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Casting Words into the Future

I can’t make things that make life easier. I can’t heal illness with my hands. All I have are words. So I cast my words into the future, and keep going with reflection, ingenuity, and effort— in the hope that they will lead to a better one.

Maho Isono / Anthropologist

Specialized Fields: Cultural Anthropology, Medical Anthropology

Professor, Institute for Liberal Arts Research and Education, Tokyo University of Science (Formerly Tokyo Institute of Technology)
Director, De-Silo General Incorporated Association
Director, Applied Anthropology Research Institute / ANTHRO

News

Coverage 2026/03/18

On the Film Adaptation of “When Life Suddenly Takes a Turn”

When Life Suddenly Takes a Turn: Twenty Letters Between a Philosopher Living with Terminal Cancer and a Medica […]

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Coverage 2026/03/12

Yurufuwa Year-End Party vol.6 “Top 3 of the Year 2025”

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Casting Words into the Future｜Five Pillars for Achievement

Integrity: Being honest as much as I can. Letting my actions match my words.
I know full well that living by these two ideals every day is hard. Still, to keep my words from becoming cheap, I do my best to hold myself to these ideals.
Honor the Past: Don’t mock what came before. Don’t ridicule it out of hand. Where we are today is built on what came before us. If we carry forward what still matters—and pass it on—our words can travel into the future.
Reflect, but do not regret: Failures and mistakes are part of life. If they’re the result of doing your best—true to what you believe—regretting them won’t help. I don’t want regret to keep me in the past. I want reflection to carry me forward—linking past and future.
Cherish the serendipity of encounters: Who I am today has been shaped by a series of chance encounters. That’s why I hold dear the people who helped shape the path that led me here—and I intend to honor and build upon the connections they’ve given me, now and into the future.
Stand alone: Some people speak only to protect their reputation. It may please those around them and even raise their standing. But I believe such words are weightless—and they fade quickly. If you want to use words for the future, there are times you must forgo approval here and now. If you want to send your words into the future, dare to stand alone.

Published Books

Re-Encountering the Pandemic: Field Notes from the “Nonessential”

🏆 Winner of the 33rd Yamamoto Shichihei Award (2024)

The Yamamoto Shichihei Award is a Japanese literary and non-fiction prize honoring outstanding works of social commentary and cultural criticism.Yamamoto Shichihei (1921–1991) was a Japanese essayist and social critic, best known for his sharp analyses of postwar Japanese society, organizations, and patterns of thought through historical, cultural, and religious perspectives. One of his best-known works is A Study of “Air” (Kūki no Kenkyū)
🏅 Ranked 6th in the 2024 Kinokuniya Humanities Award

The Kinokuniya Humanities Award is a Japanese book prize organized by Kinokuniya, one of Japan’s leading large bookstore chains, highlighting outstanding humanities titles each year.

Overview

Originally serialized in Asahi Shimbun Digital Re:Ron from April 2023 to January 2024, now published as a book. Analyzes the COVID-19 pandemic from a medical anthropology perspective, drawing on fieldwork conducted in three locations in Japan. Incorporates fundamental theories of medical anthropology, making it suitable as a textbook. For those who felt something was off during those days, please read this. Published by Kashiwa Shobo in 2024. Edited by Junpei Amano. Currently in its third printing.

【Speech for the 33rd Yamamoto Shichihei Award】

Newspaper Reviews, Interviews, and Dialogues

A poison called "harmony" circulates faintly in the air of this society, poisoning us unnoticed. Like a canary in a coal mine, this book warns of that danger. And it shows where the exit might be.

Mihoko Ishii / Nikkei Newspaper

"The state of emergency resembles a rain dance," "This isn't about 'life versus the economy,' but 'life versus life,'" "Japan thought it could suppress COVID with sheer willpower." All are striking words from medical anthropologist Maho Isono, featured in this book.

Fumio Otake / Mainichi Shimbun

His clever twist on the phrase "harmony leads to extremes" to describe this nation's tendency toward vague yet extreme countermeasures is brilliant.

