Katsuhiko Ishibashi
– Citation
After the first Joint Meeting of Geoscience Related Societies, he led the community to form a consensus to continue this meeting in the next and following years, and oversaw the second meeting as the chairperson of the Meeting Committee. He also called on geoscience related societies to play a key role in establishing a liaison committee of these societies.
– Comment
Congratulations to the 30th anniversary of the Japan Geoscience Union. Thank you very much for the letter of appreciation. I was the chairperson of the Meeting Committee for the second Japan Earth and Planetary Science Joint Meeting held at the Hachioji campus of Kyoritsu Women’s University in April 1991. After the success of the first meeting, the success of the second meeting was very important for the Joint Meeting to continue to grow, but there were many societies that emphasized their own conferences, so we tried to keep a sense of balance and aim a little ahead of the prevailing consensus. Dr. Noriko Sugi was the only faculty member at Kyoritsu Women’s University in the field of geoscience, and I was in Tsukuba, which made things difficult. However, with the kind cooperation of the university authorities and the hard work of the people in charge of the five societies of seismology, geomagnetism, volcanology, geodesy, and geochemistry, as well as the students of Yokohama City University, Tokyo Gakugei University, and Nihon University, we were able to make this a successful meeting. At that time, there was no cross-sectional mechanism among academic societies, so we established the Liaison Committee of geoscience societies in July 1990 with the help of the above five societies. I wrote letters to call for participation to eight other societies and we could receive consents from five societies, including oceanographic, meteorological, and geological societies, to join us. It now seems way back when, but it was indeed a modest first step that led us to the present. I wish for the further development of JpGU.