NHK, Japan Broadcasting Corporation has started to Broadcast a new program on NHK's morning drama series commonly known as Asadora, titled “Ranman” which portrays the life of Tomitaro Makino as a drama. He is the first scientist to be portrayed as a protagonist in the 62-year history of this popular drama series.
Tomitaro Makino was born in a rural village west of Kochi City in 1862. His curiosity in plant life soon developed into a devotion to botanical research throughout his life of 94 years. As an avid field botanist, Makino collected some 400,000 botanical specimens and named over 1,500 new species and subspecies of plants during his life. In 1940, he published his Illustrated Flora of Japan, a reference work that remains indispensable to professional botanists and enthusiasts even today. Travelling widely throughout Japan for his work, Makino became well known as much for his bright personality as his ability to communicate the wonder of the plant kingdom. Taken together, they make Tomitaro Makino the father of botany in Japan.
It should be noted that from the early years of the 20th century, Tomitaro Makino recognized that research on plant diversity in Japan would lead to promotion of the plant industry through the development of novel edible, horticultural, and medicinal plants, and he urged Japanese plant taxonomists to make efforts towards this end. Today the basic principles of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which include research and conservation of plant diversity, sustainable use, and equitable sharing of benefits arising from them, are not only linked to one of the SDGs, the goal of “protecting the richness of the land”, but are also extremely important issues related to the goal of “eliminating poverty and hunger”. I look forward to seeing efforts in Japan that will bring Makino Tomitaro's idea of industrial utilization as an outlet for plant diversity research into the present day.

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Dr. Tomitaro Makino is one of Japan's leading plant taxonomists who contributed to the flora of Japan by collecting specimens through active research on a nationwide scale at the dawn of modern botany in Japan.
Born in Sakawa, Kochi Prefecture, into a merchant family that runs a sake brewery, he showed an interest in plants from an early age, voluntarily dropped out of elementary school, and studied plants on his own without a formal education. Makino was also involved in the launch of domestic academic journals such as “Botanical Magazine (Tokyo)” and “Journal of Japanese Botany”.
Makino was also involved in the establishment of botanical clubs across the country, gave instruction and lectures at the meetings, and made efforts to spread general education about plants. He is also highly regarded for his exceptional botanical drawing talent, which has brought his scientific drawings of plants in Japan to the world level.
During his lifetime, he named about 1,670 scientific names of vascular plants, including wild species and horticultural cultivars. However, since he did not use Latin, the scientific names he described without Latin diagnosis or description after 1935 are invalid names according to ICN.
Focusing on Tomitaro Makino as a plant taxonomist, here I would like to discuss what Makino's research and education on Japanese plants was like, and what impact his activities had.

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Tomitaro Makino, one of the leading taxonomists at the early and developing stages of botany in Japan, is well known due to his botanical illustrations in the so called “Makino Style”. Some characteristics of his illustrations are mentioned here together with the background. His illustrations are basically line drawings using very fine blushes, including those that are said to be made of three rat hairs. He drew the sketches of plants onsite in different seasons and integrated them to create a perfect image of the plant. He was also careful about the procedure of printing. He leaned lithography and, in some cases, printed his illustrations himself. From the initial sketches to final publication of the perfect images of the plants, he rewrote the illustrations and revised proofs many times.

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Tomitaro Makino, a botanist born in Sakawa Town, Kochi Prefecture, is quite popular in the region, however is not well known nationwide. As such, a civic group was established to work with the aim to make him a hero in the popular morning TV drama program of Nippon Hoso Kyokai (i.e., NHK, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation). The NHK decided to broadcast the TV drama in which Makino was set as a hero, starting April 2023. In response to this, Kochi Prefecture has launched a campaign to link this TV drama to business promotion including sightseeing. Private companies have also been planning a series of products such as gin, sweets, and new botanical arts associated with Makino. The world-renowned botanist “MAKINO” was born out of the natural environment of Japan, which is blessed with a diversity of plants, not to mention his hometown of Kochi Prefecture.

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I lived with my great-grandfather, Tomitaro Makino, during my childhood from birth to age 10. Tomitaro was in the last years of his life, but what remains as a lasting impression on me is the sight of him working late into the night in his study. After Tomitaro's death, his family's desire to pass on his achievements to future generations led to his home being preserved as the Makino Memorial Garden and opened to the public. Over 400,000 herbarium specimens collected during his lifetime were donated to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and over 45,000 books, botanical drawings, and research materials were donated to Kochi Prefecture, where they are stored and used as research mater ial in the Makino Herbarium in Tokyo Metropolitan University and the Makino Memorial Library in the Kochi Prefectural Makino Botanical Garden. The Makino Memorial Garden has been renovated and has held various special exhibitions related to the achievements of Tomitaro Makino, including botanical drawings. A project to restore Tomitaro's study is also underway, and I hope to make the facility a place where his life can be conveyed.

