One can think of several reasons why the long nights of autumn would be thought of as suitable for working on research and writing papers. First of all, it is a comfortable season as temperatures are generally cooler in the fall, which could improve one’s concentration. In addition, the daylight hours are shorter, giving us more time to concentrate on work at night. Moreover, autumn is a season with beautiful changes to the natural world, and people often seek out new stimulation during seasonal changes. This might stimulate creativity and inspire one to work on research and write papers. Autumn is filled with many literary works and poetry depicting the autumn landscape and the vibe of the season, and people may be inspired by these works. There must be cases where a literary sensibility acts as a catalyst for scientific research and writing papers.

I am a fan of the Onihei Hankacho series of historical novels written by the late Shotaro Ikenami. The fictional Onihei Hankacho, the Superintendent for Arson, Robbery, and Gambling during Japan's Edo period, confronts the evil elements of society. He sometimes shows an extremely stern side of his personality, but he also sometimes moves the readers to tears with his humane judgments. The novels are sprinkled here and there with such “mattemashita! (eagerly anticipated)” moments. I wonder how the Japanese saying “mattemashita!” would be expressed in English. The dictionary would probably define “mattemashita!” as the sense of joy or excitement that wells up when something one has been eagerly anticipating comes true. I think that this emotion is not one unique to the Japanese but rather is shared by everyone around the world. My hunch is that every country has a set phrase for expressing a similar emotion. If anyone knows, please let me know.

The website of the Tokyo Fire Department gives the following explanation: “After being established in 1665, the Superintendent for Arson, Robbery, and Gambling continued to exist until 1866, although it had been temporarily abolished before that. In the beginning, it appears that it was used as an alias, not an official position in the shogunate, only later becoming a formal title at some point in time. It went by various names, e.g., robbery surveillance, robbery reform, arson/robbery surveillance, gambling surveillance, and gambling reform, but it is always referred to as the Superintendent for Arson, Robbery, and Gambling in the book of heraldry in the late Edo period, and sometimes abbreviated as the Superintendent of Arson/Robbery. Unlike the town magistrate, the Superintendent for Arson, Robbery, and Gambling himself would sneak around town and capture criminals. As the title implies, he would crack down on arsonists, robbers, and gamblers, and arrest and interrogate criminals, but the objective of his job was to reduce the number of criminals on the streets rather than to maintain the municipal government and public order like the town magistrate.” It stirs my imagination in interesting ways when I ponder what it would be like if we had this kind of organization, which differs from the regular police, in today's world.

Coming back to the “long nights of autumn,” it is said that after weathering the intense summer heat of Edo, the people would recover from the fatigue that had built up by getting plenty of sleep during the long and comfortable autumn nights. It is also said that the “long nights of autumn,” when everyone is sleeping soundly, are the perfect time for thieves to ply their trade. One person's chance to rest is another person's opportunity to reap. Beware, beware.