No. 22 March 2008

The Research Institute for Sustain-able Humanosphere (RISH), KyotoUniversity, was established in 2004 byunifying two organizations, the WoodResearch Institute (WRI) and theRadio Science Center for Space andAtmosphere (RASC). The objective ofthe RISH is to promote academicactivities and education in the field ofa new humanospheric science throughdomestic and international collabora-tive research programs and therebycontribute to both academic and publicsocieties. Humanospheric science isdefined as an interdisciplinary scienceto conduct research concerning ahumanosphere, which is composed offour vertical regions of planet Earthfor human activities, that is, groundhuman-habitat, forest, atmosphere andspace. By integrating the individualresearch results obtained in the labora-tories in the Core Research Divisions,we pursue our four missions to solve

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Recent International Research Activities of RISH

Prof. Toshiaki UmezawaChair of the International Academic Exchange

Committee of the RISH, Kyoto University

= Foreword =

Research fieldDate of ConclusionName of institution

Wood and wood-based materials25th October, 1996Nanjing Forestry University, CHINA

Plant macromolecules31st January, 1998Center National de la Recherche

Scientifique Center de Recheerches sur les Macromolecules Vegetales, FRANCE

Equatorial atmospheric dynamics

8th September, 2000The National Institute of Aeronautics and Space of the Republic of Indonesia (LAPAN), INDONESIA

Biology and wood science24th July, 2001School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, MALAYSIA

Wood and biomaterial science17th September, 2004Research and Development Unit for Biomaterials, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), INDONESIA

Wood science6th September, 2006Universiti Putra Malaysia, MALAYSIA

Biotechnology and material science

20th March, 2007VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, FINLAND

Wood science17th November, 2007Zhejiang Forestry University, CHINA

Earth and apace science20th December, 2007The Centre for Research in Earth and Space Science (CRESS) of York University, CANADA

Atmosphere and geographic science

17th March, 2008The College of Atmosphere and Geographic Sciences, Oklahoma University, USA

List of MOU

The Research Institute for Sustain-able Humanosphere (RISH), KyotoUniversity, and the School of Biologi-cal Sciences (SBS), Universiti SainsMalaysia (USM), jointly organized theseminar. That was held at the SBS ofUSM, Penang, Malaysia, from Decem-ber 12 to 14, 2007.

SBS is one of the partner institu-tions of RISH. First Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MOU) was concludedin July, 2001, to conduct exchange pro-grams mainly in the field of urban ento-mology. The two institutes renewedtheir MOU in July 21, 2006, to encom-

pass a broader range of fields of woodscience, and these successful pastexchanges led to this series of activities.

The Seminar covered a wide rangeof topics from basic to advancedresearch on wood science and technolo-gy. Over 60 researchers came to theseminar and showed great interest intheir discussions.

Another purpose of this seminarwas to nurture and inspire young Japan-ese researchers to become more inter-national and enhance the quality ofresearch. Therefore RISH assured theyoung researchers of RISH who joined

of beneficial opportunities.During the seminar, on

Dec. 13, Director ShuichiKawai and other associatedresearchers at the RISH paid acourtesy visit to Vice Chancel-lor Lim Koon Ong of USM.First, they extended theirthanks for the seminar andthereafter exchanged views ontheir mutual interest in acade-mic exchanges.

The USM, which is a research ori-ented university mainly consisting ofscience departments, is a leadingMalaysia university according toMalaysian government standards. URL: http://www.usm.my/en/

The program of the seminar is asfollws:

Program

December 12, 2008 (Wednesday)# Welcome Speech and Opening Ceremo-

ny: Prof Abu Hassan Ahmad, Dean ofSchool of Biological Sciences, SBS

# Developing Research Clusters for LifeScience at USM: Prof NazalanNajimudin, Research Platform Dean forLife Sciences, SBS

# Exploration and Promotion of New Inter-disciplinary Research Projects on a Sus-tainable Humanosphere: Prof Yuji Ima-mura, Head of the Center for ExploratoryResearch on Humanosphere, RISH

# New Approaches for the Sustainable Pro-duction of Biobased and BiodegradableMaterials: Dr. K. Sudesh Kumar, SBS

# Cadmium Removal from Soil by Trans-

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present and future problems concerningthe humanosphere: Assessment andremediation for humanosphere, Scienceand technology towards solar energysociety through biomass and solarpower satellite research, Space environ-ment and its utilization and Develop-ment of technology and materials forcyclical utilization of bio-basedresources.

