definitely written wrong, but the second kanji 食 might be a little nitpicky. technically that bottom part is three different strokes, not two crossed over each other

more of him combining the strokes together. i wouldn't necessarily say that's wrong, since i've seen people do that before; it's probably just a habit that happens over time. i do it in english too

HOWEVER, he did write the 日 radical in 撮影 wrong here. previously, i thought he was just combining strokes again so that it looked like three lines instead of two (note 3 and 4 are two parallel lines, he just didn't lift his pen up)

but when you look at this it's clear that he very much did write three lines this time. that's the wrong radical

anyway

another example of him writing a two stroke character with just one. again, this is fine, ive seen people write their characters like this. however it looks bad when he does it here

i love how he wrote "campfire" i love how for some reason he didn't keep the letter sizing consistent or straight. also his little campfire drawing

１９時

キャンプ

ファイヤー

also there's two ways to write そ, its just a matter of choice its not important but he writes it the second way. and he messed up a kanji again

these next ones are maybe less canon cause they're not from the show itself

Airport Matsu

very tidy, combines a couple strokes together. both 松 (matsu) characters look like he combines the last two strokes together instead of writing them as two separate ones

and he does a similar thing with the right half of 野 in Matsuno

nostalgic moments webkuji

this one he writes every stroke and doesn't combine them and that's probably because different people worked on these and the tiny details like this don't matter to anyone but me. or you could say that he wrote a little neater in high school and started simplifying things as he got older.

Rock School

he drew himself again lol

i think his handwriting looks very good here actually. idk how to describe it but i like when handwriting looks like this specific way in japanese. i've seen other people that have handwriting like this and it just looks so nice. like the characters seem to vary in size, but somehow it makes it a little easier to read imo?

like in the first bullet point (underlined in yellow), the す in 多すぎる is a little big, but like it looks nice. in the second bullet point (blue), the の in 世の中 is slightly smaller but it emphasizes the kanji on either side of it. the stroke on the side of the か characters are written a little longer than usual (red). like it just looks nice, everything is shaped really nice and whenever i see people that have this handwriting i always try to emulate it lol

Neetpro

this one is a bit messier than the others. the way he wrote チョロ just doesn't look as nice as the way he wrote it in airport matsu and nostalgic moments. the way the て is written is more curved compared to the others. also the 界 kanji (blue) is written in a way that looks weird to me, and kara from this same set also writes the kanji that way so i think the same person might have written all of them lol

also interesting is that he writes き differently in this one

i was told by one of my professors that you're supposed to write さ and き with the upper and lower parts disconnected when writing by hand. it's only in text that they're connected. but i've still seen some people write them in the connected way

in all the other examples, choromatsu doesn't write them connected like that, just this one.

sukiya app

my lovely boy and his nonsense words and lies. the handwriting here comes off as very cutesy to me, at least compared to the others. some of the ways he writes, especially any box-like shape, seems round in a way. he also connects the right half of 野 again.

overall writes very neatly, altho a lot of the kanji here seems like its very big on the top and smaller on the bottom, and a lot of the letters seem more rounded. all the other examples just feel like the writing is a bit more angular, with the exception of the new years cards.

extra: coloring book

the way he wrote his name here is messier than the other examples. i like that he added little commentary on his own coloring though ("looks good!" "the tail was black too i believe") maybe he colored this with a paintbrush????? the strokes look as if he was trying to write quickly with a brush as if it was a pen. so maybe that's why its a little messier

anyway thanks for reading. i love choromatsu

[japanwords]

影 (ka-ge) "shadow"

Japanese kanji characters are made up of smaller parts.

The left hand side of a kanji is called then "hen". In the case of 影, the "hen" is 景, which means "scenery" and can be a complete kanji by itself.

The right hand side of a kanji is called the "tsukuri". In this case the "tsukuri" is three diagonal lines, which refers to "hair" or "bristles". As far as I am aware these three lines are rarely, if ever, used as a complete kanji by themselves (unlike 景 “scenery”), and nearly always appear in combination with other parts.

We can divide this 影 kanji into even smaller parts. 

The “hen” 景 (scenery) can be divided further into the top part: 日 (“sun”) and the lower part: 京 (“capital city”). 

These smaller component parts are called "radicals". 

