福島の旅 5 過去の地震と津波

"English text with similar contents"

  　福島での見学を終えて、仙台経由の旅行だったので、最後の日（３月１０日）に東北大学の土壌立地学研究室（南條先生・高橋先生・菅野先生）を訪問しました。

  　東北大学自体も3.11の地震によって甚大な被害を受けたのですが、教職員の皆さんは地元の被害からの復興にむけてたゆまぬ尽力をしてこられました。特に津波の被害を受けた土地の土壌調査を何百地点もしてこられました。

  　様々な研究成果を紹介して頂きましたが、そのなかで、仙台平野の沿岸部の津波被災地で作られた土壌断面標本を見せて頂きました。亘理、仙台、七ヶ浜の３カ所で農地に穴を掘り、露出した断面を樹脂で固めて作成されたものでした。いずれの土壌断面にも深さ50cm 前後のところに厚い砂の層がありました。そしてその砂の層の上には黄色の火山灰層があり、この火山灰は十和田湖が915年に噴火したときに噴出した十和田a と呼ばれるものでした。この火山灰は東北地方ではあちこちで見られるものなのですぐにわかったそうです。その火山灰のすぐ下に砂の層があることから、この砂の層は869年に起こったことが記録されていた貞観11年の大地震に伴って発生した津波によるものであることがわかりました。今回の2011.3.11地震が起こる1142年前にも、今回の地震をしのぐ規模の地震と津波が起こっていたのです。

  　この地震の前後には富士山の大噴火(864)、播磨地震(867)、仁和地震(887) なども起こっており、大変な時代だったようです。

  　土壌断面写真の右下に示した写真は仙台空港行の電車の窓から空港到着直前に写した農地の写真です。除染や再整備が終わって、お米の作付けを待っている状態だと思います。

  　過去の古文書には、日本で起こった大地震のことが、記録されていることがあります。有名な「方丈記」（鴨長明）にも元暦２年（１１８５年）に関西で起こった大規模地震の被害の惨状が記録されています。日米修好通商条約の締結を求めに日本にやってきたハリスが著した「日本滞在記」のなかで、日本滞在中に起こった安政の大地震（１８５８年）のことを記録しています。宮沢賢治が生まれた年には明治三陸地震（１８９６年）が起き、亡くなる半年前（１９３３年）には昭和三陸地震が起きました。私は震災前に八戸の陸奥湊を散歩したことがありますが、そのとき海を見下ろす丘のうえに明治三陸地震と津波の被害を伝える石碑があったことを思い出しました。

  　最近はまた日本各地で地震の発生が頻繁に起き、私が北海道に来てからでも釧路沖地震と奥尻島に大被害をもたらした地震がありました。釧路沖地震では帯広畜産大学も大被害を被りましたし、奥尻の地震も私自身が訪問してから１・２年後に起こったので、印象に強く残っています。阪神淡路大震災も同じ頃起きました。今回の３．１１地震の際も帯広にいてさえ、かつての釧路沖地震を思い出すほどの揺れでした。

  　海外でも、インドネシアスマトラ、中国四川省、トルコ、イラン、マレーシア・タイ、フィリピン、ハイチとあちこちで大地震が発生しました。

  　これだけ地震による被災が続くと、これからも何が起こってもおかしくないような気持ちになりますが、それでも被害に遭うのは恐ろしいですし、災害で死にたくはありません。

  　原発を推進する人たちはこのような状況に対して無頓着なのか、肝がすわっているのか、それともこういう状況に目をつむっても推進させなくてはならない立場にあるのか、そのいずれによるものでしょうか？多分、国民の安全と生命を犠牲にしても、どこかの大国の言うことには従うしかない人たちなのでしょう。

  東北大学土壌立地学研究室のホームページを紹介します。

    東北大学土壌立地学分野のホームページ

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Scenes of Melting Winter in Hokkaido

  These photos were taken on my way to central agricultural experiment station at Naganuma, Hokkaido on February 19.

  These photos were taken when I walked from Obihiro station to my house in Kawanishi on February 23. I passed Green Park and Obihiro agricultural high school for short catch.

  These photos were taken on March 2 in Aikoku town, the neighboring town to my residence area. The town is beyond Satsunai river, a quiet agricultural village.

  Upper photos shows the elm tree growing near the water purification plant of Obihiro city at Inada town. The tree is very big and old. Our city protects this tree as one of the memorial trees of the city.

  Upper photos were taken along a small stream named Kikanko river flowing in our town. The origin of water is ground water and it will not freeze in winter. The name "Kikanko" came from the history that it flew through a locomotive switch yard of a sugar beet company.

  On March 25 and 26, the temperature in Obihiro rose nearly to 15 degree C, and the snow is melting rapidly. After lunch, I walked to the experiment field of my university for my exercise. There I saw students of horse riding circle practicing horse ride together. From tomorrow, the temperature is expected to decrease again.

  Snow is melting rapidly in Obihiro, as well as in my garden which was fully covered with snow until last weekend.(March 27)

  With snowmelt, sprouts of various plants appeared on the black soil. Crocus, spinach, and strawberry were distinguished. Lower right photo is unknown yet. (March 27)

  Only very little snow is remaining in my garden, and I found snowdrops just started blooming this morning (March 30). Snowdrops are marker flowers which notice the change from winter to spring here. It remembers the blooming time very punctually. I was also surprised to see the strong power of snowdrop sprouts which bored holes on the covering fallen oak leaf to come out.

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Rice wine breweries

  I visited a brewery museum of Hakushika Co. in Nishinomiya on February 9 after attending the wedding ceremony of my former student. Though I like rice wine, I learned here for the first time that rice wine is brewed once a year during winter season. February is the month when new rice wine is shipped.

  I also visited another brewery in Kuriyama, Hokkaido after visiting the agricultural experiment station on February 19. The name of the brewery is Kobayashi brewery. They had also a small museum using their old stock house. Breweries are proud of their history.

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Cherry along the old Tokaido road near Shinagawa

  I visited Tokyo to attend a scientific meeting on April 5. On the next day, I could enjoy walking along the old Tokaido road near Shinagawa where I stayed. There were many temples and shrines along the road. Cherry was just in full bloom in the yards of temples as well as along the bank of Meguro river.

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Spring in Obihiro

  Almost all snow has melted and black soil has come out. Hidaka mountain range can be seen very clearly and beautiful these days. Adonis, snowdrops and crocus have started to bloom, but we have to wait still one more month before the bloom of cherry in Obihiro.

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Two JICA courses have started

  Two JICA training courses have started almost the same time. One is “Soil Diagnosis” course, and another is “Farmer-led Extension” course, to both of which I am participating as a lecturer. In the “Soil Diagnosis” course, I am a course leader, and I am engaged in the schedule planning, guidance for interim report preparation, and also in teaching some topics in the history of agriculture in Tokachi and Hokkaido, as well as the role and utilization of organic matter in agriculture. In the “Farmer-led Extension” course, I take the role in teaching soil diagnosis and soil profile observation. On May 12, participants of both groups visited the city office of Obihiro to pay the courtesy call to the mayor. When I will retire from the university, these duties will come to end, until then I will do my best.

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Soil diagnosis practice in the "Farmer-led Extension" course

  “Farmer-led Extension” course of JICA are held two times a year, first in a midwinter and the second in May or June. As in the mid-winter, we can not go to field, the contents of my lecture and practice are soil and plant analysis. In the early summer course, my curriculum is the lecture of soil diagnosis, the observation of soil profile, and the rapid soil test. On May 21, I have finished my curriculum on soil diagnosis in the field and laboratory.

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JICA Soil Diagnosis Course Training in Tsukuba

  I accompanied the excursion trip of JICA Soil Diagnosis Course to Tsukuba from July 8 to 12. We visited the National Institute of Agriculture and Environment, and had lectures from Dr. K. and Dr. T., both of whom I know many years. Dr. T. is a graduate of Soil Science Laboratory of Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine. We also had lectures from Dr. S. and Dr. Y. who have profound experience in the extension activity in foreign countries. Dr. Y. was my colleague while we were studying in Nagoya University. I was very happy that Dr. Y. recovered from his sickness for three years and could start his lecture again. In the JICA Tsukuba center, I could meet my former teacher during my undergraduate and graduate school age in Nagoya University. Dr. A., my former teacher has an experience of JICA long term expert in the National Soils Bureau of the Philippines, and one of our trainees in this year was an assistant to him while he was in the Philippines. The JICA trainees had further training in Tokyo until July 14, but I had to come back earlier to give my classes in the university.

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Closing ceremony of "JICA Soil diagnosis" course

  Interim report presentation meeting and the closing ceremony of the "JICA Soil Diagnosis Course in Obihiro, 2014" was held on July 25 at JICA Obihiro.
  When you arrived here in Obihiro, farmers in this region have just finished sowing the seeds of beans, planting the seedlings of sugar beet and seed potatoes in the field, and now, harvest of wheat and potatoes are already going on. The three months you have spent here were so productive season for the earth of Tokachi. However, I am sure that these three months were also very fruitful for you. During your stay, you could enjoy the friendship with the participants from various other countries and also with the people in Obihiro. I hope this friendship and the understanding between different peoples in the world will be kept for long time. On the other hand, these three months might have been also too long for the families waiting for you in your country. Please have a safe and comfortable return trip, and have an active and happy life in your home countries.
See you again!

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Private excursion to Mt. Takao and Showa Memorial Park after the JSSPN meeting

    From September 9 to 11, I attended the annual meeting of Japanese Society of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition held at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology in Tokyo. Of course my duty was to present my research and to attend some meetings, I also enjoyed extra things.
    On September 12 for my return trip, I had enough time before my return flight. Therefore, I made a short excursion to Mt. Takao. From Tachikawa where I stayed, Mt. Takao was very near. I left Tachikawa at 8:00 in the morning, rode JR Chuo line, Keio line, and Mt. Takao cable car successively, arrived at the mountain top station at 8:50 already. From the mountain top station of cable car to the summit of Mt. Takao was around 50 minutes walk. The walking way was thoroughly paved and easy to walk. I enjoyed watching the wild flowers along the walk way. The flowers I could see were Tama-ajisai (Hydrangea involucrata), Yamaji-no-hototogisu (Tricyrtis affinis), and Shuhkaido (Begonia grandis). I saw the last two flowers for the first time. They are not so common in Hokkaido.
    At noon, I came down to the mountain foot station of cable car already. Then I went to Showa Memorial Park in Tachikawa and enjoyed walking in the park until 13:40, because I had to ride the train at 14:09 at Tachikawa station to the airport. The Showa memorila park was very wide and fantastic. I liked the Japanese garden and the childrens park. Tokyo is a very crowded city, but it has many parks and green areas from place to place. Maybe, they are the heritages from Edo era when people enjoyed relatively peaceful life.

