Research

Research Staff
The Lake Biwa Museum has a large research section, employing 33 researchers covering many aspects of the cultural, faunal and floral aspects of lakes and their watersheds. There are three main research groups.

	Director General

Toru Shinohara

Folkloristics - Folklore related to the relationships between people and nature.

	Cultural History and Geoscience Research Group

Keiichi Takahashi		Vertebrate palaeontology - The transformation of ancient vertebrates in East Asia as viewed in elephant fossils.
Yasufumi Satoguchi		Geology - Volcanic ash layers in the Kobiwako Group, and the correlation with volcanic ash layers in other areas.
Chiyomi Yamakawa		Palaeobotany - Fossil flora of the Cenozoic.
Shingo Kusaka		Botany - The role of vegetation in adjusting water quality: How water quality is adjusted in forest soils and how deforestation changes water quality.
Hirotada Okumura		Rivers - Research regarding the construction of zero emission type regional models in the bamboo lumber industry in river channels.
Michinori Hashimoto		History - Social changes in the 13th century of Japan.
Shinji Miyamoto		Micropalaeontology - Reconstruction of paleo-environmental changes in the Quaternary by analysis and measurement of various types of sediment samples (mainly fossil pollen).
Fumiko Oi		Ethnology - Research of everyday cultures as seen from people's houses and tools.
Ping Yang		Environmental sociology - Relationships between nature and humans.

	Biotic and Human Interaction Research Group

Mark J. Grygier		International limnology - Crustacean systematics and marine parasites.
Katsuro Yahiro		Systematics of terrestrial insects - Taxonomy and ecology of Caraboidea beetles.
Masanari Matsuda		Benthonic zoology - Investigation of bivalve distribution in Shiga Prefecture.
Kayoko Kameda		Animal ecology - The role of birds in the ecosystem.
Toshiyuki Hazama		Agriculture - The structural quality and regional activity of rice fields that act as fish nurseries.
Masayuki Kuwahara		Fish ecology - Relationship between Biwa trout, a subspecies indigenous to Lake Biwa, and amego or red-spotted masu salmon inhabiting Lake Biwa's tributaries.
Hiroki Haga		Limnology - Lake ecosystems and the interaction of the environment.
Yasushi Kusuoka		Microbial ecology - Ecology and taxonomy of ciliates.
Katsuki Nakai		Environmental conservation and restoration - Ecosystem of the littoral zones of lakes, ecology of introduced aquatic organisms; geographical variation of land snails.
Minako Ashiya		Aquatic botany - Breeding and growth of aquatic plants.
Kazuhiro Masunaga		Aquatic insects - Classification and systematic evolution of aquatic insects, biogeography.
Robin James Smith		Aquatic microfauna - Taxonomy and ecology of lake ostracods. Development of ostracods.
Kazuhiko Sugahara		Fisheries - Prevention and treatments of fish diseases.

	Museum Studies Research Group

Masaharu Yoda		Archaeology - Process of state formation.
Takashi Toda		Museum information and computer science - Investigating the water flows of Lake Biwa through satellite and aircraft observations.
Taisuke Ohtsuka		Microbiology - Distribution of adhesion diatoms.
Hiromitsu Akiyama		Data preservation - Reproductive behavior of zunaganigoi (Gobioninae) and sound producing mechanisms of the gigi fish.
Naozumi Terao		Forestry - The conservation and use of 'satoyama' forests.
Yoko Nakato		Data applications - Traditional resource utilization and the change in the Lake Biwa water system.
Hisato Ohyori		School cooperation - Improving the cooperation between the Lake Biwa Museum and schools.
Kazuhiro Fujihashi		School cooperation - Development of study programs that use the Lake Biwa Museum.
Shigefumi Kanao		Aquatic propagation - Ecology and conservation of fish that use rice fields.
Kumiko Sawabe		Museology - Regional cooperation of museums.

	Honorary Researchers

Tomoo Nunotani		Museology - Past-environment reconstruction utilizing wooden relics. Management of the museum from the users' point of view.
Tsuneo Nakajima		Morphology of fossil fish - Pharyngeal teeth of fishes of the carp family.
Hiroya Kawanabe		Ecology - Relationship among ecological complexity and biological and cultural diversities.
Masayoshi Maehata		Aquatic propagation study - Breeding and ecology of catfish.

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