Some radicals can only be used in combination with other radicals (such as the three line “tsukuri” mentioned above).

On the other hand, some radicals can function as complete kanji by themselves. 日 “sun” and 京 “capital city” both do this.

日 means "sun" or "day", as in 日本 "Japan" - literally "the land of the rising sun".

京 means "capital city" as in 東京 "Tokyo" - literally "East Capital" and 京都 "Kyoto" - literally "capital city" (Kyoto was the capital city from about 1100 to 1850).

[mayone]

せっかくだしシステム・クラッシュを読んでるときの感想を転記するやつをやりますが、本編引用の原語箇所を探してくるのがむずいので日本語本文の引用のまんまのやつをやります

I'd like to do a post about my impressions of system collapse, but it's hard to find the quotes in the original language, so I'll just use the quotes as they are in the Japanese version of the book.

🚀

>ARTにとってアイリスは、弊機にとってのラッティのような存在です（Iris is to ART what Ratthi is to me.)

それは…だいぶ…ラッティのことが…大事だね？ ARTが比較的過激に乗組員のことだいじだいじしとるからそういう感じがするのかもね

That's... pretty... important... for Ratthi, isn't it? Maybe it feels that way because ART is relatively radical in taking care of its crew.

🚀

ふーん内訳の明記されない大声ね。睡眠時間中の。ふーん…と思っていたらやはりそういうので、フフ！と思ったし、フフ！という顔をしました

Hmmm...loud voices with no breakdown.During sleeping hours.Hmmm... and then I thought, still that's what it is, so ☺!I thought, and then I made a face like that.

🚀

うわっARTからアイリスの二人称「きみ」なんだ…いいな…めっちゃいい…素だとそうなんだ…

Wow, from ART, Iris's second person is "きみ(kimi)"... that's nice... very nice... that's how it is in its bare form...

Have I already talked about the nuances of the second person "きみ"？

Like talking to a friendly, equal partner?Like talking to a good friend in a slightly pretentious way?Like there's a little bit of respect?A sense of familiarity?

It's like something a superior would use for something lower in rank... or at least not appear in honorific form?

If a machine-like being uses this second personfor human, it's like I know that oh it was created to at least be able to interact with humans on an equal footing.

Yes, the second person used by SecUnit for Miki.Oh... And it is also the second person used by Miki for SecUnit. Ah, “きみ” is what Ratthi uses for SecUnit! Familiarity!

By the way, what did you call ART and SecUnit respectively? ART→SecUnit「おまえ」 (Basically, a word used from a superior to a inferior, arrogant, rude, or a warm call to arms used for a close companion or a good-natured friend)(!) SecUnit→ART「あなた」 (Pretty flat language, a bit formal? Since this is the default second person in SecUnit, it is also used for Ratthi and Dr. mensah. It can be used anywhere and by anyone, but it is a curious word that has the nuance of “partner” especially when used to refer to someone emotionally close to. In English, it is “you” 99.9% of the time, but in the remaining 0.1% of the time, it is used as “dear,” “darling,” or “sweet”… It is strange when I look at it again.) Well, there's no end to the number of ways to use “you” as a second person, it's inaccurate, and since it's the flattest and most common second person (according to various theories), it probably doesn't mean that much… but it's interesting, isn't it? えっ嘘みたいに長くなった。いったん切ります。 Oh what a joke, it's been so long. I'll cut it off once. 👋🚀

[asterrrrion]

Of all names in manga, I like Haikyuu names the best because they manage to fit the characters while still staying actual not completely out of the blue names, so here are (some) of the name meanings :

日向　翔陽, Hinata Shōyō. 'Hi'日 means sun or day, while 'nata'向 means to face, defy, confront or tend towards to. Together, they're used to say "a sunny place", but it's interesting to think that Hinata with his jumps is also defying or being draw to the sun.

'Shō'翔 is the radical of 翔る、which means to soar, to fly, to run or to dash. It also used to be in 翔ぶ、but it's not used anymore (it has been replaced with another kanji which... You'll see lmao), which means to jump or to leap. 'yō'陽 is generally meant to say "sunlight" but only when it's pronounced 'hi', while when pronounced 'yō', it means the Yang, so the positive, or an open space. Hinata has a very sunny name :').

