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.
Chiyomi Yamakawa		Palaeobotany - Fossil flora of the Cenozoic.
Yasufumi Satoguchi		Geology - Volcanic ash layers in the Kobiwako Group, and the correlation with volcanic ash layers in other areas.
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).
Ping Yang		Environmental sociology - Relationships between nature and humans.
Fumiko Oi		Ethnology - Research of everyday cultures as seen from people's houses and tools.

	Biotic and Human Interaction Research Group

Masayoshi Maehata		Aquatic propagation study - Breeding and ecology of catfish.
Mark J. Grygier		International limnology - Crustacean systematics and marine parasites.
Toshiyuki Hazama		Agriculture - The structural quality and regional activity of rice fields that act as fish nurseries.
Masanari Matsuda		Benthonic zoology - Investigation of bivalve distribution in Shiga Prefecture.
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.
Katsuro Yahiro		Systematics of terrestrial insects - Taxonomy and ecology of Caraboidea beetles.
Kayoko Kameda		Animal ecology - The role of birds in the ecosystem.
Atsushi Makino		Community sociology - Community sociological research concerning environmental problems.
Hiroki Haga		Limnology - Lake ecosystems and the interaction of the environment.
Taisuke Ohtsuka		Microbiology - Distribution of adhesion diatoms.
Naozumi Terao		Forestry - The conservation and use of 'satoyama' forests.
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.
Katsuki Nakai		Environmental conservation and restoration - Ecosystem of the littoral zones of lakes, ecology of introduced aquatic organisms; geographical variation of land snails.
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.
Takane Isoda		Aquatic resources - The ecology of young Nigoro-buna.

	Museum Studies Research Group

Masaharu Yoda		Archaeology - Process of state formation.
Hiromitsu Akiyama		Data preservation - Reproductive behavior of zunaganigoi (Gobioninae) and sound producing mechanisms of the gigi fish.
Yasushi Kusuoka		Regional cooperation - Ecology and taxonomy of ciliates.
Takashi Toda		Museum information and computer science - Investigating the water flows of Lake Biwa through satellite and aircraft observations.
Minako Ashiya		Museum exhibitions - Breeding and growth of aquatic plants.
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.
Tatsuya Iizumi		School cooperation - Development of study programs that utilize the Lake Biwa Museum.

	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.

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