I had the opportunity to work at the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry (GIG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) through CAS’s PIFI program from May 2019 to February 2020, by the kind invitation of Professor He Hongping, performing research on primitive materials from the early Solar System.

I retired from Kyoto University in Japan in March 2019. The PIFI program gave me a wonderful chance to continue my research with Chinese scientists. Thanks to the program I was able to propose a new model on the formation of a meteorite parent body and to prepare for X-ray tomography analysis of the samples that will be collected from the Asteroid Ryugu by a spacecraft (Hayabusa-2).

After coming to GIG, I recalled a proverb: “A rolling stone gathers no moss.” I have heard that this proverb has a somewhat negative meaning in the UK while a positive meaning in the US (I’m not confident about this because I am not English or American). I think that both meanings probably apply to me. I felt both the very modern China and the old China. This is not just in terms of daily activities but also science. China may be aiming at something new that is somewhat beyond western culture (by using Chinese characters?) by rolling. Anyway, I’d also like to continue to do something interesting by rolling.

I have enjoyed my life in Guangzhou not only for research but also for the meals, the sightseeing and other activities, thanks to my colleagues and students at GIG.