影山　飛雄、Kageyama Tobio. There's two kanjis for "shadow", both pronounced Kage, but the one used in his name is 影, which has slightly different meanings. It means shadow, silhouette, reflection, presence or star/moonlight. Silhouette is cool, since Kageyama has always been this great king that everyone knows of, presence is interesting ("as long as I'm here..."), and the moonlight one shows that he's a counterpart to Hinata's sunlight. 'Yama' 山 means mountain. Now, Kageyama is a very common Japanese last name, but together they form the mountains shadow, or a shadowy mountain... So the name has like "impressive great king" connotations.

'Tobi' 飛 is one of the most used kanjis in the whole manga. You know that kanji I talked about earlier, which used to mean to jump or leap ? Well, it was replaced by this one. So the first kanji in Hinata's first name was replaced by the first kanji in Kageyama's name in the verb "to jump, to leap, to fly". It's also the kanji that's used in Karasuno's banner, Fly. 飛ベ。'O'雄 is very common in boy's first names in Japan (it's also used in Natsuo from mha for example). It means masculine, leader, superiority or excellence. So it's pretty weighted since Kageyama is this representation of complete natural superiority and talent.

月島　京, Tsukishima Kei. The first kanji of his name, 'Tsuki' 月 (do not exchange with Yamaguchi's nickname Tsukki, which is written in hiragana and not in kanji) means moon or month. It's both a reference to his personality and to be Hinata's counterpart, and it was already discussed in the anime. 'Shima' 島 means island, and it might be a reference to his isolated nature ? Also interesting to note that it has a strong resemblance to 'Tori' 鳥, the kanji for bird.

'Kei' 京 is just one of the kanjis pronounced Kei, which apparently sucks for him cause his first worry of the moment was that everyone was gonna ask him how to write his name since it was a new year :'). Like, I'm not kidding, there's 16 kanjis pronounced Kei. This one, anyway, means capital or 10^16. It's the second kanji in Tōkyō (東京), and I have no idea why the Japanese have a word for ten thousand billion.

山口　忠, Yamaguchi Tadashi. Finally, my favourite ! Yama still means mountain, and 'Guchi' 口 means mouth. It was chosen because of Yamaguchi's arc, which was about greed and pride, to show his unending greed : he's ready to swallow a mountain basically.

'Tadashi' 忠 means loyalty, devotion, faithfulness. It was probably chosen as a sign of both his loyalty to Tsukishima and to Karasuno !

I'm gonna stop at those four for now, but if you want others just say so, i'll get right on it !

----

Alright, update : started a series of those ! The other part for now is on the #haikyuunamemeanings tag

[konjaku]

寒咲菖蒲[Kanzakiayame] Iris unguicularis

寒[Kan] : Cold

咲[-zaki|Saki] : Bloom

菖蒲[Ayame] : Iris

It is native to the Mediterranean and a cultivated variety in Japan. It was given this name because it blooms during the cold season. The flower stalks are short, about twenty centimeters, and the flowers are blooming as if lurking among much longer leaves.

Today, February 29, is an intercalary day, which is called 閏日[Uruubi|Junjitsu], and it is drizzling around here now. 閏[Uruu|Jun] means overflow. 氵[Sanzui](三水, "water" radical at left) in kanji is associated with water, and added to this is 潤, which means to be moistened, such as 潤い[Uruoi] meaning moisture, 豊潤[Hōjun] meaning rich or abundant, and so on.

[liesonthefloordramatically]

But I am fine with where I am now This home is home, and all that I need But for you, this place is shame But you can blame me when there's no one left to blame

[maziijapanese]

10 Fascinating Things About Kanji You Might Not Know Yet

Kanji, the logographic characters used in the Japanese writing system, offer an array of intriguing aspects that fascinate learners and scholars alike. Their long history, unique structure, and cultural significance make Kanji a central part of both the language and the broader Japanese cultural landscape. Here are 10 fascinating things about Kanji that you might not know yet:

1. Pictographic Origins:

Many Kanji characters originated as simplified drawings or pictographs of the objects they represent. For instance, the Kanji for "tree" looks like a simplified tree. This direct connection between the character and the object it represents makes Kanji visually interesting and often easier to remember.