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Soil profile in the experiment farm of Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine

    Recently, in the end of October, I made a soil profile in the experiment farm of our university. The area of the university farm is very wide, and soil profiles may change from place to place. This time, I dug the pit in the “Seimitsu-Hojou”, where we grow crops for the study carried out in each laboratory.
    As it was a good chance to dig the soil after clearing the crops, and cold winter is approaching very soon, I hurried making the profile. Because I wanted to show the remaining crop roots on the profile, I selected the site where I grew sweetcorn.
    The problem of this field is the occurrence of very hard B layer beneath the Ap layer. It originates from the very fine textured “Tarumae c” volcanic ash (3000 years B. P.) which is ca. 50 cm thick here.
    Below the “Tarumae c” layer, there was a thin humic layer on the red-brown colored “Tarumae d” layer (9000 years B. P.). Humic layer might have been formed after the fall of “Tarumae d”, but it was very thin and seems like to be scraped by the “Tarumae c” layer.
    Below “Tarumae d” layer, there was a lighter colored layer, which may correspond to “Eniwa a loam”. I dug the profile up to 130 cm until the bottom of“Eniwa a loam”. I checked the soil below this depth using a soil boring stick. There was a sandy soil between 145 – 160 cm, which may correspond to “Eniwa a sand” layer fell 17,000 years B. P.
    I made also two soil monoliths from this profile, and now I am fixing the surface of soil monolith with Bond glue and clear lacquer. It will take still some days until I can complete the soil monolith.

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Japanese Humic Substances Society Meeting at Nippon University in Fujisawa

    I am uploading the photos which I took during my trip to Nippon University in Fujisawa, Kanagawa prefecture, on the occasion of the 30th meeting of Japanese Humic Substances Society held from November 21 to 23, 2014. I have been very busy officially and privately in these months, and already one month has passed since the meeting. Time flies like an arrow, and it is already the end of year.
    I contributed to the establishment of the Japanese Humic Substances Society since it was planned more than 30 years ago. I was still an assistant professor at Nagoya University. My professor, Dr. Shozo Kuwatsuka, was very much enthusiastic to establish and organize this society, and I helped him. I also helped him to hold the 5th International Humic Substances Society Meeting at Nagoya in 1990.
    In 2016, the International Meeting of IHSS is planned again in Kanazawa, Japan. I am happy that Japanese Humic Substances Society has lasted 30 years, developed larger, and is now inviting the international meeting for the second time in Japan. It will be also the year when I will retire and leave the Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine.
    Anyway, Nippon University was a beautiful and majestic university. It is the largest private university in Japan. The campus had many green trees, and the building was very beautiful. It had also a university museum. From the window of the fourth floor, I could see Mt. Fuji. I understood why this place is called "Fujisawa".
    After the meeting on November 23, I visited Kamakura and Enoshima, very famous tourist sites in Japan. I visited here very long ago (around 50 years) when I was a middle school student for the study tour organized by the school. These places were very crowded by tourists because it was the mid-day in the three continuous national holidays. I could see a wedding ceremony held in the open air stage of "Tsurugaoka shrine". Kamakura is the place where Kamakura shogunate was established in 1192 AD.
    When I reached Enoshima, it was already dark because I started the tour 15:30 in the afternoon. I walked through a long bridge connecting the Enoshima island and the shore of the land. I just visited the shrine in the island, and it was nice that very few tourists were there because it was late already.

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A new illustrated book on earthworms in Japan

  I bought a book on earthworm paying respect to the animal which have plowed soil for more than 400,000,000 years and of course to the author who has published his life work.
  Since plants proceeded from sea to terra earth 4 hundred millions years ago, earthworms accompanied the history of plants from its initial stage.
  I myself carried out the study on earthworms two times. One is the contribution of earthworms on the bioturbation of chernozem (Mollisols) in Germany. Second one is the contribution of earthworms on the bioremediation of Cd-contaminated soil.
  This book is the first illustrated book on earthworms in Japan. The species listed in this book are mainly Megascolecidae which are popular in main and southern islands of Japan. Lumbricidae species which are common in Hokkaido are not described in detail in this book. However, this book will be a good guideline also for studying Lumbricidae species.
  There are so many species of earthworms that even a specialist knows less than 10 percent of their names, or 90 percent of them do not have their names yet. They are so much diversified that each country or state may need its own earthworm book.

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Mini-soil monolith

  I prepared miniatures of soil profiles which I dug in the field of my college last year and two years ago.
  The miniature is 1/5 scale, 1 m is reduced to 20 cm. On a plywood, I marked the boundaries of soil layers by pencil and put bond glue layer by layer.
  Then I placed the soil samples which had not been crushed on the glue. After leaving it overnight, I removed the excess soil, and I put transparent varnish on the surface of soil using a pipette. The varnish is the one mixable with water.
  It is not heavy, and easy to hang or easy to carry. It is useful to explain the difference in soil profiles to students.
  I am going to use it in my next practice lesson for students.
  Photos of the four profiles are also shown. It is difficult to represent the original color of the soil.

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My home town

  There was a TV program "Kokoro-tabi" (Spiritual trip) on April 15, in which the actor, Mr. Hino, visits various places by bicycle, introduced by the letter from the audience.
  In the yesterday's program, he visited the water supply pump station in my home town.
  The house where I was born is located just 100 m below the pump station.
  The Atago elementary school, where I learned was also intorduced.
  I had photos of my home town taken when I returned there in August, 2011.
  Photos of the water pump station, gates of my elementary school and middle school are uploaded above.

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Wild flowers along a stream in spring

  I had six continuous holidays since last Saturday. In Japan, we call this a golden week in May.
Next continuous holidays are in September, in which we can have 5 holidays including Saturday and Sunday.
  The family of my first son was with us since last Thursday, because he could have leaves from his company even before the golden week.
For five days until Tuesday, I was with three grandchildren. I did not go out so much with grandchildren, but could have a nice time with them.

  My wife and the son of my daughter had cold (flu) since the beginning of the golden week, and I had the same since two days ago.
Fortunately, I had a medicine for flu (the remaining one which was prescribed from the doctor last year), and I could recover in one day,
though I have a slight pain in my throat. It was lucky that the flu was not transferred to the family of my first son.

  Today, my daughter went out with his son, therefore, I needed not to spend time with my grandson.
I went to my college this morning, and planted the bulbs of gladiolus, which were kept in my laboratory during the winter,
in the flower garden of junior course. The remaining bulbs were brought to my house and I planted them in my garden.
I also transplanted the flower plants in the room to the pots placed outside in the garden.

  After reading a book for some hours, I made a short walk around my house. There is a small stream and nice park near my house,
and I could enjoy various wild flowers blooming in this season.
  Not only the wild plants, I could find tulips and narcissus in the bush, which were planted there many years ago and forgotten.

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Visit to Iwaki city in Fukushima, second time

   It is no more “recent article”, but I visited Iwaki city in Fukushima prefecture again after one year from March 22 - 24.
   I visited many places in Iwaki in two days. Toyoma was the most severely damaged place due to the Tsunami on March 11, 2011.
   Most of the remains of damaged houses have been removed. Only the building of middle school was remaining. Bulldozer also removed my soil-sampling site that I found last year, so I looked for another place for sample collection.
   In the seriously damaged area, re-construction work is very actively carried out, but it is still at the stage of clearing.
   The city was very active with construction workers. They go also to the area very near to the Fukushima Daiichi Exploded Atomic Power Station.
   It was difficult to find a room in any business hotel; I used a capsule hotel, whose main function is to provide only an enough space for sleeping.

   On the day when I arrived at Iwaki, I visited the two important museums and a very old temple, Hakusui Amida-do.
   One of the museums was a coalmine and fossil museum, which I also visited last year. Another museum was “Aqua-marine Fukushima”.
   It was not only a facility to show rare fish, but it was a complete museum showing us the aquatic ecosystem from mountain forest to sea.
   This aquarium was also damaged severely by Tsunami, and lost 90 % of the fish in the aquarium. I praised the recovery of this amazing museum.
  

   The temple, which I visited, was constructed in Heian era, around 1100 years ago. It had a very beautiful water garden, making people imagine the view of heaven.
   The lady who founded the temple was a daughter of Oushu Fujiwara family, which ruled the northeastern Japan in the age. Their capital place was in Hira-izumi in Iwate prefecture, and the lady was also born there.
   For the memory of her birth place, she named the place “Haku-sui”. If you separate the Chinese character for “Izumi” in two parts, they will be “Haku” and “Sui”.
   A neighboring city of Iwaki is also named Izumi city.There are many cities, towns, and villages named “Izumi” in Japan. The distribution of “Izumi” communities is related to Azumi people, who were very good at sailing, fishery, and various technologies imported from China and Korea.
   Originally they migrated to Japan from the continent, and always explored the front line of Yayoi people. Therefore, I suspect that Iwaki was one of the front outposts of Azumi people.
  

   In Iwaki, there are many shrines. Almost every fisher village has “Suwa shrine”. I also visited one of them in Ena village, neighboring to Toyoma village. Toyoma village also had its own Suwa shrine.
   The main “Suwa shrine” is located in Nagano prefecture in central Japan. Suwa shrine is dedicated to the ancient god “Take-minakata”, who was the second son of “Ohkuninushi”, the first king of Japan in the mythological age.
   After “Ohkuninushi” gave up his country to “Amaterasu”, his son “Take-minakata” fled to Nagano prefecture and fought against “Take-mikadzuchi”, the general of “Amaterasu”, and was defeated. However, he swore to “Take-mikadzuchi”, that he shall never go out from Nagano Prefecture, and for this reason, the life of “Take-minakata” was spared.
   His shrine was maintained by Azumi people who contributed the foundation of ancient Japanese country in the very early age.
   I think “Suwa shrines” in Iwaki area had been overlooked by the central force of Japan, because they were located very far from the ancient capital of Japan, Nara and Kyoto.
  

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Museum of Map and Survey in Tsukuba

   On April 11, 2015, I attended a committee meeting for soil education in Tsukuba. As Obihiro is very far from Tsukuba, I stayed in Tsukuba on the day. In the morning of next day, I visited the museum of map and survey attached to Japanese Geological Survey Authority for the first time. Then I visited also the Tsukuba Botanical garden, which I have visited several times.
   In the yard of the museum of map and survey, there was a model of earth, which covers the territory of Japan. Therefore, it was a part of spherical shape. There were also miniature models of earth and moon, which were placed in the actual distance in a reduced scale.
   Diameter of earth is 12,756 km, moon 3,476 km. Their distance is 384,400 km. If the diameter of earth is reduced to 1 m, that of moon is 27 cm, and the distance is 30 m. I could learn these relationships by the models in the museum. Even in this reduced scale, the distance between the sun and the earth, 149,600,000 km, will be 11,728 km. We have to place the miniature model of sun with a diameter of 109 m somewhere around Sakhaline Island.
   In the museum, we could learn the history and technology of maps. There were also exhibitions related to the earthquake on 3.11, 2011. There was also a special exhibition on the recovery of Japan from the World War II, so that we could compare the landscape of Japanese cities before the war, just after the war and in the present by the photos and maps.
  

   On April 12, 2015, after visiting the museum of map and survey, I proceeded to the Tsukuba Botanic Garden, by bicycle. I rented it at Tsukuba Express Station.
   In the greenhouse, it was also mid-spring, and I could see many flowers blooming. I could see the flowers of Banana for the first time.
  

