He is most renowned as the inventor of Gakutensoku, Japan's first functional robot.
Makoto was born on March 26, 1883, in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture.
When he discovered a tree growing on his plot of land, he refused to cut it down.
Instead he decided to build his house around it so that it grew in his living room.
Over the years, he worked as a professor at Hokkaido University as well as taught in Kyoto and Manchuria.