2. Complex Characters:

Some Kanji characters are quite intricate and composed of multiple strokes. This complexity contributes to the beauty and artistry of written Japanese. The intricate patterns and lines of Kanji characters can be seen in calligraphy, art, and traditional Japanese design.

3. Multiple Readings:

Kanji characters often have multiple readings (pronunciations), including on'yomi (音読み) based on the Chinese pronunciation and kun'yomi (訓読み) based on the native Japanese pronunciation. This can make learning Kanji more challenging, but it also adds to the richness and diversity of the Japanese language.

4. Radicals:

Kanji characters are categorized into radicals, which are smaller, meaningful components. Understanding radicals aids in learning and memorizing Kanji. By recognizing the radicals within a Kanji character, you can often deduce its meaning or pronunciation.

5. Jōyō Kanji:

The Japanese government designates a set of Kanji characters known as Jōyō Kanji, considered essential for daily use. For example, 人 (ひと, hito) - person; 日 (ひ, hi) - sun, day; 本 (ほん, hon) - book. This list is periodically updated to reflect changes in society and language usage.

6. Cultural Significance:

Kanji characters are integral to Japanese culture, seen in calligraphy, art, and traditional ceremonies. They often carry profound meanings and symbolism. For example, the Kanji for "family" (家) is often used in traditional Japanese homes, symbolizing unity and protection.

7. Stroke Order:

There's a specific stroke order for writing each Kanji character. Following this order is essential for proper penmanship and helps in remembering the characters. Learning the correct stroke order can improve your handwriting and make it easier to recognize Kanji characters.

8. Homophones:

Due to the limited number of sounds in Japanese, different Kanji characters can have the same pronunciation. Context becomes crucial in understanding meaning. For example, the Kanji characters "河" (kawa) and "川" (kawa) both mean "river," but they are written differently.

9. Adaptation in Other Languages:

Some Kanji characters have been adopted by other East Asian languages, like Chinese and Korean, with variations in pronunciation and meaning. This shows the influence and spread of Kanji throughout East Asia.

10. Evolving Characters:

The shapes and meanings of Kanji characters have evolved over centuries. Understanding historical contexts can provide deeper insights into their meanings. For example, the Kanji for "car" (車) was originally a pictograph of a chariot, reflecting the transportation methods of ancient times.

These aspects contribute to the richness and complexity of Kanji, making them a fascinating aspect of the Japanese language and culture. However, due to its complexity, it becomes a daunting challenge for many learners, including myself. There is no one-size-fits-all method or resource that works for everyone, so be patient as you figure out what works best for you to memorize Kanji.

[daily-hyosatsu]

Adorable stylized characters! This is a restaurant called 日日夜夜 Nichinichi Yaya, which is a cutesy way of saying every day and every night. (And now I have "Lady Marmalade" stuck in my head.)

日 means sun, day, Sunday, or Japan. It's also the counter for days. It's read ひ, -び, -か, ニチ, or ジツ.

夜 means night or evening. It's read よ, よる, or ヤ. The radicals are 亠 kettle lid, 亻 person, and 夕 evening.

However, unlike Chinese, Japanese doesn't typically duplicate a kanji by doubling it—instead, it uses the repeating character 々. And 日日夜夜 is a cutesy phrase with an unusual reading, so here's what you actually have to remember:

日々 [ひび] daily, every day, day after day, day by day, etc.

夜々 [よよ] every evening, night after night (While 夜々 isn't very common compared to 日々, it's still worth knowing!)

[takahashicleaning]

ＴＥＤにて

フロイド・E・ロムズバーグ：人工DNAの革命的な可能性

（詳しくご覧になりたい場合は上記リンクからどうぞ）

これまでの生物の細胞は、すべて、DNAの基本単位である４つの遺伝子文字（ヌクレオチド）、A、T、C、Gを元にしてできています。

しかし、現在はそうではありません。

先見性のあるトークを通して、合成生物学者のフロイド・E・ロムズバーグが、６つの遺伝子文字（４つの遺伝子文字+２つの人工文字）で作られた最初の生物を紹介し

この大きな進歩が自然による設計図の基本的な理解にどのように挑むのかを探ります。

あらゆる生物は、命ある物はすべて、DNA情報から創られてきました。どういうことでしょうか？

それは、英語がアルファベットから成り立ち、組み合わせて単語にすると、今日、私がお話しするストーリーを伝えられるようになるのと同じです。

DNAは遺伝子文字（ヌクレオチド）で作られ、それが組み合わさって遺伝子となり、糸のようにつながったアミノ酸が、複雑な構造に折りたたまれてできたタン��ク質を細胞に作らせます。

