Staff

Professor Ohara took up his present post in 2000, after serving as a JSPS Research Fellow, the Director of the Otaru City Museum, and a Research Associate at the Hokkaido University Graduate School of Agriculture. He received his Ph.D. from the Hokkaido University Graduate School of Agriculture. He is Editor-in-Chief of the European Languages Journal of the Coleopterological Society of Japan (focusing on the taxonomical group Coleoptera Histeridae). He has recently been hard at work on a para-taxonomy training course.

Armed with the slogan, “The Museum That We All Remember,” Professor Yuasa is engaged in research on the long-term impact of museums on the people who visit them, a field that has not been investigated extensively in Japan. Professor Yuasa studies the significance of personal museum experiences and the role of the museum in society, identifying a wide range of impacts that are not limited to recognized academic effects. Professor Yuasa also runs educational programs using museum resources, including scientific specimens and academic resources, researchers, and students; she then studies the effects of these programs. Through these efforts, Professor Yuasa has established the significance of the university museum in today’s world. She is now on the lookout for new academic endeavors. She is responsible for evaluating exhibits based on patron feedback, supporting patron visits, and managing volunteers, as well as undertaking a number of other initiatives. She holds a Ph.D. in Literature (Cultural Resource Studies) from the Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, University of Tokyo.

Professor Kobayashi graduated from the Department of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Wyoming (USA) with an award for excellence in 1995. He gained his Ph.D. in Earth Sciences from Southern Methodist University in 2004. He is currently an Associate Professor at the Hokkaido University Museum. His literary works include Nippon Kyoryu Tankentai (Japan Dinosaur Exploration Party), the “Iwanami Junior Pocket Series” and other works. As of March 2011, he has been responsible for naming six new genera and species (the extinct dinosaurs Fukuisaurus tetoriensis, Sinornithomimus dongi, Qiupalong hunanensis, Chuxiongosaurus lufengensis, and Koreaceratops hwaseongensis, the fossilized pterosaur footprint Pteraichnus koreanensis), and three new species: the bird footprints Magnoavipes denaliensis and Gruipeda vegrandiunus, and the water reptile Ikechosaurus pijiagouensis).

Professor Eda studied archeology at the Tsukuba University College of Humanities, ecology at the Graduate School of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Tokyo University Faculty of Agriculture, and molecular biology at the Kyushu University Graduate School of Social and Cultural Studies. He also studied anatomy as a member of the medical faculty of Tottori University.
He has been in his present post since April 2012. Adopting perspectives/techniques from a variety of fields, his primary research involves studying bird bones excavated from archeological sites. His favorite mottos are “Do anything to reach your goal,” and “If life gives you lemons, you can make lemonade.”

Professor Tashiro has worked in Fisheries Science Center (Hakodate Campus) at the same time as he took up his present post in April 2018. Fisheries Science Center holds more than 230,000 scientific fish specimens (“HUMZ” fish collection), and he is in charge the collection as Collection Manager. He received his PhD degree in Fisheries Science from Hokkaido University. His research has primarily focused on the taxonomy and zoogeography of fishes, especially in deep-sea eels (order Anguilliformes), fishes of the Sea of Japan and deep-sea fishes of the Andaman Sea. He has experience going various waters, such as the Arctic region (Alaska) and Lake Tanganyika (Zambia), for collecting fish specimens. He values “hands-on approach” in his research and educational activities.