Dr. Koji Fukutomi has long been engaged in hydrographic obser- 

 vations, constructing in 1945 diagrams for facilitating the use of non- 

 protected deep-sea reversing thermometers, and made in the same year 

 the determination of pressure coefficients of this type of thermometer by 

 a specially devised apparatus. He afterward got a new post in the 

 Hokkaido University and is now working there as a professor. 



Kaoru Yamashita has made some important contributions to the 

 reduction of hydrographic data, constructing in 1945 diagrams for com- 

 puting specific volume and dynamic elements. 



In 1947 M. Nakamiya discussed the hydrographic conditions in the 

 Tsusima Current. He is now an able oceanographer and has many 

 contributions to the hydrography of the adjacent seas of this country. 

 Recently he was engaged in the study, of the isolated cold water off the 

 south coast of Japan. 



Activities in the Government Fisheries Experimental Station 



The Government Fisheries Experimental Station, Tokyo, has long 

 contributed to the hydrographic surveys chiefly with the surveying ship 

 " Soyo Maru." The marine research of this organization is now mainly 

 directed by Dr. Kinosuke Kimura, a physical oceanographer. 



In 1939 M. Uda and T. Yamashita made a series of experiments on 

 the accuracy of density measurement by means of an Akanuma's hydro- 

 meter, which is sometimes used in Japan in place of chlorine titration. 

 They showed that the accuracy is not good enough, but use is made when 

 the chlorine titration is not available for some economic reasons. In 

 1940 Uda described in detail the hydrographic abnormality in the 

 Kuroshio region off the south coasts of this country, and discussed the 

 nature and behaviour of the isolated cold water, and K. Kimura studied 

 the hydrography in Suruga Bay, a little to the south-west of Tokyo. 

 This year Y. Yamamura devised an optical apparatus for determining 

 the colour of the sea. M. Igarashi examined the variation of the surface 

 salinity due to the rainfall in Kominato Ba}^ at the northern part of 

 Honshu. 



In 1941 Uda discussed the hydrography in the East China Sea in detail. 



In 1942 K. Kimura published an intensive investigation on the 

 phenomenon of the Kuroshio water mass frequently approaching towards 

 the coasts. This phenomenon was shown to occur ever5Avhere on the 

 coasts washed by this ocean current with cycles of a half month, one 

 month, and two months, and is considered to depend on the minor fluctua- 

 tions of this gigantic river in the ocean. 



During the period from 1943 to 1944 very few contributions were 

 made to physical oceanography in the branch of fisheries. 



In 1945 Kimura examined the results of drift-bottle experiments 

 formerly carried out in Japan Sea and interpreted the current system 

 of this sea. 



After the end of the war the activities fell for a while, but rose rapidly 

 in 1947. In the Government Fisheries Experimental Station, now 

 directed by S. M. Tauti, K. Kimura pointed out the abnormally cold water 

 along the Pacific coast in Boso Peninsula, to the east of Tokyo, and 

 studied the results of drift bottle experiments carried out in that summer 

 in Japan Sea. He also described an interesting movement of drift bottles 



196 



