Professor, Special Adviser to the President of the University of Tokyo, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

AGU embraces the global community and welcomes leaders representing various identities, voices, and perspectives. List any identities, voices, and perspectives you would bring, including but not limited to nationality, regional representations, racial and ethnic backgrounds, and anything else you feel comfortable sharing.

I am a Japanese man of East Asian descent. Although I am a majority in Japan, I am a relative minority at AGU, and English is not my first language. However, through more than 30 years of international collaborative research and field surveys, I believe I have acquired the ability to share a vision with people from diverse cultural and historical backgrounds and values and build relationships in which we can work together toward a common goal.

Volunteer experience that relates to this position:

President of the Japan Society for Hydrology and Water Resources. A Board member and the Chair of the Global Strategy Committee of the Japan Geoscience Union (JpGU). A Board member of the Engineering Academy of Japan. A member of the Science Advice and Review Board (SARB) of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. A member of the Governing Council of the Future Earth. Coordinating Lead Author (CLA) for Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group II’s contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), Lead Author for AR4, and Review Editor for AR6.

Board members work together with other volunteer leaders and staff to play a key role in implementing AGU’s strategic plan. What aspects of the strategic plan do you see yourself contributing to the most? How would you work with others to advance AGU’s values, vision, mission, and goals?

As an overseas member, I believe I can provide an international perspective and a way of doing academics that is not tied to the American academic system. I spent two years at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center as a visiting scientist, and I have a certain degree of understanding of the academic system in the United States from listening to stories from many colleagues and friends. The way in the U.S. is actually very different. Furthermore, people's perceptions of global environmental change and natural disasters vary greatly depending on historical and cultural backgrounds. I would like to bring such diversity to AGU, which is not just about gender and age.

Additionally, as a board member of JpGU, I can contribute to the promotion of international cooperation among international geoscience unions, and for example, the smooth holding of the AGU-JpGU Joint Meeting 2026. Furthermore, in Japan, based on my experience of being deeply involved in national policymaking based on scientific results as a member of the National Land Council, etc., I will provide insights to AGU regarding the science-policy interface from a standpoint where political and social mechanisms and situations are different.

I believe that the ideal situation would be for diverse opinions to be expressed, new ideas to be born, and AGU to be run with better governance. I believe that I can contribute to better management of AGU by returning to the strategic plan as necessary and engaging in careful discussions.

Section affiliations:

Earth and Planetary Surface Processes; Global Environmental Change; Hydrology