Mayumi Nakazawa / Fukushima Nippo

Even in the COVID era, the case of a care facility where each staff member acted based on their own thinking, thereby avoiding "extremes," is extremely interesting. It really hits home how important—and difficult—it is to avoid mental paralysis during emergencies.

Junko Sakai / Shukan Bunshun

Also featured in Chubu Keizai Shimbun (by Kenji Oirei of Orai-do Bookstore), Weekly Dokushojin (by Sho Iriyama), and the nursing care magazine Bricolage (by Toshiki Kobayashi of Haikoncho).

Media Appearances, Discussions, and Interviews

Kyodo News 'Current Location'
YouTube "Shintaro Uchinuma's New Book Picks"
PIVOT: What Does Medical Anthropology Tell Society?
Culture Broadcasting 'Ohtake Makoto's Golden Radio'
TBS Radio 'Satei Takeda's Pre-Friday Night'
Tokyo FM 'Blue Ocean'
JFN 'FUTURES' Takashi Nakajima 'Talking Catcher'
Asahi Shimbun Re:Ron

"When Life Suddenly Takes a Turn-Twenty Letters Between a Philosopher Living with Terminal Cancer and a Medical Anthropologist" (co-authored with Makiko Miyano. Shobunsha, 2019)

🎥Film adaptation directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi confirmed
🏅 Kinokuniya Jinbun Grand Prize 2020 - Ranked 10th

Overview

I first met the philosopher Maiko Miyano in September 2018. Our encounter would, a year later, take shape as a book composed of twenty letters exchanged between us. Yet in July, two months before its publication, Makiko finished writing everything and passed away.

To speak without betraying the words written here. That is my vow, and also the way I keep my promise to Makiko.

By an uncanny turn of fate, this book has been set to be adapted into a film by director Ryusuke Hamaguchi,
acclaimed for works such as "Drive My Car." At last, it is scheduled for release in 2026.

It has also been translated into Korean and Traditional Chinese.

Book Review

One could read this book as a life story where Miyano's existence flows toward death, accompanied by Isono's exhortations. Yet what truly propelled Miyano's life was the fundamental, unpossessable depth of the time we encounter each other.

Sakamaki Shitone* / 'Society and Ethics'
* The person who facilitated Miyano-san and my meeting.

The conclusion Miyano reached—to love a world filled with the beginnings of living with others through chance and destiny—is overflowing with a depth and beauty that resonates with all of us living together in society.

Keisuke Sato/Kyodo News

Their dialogue, woven with sincere feelings toward each other, is powerful, sometimes even intense.

Urata Chihiro, Jinbun Shoin / Kyoto Shimbun

There was a possibility the correspondence would be interrupted if Miyano's condition worsened. Yusuke Esaka (42), the editor in charge at Shobunsha, says, "In a sense, it was a gamble." The book was published on the 25th, and its content and production process embodied the "heart of Miyano's philosophy."

Reporter Kōshi Machi / Mainichi Shimbun

Featured in Weekly Economist, UOMO, VERY, "NHK Hirumae Hotto," and the Asahi Shimbun evening edition.

Author Interviews & Dialogues

Diet Illusions: Losing Weight, Being Loved

🏅 Selected for JBBY's "100 Children's Books We Want to Introduce Overseas"

Overview

Based on research into eating disorders, this book was written for young people struggling with body image. It unravels the power of numbers and the relationship between body shape and self-identity from a cultural anthropology perspective.

As I grew older, I felt the tangible sense of my former body image struggles fading away. I wanted to capture that feeling in a book before it vanished. Yet, this book has been read not only by young people but also by men over 50.

Published in 2019 by Chikuma Primer Shinsho. Edited by Yosuke Hashimoto. Currently in its 5th printing.

Book Review

I especially recommend this book to those who desperately want to lose weight but feel inadequate because they can't.