The RISH was established as aninter-university and international coop-erative research institute. To promoteinternational collaboration, we havesigned Memorandum of Understandingwith many foreign institutions. Asshown in the table, we have eleven

MOUs at present.We have held a number of interna-

tional symposia to set and confirm ourfuture directions towards establishmentof a sustainable society. In FY 2007,six international RISH symposia wereheld: 73rd RISH Symposium (July 25,2007, Bandung, Indonesia), 77th RISHSymposium (October 22-27, 2007,Kyoto, Japan), 78th RISH Symposium(October 29, 2007, Kyoto, Japan), 83rd

RISH Symposium RISH-USM Work-shop in Penag (December, 11-15, 2007,Penang, Malaysia), and 92nd RISHSymposium Towards Establishment ofSustainable Humanosphere (Cibinong,Indonesia).

In addition to the symposia, wehave organized lectures “HumanospereScience School in 2008” in RISH satel-lite office in Research and Develop-ment Unit for Biomaterials, IndonesianInstitute of Sciences, Cibinong, Indone-sia. This school originated as WoodScience School in 2006. In this year, ithas been co-organized with G-COEprogram “In Search of a SustainableHumanosphere in Asia and Africa” andexpanded to cover many fields ofhumanospheric science.

We hope that these activities facili-tate to establish systems for sustainablesociety through international researchnetworks.

83rd RISH Symposium-RISH-SBS Seminar

Ayako HondaInternational Affairsm Adm. Office

= RISH International Symposium =

Vice chancellor is in the center, and Director Kawai is on his left

View of the seminar

No. 22 March 2008

genic Plants by Use of Metal TransporterGenes: Dr Tsugumi Nakanishi-Masuno,RISH

# Foraging and Feeding Behaviour ofUrban Pest Ants: Prof Lee Chow Yang,SBS (Visiting Professor of RISH)

# Molecular Aspects of Unsaturated FattyAcids in Fish Reproduction and Develop-ment: Assoc Prof. Alexander Chong ShuChien, SBS

# Development of Novel FunctionalizedBacterial Cellulose-based BiomimeticComposites: Dr Thi Thi Nge, RISH

# Optically Transparent NanocompositesReinforced with Bacterial Cellulose: DrMasaya Nogi, RISH

# Managing Mosquito Vectors in Malaysia:Assoc Prof Zairi Jaal, SBS

# Termites for New Energy Options: AssocProf Tsuyoshi Yoshimura, RISH

December 13, 2008 (Thursday)# Perspective on the international academic

collaboration of RISH: Prof ShuichiKawai, Director of RISH, RISH

# An overview of the collaborative researchprograms at RISH: Prof Toshitaka Tsuda

Vice-Director of RISH, RISH# Mimosa pigra - the most noxious invasive

plant species in ASEAN countries: ProfMashhor Mansor, SBS

# Evaluation of biodiversity of birds withspecial references to avian contribution tonutrient cycling in Acacia plantation