そのタンパク質が働いて細胞を機能させます。例えば、ストーリーを話すとかです。

英語のアルファベットは26文字ですが、遺伝子文字は４つです。

とても有名なのでご承知のことと思いますが、単によくG、C、A、Tと呼ばれます。生物のあらゆる多様性が、４つの遺伝子文字に起因するのだから驚きで。

英語のアルファベットが、４文字しかなかったとしたら、どんなストーリーが話せますか？遺伝子文字がもっとあったとしたら？遺伝子文字の多い生物は、色々な、もっと面白いストーリーを語れるのでしょうか？

1999年カリフォルニア州ラホヤにあるスクリプス研究所内の研究室で私はこの問題を研究し始めましたが、目標は自然界の４つの文字に新たに人工の２つの文字を加えた６つの遺伝子文字をDNAに持つ生物を創ることでした。

これまで創造された生物で、もっとも、根本的に変化させられた生命の形式になるでしょう。従来の生物より、多くの遺伝情報を保有する、半合成の生物です。

新しいタンパク質、通常タンパク質を作る20種類以上のアミノ酸からタンパク質を作れるでしょう。その生物はどんなストーリーを語るのでしょうか？

合成化学と分子生物学の力で、20年近い研究の末、６つの遺伝子文字を持つ微生物を創りました。

どうやったのかお話しします。

高校の生物学を思い出してください。

自然界の４つの遺伝子文字は、２種類の基本ペアとなります。GとC、AとTのペアです。新しい遺伝子文字を作るために、何百もの新しい文字候補を合成し、取捨選択して互いの選択的ペアとなる能力を、検証しました。

約15年の研究の末、少なくとも試験管の中では、相性の良いペアを発見しました。難しい名前があるのですが、単にXとYと呼びましょう。

次の段階で、XとYを細胞に入れる方法を模索し、藻類のあるタンパク質が、XとYを細胞に取り込むことを見つけ、この微生物でも働きました。そして、最終段階で、XとYを持つ細胞が成長して分裂し、そのDNA内にXとYを保持することを示す必要がありました。

気が短い私からするとそこまで辿り着くのに思ったよりも長くかかりましたが、この最も重要なステップは、私が期待したよりすぐにうまくいきました。早い話が即座にです。

2014年のある週末、私の研究室の大学院生が、６つの遺伝子文字を持つ微生物を培養したのです。早速、お披露目しましょう。これは実際の写真です。

初の半合成生物です。

６種の遺伝子文字を持つ微生物は、とてもクールですよね？皆さんの中には、いぶかしむ方もおられると思います。概念面と実用面からもう少し動機をお話しします。

概念的に、人々は「生物とは何か？」「命を持��ない物との違いは何か？」を思考力を得て以来、ずっと考えてきました。

一神教では、多くの人々が、生物は完璧なものと解釈し、創造主がいる証拠として受け止めてきました。神が生物に命を吹き込んだため、生物は他とは異なるのです。より科学的な説明を探る人々もいましたが、それでも生物の分子を特別視していると言ってもいいでしょう。

進化は何十億年間にも渡り、生命を最適化し続けてきました。

皆さんがどうお考えであろうと無茶苦茶な失敗をすることなしに化学者が自然界の生物分子の内部や共に機能する新しい要素を作ることは、不可能に近いように思えます。

「私たちはいかに完璧に作られ進化したのか？」「生物の分子がいかに特別なのか？」こういう質問は、問うことすら不可能でした。

生物と比較する物がないからです。私たちの初めての研究からすると生物の分子は、そんなに特別ではないかもしれません。

私たちが知る生物は、唯一無二の可能性ではないかもしれません。もしかしたら、唯一の答えでも最良の答えでもなく、答えの一つに過ぎないかもしれません。

それらの質問は、生物の基本的問題に触れており、いささか難解なようです。

では、実用面での動機は何かと言うと遺伝子文字を増やした新しい生物が語る新しいストーリーを探求したいのです。ここでのストーリーは、細胞が作ったタンパク質とその機能についてです。