MiyabeMiyuki/Yomiuri Shimbun

The "line" the author presents is the trajectory of each individual life. She urges us to cultivate the ability to experience what emerges between ourselves and the world. Though published as a Chikuma Primer New Book aimed at younger generations, it also serves as an excellent guide for adults.

Yoko Hiramatsu / Mainichi Shimbun / Sunday Mainichi

The "illusion" referred to here isn't limited to dieting; it's the overconfidence that "everything can be controlled." In a society where managing one's surroundings and self is valued, what should have been kept in check swells up, becoming like a fire-breathing dragon that spirals out of control.

Yamamoto Poteto/Jinbundo

I long to return to the days before I even thought about dieting. Or better yet, I wish I could install within myself the spirit to love my body just as it is. Unable to do either, I wallowed in self-pity. Maho Isono's Diet Illusion is the book that changed my daily life.

Yumiko Miyadai/Yoi

After realizing how serious my situation was when I had to undergo health counseling, I resolved to diet. Browsing for diet books for reference, I picked up "Diet Illusions," which stood out.

Daisuke Miyagawa, Owner, Shunkodo Bookstore / Asahi Shimbun

Interviews & Dialogues

Kyodo News "Diverse Talents"
Beyond the Traps of "Being Loved" and "Authentic Self" (8-part series, interviewer: Azusa Mizuno)

The Unanswerable World as Told by Medical Professionals: The Anthropology of "Guardians of Life"

Overview

In my first work, Why Can't I Eat Normally?, I focused on the patients themselves, which made the medical professionals' perspectives seem one-dimensional. Therefore, in this work, I depict the viewpoints of diverse medical professionals through interviews and observation. Fieldwork at the cardiology outpatient clinic and the Kampo (traditional Japanese medicine) outpatient clinic was also utilized.

What surprised me was how often medical professionals, who seemed like they should know the answers, actually didn't have them. They work on the front lines, constrained by organizations and systems, feeling stifled and conflicted. This book had a profound influence on my subsequent works.

Published in 2017 by Chikuma Shinsho. Editor: Yosuke Hashimoto. Currently in its third printing.

Reviews & Interviews

In the book's afterword, the author states, "I wrote this book hoping that the eight stories presented here would resonate in some way with readers' own lives." This book demands a readiness to respond to the author's challenge, yet it is an excellent work that undoubtedly guarantees a reward commensurate with that effort.

Seiji Saito / The Science of the Mind

The author questions whether the commonplace notion that "curing" illness is the essence of medical practice actually obscures the true nature of their work.

Ren Inaizumi / Yomiuri Shimbun

A cultural anthropologist observes the common sense and discrepancies between the medical professionals' side and the patients' side. Neither a medical expert nor a patient. Cultural anthropologists are those who observe without preconceptions.

Watanabe Toshiko / Weekly Bunshun

Why aren't the "obvious" practices in the field ever improved? Why do uncertain truths pass as certain ones? The author is a cultural anthropologist. Their perspective—neither clinician nor patient, but a third eye—should spark reflection on these questions.

Miura Tensako / Sunday Mainichi

Operating without exceptions forces illness into its usual box.

Saitetsu Takeda / Weekly Gendai

Interview

Nikkei Newspaper 'After the Afterword'

Inquiries & Newsletter Registration

Work Inquiries

Casting Words into the Future

News

On the Film Adaptation of “When Life Suddenly Takes a Turn”

Yurufuwa Year-End Party vol.6 “Top 3 of the Year 2025”

Casting Words into the Future｜Five Pillars for Achievement

Published Books

Re-Encountering the Pandemic: Field Notes from the “Nonessential”

When Life Suddenly Takes a Turn-Twenty Letters Between a Philosopher Living with Terminal Cancer and a Medical Anthropologist (co-authored with Makiko Miyano. Shobunsha, 2019)

Diet Illusions: Losing Weight, Being Loved

The Unanswerable World as Told by Medical Professionals: The Anthropology of "Guardians of Life"

Why Can't We Eat Normally? The Cultural Anthropology of Anorexia and Bulimia

Inquiries & Newsletter Registration