forests: Dr Motoko Fujita, RISH# Incidence and remediation of bioaerosols

in enclosed buildings in Malaysia: ProfBaharuddin Salleh, SBS

# Generating wealth from local agro-wastesvia solid substrate fermentation: ProfDarah Ibrahim, SBS

# Micribial and thermochemical pretreat-ments of lignocellulosics for biofuel pro-duction: Prof. Takashi Watanabe, RISH

# Insect juvenile hormone production fromcell suspension culture of Cyprus aro-

maticus (Ridley): Prof. Chan Lai Keng,

SBS # Genetically modified treeas: from applied

science to basic science: Dr. TomomiKaku, RISH

# Isoprene emitted from tropical forests as athermotolerance mechanism for plants:Prof. Kazufumi Yazaki, RISH

# Scenario of mangrove-estuarine degrada-tion due to human activities in PenengIsland: Dr. Khairun Yahya

# Closing remarks: Prof Abu HassanAhmad, Dean, SBS, and Prof. ShuichiKawai, Director, RISH

RISH, Center for South-East AsianStudies (CSEAS) of Kyoto University,The Indonesian Institute of Sciences(LIPI), and the Global Center of Excel-lence (G-COE) Program “In search ofsustainable humanosphere in Asia andAfrica”, with financial support from theOrganizations for the Promotion ofInternational Relations of Kyoto Uni-versity, organized Humanosphere Sci-ence School (HSS) and the 92th RISHSymposium “Towards Establishment ofSustainable Humanosphere” in LIPI

Biomaterial Center in Cibinong,Indonesia in February 21-23, 2008.

The RISH director, Prof. S. Kawai,CSEAS director, Prof. K. Mizuno, andDeputy of LIPI, Dr. E. Sukara attendedthe meetings together with attendantsthat reached about 90 including 23Japanese delegates. Because of richtravel support from the G-COE Pro-gram, many young scientists, i.e., post-doctoral fellows and students in thePhD courses, could join these interest-ing meetings from Kyoto.

In HSS, Prof. B. Subyanto, Dr. Sub-yakto, and Dr. A. Firmanti from LIPI,and Prof. M. Yamamoto, Prof. J.Sugiyama, Prof. T. Watanabe, Dr. T.Yoshimura, and Dr. M. Fujita fromRISH gave lectures that cover topicsfrom the wood science, the forest ecol-ogy to the atmospheric remote sensing.On the second day, we had a scientifictrip to Bogor Botanical Garden of LIPI.

The 92th RISH Symposium washeld on the last day, and we had pre-sentations by Dr. H. Soedjito from

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Humanosphere Science School and the 92th RISH Symposium in

LIPI-Cibinong, IndonesiaProf. Mamoru Yamamoto

= RISH International Symposium =

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When we think of “termites” thesedays, we no longer see termites asdestroyers of homes and other woodenstructures, we also see termites as a keygroup of animals contributing to thefunctioning of many ecosystems. Espe-cially in the tropics they form a mostimportant group by their sheer biomass.They are key components of the foodchain, and most importantly they aredecomposers of large volumes of plantlitter and other cellulosic material.Their impact on the humanosphere canbe manifold. With such holistic viewsprevailing at RISH, my time there pro-vided me with a unique opportunity tolook at two aspects of termite biologythat take into account their abilities todecompose cellulosic materials andtheir recently recognized value as anutritious food source to many animals.

I am an Honorary Research Fellowat CSIRO Entomology in Canberra,Australia within the group “Termites inEcosystems”. It was with great joy thatI accepted the invitation by Dr Kunio

Tsunoda to come to RISH, especiallysince I had experienced the great hospi-tality and diverse research opportunitiesat the Laboratory of InnovativeHumano-habitability during earliershort stays. From July 2007 until Janu-ary 2008 I worked closely with DrsKunio Tsunoda and TsuyoshiYoshimura and their team looking atthe question of whether waste paperproducts could be used to maintain andbreed termites, as had been suggestedin the past by researchers from Canadaand Australia. A recent, detailed studyby Itakura and colleagues (2006)demonstrated the high nutritious valueof workers of the two Japanese key pestspecies of termite, Reticulitermes sper-atus and Coptotermes formosanus(unsaturated fatty acids, amino acids).We wanted to know if it was possibleto mass rear termites on such productsso they could be used as food supple-ments in the breeding of fish and otheranimals as suggested by Itakura andcolleagues. At the same time the pro-

ject might demonstrate that termitescould help reduce the amount of wastepaper in Japan and elsewhere.