では、半合成生物は、どんな新しい機能を持った新しいタンパク質を作り利用するのでしょう？

いくつかの可能性を思い描いています。

まず、私たちが使用するために細胞にタンパク質を作らせます。現在、タンパク質は、兵士を怪我から守る物質から危険な化合物の検出装置での使用まで、ますます幅広い分野で応用されていますが、少なくとも私が、一番興奮する応用はタンパク質薬剤です。

比較的新しいにも関わらずタンパク質薬剤は、すでに医学に革命を引き起こしました。

例えば、インスリンはタンパク質です。お聞き及びかもしれませんが、薬剤として製造され糖尿病の治療方法を完全に変えました。

でも、問題は、タンパク質は作るのが実に難しく唯一、実用的な方法は、細胞にタンパク質を作らせることです。

当然、自然界の細胞を使えば、自然界にあるアミノ酸を持ったタンパク質を作らせることができます。タンパク質の性質や新薬開発へ応用は、タンパク質を作るアミノ酸の性質によって制限されます。

これらがそうでタンパク質を作るため自然界の20個のアミノ酸が連なっています。

ご覧のとおり、そんなに違って見えません。

それほど多様な機能はなくそれほど多様な機能をもたらしもしません。合成化学者が薬として作った小さな分子と比較してみましょう。タンパク質よりもずっとシンプルですが、通常、ずっと幅広い範囲の物質から作られます。

分子の詳細をお気になさらずともいかに違うかお分かりになると思います。そして、実際、この違いによって様々な病気を治療する優れた薬となるのです。

色々な物質からタンパク質が作れたらどんなタンパク質新薬が開発可能かと思いを馳せるのは実に刺激的です。

半合成生物に新しい多様なアミノ酸を含むタンパク質を作らせることができるでしょうか?

たぶん、そのアミノ酸は、意図した特性や機能をタンパク質に与えるよう選択されるでしょう。例えば、多くのタンパク質は、体内では不安定なのです。急速に分解されたり、体から除去され薬として利用できません。

より良い薬剤として使えるように新しいアミノ酸でタンパク質を作れるとしたら？

タンパク質を体内環境から守り、分解や除去から保護する物質をタンパク質に結合したら？

どうでしょうか？

他の分子を掴むことに特化した小さな手を持ったタンパク質を作れたなら？

新薬開発中、多くの小さな分子は失敗でした。なぜなら人体という複雑な環境で標的を特定できなかったからです。その分子を新しいアミノ酸の一部として作り、タンパク質に組み込みそのタンパク質を使って標的に誘導できるとしたら？

私はバイオテク企業、Synthorxを立ち上げました。Synth(合成)+or(生物)+x(未知のもの)という意味です。最後の「x」はそれが、バイオテク企業のすることだからです。

Synthorxは、私の研究室と協働し、人間の細胞表面にある特定の受容体を認識するタンパク質を研究しています。

しかし、同じ細胞の表面の別の受容体も認識してしまうのが難点であり有害なのです。２番目の悪い受容体と相互作用する部分を大きな傘みたいな物でブロックし、１番目の良い受容体とのみ相互作用するタンパク質を作れたとしたら？

それは実に難しく自然界のアミノ酸では不可能ですが、その目的に設計されたアミノ酸なら可能です。

半合成細胞を小さな工場のように働かせてより良いタンパク質薬剤を作るのは、唯一の興味深い応用という訳ではありません。

そもそもタンパク質が、細胞を機能させるのですから新しい機能を持つ新しいタンパク質を作る細胞があるなら自然界の細胞では、不可能なことをさせられるでしょうか？

例えば、人に注射するとがん細胞を探し、がん細胞を発見した時に限って細胞を殺す毒性タンパク質を分泌する半合成的生物を開発できたなら？

異なる種類の油を食べる細菌を作れたなら石油流失の掃除をするかもしれません、遺伝子文字を増やした生物が、語るかもしれないストーリーのほんの数例です。

素晴らしいですよね？

では、半合成生物を人体に注射したり、海や皆さんのお気に入りのビーチに膨大な量の人工細菌を撒き散らすのはどうでしょう？

ちょっと待ってください。怖いですよね？この恐竜は怖いのです。

でも本当は次の通りです。

半合成生物が生き残るには、XとYの前駆化学物質を与えられる必要があります。XとYは自然界に存在するものと全く異なります。細胞はこれらを持っていませんし、作る能力もありません。