   The photos above show the flowers seen along the walkway outside. It was the season of the end of cherry and camellia flowers. Pieces of flowers were scattered on the ground. I felt that it was also beautiful. I could see these flowers after on month in Obihiro.
   After visiting Botanic Garden, I took a highway bus to Haneda airport and came back to Obihiro. On the same day, there was an accident in JR Yamanote line, and trains in Tokyo stopped for more than 11 hours. If I took the train, I could not come back on the same day. It was lucky that I took the highway bus.
  

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Farmer led extension course by JICA Obihiro in May, 2015

  I have guided the "Farmer-led extension course" of JICA Obihiro on May 27, 2015.
My topic was soil diagnosis and soil profile observation.
  It was very lucky for us that the weather was very fine.
We went to the junior course experiment farm, and studied the soil profile there.

  Soil profiles had been dug by the junior course students on Monday.
JICA trainees dug the soil pit further, and shaped it up.
We practiced soil color, soil texture, soil hardness determination.

  We took also some soil samples and tested simple soil chemical characteristics by the rapid method, "Midori-kun".
The time was not enough to test the soil samples with pH meter and EC meter.
I checked them after the trainees left.
Anyway, it was a nice practice.

  After the practice of JICA and junior course students, I prepared the soil-monoliths from the two soil profiles made during the practice.
For completing the soil monolith, I have to do still many procedures, but for the moment I do not have enough time. For soil-monolith preparation, we should not be hurry.

  Please see the contents of the JICA training on the following page.
Some new slides are added in my lecture presentation.
JICA Farmer-led Extension Course, Texts and Results

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Four soil profiles dug in the student experiment field

  This year, I dug four soil profiles in the student experiment field with my laboratory students.
It is a part of the graduate thesis study for one of the students.
  The detailed explanation of the soil profiles will be done in the thesis.
Soil profiles looked extremely different to each other even though they were dug in a relatively small area (ca. 4 ha).

  For the comparison, I also uploaded the photo of the soil profile dug in the central part
of the same field 10 years ago in June, 2005. I was interested in the thin humic layer at ca. 80 cm depth.

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Hakata trip

Yamagasa festival at Hakata, Fukuoka prefecture in the second week of July.

Hakata port has been the entrance gate for the trade to and from Korea and China since the ancient age.

Sumiyoshi shrine and Japanese garden, "Rakusui-en"

  In early July, I made a trip to Hakata.
It was an official trip to attend the ICOBTE meeting held at Hakata International Convention Center.
During my stay in Hakata, I could enjoy the Yamagasa festival by the people of Hakata. It was a very active festival held one week long.
  I could see Prof. Yoshimura of Kyushu university (Plant breeder) after 30 years of absence. We were the scholars at IRRI together in 1980 - 1982. Prof. Inubushi of Chiba university was also with us on the occasion.

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Kyoto trip

Ginkakuji and Hounen-in along the "Tetsugaku no michi (Philosophers walk way)"

Around the Koudai-in temple

Around the Kamogawa river and Takasegawa river

  In September, I made a trip to Kyoto.
Though it was an official trip to attend the JSSPN meeting held at Kyoto university, in the free time and in the early morning,
I made a walk to famous temples and to Kamogawa-river which was just flowing beside the hotel which I stayed.

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Hidaka mountain range in autumn

Hidaka mountains, Mt. Tokachi-Poroshir, Tsurugi-san, Mt. Memuro, and unknown peaks seen from the pasture field of Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine on September 27, 2017.

Hidaka mountains seen from the fields near Obihiro airport.

Hidaka mountains seen from the field of Obihiro Agricultural high school.

Hidaka mountains seen from the farm field of Obihiro University of Agriculture & Veterinary Medicine.

Hidaka mountains seen from the window of airplane

Hidaka mountains, Mt. Tokachi-Poroshiri, Mt. Satsunai, Mt. Poroshiri, etc. on November 13.

Hidaka mountains, unknown peaks and Mt. Tsurugi-san, Mt. Memuro, in the centeral part on November 13.

Hidaka mountains, Mt. Memuro and unknown peaks in the northern part on November 13.

  Hidaka mountains look also beautiful in autumn.
I have not climbed Hidaka mountains except "Mt. Apoi" in the southern end of the Hidaka mountain range.
It will be a extremely hard work to climb any one of the mountains. I am satisfied to see only the beautiful view of the mountains.

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Aerial views of Kanto plain and Tokachi plain from the airplane.

Upper photo: Kanto plane seen from Chiba prefecture. Lower photo: Tokachi plain seen from the Pacific Ocean side.

  Last Monday (October 26, 2015), I made a short trip to Tokyo. The weather was fine through the both voyages to and from Tokyo.
Before landing at Haneda airport, I could see Mt. Fuji very clearly beyond the Tokyo bay from the Bousou peninsula in Chiba prefecture.
  In the return trip on the next day (Tuesday), I could see Rekifune river and southern coast of Tokachi plain.   The view of Hidaka mountain range was also very beautiful as seen in the previous article.
  For the return flight, I took the early morning flight arriving at Obihiro airport at 9:10, but the airplane repeated the landing due to the irregular wind around the airport. Thanks to the extra flight for ca. 20 minutes, I could enjoy the splendid scenery of Tokachi plain and mountains in the morning.

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Time and snow wait for no man in the north country.

Upper photos: Before the snow, November 7.
Lower photos: After the snow this morning, November 8, 2015.

  Last week, we had rather warmer days for this season.
We have anticipated when we have the first snow. Actually we had it last Sunday, but it was very slight.
  Yesterday, the madam of our neighbor gave us many radish grown in her crop field, and I dug a hole in my garden to store the radish for some time.
  Digging soil makes fun for me.
  This morning on November 8, we had the first snow at last.   We have to endure and sometimes enjoy the long winter from today.

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Soil monolith preparation.

Three soil monoliths under preparation this year.

  The soil monolith in the left hand was taken from the soil profile dug in the student experiment field on October 14.
The central and the right hand soil monoliths were taken from the field of junior course in the end of May this year.
  These soil profiles look considerably different to each other, even though they were located not so far.
  I have cut the both sides of soil monolith to adjust the width to 39 cm to fit them the size of plywood cut in half.
  The soil monolith in the center has been finished preparation about two months ago with my three students (all ladies).
  I want to finish the preparation of the other two before it becomes too cold, but I can not find enough time.

Soil-monoliths have been prepared

  On November 12, it was a very fine day. I had no class for students in the morning, and my laboratory students come from the afternoon.
  Therefore, I made up my mind to finish the preparation of soil monoliths. I have cut the plywood, and pasted the soil monolith on the plywood board with a bond glue. Then, pressed them with water tanks. Maybe they are ready after a week.

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Wind break trees in Tokachi, rows of larch.

  Wind break trees in Tokachi plain are mainly Larch.
In autumn, leaves turn brown and all fall in winter.
  Wind break trees are used to protect crops from the wind damage and for preventing wind erosion of soils.
  However, wind break trees have been cut and are decreasing, because they disturb the operation of agricultural machinery.

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Very small spiders came into my room.

   These very small spiders came into my room, when I brought one of my soil monoliths from the outside.
   They might have wanted to pass the very cold winter hiding behind my soil monolith. They were very tiny, with 1 mm - 2 mm length, like a dust particle.
   However, the photos taken in the close-up mode of my digital camera showed me that they have a complete structure and a fine design on their back.
   I released one of them, which was staying on a black double clip, outside the building, but lost the sight of another one on a office table after a while.

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Radish water cultured

   This radish was first grown in a soil pot. The radish was still very small, when the radish sown in the field had grown very big and was harvested. Then, I pulled the radish from the soil pot and transferred into a conical flask filled with water. Fine roots came out from the small radish, and it is still growing in my office window.

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Wall decoration with soil-monoliths

   The wall within as well as outside of my office has been hung with the soil monoliths prepared this year and last year.

   Please see my another room decorations in the "monologue" page.

"Hum.., hum.., hum..."

"Man lives on soil."

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Hidaka mountains have been covered with snow.

   Heavy snow visited us a little earlier this year, and the mountains are shining white with snow. In the daily life, we have hard time to remove the snow around our house.

  Upper five photos were taken at Kohfuku park on November 30, 2015. The lower two photos were taken from the road along the farm of Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine on February 24, 2016. I added one more photo (the lowest one) which was taken on November 19, 2017.

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Exhibition of the works of Mr. Takeshirou Matsuura

   Two weeks ago, there was an exhibition of the works of Mr. Takeshirou Matsuura, a prominent explorer who traveled and investigated Hokkaido island in the end of Edo era. I went to the exhibition held in the Obihiro centennial museum on December 20. He traveled five times all over in Hokkaido, and recorded the life of aboriginal people “Ainu”, names of every small mountains and rivers on his map. He wrote many reports of his trips in Hokkaido, and made a very detailed map of Hokkaido. Later, he proposed the new Japanese government in Meiji era to use the name of “Hokkaido” for the northern big island of Japan.
   He was very friendly and sympathetic to “Ainu” people, and criticized the local Hokkaido government of Matsumae feudal clan which has depressed Ainu people. There might have been many other Japanese who were interested in Hokkaido, but Mr. Matsuura was the first man who respected Ainu people and got profound information and knowledge from them.
   In his travel reports and maps, he often refers to the edible soils used by Ainu people. Ainu people used special soils for cooking wild grass and meats, and Mr. Matsuura ate the dishes with Ainu people. I have been interested in the edible soils in Hokkaido, and the classical documents by Mr. Matsuura helped me very much.

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International Year of Beans 2016

   The year 2015 has been the international year of soils, and the 2016 will be the year of beans by FAO.
   Adzuki-bean (upper-left), brown soy bean (upper right), Murasaki-hanamame, purple flower bean (lower left) and Taisho-kintoki (kidney bean) are shown in the left photo. These beans are gift from my graduated student, Mr. S.. These are the special products of Tokachi (Obihiro).
   The next photo shows the cooked and sweetened "Murasaki-hanamame" by my wife. Beans are nutritious to human, and friendly to soils due to nitrogen fixation.

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Season's Greetings in 2016

   The greeting for Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

   The greeting for the Happy New Year 2016.
The view of Tokachi plain after the heavy snow in the end of November, 2015.

   The greeting card for New Year 2016 in English version.

