I have been working with Wetlands International Japan since March 2010 and was appointed director of the Japan office in the beginning of 2016. I lead to discuss the mission and goal of the organization and thus strengthen the institutional base. Furthermore, I have been engaged in nationwide long-term monitoring surveys on biodiversity around wetlands, including mires, marshes, lakes, rocky shores, tidal flats, seagrass meadows, and algal beds.
In my undergraduate days, I enhanced my interest in wetlands while in the Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands, which is a UNESCO world natural heritage site. I developed an interest in the islands’ biological diversity and Conservation biology of fishes through these experiences. The subject of my doctoral research was ‘Conservation and Preservation Approaches of the Endangered Freshwater Goby’. After I received a doctoral degree from Kindai University, I conducted an aquacultural research into developing methods for the cryopreservation of fish gametes.