実験室の制御された環境で準備、培養する際、自然界に存在しない大量の餌を与えます。

そして、人体に投与されたりビーチに放出されたりすると特別な餌にありつけなくなり、あまり成長せず少しの間、生き残っても目的の機能を遂行する程度の期間です。

餌を食い尽くし、飢え、餓死して消滅します。

生物に新しいストーリーを語らせるだけでなく、ストーリーを語る時間��場所も指定できるのです。

このトークの序盤で2014年にDNAにXとYという、より多くの情報を持つ半合成生物を創った話をしました。

ただ、お話ししたどの動機にも細胞がXとYを使ってタンパク質を作ることが必要で私たちはその研究を始めました。数年以内に細胞は、XとYを持つDNAをDNAの作業複製であるRNAに複製できるでしょう。

昨年末、私たちは、タンパク質を作るのにXとYを使えることを証明しました。

この講演の目玉である最初の完全な機能を持つ半合成生物です。

緑に光るタンパク質を作っているので細胞が緑に見えます。クラゲから取れるとても有名なタンパク質です。作ったものが見えやすいので多くの人々が自然の形で使います。

しかし、これらのタンパク質の１つずつに自然の生物がタンパク質を作れない新しいアミノ酸が含まれています。

すべての生きている細胞が、４つの遺伝子文字を使ってすべてのタンパク質を作ってきました。ところが、これらの細胞は生きて成長し、６つの遺伝子文字を使ってタンパク質を作ります。

新しい生物の形です。生物の半合成の形なのです。

未来はどうなるのでしょうか？

私の研究室では、ヒトの細胞も含めた他の細胞の遺伝子文字を増やす研究をしています。より複雑な生物の研究も始める予定です。半合成の線虫を考えてみてください。

最後にお伝えしたいのは、私が申し上げる中で最も重要なことですが、半合成生物の時代はすでに始まったということです。

ありがとうございました。

クリス・アンダーソン:これは特に注目に値します。質問ですが、あなたの研究からすると宇宙の他の星に生物が存在する可能性についてどう考えればいいのでしょうか？

生物のすべてが、DNAに基づいているという仮定のようですが、自己複製分子の確率空間は、DNAより高いもがあるのでしょうか？６種のヌクレオチドを持つDNAよりも高いですか？

フロイド・ロムズバーグ:全くその通りです。

私の研究が示すものは、申し上げたとおり常に偏見が付きまといます。

つまり、私たちは完璧であり、最適化され、一神教では、神がこのように人間を作られ進化が我々を完璧にしたと私たちは自然界の分子以外に機能する分子を作りました。

それが示唆することは、化学と物理の原理に則るいかなる分子もそれらを最適化でき、自然界の分子と同じことをします。

そこに魔法はありません。

そのことは生物が異なる形で進化できることを示唆していると思います。他の種類のDNAを使って私たちと類似ものができるとか、全くDNAを使わないかもしれません。

クリス:確率空間は、どの程度だとお考えですか？知ることができるでしょうか？

DNA分子のようであったり、自己複��して潜在的に生物を創れる全く違ったものかもしれません。

フロイド:個人的意見ですが、新しい生物を発見しても多分気付かないと思います。

クリス:水などがあって生存に適した場所であるゴルディロックス惑星を目指して調査するなんてひょっとして非常に偏狭な仮説かもしれません。

フロイド:話し相手を見つけたいならダメかもしれませんが、ただ別の形の生物を探すというなら街路灯の下で生物を探せると思います。

クリス:全員を驚かせてくれてありがとう。

（個人的なアイデア）

前提として、公人、有名人、俳優、著名人は知名度と言う概念で��優越的地位の乱用を防止するため徹底追跡可能にしておくこと。

人間自体を、追跡すると基本的人権からプライバシーの侵害やセキュリティ上の問題から絶対に不可能です！！

これは、基本的人権がないと権力者が悪逆非道の限りを尽くしてしまうことは、先の第二次大戦で白日の元にさらされたのは、記憶に新しいことです。

マンハッタン計画、ヒットラーのテクノロジー、拷問、奴隷や人体実験など、権力者の思うままに任せるとこうなるという真の男女平等弱肉強食の究極が白日の元にさらされ、戦争の負の遺産に。

