Last Updated: 2022.01.31
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Creativity of Individuals and the Private Sector;
a Key to Shaping the Future for the Next Generation

Shinya Yamanaka
Physician-Scientist / Professor at the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA),
Kyoto University / Representative Director of the CiRA Foundation
Tadashi Yanai
Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. Chairman and President
How did the world of science change during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Professor Shinya Yamanaka, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or
Medicine, has been conducting research at Kyoto University, Japan,
and Gladstone Institutes, California, traveling back
and forth between the countries while navigating travel restrictions.
Through his research, Professor Yamanaka is keeping a close eye
on the frontline and future.
Below is an edited version of discussions between Professor Yamanaka and Tadashi Yanai, Chairman, President & CEO of Fast Retailing. These discussions took place during a period of quarantine for Professor Yamanaka after returning to Japan and later during an in-person meeting in Tokyo.
(The interview took place on October 2021)