There are many diseases associated with hard tissue, such as osteoporosis, osteoarthritis and periodontal disease, and their patients have increased with the advent of an aging society. In this laboratory, for the treatment of these diseases, we are developing regenerative research on hard tissue (bone, cartilage, teeth) by setting three keyword; growth factors, extracellular microenvironment and stem cell.

Through field-based surveys, I am conducting research to clarify the geology and paleoenvironment of Mesozoic strata distributed in the Hokuriku region. I am also conducting research to clarify ecology of dinosaurs, such as their gait, walking speed, and gregarious behavior, based on dinosaur footprints. We will also be researching effective methods for museum exhibitions that focus on dinosaur fossils.

I am actively involved in paleontological excavations spanning Mongolia, Kenya, and northern Okayama Prefecture, while simultaneously conducting meticulous paleoenvironmental reconstructions based on robust geological investigations. Moreover, my endeavors extend to the comprehensive reconstruction of the entire ecological framework of the relevant time periods, encompassing small vertebrates, insects, and invertebrates, achieved through the discernment of the intricate interconnections between fossils and their corresponding stratigraphic contexts. Furthermore, our team enthusiastically engages in lifelong learning endeavors, exemplified by organizing exhibitions, workshops, and lectures that showcase esteemed fossil specimens.

In Japan, fossils of small mammals, such as those the size of mice or moles, are rarely found in older geological strata. This scarcity is largely due to the fact that fossil searches for small mammals have primarily focused on sediments accumulated in limestone fissures or caves, which are uncommon in strata older than 800,000 years. As a result, discoveries of small mammals from these earlier periods have been limited. Using new methods, I have successfully extracted small mammal fossils from strata dating back 3.5 million and 26 million years. My work contributes new insights into Japan’s fossil mammal record, which has traditionally been dominated by reports of large mammals such as elephants and deer, and aims to shed light on transitions in mammalian fauna across East Asia.

Animal bones typically contain growth marks, similar to those of tree rings. Previous studies have utilized these marks to reconstruct the growth of extinct animals, especially dinosaurs, and further investigate their physiology and ecology. Using specimens and data that I have collected through fieldwork and museum visits all over the world, I hope to contribute to our understanding of the link between life histories of fossil animals and macroevolutionary patterns.

Bone histology is the study of bone function and growth by sectioning bones into thin slices to visualize internal tissues. This technique has proven instrumental in uncovering the physiology and ecology of extinct animals, providing insights into their growth rate, age, metabolism, and degree of aquatic adaptation — factors that were previously challenging to reconstruct. My research focuses on employing bone histology to explore the life and adaptive processes of large vertebrates, such as dinosaurs and mammals. Specifically, I aim to uncover what factors influenced these creatures to evolve into giants or diminutive forms and how terrestrial vertebrates altered their physiology and bone structure to successfully readapt to aquatic environments.

Fieldworks in and out of Japan and describing dinosaur fossils. Mainly working on hadrosaurids, plant-eating dinosaurs that thrived during the late Cretaceous. Also reconstructing dinosaur soft-tissue anatomy through osteological and non-osteological fossils.

Fieldworks:
Mongolia, USA, Canada

Named species:
Kamuysaurus japonicus, Yamatosaurus izanagii, Paralitherizinosaurus japonicus, Ravjaa ishiii

My research is a practical study based on the reality of children’s thinking and expression as seen from the school site. Arts and crafts is a subject that deepens awareness of diversity.　I will develop teaching materials that aim to foster diverse ways of seeing and thinking and the acquisition of expressive skills. I will propose teaching methods that aim to improve children’s ability to think and create figuratively through learning from each other.

I study the deviation and the comformity in the human’s socialization process through inventory survey and interviews about delinquency and family relations in combination. Now I am interested in a correlation between spur-of-the-moment-act and emotion dysregulation. Furthermore, I am deeply interested in practical problems such as the way of student guidance, the vocational counseling (class instruction, tutorial) , a social hierarchy and the inequity of the learning opportunity.

The first point is “How to view and think about the ratio of raising in an organization.” Children in Japan have a big problem in how to think and think about the ratio. Each school is making every effort to overcome this challenge. Therefore, with the aim of providing this support, I am conducting research to cultivate views and ways of thinking about the proportion of children throughout the school organization. As an example, we have organized the points for raising the perspective and way of thinking in any grade, and have developed and visualized a table that shows the systematics of each grade..
The second point is “teacher training for teachers in learning.” In the future, teachers will need to be able to adapt to various learners in a flexible manner and to be able to teach adaptively. In response to this request, I developed a reflection matrix as a self-study tool for young and mid-career teachers to absorb the essence of the learning guidance of experienced veteran teachers and to become adaptively proficient. The matrix reflection method using this tool allows students to grow through self-diagnosis without the need for familiar veteran teachers.

I am mainly researching the development of science teaching materials that can be used in educational sites. In elementary and junior high school science, especially in elementary school science experiments, most of them are qualitative experiments. For example, when investigating the properties of things that are “invisible” to the human eye, such as light and magnetic force, we use relative terms such as “bright” and “strong.” Even in qualitative experiments that rely on bodily sensations, we can “see” the nature of things. However, if we can compare this experience with numerical values such as “how bright” and “how strong”, we will be able to “see more” what we “see” until now. Experiments that compare numerically like this are called quantitative experiments. When we can “visualize” the properties of things with these educational materials, we are sure that the observer’s eyes will have a higher resolution and be moved by the wonder and charm of the natural world. We are conducting research on the development of teaching materials that can be “more visualized” in various fields of science education.