Our laboratory studies and very pre-liminary results from the field(Kagoshima RISH field research site)have confirmed that termites arechoosy feeders. Although they mayreadily feed on a variety of differentpaper sources when they are the onlyfood available, in the field termitesseem to prefer materials that are free ofchemical paper additives. Dr Yoshimu-ra will continue to monitor the field tri-als (Kagoshima, Uji campus) over thecoming spring to early summer. Butunfortunately it seems that mass rearingtermites on cellulosic waste materialssuch as paper and cardboard may haveonly limited potential. For this purposeother food sources will have to beinvestigated.

Also while at RISH I collaborated

Changing views on termites-not just foe but also friend

Prof. Michael LenzVisiting Professor from Australia

= Visiting Professor =

LIPI, Dr. E. Hermawan from NationalInstitute of Aeronautics and Space(LAPAN) of Indonesia, Prof. S. Kawai,Prof. T. Umezawa, Dr. M. Shinohara,

Dr. R. Ridyorini, Ms. S. Mizuno, andMr. K. Koishi from RISH, Prof. H.Mizuno and Prof. K. Matsubayashifrom CSEAS, and Dr. K. Nakamura

from Kyoto University GraduateSchool of Asian and African AreaStudies (ASAFAS). The topics spreadover diverse fields, i.e., the regionalstudies of Asia and Africa, wood mate-rials, plant-gene, biomaterials, tropicalmeteorology, and solar-power plant inspace (SPS).

From these meeting we learned thatvast study areas are concerned with theestablishment of the sustainablehumanosphere. Discussion in the meet-ings and conversations with scientistsfrom different disciplines stimulatedscientific interest of all participantsincluding young scientists. We wouldlike to continue organizing this kind ofinteresting and important meetings.

No. 22 March 2008

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In RISH I am carrying out studieson “Global variation of water vaporusing different observational platformsviz., COSMIC, AQUA, NCEP andECMWF”. In the past water vaporobservations are limited and mostlythey are point observations. In therecent years observational techniqueshave been evolved to monitor theatmosphere globally on a continuousbasis with high spatial and temporalresolutions. The spatial and temporalvariations in water vapor, precipitationand temperature are very important inthe study of global climate change. Thewater vapor is one of the key parame-ters for the weather, climate change andweather forecast. The water vapor dis-tribution varies sharply in the verticaldirection as evident in the many formsof stratiform cloud systems. The con-vective and stratiform clouds are highlyprevalent in the tropical region. Tropi-cal precipitation provides three fourthsof the energy that drives the atmospher-

ic wind circulation through latent heatrelease. Thus, it has been always in thefocus of space-borne research. In therecent years COSMIC, Aqua, missionshave emerged as very powerful tech-niques to study water vapor globally.COSMIC mission provides about 2000real-time soundings per day over theglobe with high degree of vertical reso-lution and providing global coverage inall weather conditions. Thus GPS radiooccultation data is ideally suited for adetailed study of water vapor. Aqua isanother satellite mission of the NASA’sEarth Observing System (EOS) whichwas launched on May 04, 2002, con-sists of six distinct earth-observinginstruments. The three components ofthe aqua sounding set are AIRS (atmos-pheric infrared sounder), AMSU(advanced microwave sounding unit),HSB (humidity sounder for Brazil).AMSU is a 15 channel sounder consist-ing of two physical units, AMSU-A1and AMSU-A2. Twelve of AMSU’s

channels measure radiation with fre-quencies between 50 and 60 GHz andare used primarily for temperaturesounding, the other channels measureradiation at frequencies of 23.8, 31.4and 89 GHz and are used mainly forwater vapor and precipitation measure-ments. The horizontal resolution of theAMSU data at nadir is 40.5 km, this isthree times as coarse as that of theAIRS data. The NCEP reanalysis andECMWF data are also used for thecomparison and the difference betweenthese observations are studied. Theobservational technique is different forboth COSMIC and Aqua satellite. TheCOSMIC mission provides high verti-cal resolution data with limb techniquebut Aqua satellite provides high hori-zontal resolution data with nadir tech-nique. By combining these two, bothvertical and horizontal variation ofwater vapor are studied globally. Aquais showing lower values than COSMICand radio sonde. But the comparison is

Global variation of water vapor using different observational platforms

(COSMIC, AQUA, NCEP and ECMWF)Dr. I. V. Subba Reddy

RISH-mission Scientists from India

= RISH-mission Scientists =

with Drs Tsunoda, andYoshimura and Visit-ing Professor Chow-Yang Lee of the Uni-versity Sains Malaysia(Penang, Malaysia) ona number of othersmaller sucessful ter-mite projects. Some ofthose will ensure on-going collaboration.