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Botanical gardens originated from herb gardens where medical and pharmacy students were educated on medicinal plants in the 16^th and 17^th centuries. Later, during the Industrial Revolution, European powers used botanical gardens to introduce and cultivate industrially useful plants from abroad for production on plantations in their colonies. Today, botanical gardens are not just flower parks, but serve as research institutions that use their plant collect ion and cultivation skills to conserve plant diversity and its industrial application. One of the most important research activities in botanical gardens is the analysis of plant diversity, for which a process called plant inventory will be implemented to comprehensively collect native plants in the particular field, prepare herbarium specimens, and perform taxonomic identification. In the process of plant inventorying, plants potentially useful as horticultural plants, agricultural crops or pharmacologically active plants will be discovered, and information on their distribution will be accumulated. Thus, plant inventory is closely linked to the industrial application of plant resources. As an example of such activities, the plant inventory in Myanmar towards finding novel pharmaceuticals and/or nutraceuticals by The Kochi Prefectural Makino Botanical Garden is described.

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n-3 Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 LCPUFA) such as docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n-3) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20:5n-3) play crucial roles in the development and maintenance of health in vertebrates. Insufficient intake of n-3 LC-PUFA leads to a significant decrease in the survival rate of marine fish, especially at larval and juvenile stages. Most freshwater fish and salmonids require α-linolenic acid (ALA, 18:3n-3), which is found in vegetable oils, as an essential fatty acid but they do not require n-3 LCPUFA. On the other hand, carnivorous marine fish such as red sea bream and Japanese flounder require large amounts of n-3 LC-PUFA for their growth (approximately 1-3% of their dry diet).
Genomic analyses of many fish species and heterologous gene expression experiments have enabled identification of the desaturases and elongases involved in n-3 LC-PUFA biosynthesis in various fish species. These analyses show that almost all teleost fish have lost FADS1, the enzyme responsible for del ta-5 desaturase activity in vertebrates, and possess FADS2, which is responsible for delta-6 desaturase activity, as the sole desaturase to synthesize PUFA. Some teleost fish have acquired the ability to synthesize DHA through duplication and multifunctionalization of the FADS2 gene during evolution, which has enabled them to adapt to their nutritional environments. As marine environments are rich in microorganisms that can synthesize DHA and EPA, it is believed that marine teleost fish no longer possess the capacity for n-3 LC-PUFA biosynthesis due to their reliance on the environment for their supply of DHA.
The price of fishmeal, which serves as a significant source of n-3 LC-PUFA, has increased over time with the expansion of the sea aquaculture industry. Therefore, it is necessary to explore options for enhancing aquaculture technology, such as the development of alternative feeds and genome-editing technology, to achieve sustainable fisheries.

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The Central Andes area in South America, especially Peru, is a treasury of herbs, with an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 varieties. The Inca civilization did not have a written language, and the knowledge of herbs in the Andes is still taught by word of mouth, with no written records. Therefore, most information about local herbs is known only by indigenous Peruvians. In the late 17th century, Spanish Bishop Baltasar Jaime reported about some Peruvian herbs. The herbal surveys were continued by other researchers, but were limited to areas of the coastal plains and one part of the Amazon. In the 20th century, herbal research has mainly proceeded in the areas where many indigenous people live, such as Northern and Southern Peru and Lake Titicaca. At present, Peruvian herbs are used not only domestically but also overseas, but there are many challenges regarding the varieties and uses of the herbs. One of the problems is that it is hard to choose the most suitable herb for a specific use because there is only traditional, widely varying knowledge about potential uses. Further, it is important to know that a given herb has no side effects and is highly safe in a long-term chronic dosing regimen. Therefore, scientific verification is needed by bioassays, etc. As another problem, the most serious threat to this millennia-old tradition is habitat destruction. Urban sprawl has already greatly altered the coastal plains. Climate change is also threatening the mountain forest systems that are the source of many herbs. Most importantly, the Central Andean ecosystems, where many herb species are found, are in danger of being destroyed by large-scale industrial developments.

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Botanical art is a painting style that combines science and art, looking at plants through the eyes of science and also combining elements of art. The plants to be painted must be carefully observed and botanically accurate, as well as of artistic value in terms of a painting, such as composition and beautiful colors. In ancient times, drawings were made for herbology, and transcription of them lasted for a long period of time. It was not until the Renaissance in the 16th century that paintings were based on living plants. Coming to the Age of Exploration, new plants were brought from all over the world to Europe. Botanical art evolved as a means of accurately documenting precious plants, while botanical research also evolved from herbalism to botany. Botanical art, which also contributed to the development of botany through the cooperation of botanists and artists, reached its golden age in the 18th and 19th centuries. Botanical art developed as a way of accurately documenting plants in an era when there were no photos, but today, with the advancement of technology, anyone can easily take beautiful photos. Contrary to this trend, in the present day, artists all over the world are active in depicting plants in what has been called a second golden age.

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