The future of Japan

Two weeks ago I went to the culture festival of Tokyo Institute of Technology(東京工業大学), my alma mater and now Eriko's college. I had to go because she was selling Tapioca milk tea at the festival and I felt obliged to buy some. I bought 4 cups of tea. It tasted as good as the milk tea in a PET bottle you can buy at a super market. Ok, good, I fulfilled my duty as an uncle. Then went to listen to a Jazz band, because an ex-student of mine was playing the trumpet there. I'm always impressed with her performance. I enjoyed the beat though the sound was too loud for my ears even if they cannot hear abve 8kHz.
In the next building there was an open house of laboratories(研究室公開). I dropped in. When I was reading a panel of their research outcome, a student came up.
"説明していいですか？"
"Oh, sure. Please."
"液晶って知ってますよね"
"Oh, yes, I believe so."
"これは液晶分子を利用して筋肉を作っちゃおうっていうことです"
"Oh, that's interesting. So you can control the movement with an electric signal just as we do with our nerve-muscle system."
"違います。これは熱で制御するんです"
"Oh, that's regrettable. If it's heat, you can't control the muscle well."
"スルドイ！その質問は初めてです"
"Oh, is it? So what is the application of this heat-controled muscle?"
"用途...ですか？えーと....用途。ちょっとわかりません。今のところただ面白いということで。"
"Oh, you have no idea? Ok, what is this panel?" I asked pointing to the next explanation panel.
"これは液晶分子を集積し３次元構造体を作っちゃおうというものです"
"Oh, sounds interesting. what's the purpose of this study?"
"目的ですかぁ？目的と言いますと？"
"Oh, I am asking why are you carrying out this research."
"スルドイ質問ですね...ただ作れちゃったら面白いかな...と"
"Oh, I didn't know it was such a sharp question. But You at least have a dream about the future of your research outcome, don't you?"
"夢ですかぁ？............"
"Ok, thanks anyway. It was interesting."
What he lacked was a heat, a flame of enthusiasm for his research. It was obvious he was doing it just because the professor of his lab told him to do it.
Then I popped in "Current Affairs Research club(時事問題研究会)". They had panel display of their results of investigation on "Japanese Food Problems". The student who explained the panels to me was very much enthusiastic about his work although the topic had nothing to do with science or technology. They had heat. They seriously thought about problems of our food security. I did not think their findings were anything new and thought that thier conclusion was a kind of banal. But it was good as long as it was THEIR findings and THEIR conclusion. Nobody else told them to study this topic. They picked out this topic by themselves and had discussions on their own to draw that conclusion. I felt refreshed listening to their hot explanation.
On my way home I wondered why. Why they were not eager about their majors and showed such fervor about the topics out of their major? I think I can understand their feelings. Though it is pretty dangerous to draw any conclusion from just two examples,it may be a question of self-initiative or voluntarism. But I wonder why they can't have a sense of voluntarism about their majors?
The future of Japan heavily depends on them.