Scientific Exchange with our Japanese Colleagues

Research in the Earth Sciences is carried out at several universities and institutions in Japan. During our visit we interacted with scientists from the Geological Survey of Japan (Drs. Kazahaya, Morikawa and Takahashi). Their expertise was critical for the successful collection of samples on the islands. University of Tokyo Professors Notsu and Nagao as well as Dr. Sumino were generous hosts and had interest in our work because they all have worked on the noble gas chemistry of samples from the Izu chain. Also at the University of Tokyo, Ms. Shimizu helped with the second part of the field expedition. She has sampled many localities on the islands and her help and support was indispensable. At Hakone we worked with Prof. Ohba (Tokyo Institute of Technology), the expert of this volcano.

One of us (Tobias Fischer) has spent three months last year (2004) working in Prof. Yuji Sano's laboratory at the Ocean Research Institute of the University of Tokyo. During this time he and Sano's group developed new techniques to measure nitrogen isotopes in olivines. During the visit, there were many challenges mainly because of the difficulty communicating with people outside the laboratory, where very little English is spoken. Living in the 3 x 5 m apartment at the equivalent of $1,700/month was only possible because of a generous fellowship from the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). Eating at restaurants was always an adventure because it was impossible to read the Japanese menus. As we experienced on this expedition, the food is of such quality that it does not really matter what is ordered.

In the future we will continue our collaborations with the Japanese scientists and jointly publish our results in scientific journals. We hope that we will be able to return to Japan for more field work or for the development of new and exciting analytical techniques that will expand our knowledge of fluids in the Earth.