I have greatlyappreciated the oppor-tunity to get a glimpseof the way of life inJapan beyond a short-stay tourist experience.The warm hospitality

at RISH, for which we are very grate-ful, and the consideration and helpgiven by the people of Kyoto, has givenmemories that will stay with me andmy wife. Apart from Kyoto and Ujiwhere we lived, among the places visit-ed in Japan most memorable wereHiroshima and right at the end of mytime in Japan, Hokkaido in winter,especially time at the reserve for theManchurian Crane.

I would like to express my gratitudeespecially to Drs Tsunoda andYoshimura for hosting my visit and forthe opportunity to meet with other col-leagues from research institutions andindustry and the excellent supportgiven to me at RISH.

Coptotermes formosanusupper and lower left: attack on newspaper upperright: feacal droppings black from print ink lower

right: black print ink accumulating in termite abdomen

fairly good between COSMIC andradio sonde. Global variation of watervapor is compared with the NCEP,ECMWF, COSMIC and AIRS for themonth of September 2006. We are alsofocusing the water vapor distribution

over the western pacificregion and also the variationbetween over the land andocean in India-Indonesiaregion.

I have delivered one Insti-tute seminar and two semi-nars for the Prof. T. Tsuda’sResearch group. During mystay in Japan I visited to Shi-garaki where the MU radar,Rayleigh Lidar, BoundaryLayer Radar, RASS and otherremote sensing facilities are

available. During October 23-27, 2007I attended the International CAWSESSymposium, held at Kyoto University,Japan. Kyoto is the historical place andI am quite fortunate to stay in Kyoto. InKyoto I visited some of the historical

temples eg., Kinku Kuji, Byodo-In,Momorotoji temples. These are quiteexcellent.

I would like to express my greatpleasure to record my deep sense ofgratitude and profound thanks to Prof.T. Tsuda who gave me this opportunityto work in the world reputed Universi-ty. I express my sincere thanks to mycolleagues for their cooperationtowards research as well as commonamenities. I extend my heartfelt wishesto Mrs. Michiko Okazaki and Mrs.Sachiko Shikata who have taken care inall the aspects to provide comfortablelife in Japan. I express my sincerethanks to the authorities of RISH forproviding necessary facilities andexcellent support to carry out myresearch work.

It is an honor to present my researchin this International Newsletter. I wouldlike to express my appreciation to myresearch supervisor, Professor KozoHashimoto, for giving me an opportuni-ty to conduct this interesting study andfor fruitful and continuous discussions,helpful suggestions, and useful advicethroughout the present research.

People have paid more and moreattention to space power satellites(SPS). One of the most importantissues of the microwave power trans-mission (MPT) system in the SPS ishighly effective power transmission.Since there are phase differences in themicrowaves between different anten-nas, the microwaves can offset eachother. Thus phase synchronizationbetween antennas is important. Myresearch is based on a fast phase con-trol method called the parallelizationmethod.

First, we conducted certificationexperiments of the parallelizationmethod with one signal generator andtwo signal generators, in which wecompared the phase differencesbetween two signals measured by theparallelization method and the true val-ues. The error with one signal generatorwas about 1.4 degrees. After using anapproximation straight-line method to

eliminate the error caused by the phasedifference between two signal genera-tors, the error with two signal genera-tors was 3.7 degrees.

Next, we developed a phase controlfeedback system that could make thephases of two signal generators syn-chronous. The error was less than 4degrees. We conducted wireless experi-ments to test the feedback system. In

the wireless environment,the feedback system couldcontrol the phase differ-ence between two signalseffectively.