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土は有限で再生不可能な資源である。

  私はFACEBOOKでScotlandの James Hutton Instituteのサイトをフォローしているのですが、お正月に下記のような記事が投稿されました。

"James Hutton Institute, January 4, 2016"

  非常に大切なことを述べていると思いましたので、その記事の最初の部分を和訳しました。

  また、国際土壌科学連合(IUSS)は、2015年の国際土壌年の終了後も、2024年まで「国際土壌年間 International Decades of Soils」として、土に関する啓蒙活動を続けていくことになりました。

"土は有限で再生不可能な資源である。"

"Willie Towers, January 4, 2016"
"James Hutton Institute, Scotland"

  土は「有限」で「再生不可能」な資源です。しかし、世界を通じて、土はそれにふさわしい尊厳を受けていません。

  第68回の国連総会で、2015年を「国際土壌年」とすることが宣言されました。 それは、土が食料の安全にとって、また生態系にとって不可欠な機能として、健康で安定な土壌が必要であることを、世界の人々に呼びかけ、理解をしてもらうためでした。

  土はしばしば様々な環境の構成要素のなかでも、つい忘れられてしまいがちです。それは、一般の人々ばかりでなく、重要な政策にかかわる政治家においても言えることです。

  土は「有限」で「再生不可能」な資源です。世界の食料の９０％は土を通じて得られます。それなのに、私たちは土を尊敬して扱っているでしょうか？答えは「NO」です。

  世界の土壌の3分の１は劣化し続けています。そして、人口が急増し、気候変動が著しい現代の世界では、土はより高い意識をもって認識し、社会によって守られなくてはなりません。土は作物や草木に隠れて、1年間を通じて直接見ることはできませんが、大切なものなのです。

  土壌劣化や食料と土壌の関連に対する人々の認識はまだ低くとどまっています。

  「国際土壌年」は2015年12月5日で一応終了し、2016年は「国際豆年」となりました。

  しかし、「土」の重要性は変わらないので、IUSS（国際土壌科学連合）は、2024年までの１０年間を「国際土壌年間」、”International Decade of Soils” として、世界の人々への注意喚起と教育を続けていくことになりました。

  また、量的にばかりでなく、人間の健康に必要な養分を過不足なく含む食料を生産するうえで、土の状態を健全に保つことが重要であることを示したYouTube の動画も紹介されていましたので、そのアドレスも引用しておきます。

"Soil: An essential ingredient to healthy food and nutrition"

"YouTube, from FAO site"

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Farmer led extension course by JICA Obihiro in January, 2016

  JICA Farmer-led Extension Course on January 21, 2016.
   It is mid-winterin Japan, and we could not go out to field.
I guided them how to check soil color, texture, pH, EC, and nitrate. We checked also the nitrate concentration in vegetables (cabbage and spinach).

  Upper photo is the group photo after the practice course. Lower left is the scene of EC measurement.
   Lower right is the scene of nitrate measurement in vegetables.

  Please see the contents of the JICA training on the following page.
Some new slides are added in my lecture presentation.
JICA Farmer-led Extension Course, Texts and Results

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Horses in the campus

  Because my university is "Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine",
I can see horses frequently in the campus.
   Horses live relatively relaxed compared with cows which have to produce milk.

  Some horses are trained for horse riding sports or competition, but they are taken care tenderly by students.
   My research has nothing to do with horses, but I like to see them to feel relaxed.

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Visiting the Centennial Museum of Obihiro （帯広百年記念館の見学）

  Last Sunday (March 6), I visited the Centennial Museum of Obihiro city, and watched the exhibition of the museum. I visited the museum room since one year and a half ago, though I often visited there for the other purposes. Exhibitions have been partially renewed, and I appreciated the efforts of the museum staffs.

  There was an exhibition showing the volcanic ash layers in Tokachi plain. Though I know the volcanic ash　layers in the shallow depth, I am not so familiar with the volcanic ashes in the deep layers. I could learn much from the exhibition.

   It was also shown that human activity in Tokachi plain started since 30,000 years ago as wild animal hunters. It is a long time, but even this long period corresponds only to the very shallow part of the volcanic ash layers.

  There was also another exhibition, comparing the whole history of the earth to one year. According to the explanation, higher plants and higher animals appeared on the terra in December, and the mankind extremely increased experiencing the rise and fall of civilization, the peace and war, as well as the serious destruction of the global environment only in the last minute of the year.

   I thought that human is a troublesome and serious threat to the earth.


  先週の日曜日、３月６日、図書館の帰りに帯広市百年記念館の展示室を訪れました。百年記念館には時々来ているのですが、展示室に入ったのは１年半ぶりです。展示もところどころ新しくなっていて、学芸員の方も頑張っておられるのだなと思いました。
   十勝の火山灰の層序を示す断面標本の展示があって、私の専門に深く関連する内容ではありますが、いつも見ているのは表層から１メートルから２メートルくらいまでの火山灰なので、深いところに堆積している火山灰の種類を知ることができて大変勉強になりました。

  また、人間が十勝に住み始めたのは３万年ほど前とのことですので、火山灰の断面標本の上部３分の１くらいの表層の火山灰の上で暮らしてきたことになります。

   また、「地球の歴史を１年間に例えると」という展示がありました。それによると植物や動物が地上に現れたのも、１年の最後の１２月の出来事のようです。

  そして、人間が急激に増えて、文明の盛衰、戦争平和を繰り返し、地球の環境にいろいろな問題をもたらしているのも、最後の１秒のなかでの出来事のようです。

   地球にとって、人間はとても迷惑な存在であろうと思いました。

Tsunami deposits in the coastal marsh of Tokachi plain.
（十勝平野沿岸の津波の痕跡）

2016.3.21

  

There are many exhibitions in the Hokkaido museum, but I was interested in the replica of a soil profile collected in the coastal marsh in the Tokachi area.

  The soil profile covered the period of around 3,000 years. In the replica, four volcanic ash layers, 10 Tsunami mud layers, and 10 peat layers were observed, which means Tsunami occurred more often than volcanic ash falls.

  It clearly shows that the construction of atomic power plant near the coast is too dangerous in Japan.

  ３月15日、札幌にある北海道博物館を訪れました。多くの展示の中で、まず私の目にとまったのは、十勝平野沿岸域の多分厚内付近で採られた土壌断面標本でした。
   下の方から４分の１くらいのところに樽前c 火山灰がありましたので、この土壌断面は3000年くらいの期間に堆積した部分を示しているものと思われました。

  この土壌断面標本の中に、４層の火山灰と、10層の津波堆積物、そして10層の泥炭が示してありました。

  このことは、大規模な火山灰の降灰よりももっと頻繁に津波が起っていたことを示しています。

  日本ではほとんど沿岸域に原子力発電所が建設されていますが、非常に危険なことだと思いました。

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Three cranes flied into to the field of our university
（畜大の圃場にツルが飛んできました）

2016.5.13

  

Crow and crane flied into to the field.

  In the afternoon of May 13, I plowed the field with a handy tractor to make ridges for the rows of potato.

  A crow flied to the field and picked earthworms. The crow did not worry about me though I was operating the small machine.

  At the same time, staffs of the university plowed the large field to grow dent-corn using a big tractor. Here, three cranes came and also picked earthworms.

  It was first found by my wife, when she came to my office to pick me up by our family car. First, I did not believe her, but it was true. She showed me the birds while she drove the car home.

  Cranes are very rare, and I saw them for the first time in the field of our university.
  Their main habitat of cranes is wetland area.

  Swans can be seen more often also in the field of our university.

  They usually come in the fall to eat the fallen corns remaining in the field after harvest.

  Crows are too popular, and many people do not like them. They are adapted to human environments, and can eat many kinds of foods.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Comment from my friend:
  Nice experimental field preparation and layout. Usually these birds migrate during winter and come back during spring when the weather warms up.....

  My answer:
  Thank you, my friend. The crane in Japan (Tancho dzuru, crane with the red head) remains within Hokkaido island through the whole year. They live mainly in the wetland area. The number of cranes decreased remarkably as a result of the decrease in the wetland area. Swans migrate between Japan and Siberia, living in Japan during the winter and go back to Siberia during the summer season.

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Soil survey practice with J2 students and JICA farmer led extension course participants
（別科２年生およびJICA農民主導コース研修員との土壌調査実習）

2016.5.24

  

毎年、５月の下旬から６月の上旬にかけて、別科実習とJICA農民主導コースで土壌断面調査実習を行っています。

  両方の実習はそれぞれ別の日に行いますが、JICA実習の方は時間が足りないので、別科実習で作成した断面を使っています。

  今年は精密圃場の中央部の私が圃場実習用に使っている区画の北西の隅で土壌断面を作成しました。

  精密圃場はもともとは起伏が激しかったため４０年ほど前に地形修正を行った畑です。
  そのため、ここでは層位の境界も傾いており、解釈の難しい断面になってしまいました。
  でも、それはそれで、圃場の実状を反映していることなのでしかたありません。

  Every year, from the end of May to the beginning of June, I conduct a soil profile survey practice for Junior course students and JICA farmer-led extension course participants.

  I am using the soil profile made for the J2 students also for the JICA participants, because I have not enough time for the JICA course practice.
  The profile was made near the central part of the experiment field for student practices.

  The profile was nice, though the interpretation was a little difficult.

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Briefing board of soil monoliths
(土壌断面標本の説明板)

2016.6.21

  

大学の私の研究室の前の廊下にいくつか土壌断面標本を掲示してきましたが、今までその説明の文書は掲示してありませんでした。

  私が入っている2号館の玄関には、ネイチャーラウンジと称して、以前在籍しておられた先生方が集められた野生の動物や鳥の剥製がたくさん展示してあります。

  地元の小中高生もときどき見学に来ていますが、すぐ近くにある私の土壌断面標本にはあまり興味を示してくれていません。

  まあ、私の展示は私が勝手に行った非公式なものであるので、見てもらえなくても文句は言えませんが。

  でも、もし誰か、これは何だろうと、土壌断面標本の前に立ちどまってくれる人がいたとしたら、何か説明があったほうが良いかと思い、簡単な説明板を掲示しました。

  以下はその内容です。

  Today, I hanged a briefing board of soil monoliths on the wall of my research building. It is written in Japanese (of course). If I have time, I will translate it into English also.


  土壌断面標本（土壌モノリス）について

  この廊下の壁にかけられたいくつかの標本は、畜大の畑の土を掘って、そこに現れた土壌断面を樹脂で固定してはがしてきたものです。

  この１メートルばかりの土壌の層は、過去２万年ほどの間に堆積したものです。
  土壌断面の一番下には、川によって運ばれた砂や丸い石があり、その上には、いくつかの火山灰層や、大陸から飛んで来た土のチリが積もっています。そして、土壌断面の上のほう30㎝から40㎝の部分は、私たち人間によって耕された部分です。
  詳しい説明はありませんが、私たちの足の下に２万年もの年月をかけて作られたこのような土が眠っているということは、感動的なことではありませんか？
  どうぞ、ひととき足をとめて、土とお話をしていってください。


  「土は生きている」という言葉があります。
  土は植物と動物を含めたすべての生命の源であり、またほんの一握りの土の中にも、何億何兆という微生物が暮らしています。
  さらに、土自身も、もともとは岩石から生まれ、生き物を育てる豊かな土壌へと成長してきましたが、時がたち、気候が変わり、また人間による使い方があまりに過酷ならば、砂漠のようになって死んでいくこともあります。
  そのようになった土も世界のあちこちにあります。
  そのようなことが起こらないように願いたいものです。

  土壌断面標本は１０５号室や１０６号室の部屋の中にもあります。ごらんになりたい方は、１０６号室の筒木に声をかけてください。

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Trees and flowers in June（６月の木々や草花）

2016.6.23

  
６月は例年になく異常な雨つづきですが、晴れ間に見る木々や草花は清々しいです。
  
Though it is raining too much in June, trees and flowers seen during the occasional sunshines are refreshing.

