Regarding the Nov. 22 article "Exploring cancer research, the classic 'Sakura' and filial piety": Takashi Tachibana's views about cancer do not make sense to me. This may be a fault of the translation. Cancer is not always associated with death. Many people with cancer will die of some other illness. Many will be cured of their cancer.
Cancer is not some separate cell or virus that lives in anything. Cancer is a state in which normal cells have morphed into a different way of existing — multiplying uncontrollably and not undergoing the normal process of cell death. Cancer is not a complex organism, it is not another thing.
Cancer is not usually "contracted" as a result of infection — though some are. Many forms of cancer are related to lifestyle — environment, diet and exercise — and as such can be avoided by a change in lifestyle. Similarly, once a cancer develops, it can be mitigated by altering one's lifestyle. Cells turn cancerous all the time, but are usually dealt with by the body's immune system before they develop to a dangerous stage.