Space satellites willbecome major energysources and be a great ben-efit to humankind in thefuture. We hope that moreand more people will par-ticipate in satellite researchand accelerate this process.

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Research Activities at the Research Institute for Sustainable

Humanosphere (RISH)Zhengpeng Hua

Master Course Student from China

= Students from Abroad =

No. 22 March 2008

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In the beginning of April 2004, Icame to Japan when the Sakura flowerswere in bloom. It was the first time Iexperienced people gathering under ofthe full bloom of the Sakura blossoms,enjoying the beautiful red, pink andwhite flowers while picnicking withfood and refreshments in a commontradition called “Hanami”. On the sec-ond day of my stay in Kyoto, I wasreally surprised and lucky enough toexperience my first Hanami party withthe students, researchers and staff

members of the laboratory where Iwould work. The day was a wonderfulopportunity for me as a new member toget to know everyone from the labora-tory and to begin to create a deeperrelationship with them. That day hasbecome an unforgettable moment thatsymbolizes the commencement of mylife in Japan.

With a Mombukagakusho (MEXT)Scholarship by Embassy Recommenda-tion (G to G program), I had the oppor-tunity to start my study at Kyoto Uni-versity with a five-month Japanese lan-guage course at the Yoshida campus.On October 2004, I was admitted as aresearch student in the Laboratory ofInnovative Humano-habitability at theResearch Institute for Sustainable

Humanosphere (RISH), Kyoto Univer-sity. In April 2005, I was enrolled inthe institute’s doctoral program underthe supervision of Prof. Yuji Imamura.

In East Kalimantan, Indonesiawhere I came from, planters have beentrying to establish plantation forests ofthe commercial trees of the Diptero-carpaceae family, such as the red mer-anti and yellow meranti. Unfortunately,these trees often suffer from canker dis-ease and their wood decays. Similarly,in replanting of rubber plantations, the

rubber trees are also susceptibleto this disease. Because forestsare managed for timber produc-tion and the wood of rubbertrees from replanting areas isused for furniture and variouswood-based products, decayreduces the grade quality or tim-ber yield, and is therefore a seri-ous economic problem. Becauseof that I have focused myresearch on the study of micro-scopic characteristics of wood

degradation involved in the decay ofthese trees. I have identified the decayfungi by using molecular methods andinoculated it into sound wood for decaytest experiments in the laboratory. Forfungi identification, I used molecularmethods because this wasa rapid and accurate wayto characterize and identifyorganisms, and it did notrequire the substantial sub-jectivity often involved inthe use of classical meth-ods, but rather was basedon objective (molecular)information derived fromthe target organism. Underthe guidance of Dr. ShuheiTakemoto, I accomplished

the DNA analysis for fungi identifica-tion in the Laboratory of Environmen-tal Mycoscience and Nematology,Graduate School of Agriculture, KyotoUniversity.

I found basidiomycetes fungi andnon-decaying mitosporic fungi in thedecayed wood tissues of the trees. Thebasidiomycetes fungi in laboratory con-ditions have a similar decay pattern tothat in the decayed wood of plantationtrees. Identifying the causal fungi andexamining the decay pattern on woodin the laboratory should enable confir-mation of the cause of the wood degra-dation. I also performed a microscopi-cal observation of progressive decayunder laboratory conditions to deter-mine the process of wood degradationby the basidiomycetes fungi. I believethat studying the microscopic charac-teristics of wood degradation in com-mercial trees will help in the develop-ment of control measures for decay.During this study, I have written twopapers that have been accepted for pub-lication in the Journal of Wood Sci-ence, and I have other papers in prepa-ration for submission.

While I was studying, I joined theJapan Wood Research Society (JWRS)

I study tropical wood decay for my PhDresearch at RISH, Kyoto University

ErwinPh.D. student from Indonesia

= Students from Abroad =

Processing SEM images using EDAX software

A longitudinal canker and transverse view of the canker disk of a rubber tree found in

East Kalimantan, Indonesia

A new system designated “Develop-ment and Assessment of SustainableHumanosphere (DASH)” is introducedto Research Institute for SustainableHumanosphere (RISH) at the end ofMarch 2008 as a budget request fromKyoto University to Ministy of Educa-tion, Culture, Sports, Science and Tech-nology in Japan for the fiscal year 2007.