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Wetland flowers in the southern coast of Tokachi.
（ホロカヤントウに湿原の花を見に行きました。）

2016.6.30

  
6月26日の午後、晩成温泉付近にあるホロカヤントウという沼を見に行きました。ちょうど湿原の花々が見頃でした。
  
On June 26 (Sunday afternoon), I went to a small marsh near Bansei hot spring in the Pacific coast of Tokachi. It was the full blooming season of wetland flowers.

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Growth of crops in the field.
（実験圃場での作物の生育）

2016.10.9   
Growth of soy bean











  
Growth of adzuki bean







  
Growth of kidney bean (Hana-mame)







  
Growth of sweet corn







  
Growth of radish





  
Growth of potato

  
Photos of crops in the field. Explanations will be added later.

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Visit to Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia to attend the International Peat Congress
（国際泥炭学会出席のためマレーシア、サラワク州、クチン市を訪問）

2016.10.4   
Excursion to see peat profiles in the plantations.

We visited the district of Kota Samarahan, around 30 km to the east of Kuching. Upper photo shows the well decomposed peat in the peripheral area of the peat dome. The land was used for the oil palm plantation. The lower photo shows the less decomposed peat in the near central part of the peat dome. The land was used for pineapple plantation. Tropical peat is formed from the woods of rain forest.



  
River views in Kuching

Upper photos shows the monumental buildings in the northern part of Kuching city. Northern part is a religious and political (islamic) center of the city. The lower photo (left) is a Malay fisher people village near the entrance of Bako national park. The lower photo (right) is the withered mangrove forest in the Bako national park. The land use change in the upper stream might have affected the life of mangrove forest.



  
Symbols of Kuching (Cats)

"Kuching" means Cat in Malay language. Therefore, there were many cat statues in the city.



  
Market in Kuching

Upper 2 photos were taken in the fish market near the entrance of Bako national park. The lower photos were taken in the weekend "Satok" market of Kuching. The head of cow killed in the early morning was sold. The lower right photo shows the young banana shoot used for cooking..



  
Bako National Park near Kuching

I visited Bako National Park with other three Japanese researchers. The geological rock of the park is sand stone, and it is very poor in nutrients. On the top of hill, we could see various belly plants (insect eating plants).



  
People whom I met in the conference

The upper left photo shows Dr. Lulie Melling and myself. She was the congress general of the IPC2016. One of the reason why I attended the conference is to pay respect to her who organized such an important and big scale peat conference for the first time in Asia. The upper right photo shows Dr. Lulie Melling, Prof. K. Inubushi, and Prof. H. Furukawa. I met Prof. Furukawa almost after 30 years. While I was a post doctoral fellow at IRRI, Prof. Furukawa was a senior visiting scientist at the same institute. Prof. Inubushi belonged to Soil Microbiology Department while I was doing research in the Soil Chemistry Department. The lower left photo was taken in front of my poster with Prof. A. Watanabe. The lower right photo shows the four Japanese soil scientists including me who made an outing to Bako National park together. Dr. Maie and Dr. Kawahiashi are in the photo.



  
Typhoon 11

I departed Kuching in the afternoon of August 20. I took the night flight from Kuala Lumpur to Nariata of Malaysia Airline. Then, I flied from Haneda to Obihiro in the afternoon of August 21. From the flight flying to Obihiro, I could see the typhoon 11 proceeding to north in the offshore of north-eastern Japan. We flied over the typhoon, and arrived at Obihiro earlier than the typhoon. Typhoon 11 landed on Hokkaido on August 21. Typhoon 10 wandered around the southern see of Japan, and arrived to Japan later than the Typhoon 11 on August 30. Though it landed Japan at Iwate prefecture, it exerted severe damage to the area of eastern and central Hokkaido.

  
From August 13 to 21, I made a trip to Kuching, Malaysia, to attend the International Peat Congress. My last trip to Kuching was in August, 2008, and the trip this time was after 8 years.

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Visit to Kanazawa to attend the International Humic Substances Society Meeting
（国際腐植物質学会出席のため金沢市を訪問）

2016.10.6   
Kanazawa castle and Oyama shrine

The upper left photo shows the "Gyokusen-in-maru garden". It was newly reconstructed, but it was originally made for the wife "Matsu" of the first lord of Kanazawa castle, "Maeda Toshiie". The upper right photo shows a stone bridge in the garden of Oyama shrine. The lower photos shows the fort of Kanazawa castle. Though it is beautiful, it had been constructed to defend the main castle tower. The main castle tower was burnt down due to lightning, and had never been reconstructed.



  
Castle gardens

The upper left photo shows the "Kotoji" lantern stone in the Kenrokuen garden with three Japanese ladies in Kimono. The upper right photo shows the stone wall in the "Gyokusen-in-maru garden". The stones are beautifully cut and piled up. The lower photos shows the gate building of the Oyama shrine in the morning and in the evening.



  
Visit Shirakawagou in the excursion

A view of Shirakawa-gou, from the observatory, where I visited in the excursion of IHSS18 meeting on 14 September. Shirakawa-gou in Gifu prefecture is famous for the traditional old thatched houses of the villagers. Each house is a triangle shaped, three storied very high building. Villagers raised silk worm in the higher stories, and produced the ingredient for gun powder by fermenting the soil in the basement. Shirakawa-gou had been an isolated village deep in high mountains. It had been one of the hidden villages in Japan. These years, however, millions of peaple visit there thanks to the construction of a highway, though only a thousands of people are living there.



  
Shirakawagou_2

The house behind the paddy field was the house of the lord of the Shirakawagou village, "Wada family". Lower photo shows the spin used for silk weaving. The lower right photo shows the Japanese pampas grass used for thatching the roof of houses.



  
Visit Takayama city in the excursion

Takayama city was ruled directly by the Tokugawa shogunate government during the Edo era, and local office was placed here. The upper right photo shows the place where the suspected criminals were inspected and judged. The lower right photo shows the ball made from cedar leaves (Sugi-dama). It is the symbol of a Japanese rice wine brewery. It is prepared newly every year. When the color of the ball turns from green to brown, it is the sign that the rice wine has become ripe.



  
Old streets in the soldier town of Kanazawa

The upper left photo shows the dining room of the lowest class warriors (Ashigaru). In Kanazawa, even the Ashigaru class warriors were allowed to have their independent house. The upper right photo shows one of the creeks flowing in Kanazawa town. The water of the canal was introduced into the garden of each house, and used for every day life. The lower left photo shows the street in the town of higher class warriors. The lower right photo shows the district of Ashigaru warriors.



  
Night garden and castle in Kanazawa

Usually the garden of the castle and the Kenrokuen garden are closed at night time. However, from 16 to 18 September, we were allowed to enter the garden in the evening to admire the full moon in September, which is said to be the most beautiful moon in the year. I could enjoy this special occasion.

  
From September 11 to 17, I made a trip to Kanazawa, to attend the International Humic Substances Society. My last trip to Kanazawa was in November, 2011 and the trip this time was after 5 years. Explanations will be added later.

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Visit to Saga to attend the Japanese SSPN Meeting
（日本土壌肥料学会出席のため佐賀市を訪問）

2016.10.7   
Campus of Saga University

After coming back home from Kanazawa, I spent only two weekend holidays at home, then flied again to Saga to attend the Japanese SSPN meeting. The campus of Saga University was very beautiful with the trees of "Taxodium distichum" which is adapted to very wet land and has special root for respiration. In many places in the city, especially around the Saga castle area, many big camphor trees were growing.



  
Saga castle

Saga castle was a castle of the feudal lord "Nabeshima family", who ruled the prefectures of Saga and Nagasaki for nearly 300 years during the Edo era. For the castle building, only the main gate is remaining. Recently, the residence of the feudal lord was reconstructed, and used as a museum of the history of Saga presently. I visited there just before leaving Saga. It is amazing that many museums in Saga can be visited free of charge.



  
Moat around the Saga castle

Saga castle is surrounded by the big moats. In the ancient age, the area inside the moat was a limited area only for the soldiers, servants and priests, but presently it is also used for local prefectural office, park and normal citizens housings. On the water surface of the moat, lotus and water chestnuts were growing. Lotus was once damaged severely several years ago due to the eating damage by the green turtle (foreign species) released by the careless citizens, but has recovered now by purging the turtles. The walk map around the Saga castle was attached, in which my walk paths were drawn with ball point pen.




  
Old town in Saga

As Saga was not destroyed during the world war II, many historic houses are remaining. I visited the building of "Koga" bank and the house of "Fukuda" family, who was a successful businessman during the Meiji era.



  
Bronze statues in the castle park

I could see many bronze statues made by Mr. Tadao Koga along the moat in the castle park as well as in the city museum.



  
Excursion of the SSPN meeting. Visited lotus root farm, mandarine orange farm, soy bean farm, and rice wine brewery.

Lotus farm, where we visited, was organic farming, and it suffered from the damage by jumbo snails. The upper right photo shows the eggs of jumbo snails. Jumbo snail was introduced from tropical country for aquatic farming by some Japanese company, but it failed and only the harmful snails were left. Lower left photo shows the farm of mandarine orange. They were growing the orange under the limited controlled supply of irrigation water. By this method, they can expect the fruit with high sugar content.



  

  
From September 19 to 24, I made a trip to Saga, to attend the Japanses SSPN meeting. My last trip to Saga was in November, 2013 and the trip this time was after 3 years. After visiting Kanazawa and Saga continuously, I found the similarity between the two cities. Both cities had beautiful castles, but castle towers were missing in both castles. Both castle towers were burnt down already in Edo era, and were not reconstructed. Maybe Edo era was so peaceful that there was no need of castle tower. Permission from the Tokugawa Shogunate government was necessary to construct or repair the castle buildings. The feudal lord of Kanazawa was Maeda family and that of Saga was Nabeshima family. Both lords were so clever that they could maintain their ruling throughout the Edo era for nearly 270 years. There were moats and canals in both cities because both cities were located on wet lowlands. Both cities did not suffer from the bombardment during the world war II, and old town and houses were preserved. Both cities were calm and comfortable. I had uploaded the impression of my previous visit to Saga in my homepage. Please see also the following article. http://timetraveler.html.xdomain.jp/special.html#special21

Visit to Saga University in 2013

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White birch road in my university （私の大学の白樺並木）

2017.9.24

  In my university, there is a white birch road connecting the campus area and field area. I like to walk the road, and found four photos of this road taken almost from the same position. The dates of photo taking were January 20 in 2017 and October 15, July 1, and June 6 in 2016 from the top to the bottom. I can feel the change in season from these photos and also feel that our summer is too short.

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Autumn trees in my university （私の大学の紅葉）

2016.10.20

  Maples and various other tree leaves have turned red and yellow. It is an overture of the long winter in Obihiro.

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Preparation of soil monolith （土壌断面標本の作成）

2016.10.20

  I have trimmed both sides of soil monolith, and attached it to the frame made from plywood board and timber. The monolith had been left outside for more than 4 months, just because I was lazy. If possible, I want to prepare another one before snow comes.

