Secondary school days saw almost every July morning starting off on a somewhat sunny, optimistic note with the National Day songs echoing from the public announcement system.
He spoke in a telephone interview on Saturday, and before hanging up, added an optimistic note. "Japanese people are very resilient people," he said. "They are low-key but very, very strong people."
It is not, however, the only optimistic note as far as malaria is concerned.
The book ended on an optimistic note.