Walking the streets of Tokyo with Hawking in his wheelchair … I felt as if I were taking a walk through Galilee with Jesus Christ [as] crowds of Japanese silently streamed after us, stretching out their hands to touch Hawking’s wheelchair. … The crowds had streamed after Einstein [on Einstein’s visit to Japan in 1922] as they streamed after Hawking seventy years later. … They showed exquisite choice in their heroes. … Somehow they understood that Einstein and Hawking were not just great scientists, but great human beings.