基本的人権がないがしろにされたことを教訓に、人権に対して厳しく権力者を監視したり、カントの思想などを源流にした国際連合を創設します。他にもあります。

参考として、フランスの哲学者であり啓蒙思想家のモンテスキュー。

法の原理として、三権分立論を提唱。フランス革命（立憲君主制とは異なり王様は処刑されました）の理念やアメリカ独立の思想に大きな影響を与え、現代においても、言葉の定義を決めつつも、再解釈されながら議論されています。

また、ジョン・ロックの「統治二論」を基礎において修正を加え、権力分立、法の規範、奴隷制度の廃止や市民的自由の保持などの提案もしています。現代では権力分立のアイデアは「トリレンマ」「ゲーム理論の均衡状態」に似ています。概念を数値化できるかもしれません。

権限が分離されていても、各権力を実行する人間が、同一人物であれば権力分立は意味をなさない。

そのため、権力の分離の一つの要素として兼職の禁止が挙げられるが、その他、法律上、日本ではどうなのか？権力者を縛るための日本国憲法側には書いてない。

モンテスキューの「法の精神」からのバランス上、法律側なのか不明。

立法と行政の関係においては、アメリカ型の限定的な独裁である大統領制において、相互の抑制均衡を重視し、厳格な分立をとるのに対し、イギリス、日本などの議院内閣制は、相互の協働関係を重んじるため、ゆるい権力分立にとどまる。

アメリカ型の限定的な独裁である大統領制は、立法権と行政権を厳格に独立させるもので、行政権をつかさどる大統領選挙と立法権をつかさどる議員選挙を、別々に選出する政治制度となっている。

通常の「プロトコル」の定義は、独占禁止法の優越的地位の乱用、基本的人権の尊重に深く関わってきます。

通信に特化した通信プロトコルとは違います。言葉に特化した言葉���ロトコル。またの名を、言論の自由ともいわれますがこれとも異なります。

基本的人権がないと科学者やエンジニア（ここでは、サイエンスプロトコルと定義します）はどうなるかは、歴史が証明している！独占独裁君主に口封じに形を変えつつ処刑される！確実に！これでも人権に無関係といえますか？だから、マスメディアも含めた権力者を厳しくファクトチェックし説明責任、透明性を高めて監視しないといけない。

今回、未知のウイルス。新型コロナウイルス2020では、様々な概念が重なり合うため、均衡点を決断できるのは、人間の倫理観が最も重要！人間の概念を数値化できないストーカー人工知能では、不可能！と判明した。

複数概念をざっくりと瞬時に数値化できるのは、人間の倫理観だ。

そして、サンデルやマルクスガブリエルも言うように、哲学の善悪を判別し、格差原理、功利主義も考慮した善性側に相対的にでかい影響力を持たせるため、弱者側の視点で、XAI(説明可能なAI)、インターネット、マスメディアができるだけ透明な議論をしてコンピューターのアルゴリズムをファクトチェックする必要があります。

＜おすすめサイト＞

カール・ジューン：これまでのがん治療法を変える「生きた薬」？

シェーン・レッグとクリス・アンダーソン ：AGI（汎用人工知能）のトランスフォーマーアルゴリズムな可能性 - そしてそれがいつ到達するか

ダニエル・ギブソン：DNAを人工的に作りインターネットで送る方法

ディーナ・ゼリンスキー：DNAをデジタルデータを保存する記憶装置にする

キエン・グエン：色分けされた手術

クレイグ・ベンター：「人工生命」について発表する

リサ・ニップ：宇宙での生存に備えて人類が進化する方法

＜提供＞

東京都北区神谷の高橋クリーニングプレゼント

独自サービス展開中！服の高橋クリーニング店は職人による手仕上げ。お手頃50ですよ。往復送料、曲Song購入可。詳細は、今すぐ電話。東京都内限定。北部、東部、渋谷区周囲。地元周辺区もＯＫです

東京都北区神谷高橋クリーニング店Facebook版