It is said that physical education classes are relatively popular with children and students, and that they are highly independent in these classes.It is true that this has been supported by the diligent research of teaching materials by in-service teachers and the development of teaching methods.
However, in the in-service teachers differentiation according to individuals and groups is required because.However, the development of teaching materials and the choice of teaching methods are becoming half-implicit knowledge.I am trying to systematize the enormous teaching methods of in-service teachers that have been cultivated so far.As such, I hope to make teacher behavior explicit knowledge.

Music instruction is conducted not only through words, but also through various non-verbal means of expression, such as eye contact, gestures, and facial expressions. We are collecting and studying objective data on what music teachers look at and how they use their bodies in response to what situations, using eye-gaze measurement devices, motion capture, etc. We are also collecting data on the actual status of music teachers’ nonverbal communication by comparing these data with the results of interviews with teachers. By comparing these data with the results of interviews with teachers, we aim to elucidate the actual state of nonverbal communication among music teachers.
We are also conducting research on the relationship between music and physical expression.

“Home economics” in school education aims to improve the skill of homemaking through the velationships between oneself and their family, their consumption habit, their eating habit, their dwelling life, their clothing life and so on.
“Home economics” is concerned with not only our claily life but some subjects life social studies and science. Moreover it’s very important to reflect on your home life so far.
I investigate how “Home economics” should be and I design exciting, satisfactory and practical classes.

The founding of Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) in 1903 is situated in the social development of the working class organisation and is sustained the rich associational culture. In my research, I apply on the focus to the working-class association which was affiliated with WEA and the adult students who came to class. What was contributed to the educational life of the workers? What was the WEA’s purpose in putting forward the educational reconstruction? I will try to explore this.

I am interested in teacher involvement in supporting children’s social-emotional development. School is not only a place to develop academic skills, but also to promote children’s social-emotional development. So, what kinds of teacher involvement contribute to the development of children’s social-emotional competence? I am collecting and analyzing data on these questions.
I am also developing programs to foster communication skills, etc., with reference to psycho-educational programs that foster knowledge and skills related to the mind and social-emotional learning (SEL). These programs are meant to “prevent” problematic or maladaptive behaviors before they occur. I am also interested in how to utilize such programs in actual educational settings.

I am interested in English education in general, and I have conducted listening research focusing mainly on rehearsal speed and processing speed. I am examining the authentic use of English in countries and regions around the world, using research on World Englishes.
I am also interested in research on the relationship between speed-reading and listening comprehension with an awareness of English word order.
Currently, I would like to conduct research on the changes in English education in elementary, junior high and senior high schools due to the revision of the Course of Study, and on how to personally and professonally develop future English teachers at universities.

After graduating from graduate school, I have spent many years teaching Japanese language arts at middle and high schools. During my long tenure at a middle and high school affiliated with an international school, I have reflected on and implemented approaches related to the International Baccalaureate program, interdisciplinary learning, and inquiry-based education.
Rather than being a literature enthusiast, I became a Japanese language teacher because I enjoy analyzing and refining logical arguments. My goal is to develop a systematic approach to helping students master Japanese as a language and to theorize the educational practices I implement in the classroom.
Think, Don’t Feel.
It is like a finger pointing away at the moon. Don’t concentrate on the finger, or you will miss all that heavenly glory.

How can teachers motivate learners towards meaningful inquiry and research based learning? Should teachers teach, facilitate, or both? How can interactive, proactive student co-ownership of learning and assessment be realized? These are my primary inquiry questions in the field of teacher education.

My primary inquiry interests in Japan Studies and social studies education are as below: How do local policy and business models come together to bring about regional revitalization? How can we implement case studies in this area in secondary school education, and Japan Studies education?
Analysis of animism in Shinto, Hinduism.and Japanese Buddhism.

Specializes in education through teaching materials, methods, curriculum design, teachers’ training for inter-linguistic and intercultural communication based on social psychology. In 2007, started “Primary School Project” in Democratic Republic of Congo through intercultural collaboration, has continuously introduced how to create an atmosphere for “mutual collaboration” and “sustainable relationship” with the local community, and is always working with young researchers on the fieldwork-based approach in exploring how to interpret social and cultural phenomena in local communities to develop a model school for the area. We have other related projects in Kagoshima, Yamaguchi, Nagano, Kanagawa, Akita, Aomori.

As my specialty is interlinguistic and intercultural communication based on education, and I am researching its curriculum design and teaching methods. Generally, when we think about intercultural communication, it is exchange with foreign countries that comes to mind. However, even when we are talking with Japanese people, a word can often be interpreted completely differently by the other person, due to individual understandings of the image evoked by that particular word that arises from our diverse backgrounds. Nevertheless, there is the mistaken impression that sharing a language or an interpretation equals understanding, and major communication gaps can arise before we know it.
What is more, my special field of research is the creation of environments for interlinguistic and intercultural communication that generate these kinds of “discoveries.” What steps are required, what kind of settings do we need to create, and what kind of program do we need to assemble? This involves developing a curriculum design, creating an environment that generates sustainable shared understandings as quickly and naturally as possible, and coming up with the methodology to teach the required content and language, for example. We are undertaking this research by putting these concepts into practice through specific projects.