Soil survey practice with J2 students and JICA farmer led extension course participants （別科２年生およびJICA農民主導コース研修員との土壌調査実習

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Heavy snow in early November, the record after 44 years.（11月3日の大雪。44年ぶりの記録）

2016.11.4

  We had a heavy snow on November 3, Japanese national holiday as a day of culture, in Obihiro. The season entered into mid-winter suddenly. So early visit of winter is said to be the record after 44 years. Field work has become very difficult now.

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Scenes of soil survey and field work with my students in 2015. （学生さんたちとの土壌断面調査の風景 2015）

2016.11.13

  On November 29, 2016, I will have a poster presentation at the scientific meeting of the Hokkaido branch of Japanese Society of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition. The poster presentation summarizes the soil survey carried out with my students (all ladies) in 2015. I showed here the photos taken during the field works. These ladies became my last students in the Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine.

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"Wadatsumi no koe" statue in Sapporo. （札幌のわだつみ像）

2016.11.21

  In the week end of middle November, I and my wife visited a museum in Miyanomori, Sapporo just for relaxation.
  The bronze statue behind me is the statue named “Wadatsumi-no-koe” made by a famous artist, Mr. Shin Hongo in 1950. The first statue of this form was made for the memory of students sent to the war field of World War II and died.
  The statue expresses the anger, sadness, and worried struggle of the young man.
  It was intended to be placed in the campus of the Tokyo University, but the president and the board of council rejected to place it in the campus.
  They explained the reason that naked figure of man is not advisable because lady students might be embarrassed, or the statue which has no relation with Tokyo University had not been placed in the campus. However, the actual reason was that they did not want to take any action which is not in harmony with the anti-communistic tendency of Japanese government and GHQ, USA.
  Instead, a private university in Kyoto, Ritsumeikan, offered to accept the statue in its campus. However, in 1969 during the wave of student movement, an extremely-left and violent student group destroyed this statue.
  In the same year of 1969, the second copy of this statue was planned to be placed in the campus of Hokkaido University, but this university also rejected to place the statue in the campus. Therefore, the statue is now placed in front of the museum in Sapporo, constructed for the memory of the artist, Mr. Shin Hongo.
  These stories proved that Japanese universities were very obedient to the authority and the intention of the government. Before the war, they could not resist to the government which decided to send the students to war field. Even after the war, they could not accept the statue which reminds the people of the students who had to die in the war.

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"土壌学研究室退職祝賀会(2017.2.4)

2017.9.23

  Explanation will be uploaded later. 説明は後日アップロードします。Explanation will be uploaded later.
  　　
  　　

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"Visit to IRRI(2017.2.15-19)

2017.9.23

  IRRI was a place where I conducted my post-doctoral research in the Soil Chemistry Department from November 1980 to March 1983, the place where I met many kind and lovely people, and the place where I started my married life and got my first baby. I had many unforgettable memories here.
  Above left: With Corinta and Tess who welcomed me in the restaurant of SEARCA., Above right: In front of the apartment house where my wife and I lived 34 - 36 years ago. It remained the same as before.　　
  Below left: Reunion assembly of my friends from Soil Chemistry and Soil Microbiology departments while I was a post-doctoral fellow at IRRI. We have forgotten the ages which passed since I left IRRI when I was still 31 years old. I enjoyed the meeting., Below right: Behind the nice view restaurant in Tagay Tay where Mrs. Corinta brought me on Sunday.　　
  Above left: Giant Fertility Tree in the UPLB campus., Above right: Statue of Philippino farmer and carabao. Below left: main gate of UPLB., Below right: a fallen flower of Magnolia on the rotten trunk.　
  Buildings of IRRI in the central area beyond the experiment farm. The building behind the "IRRI" sign is a ladies dorm where my wife and I stayed several months. The photo below right shows the gene bank of IRRI, where rice seeds can be preserved several tens of years.　
  Above left: Mt Makiling, above right: Taal lake where Mrs. Corinta Quijano brought me on 18.
Below left: Pilli road which connects IRRI campus and UPLB campus., Below right: On February 19, I moved from IRRI to Quezon to visit Ateneo University, where my former Ph. D student is teaching. Last night, my old IRRI friends, Connie, Nida and their husbands who are living in Manila invited me to a welcome dinner. They had been the most talkative ladies in the Soil Chemistry department, and were still unchanged.　

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"Visit to Ateneo University and Philippine Soil Bureau Manila(2017.2.20-21)

2017.9.23

  Explanation will be uploaded later. 説明は後日アップロードします。
  　　
  　　

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"Funeral ceremony of my mother (2017.3.7)

2017.9.23

  Explanation will be uploaded later. 説明は後日アップロードします。 父と母の思い出
  　　
  　　

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"Travel to Amsterdam (2017.3.14)

2017.9.23

  On March 14 in Amsterdam, we visited Van Gogh Museum in the morning (Photo with my wife below left). Walked to House of Anne Franck at around noon (abandoned to enter due to too many visitors).


  Visited Botanic Garden (De Hortus) in the afternoon, and also the Historic museum of Jewish people in the Netherlands.
  Traveled from Amsterdam to Ahnem by train in the evening.　　
  　　

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"Travel to Arnhem (2017.3.15-17)

2017.9.23   Kröller Müller Open Air Museum in the suburbs of Arnhem.
  World Soil Museum in Wageningen.
  National Water Museum in Arnhem.

  On March 15 in Ahnem, we visited Kröller Müller Open Air Museum (by bus, walk, bicycle, bus). Visited World Soil Museum in Wageningen (by bus and on foot) in the afternoon.

  On March 16, we visited Rhein river bank on foot, then walked further to Sonsbeek City park. Visited Water Museum of the Netherlands in the park.

Traveled from Arnhem to Bremen via Duisburg by train in the afternoon. It took around 5 hours. 　　
  　　

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"Travel to Bremen (2017.3.17-20)

2017.9.23   Main Bremen Station and Universum Museum in Bremen.
  Visiting the area around city hall, and the apartment in the Elisabeth street where we lived in 1983.
  Visiting the forest and museums in the wetland area in Worpswede.
  Visiting Bremen-Huchting and the harbor area of Bremen.

  On March 17, we visited Universum Bremen by S-bahn, then visited City center with the old city hall and churches in the afternoon, and further to the Elisabeth street where we lived 34 years ago. 　　

  On March 18 in Bremen, we visited Worpswede by bus. In the evening, we went to the Glocke concert hall to attend the Wiener classic concert.

  On March 19 in Bremen, we visited Huchting by S-Bahn, and walked along the Weser river bank in rain, then visited Oversees Musenum in the afternoon.
Traveled from Bremen to Hamburg by train in the evening. 　　

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"Travel to Hamburg (2017.3.20-23)

2017.9.23   On March 20, I visited Dr. Peter Becker Heidmann in the laboratory of Soil Scinece of Hamburg University in the morning. I was also a post-doctoral fellow in 1983 - 1984. We passed by the Guest house of Hamburg University where we stayed during my post-doctoral fellowship by the Humboldt Foundation. Then we visited the house of Prof. Dr. Neue, who has been my friend since our IRRI age.

  On March 21, we walked along the Alster shore area in the morning and then visited the main building of the university and the Institute of Soil Science in the afternoon guided by Dr. Peter Becker Heidmann. We enjoyed dinner together.

  In the morning of March 22, we left Hamburg from the airport, forwarded to Amsterdam airport, then took the return flight to Narita. We slept in the plane, and arrived in Narita on March 23, forwarded to Haneda airport by bus, then took the flight to Obihiro on the same day.
  　　
  　　

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"Photos of April, 2017 (2017. April)

2017.9.23

  April is the season, when crocus and daffodil start to bloom. It still snowed in the middle of April. I was busy clearing my office and laboratory in the university during the early half of April. Even after clearing the laboratory, I had to treat the remained chemicals for disposal. It took also another two weeks.
  　　
  　　

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"Photos of May, 2017 (2017. May)

2017.9.23

  May is the season of cherry and tulip. In the first week of May, families of my daughter and first son visited my house and spent the "golden week" holidays with us. I had classes of soil science practice for the junior course students as a part time lecturer.
  　　
  　　

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"Photos of June, 2017 (2017. June)

2017.9.23

  In the early June, I had a lecture and practice of soil science for the JICA Farmer-led extension course. I made a one day trip to visit the art and science museums in Kushiro with my wife. I prepared also the soil monolith of the soil profile made for junior course students and JICA training participants. June is also the season of clematis.
  　　
  　　

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"Photos of July, 2017 - Travel to Kiritappu. (2017. July)

2017.9.23

  On July 7-8, I made a two days trip to Kiritappu, where I visited often for investigation of wetland peat and water with my students. It was a best season with beautiful flowers in the wetland. I could also see the fisher ships which started forward to the harvesting sites of sea tangle (kelp).
  　　
  　　

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"Photos of August, 2017 - Outing to Cape Erimo and Shikaribetsu lake. (2017. August)

2017.9.24

  In August, we welcomed the families of our daughter and first son during their summer vacation. We visited cape Erimo and Shikaribetsu lake. The cape Erimo became very famous recently, after North Korea launched their missiles already two times over this cape through Tsugaru strait.
  　    　   Two roses
  　　
  　　

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"Photos of September, 2017 - Completed the preparation of the soil monolith. (2017. September)

2017.9.24

  I have finished preparing the soil monolith. During July and August, it was too hot to work in the vinyl house, where I placed the soil monolith under preparation. I have also prepared the powerpoint file (in Japanese) explaining the significance of soil monolith and the method of preparing lack-film soil monolith.  　  　 博物館資料論ー土壌断面標本の作製（2017.11.9）

  Colchicum autumnale is a messenger of autumn. Its flower directly comes out from the ground. I observed its coming out on September 16 and the flower attained its full bloom on September 24. Though it is a toxic plant, it attracts butterflies. Maybe the flower is not toxic.　　
  　　

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Mushrooms found in nearby fields and the dishes cooked from the mushroom. (2017. September)

2017.9.28

  In my garden and also in the forest near my house, we can find mushrooms in autumn. My wife has cooked delicious dishes using these mushrooms.
  　   Please read also   　 Mushroom from my garden

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Rivers and walkways around my house

2017.10.5

  Kikanko river

  Kikanko river (upper 2) and Urikai river (lower 2). Lower left photo shows the place where Kikank river flows into Urikai river.

  Urikai river

  Urikai river

  Satsunai river

  Small stream, Kikanko river and Urikai river are flowing near my house and the campus of Obihiro University of Agriculture and Medicine. These small streams flow down and join Satsunai river, which is a big river flowing from Hidaka mountains. I like to walk along the river banks and in the riparian forests beside these rivers.

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Fields in Aikoku and Tobetsu towns

2017.10.7

  Aikoku and Tobetsu towns are located in the eastern side of Satsunai river. I visited there by bicycle in the end of September, 2017, to see the fields after harvest of wheat and potato, while beans and sugar beets were still remaining in the fields. New seedlings of winter wheat have also germinated in the fields on September 30.

