One factor by which we can guess the character of somebody is the “eyes” of the person we meet. The eyes of a person who is engaged in his or her work look serious as well as attractive.

Last year, I happened to see on the media somebody whose eyes struck me strongly. That person was Ms. Eiko Ishioka, an art director residing in New York. Her look, while she was at her work, glued me to the scene and gripped my heart with its attractiveness transcending her age. Her look reminded me, if I’m allowed to say, the personal atmosphere that my late mother had always created. It closely resembled that of my mother. It was so impressive that it even made me yearn for an opportunity to meet with her if I had an opportunity to visit New York.

It was therefore a sad surprise for me to learn at the end of last year that she died of cancer of the pancreas. She went at just about the same age as my mother did. Her serious look was also that of my mother who had never given up fighting against the same illness. Ms. Ishioka’s serious look, while alive, spoke of the same hard struggle that my mother had sustained, too.

When I’m treating my patients, I am not able to see my own eyes, of course, but we look mutually into the eyes of each other from time to time. The eyes of my patients are honest and seriousness itself. Each time I feel the pulse of my patients, I ask myself if I deserve their seriousness and how responsibly I should respond to it.

I sincerely pray that Ms. Ishioka’s soul will rest in peace, while I seriously long for the day to come when my own eyes strike the heart of each patient as Ms. Ishioka’s eyes did mine.