The concept of DASH system isillustrated below. This system providesthe facility to grow transgenic plantsand to analyze wide range of metabo-lites from volatile compounds to poly-mers. As this system was requestedfrom both RISH and Center for Ecolog-ical Research, this system is designedalso for ecological studies analyzinginteraction between plant and insect,plant and fungi, plant and atmosphere.

DASH system consists of two com-ponents, i.e. analysis subsystem andplant growth subsystems. The former

contains three analytical facilities: 1)LC-MS-IT-TOF that enables systemat-ic analysis of chemical components ofplants, fungi, and bacteria; 2) two GC-MS apparatuses for the analysis oflignin components as well as volatileorganic compounds emitted from manyorganisms in nature; 3) lysimeter(model MP-917) to monitor the soilenvironments. The latter is a green-house, which has 2 closed greenhousesand 5 special screened greenhouses,specialized for growing transgenicplants including large woody plantspecies. The height of the largest roomis ca. 7 m and overall building area isca. 220 m2 including the rim. Inside ofthis DASH greenhouse, a culture roomis also equipped where axenic cell andtissue cultures or plant transformationcan be managed.

This system will be applied for thedomestic and international collabora-

tive research programs and be openedfor all relevant researchers on applica-tion basis from the fiscal year 2008.The construction of DASH is on-goingand the current status is shown in thepicture. We appreciate the active appli-cation for utilizing the DASH system asnew collaboration with our Institutes.

and the International Association ofWood Anatomist (IAWA). I presentedmy research papers at the 55th annualmeeting of JWRS in Kyoto (March2005), at the IAWA meeting in Botany2006 Conference in California, USA(August 2006), and at the 57th annualmeeting of JWRS in Hiroshima(August 2007). At the 6th PRWAC ofthe IAWA meeting in Kyoto (Decem-ber 2005), I presented the results of my

research work in poster sessions, andwas awarded the first-place prize forbest poster. I also participated in the 3rd

International Symposium on Surfacingand Finishing of Wood in Kyoto(November 2004), the 6th InternationalWood Science Symposium (IWSS) inBali, Indonesia (August 2005) and the16th Indonesian Scientific Conferencein Kyoto (August 2007).

I live in Japan with my wife and

children. Looking back, I have hadmany memorable occasions while liv-ing here. Every year, my family and Iparticipate with pleasure in the Japan-ese traditional events in our neighbor-hood, like kodomo matsuri, mochitsuki, ocha matsuri, undokai, wintersupotsu and onggakukai. We have alsoparticipated in cultural exchange eventswhere we shared traditional Indonesiancustoms, such as the Indonesianotabe

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Title Back:Illustrated by Chikako Noshi

The Committee of InternationalAcademic ExchangeToshiaki Umezawa (Chair),Shuichi Kawai,Toshitaka Tsuda,Yuji Imamura,Kazufumi Yazaki,Mamoru Yamamoto,Tsuyoshi Yoshimura,Naoki Shinohara andAyako Honda (adm. office)

Published by S. Kawai(Director of RISH)

Research Institute forSustainable Humanosphere (RISH)Kyoto UniversityGokasho, Uji, Kyoto 611-0011, JapanTel: +81-774-38-3601Fax: +81-774-38-3600/31-8463http://www.rish.kyoto-u.ac.jp/

Establishment of DASH SystemProf. Kazufumi Yazaki

= News Topics =

No. 22 March 2008

(Indonesia Night) Festival 2007, andmy wife together an Indonesian frienddemonstrated Angklung (traditionalIndonesian music) performances at theKyoto Foreign Students Music Festivalin 2005 and 2007. I will never forgetthe help, advice and support fromeveryone at the Laboratory of Innova-tive Humano-habitability for myresearch activities.

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