On June26,2000,both the international team composed of governmental institutions in USA,EU,
and Japan and a private company,Celera Genomics,released individual draft versions of the sequence
of the human genome, and the former has declared the completion of the sequencing in 2003. This
paper is focused on the DNA sequencing technology,a‘must’in the Human Genome Project (HGP).
First, a brief history of the invention of the principle of DNA sequencing is described. Next we
describe the details of the key technologies that have made the success of the HGP possible. The
reason Japan has been completely defeated as to its contribution in the HGP is summarized although
Japan had at least one step ahead of USA in the concept of both automated DNA sequencing
technologies and ‘human genome project.’Finally we suggest the need of the enhancement of the
science literacy and the technology literacy.