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Yachidamo trees (Fraxinus mandshurica var. japonica Maxim.)
    along Kikanko and Urikai rivers.

2017.10.7

  Yachidamo (Manchurian ash, Fraxinus mandshurica var. japonica) is a beautiful and tall tree growing near river streams, because it likes wet place. It is a strong and hard wood, and used for many purposes. Ainu people used this wood for carving boats.

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Beautiful full moon on October 4, 2017.

2017.10.7

  Full moon in autumn from end of September to early October is very beautiful and admired by Japanese people. On October 4, 2017, I went out to see the moon on the river bank of Satsunai river. It was already very cold in the evening.

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Red and yellow leaves and autumn sceneries in Tokachi on October 8-10, 2017.

2017.10.12

  Views around On-ne-toh lake.

  Mossess along the way between On-ne-toh lake and Me-akan hot spring park place.

  Fungi along the way between On-ne-toh lake and Me-akan hot spring park place.

  Views around Shikaribetsu lake.

  Views along the going-up way to Mt. Haku-un-san.

  Views along the coming-down way from Mt. Haku-un-san.

  Plants and mosses along the way to and from the summit of Mt. Haku-un-san.

  Red and yellow tree leaves in Iwanai hidden valley.

  I visited On-ne-toh lake in Akan national park, Shikaribetsu lake and Mt. Haku-un-san in Taisetsu national park, and Iwanai hidden valley in the suburbs of Obihiro city during 8-10, October, to enjoy the autumn sceneries with red and yellow tree leaves.

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Red and yellow leaves and autumn sceneries in the Obihiro city area on October 13, 2017.

2017.10.14

  Views in my living town, Seiryu-cho.

  Views along Toteppo passageway 1

  Views along Toteppo passageway 2

  Views along Toteppo passageway 3

  Views along Toteppo passageway 4

  Views in the green park of Obihiro 1

  Views in the green park of Obihiro 2.

  Views in the green park of Obihiro 3.

  Views in the wild grass garden of Obihiro.

  It was a fine and nice day on October 13. I started already in the morning from my house by bicycle. I passed along Kikanko river, entered the Toteppo passage way and passed from the southern end to the northern end of the passageway. In the northern end of the passage, there was a nice sweets shop, "Toteppo factory", where I took rest enjoying coffee and soft cream. Then I forwarded to the green park. While enjoying the red and yellow leaves, I also visited the art museum of Obihiro and the wild grass garden of Obihiro. I took lunch at "Budo-ya (Grape house)", then came back passing the southern half of Toteppo passage and the way along Urikai river.

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Morning frost on October 19, 2017.

2017.10.20

  Morning frost in my garden.

  It is the time to expect first snow in my place, Obihiro. In the mountainous area in Tokachi, considerable amount of snow has fallen already, but in the plain area not yet. Instead, on October 19, we had a severe frost in the morning of October 19. Leaves of grapes and hydrangea have turned brown. Rose and strawberry are relatively tolerable to the frost, and we can still enjoy the flowers and fruits. Apples are not ripe yet, and we can harvest them after November.

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Views around my house in the end of October, 2017.

2017.10.25

  Views along Toteppo passageway. October 21, 2017.

  Views in the green park of Obihiro, 1. October 21, 2017.

  Views in the green park of Obihiro, 2. October 21, 2017.

  Fields of winter wheet, sugar beet, and bare field after harvest. October 24, 2017.

  Views from the two bridges (Nan-tai bridge and Aikoku bridge) on Satsunai river. October 24, 2017.

  Oak trees with changing leaf colors. Changes between October 18 and 24.　October 24, 2017.

  Big elm trees and trees on terrace cliff. October 24, 2017.

  Red and yellow maple leaves around the Nanabe conifer garden in Obihiro. October 24, 2017.

  Aphids found below a big willow tree in Inada water pump station. October 24, 2017.

  Around 1 km south along the bank from the Nantai bridge on Satsunai river, there was a pasture for horses. Horses noticed me and gathered together. Soon after watching me they have spread again. October 25, 2017.

  Around the pasture for horses, there remained wind break tree stands. October 25, 2017.

  This is the view of winter wheat field and trees along a small stream. The land is undulated (waved) due to the volcanic ash which accumulated here 17,000 - 40,000 years ago. October 25, 2017.

  Harvest of sugar beet has just started in Tokachi. October 26, 2017.

  Winter wheat field and a bare field after harvest in Kawanishi town on October 26, 2017.

  Remaining autumn colored leaves in the Green Park of Obihiro and Toteppo passage way on October 27, 2017.

  View of Satsunai river on October 31, 2017. Water is increasing due to the rain on 29 and 30, October.

  Beet harvest in a near-by farmer's field on October 31, 2017.

  We had a stormy and snowy day on October 23 due to the typhoon No. 21. However, it became a very fine day on October 24. I went out in the afternoon to see the views after typhoon around my house by bicycle. I forwarded to the south direction, passed the Nantai bridge on Satsunai river, and ran along the eastern bank of Satsunai river to the north direction to Aikoku bridge. Next day (October 25), I went to the south direction from the Nantai bridge. I found there a pasture field for horses. On the way of cycling, I could enjoy the views of fields and still remaining autumn colored leaves.

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Ezorisu (Squirrel) sensus on October 28, 2017

2017.10.28

  The site where we could observe the activity of squirrels. エゾリスを確認できた地点。西24条のさらに西側の林。右上：チョウセンゴヨウ。左下：カラマツ。右下：チョウセンゴヨウの実。

  Views of Obihiro city communal forest which we surveyed.　西２４条の東側の森。左下：ハルニレ。右下：ミズナラ。

  Views of Obihiro city communal forest which we surveyed.　左上：中央はウダイカンバ、左はダケカンバ。

  Plants in the forest floor.　林床の植物。左上：イチイ。右上：フッキソウ。左下：サイハイラン。右下：ツリバナ。

  Plants in the forest floor.林床の植物。左上：カラハナソウ。右上：オオウバユリ。左下：コウライテンナンショウ。右下：ミツバ。

  Activities of small animals (wood-peckers, rats and Japanese original fresh water shrimps in the forest.　生物の活動。右上：アカゲラが崩した木の幹。右上：アカネズミの穴。左下：森の中の水路、ニホンザリガニの住処。右下：ニホンザリガニを探しているところ。

  Various mushrooms found in the forest.　森の中で見つけたキノコ。右上はツチスギタケ。その他は不詳。

  Views along the Kikanko river during the walk in the evening on the same day.　夕方の散歩中の機関庫川沿いの風景。

  Due to the courtesy of the curator of the centennial museum of Obihiro, Mr. Ikeda, I could join the survey of the habitat density of Ezorisu (indigenous squirrel in Hokkaido) and the seed production of a special pine (Chosen-goyou) in the Obihiro city communal forest, which have been carried out two times a year (spring and autumn) for many years. I just followed the Mr. curator and learned many things about the wild lives (plants and animals) not only the squirrels in the forest.

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Trip to Tokyo and Kawasaki, November 2- 5, 2017

2017.11.12

  In the evening of my arrival, I walked around the streets of Kuramae and Asakusa.

  On Novwmber 2, I visited the National Science Museum in Ueno to see the special exhibitions of Andes civilizations. Clay statue of lama made during the Wari (pre-Inca) civilization (A.D. 500 - 1000), flutes made of the bone of Pelican found in the remains of Caral civilization (B.C. 3000-1500), lacework made during the Inca civilization (A.D. 1400 - 1572), Quipu ropes used through the Andes civilizations for recording and transferring informations.

  In the third floor of "Japan building" in the National Science Museum, I could see many soil monoliths prepared in various places under different climates in Japan. Above photo shows the non-allophanic volcanic ash soil at Naruko, Miyagi prefecture and a peat soil in Bibai, Hokkaido.

  View of Tokyo city from the building of National Science Museum. Lower photo shows the famous "Tokyo Sky Tree".

  In Kawasaki, I visited a small shrine (Suwa shrine) with my family to celebrate the 7-5-3 festival for our grandson.

  After visiting the shrine, we went to an amusement park, Yomiuri-land, to enjoy the family time.

  View from the airplane in the northern part of main island of Japan. Chiba prefecture near Tokyo bay, Ibaraki airport in Kanto plain, surrounding area of Shirakawa city in Fukushima prefecture, surrounding area of Miyako city in Iwate prefecture are shown.

  View from the airplane in the Tokachi area, Hokkaido, just before landing. Rekifune river in Taiki town, Mt. Maruyama with an observatory on the top in Churui town, Tokachi Speed Way in Sarabetsu town, and agricultural fields in Nakasatsunai town are shown.

  From November 2 to 5, I made a private time to Tokyo and Kawasaki, to visit the National Science Museum in Ueno, Tokyo, and to enjoy the family time with my daughter's family and my wife.

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Trip to Okazaki and Anjo, November 13- 17, 2017

2017.11.20

  Before leaving Okazaki, I visited Okazaki park and Okazaki castle, where "Tokugawa Ieyasu", the first Shogun in Edo era, was born.

  A clean river, "Sugou river", is flowing to the south of castle.

  The flowers in November in Okazaki are shown here. These flowers are not seen in Hokkaido where I live now.

  View of Japanese garden in Anjo, Jozan-en", which was built for the memory of "Ishikawa Jozan" in early Edo era, who was a man of braveness in his youth and a man of culture in his later years. I visited here after placing the ashes of my mother into the tomb.

  From November 13 to 17, I made a private trip to Okazaki and Anjo, to place the ashes of my mother who passed away in last March into the tomb of my family in Anjo, as well as to clean my born house in Okazaki.

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Forest of Obihiro, Maintenance work, November 19, 2017

2017.11.20

  On the way forwarding to the forest of Obihiro, I took the photo of Hidaka mountain range from the field of Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine. It snowed on November 18, and the scenery of winter was brought about in one night.

  I joined the volunteer work of maintaining the forest of Obihiro. During the work, I saw a rotten wood with many mushrooms and a swarm of dormant eggs of aphids on a tree bark.

  We removed the vine trees of "Tsuru-ume-modoki" which coil around the young trees in the park and choke them.

  During the work, the group leader found a nest of vespine wasp, in which wasps were already dead due to coldness. We dissected the nest to see the inside of the nest.

  On November 19, I joined the volunteer work of "Ezorisu no Kai" to maintain the environment of the forest of Obihiro. We removed the vine plants which disturb the growth of young trees in the park.

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View of Kawanishi town in early winter, November 25, 2017

2017.11.25

  On November 25, I walked to a gallery "Wood Sound" in Kawanishi town to see the exhibitions of water color paintings by two lady artists. On the way I enjoyed the rural views in the village.

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A walk to the museum of Japan Beet Sugar Industry Company along the Kikanko river, November 26, 2017

2017.11.26

  今日（11月26日）は１週間ぶりに雪が降ったので午前中は除雪をし、午後は雪の中を散歩に行ってきました。いつも行き当たりばったりに歩いているのですが、今日はビート資料館に入って説明を聞いてきました。機関庫川沿いに歩いていくとビート資料館に着くのです。10年ぶりくらいではないかと思いますが、展示内容も刷新されており、館長さんに詳しくマンツーマンで説明をして頂き大変勉強になりました。日本甜菜糖株式会社はかつて十勝鉄道という鉄道路線と蒸気機関車を所有しており、農村部で収穫された甜菜を運搬すると同時に、市民の通勤通学の足としても貢献していました。館内には十勝鉄道が運行していた当時の写真や蒸気機関車の模型が展示してあり、また敷地内にはかつての線路の一部と駅名表示板が残してありました。かつて工場の機械を動かしていた蒸気機関発電機も構内に展示してありました。十勝鉄道が走っていた軌道敷地の市街地部分は帯広市に寄贈され、今では「トテッポ通り」という愛称のもとに、市内を南北に結ぶ遊歩道兼サイクリング道になっています。
  It snowed again on November 26 after one week. I removed snow around my house in the morning. In the afternoon, I visited a sugar beet museum of “Nitten” sugar company, walking around 7 km to and from the museum in the snow. The director of the museum kindly guided me privately explaining the exhibitions in the museum. It was a very nice experience for me.
  “Nitten” sugar company is one of the three large sugar industry companies in Hokkaido and also the oldest among them. It operated rail ways connecting the factory and the rural area in Tokachi area to transport the harvested sugar beet by locomotive trains. The locomotive trains also transported not only the sugar beet and employees but also passengers who worked or studied in the city area and lived in the rural area.

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Visiting the Sapporo Beer Museum, December 1, 2017

2017.12.02

  On December 1, the next day of the symposium of the Hokkaido branch of the Japanese Society of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, I walked to the Sapporo Beer Museum, around 2 km east of the Japan Rail Sapporo station. Sapporo Beer Museum was located at the site of former second factory of Sapporo Beer Brewery Company, which was established in 1876. The second factory was built at this site in 1890 after succeeding the factory building of Sapporo Sugar Beet Sugar Industry Company. A complex of large beer restaurants is also operated here, where people can enjoy nice meat dishes and beer.
  The first brewery master of Sapporo Beer Company was Mr. Nakagawa/Seibei, who traveled alone secretly to Europe when he was still 17 years old in 1865. At that time Japan was still closing the country and traveling abroad was forbidden under Tokugawa regime. After working as a house servant for 7 years in England, he moved to Germany, where he studied the technique of Beer Brewing in Berlin. He mastered the brewery technique in two years and was awarded a certificate of completing the brewery course. After returning to Japan, he was employed by new Japanese government as an engineer to establish a new beer brewing factory in Sapporo, Hokkaido. He brewed a German style non sterilized beer. After contributing to the start-up of the factory for around 15 years he resigned from the company in 1891, because he did not like to introduce the new beer sterilization technique.
  The photo above left shows many beer barrels, on which it is written, "From barley and hop, a spirit named Beer is brewed.". It replicates the scene of the opening day of Sapporo Beer company in 1876. The brick in the above right photo was the original one imported from England and used in the second factory of the company in 1890. The photo below left shows a boiler for the malt extract, which could contain 100 tones of malt liquid and had been used until 2003. If you want to drink this amount of beer, it will take more than 500 years even if you drink 0.5 liter every day. The photo below right shows two types beers. The right one in a smaller glass is the beer brewed in the same manner as Mr. Nakagawa brewed in 1877. Fine yeasts are still suspending in the beer and it tasted very nice. The left one in the taller glass is the Sapporo Black label beer, which is the brand now sold in market. It is filtered clear, but has a very thick and tough foam to keep the flavor of the beer. It also tasted very nice.

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Scenes during the walk along Kikanko river and in the Green Park, December 3, 2017

2017.12.03

  地面に埋めておいた木の実を掘り出して食べるエゾリス

  グリーンパークの南側（上の写真）と北側（下の写真）

  機関庫川沿いのヤチハンノキ（下）とヤチダモ（上）

  １２月３日の午後は一昨日熊出没の報道があった機関庫川沿いをノシノシ熊のように歩いて、帯広美術館に行って芸術鑑賞をして帰ってきました。美術館ではFace というテーマでさまざまな作品を展示していました。アフリカのお面がとても力強く活き活きしていました。美術館で約１時間を過ごし、往復１２km の道を散策しつつ帰ってきたら、４時間以上を要していました。妻から「本当の徘徊老人にならないように」とからかわれました。

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Scenes after a heavy snow around my house, December 9, 2017

2017.12.10

  My garden, and objects in the park covered with snow.

  Children's park with still no footprints after the snow.; Someone's trail in a park.; Footprints of squirrel.; Footprints of myself.

  Twilight scenes along my walk way in the afternoon.

  １２月８日にはまたたくさんの雪が降りました。家の周りの歩道や通路の除雪をするのに２時間以上かかりました。午後には散歩に行ったのですが、雪が深くて、今までのように歩き回ることはもう困難になっていました。
   It snowed a lot on December 8. It took two hours for me to remove the snow around my house. Anyway I have enough time to play with snow after retirement. In the afternoon, I went out for walking. It has become very difficult to walk in the parks and river banks due to the heavy and thick snow, but it was still nice to walk in the snow.

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Walk along the Satsunai river bank, December 10, 2017

2017.12.11

  I walked on the Satsunai river bank. I could see many footprints of wild animals. The photo in the above left shows a pile of sugar beet which was still remained in the field.

  I approached the river shore, which was also covered with snow. Someone has already walked in advance to me on the shore with his dog.

  I could see the flight of swans and geeses.

  今日の午後は、久しぶりに札内川の堤防を歩いてきました。大きなトラックが走ったようで、そのわだちを歩きました。色々な動物の足跡を見れて面白かったです。また、白鳥や鴨(鴨くらいの大きさの鳥で実体は不明)などの群を見ることもできました。イトーヨーカドーの本屋さんに寄り、帰りは機関庫川沿いの道を帰ってきましたが、雪が積もって3日になるのにまだほとんど足跡のついていないような部分もありました。
   This afternoon, I walked along the bank of Satsunai river, which flows to the east of Obihiro city. In spite of the deep snow, some truck ran on the bank and left ruts, on which I could walk easily. I could find many footprints of wild animals on the snow. I walked down near to the river shore, where I could find the foot prints of a man and a dog who passed here in advance to me. I could see also the flights of swans and geese which stay here during winter season.
   After walking around 4 km on the bank, I dropped at a shopping center in the city, then came home. For return way, I took the path along the Kikanko river, a small stream leading to my living town "Seiryu". From place to place, it was difficult to walk on the deep snow along the river bank, as nobody has ever walked on it since the last big snow fall.

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Bird watching in the forest of Obihiro, December 17, 2017

2017.12.27

  Survey of wild birds is carried out routinely by a voluntary group "Ezorisu no kai" four times a year. I joined the opportunity for the first time. We met together very early at 7:30 in the morning, in the forest of Obihiro. We had to wear snow shoes so that we can walk on the deep snow.

  We could see and hear many birds. The leader can identify the birds only by their voices. We could see also an eagle flying over us.

  Undisturbed small river was flowing in the forest. On the snow, we could also observe many foot prints of wild animals.

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鳥を見ながら散歩, January 9, 2018

2018.1.9

  最近、双眼鏡を持って散歩にでかけています。
   去年、エゾリスの会の活動に３回ほど参加させていただいて、その際は学芸員さんの予備の双眼鏡を貸していただいていたのですが、自分のものを持ってみたいという気持ちになって、年末に購入しました。まず最初のことでもあるし、あまり高くないもので、かつ性能は期待できるものというわがままな基準で、オリンパスの「8x40DPSI」 という双眼鏡を購入しました。防水機能などはついていおらず約710g という重い双眼鏡ですが、初心者には大変使いやすく、レンズが大きいので視野も広くて明るく満足しています。先日、孫を連れて散歩に行った時には、孫に双眼鏡を奪われて、しかも孫は雪の中で何度も転んだので双眼鏡は雪まみれになってしまいましたが、部屋のなかで乾かしたところ、とくに異常はありませんでした。
   私は清流の里３丁目の「機関庫の川公園」、２丁目の「まなびの公園」の木立の中を通り、機関庫川の支流沿いに農業高校の圃場方面に登り、学校林と圃場の間の道を南下して帰ってくるのですが、川沿いの木立の中に鳥はたくさんいます。
   まだ名前を知らない鳥がたくさんあるのは残念ですが、今のところ、ムクドリ、カケス、シジュウカラ、ゴジュウカラ、コガラ（ハシブトカラ）、エナガ、アカゲラなどを観察しました。遠くに行かなくても、我が家の前の緑地帯の木立にも鳥はたくさん来ています。
  鳥を見ることができるようになって、散歩がさらに楽しくなりました。

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Kuroboku soils in Tokai area 東海地方の黒ボク土（Excursion of Japanese Society of Pedology 日本ペドロジー学会巡検）, March 3-4, 2018

2018.3.4

  In Nagoya, I attended the scientific meeting and symposium of Japanese Pedologists (March 1-2) and also joined the excursion of the society (March 3-4). I was very much interested in the excursion because I could visit the andosol sites in Aichi, Mie and Gifu prefectures.

  三重県鈴鹿市広瀬の扇状地における腐植質普通非アロフェン質黒ボク土

  三重県鈴鹿市広瀬の扇状地における灌漑施設　マンボ

  岐阜県鵜沼市における木曽川泥流と御嶽軽石層PM3

  岐阜県鵜沼市低位段丘における普通陸成未熟土

  岐阜県鵜沼市中位段丘における厚層非アロフェン質黒ボク土

  馬背岩（愛知県新城市豊岡 湯谷温泉付近）。凝灰岩に安山岩が貫入し、全体が“馬の背”のように見える。また、川の対岸には柱状節理を持つ安山岩の柱が見えた。

  馬背岩（愛知県新城市豊岡 湯谷温泉付近）付近の風景。

  蛇紋岩地帯に発達した土壌（愛知県新城市　森林・技術センター）。

  中央構造線の露頭。外帯：三波川変成帯（緑色片岩・黒色片岩）の上に内帯：領家変成帯（花崗岩）が覆いかぶさっている。（愛知県新城市長篠）。

  腐植質非アロフェン質黒ボク土。（愛知県新城市日吉）。

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Visit to Nagoya and Okazaki, March 3-4, 2018

2018.3.4

   Before and after the scientific meeting and symposium of Japanese Society Pedology, I visited Nagoya and Okazaki. In Okazaki, I visited the grave of my parents with my sisters, because one year passed since my mother passed on March 5, last year.

  名古屋城

  あちこちで見た梅の花

  岡崎城周辺。夕暮れと朝の散歩

  菅生川沿の風景

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Heavy snow in Obihiro, March 1-, 2018

2018.3.22

   While I was traveling, it snowed very much in Obihiro. My wife stayed alone in our house and could not go out due to too much snow. I am sorry to her. I have never seen such large amount of snow heaped in my garden.

  帯広の大雪

  大雪のあとの雨

  公園のマスコットと雪解けの進行

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