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Notes

26 March 2021 (Friday)


I participated in the retirement memorial lecture of professor Toshitaka Kajino of National Astronomical Observatory, entitled “Mysterious link among the birth of the universe, elements and life,” Colloquium of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan Colloquium, held on line.

20 March 2021 (Saturday)


I participated in “Bridge between Cultures,” a meeting on NASE and related activity in various countries and an introduction to the Herschel experiment, organized by NASE, Network for Astronomy School Education, held over zoom, taking the opportunity of the spring equinox day.

19 March 2021 (Friday)


ITAU, Iranian Teacher's Astronomy Union, and SINA, Student's International Network for Astronomy, organized “Nowrooz, Iranian Spring Equinox Celebration for New Year with Teachers and Students around the World,” held over zoom. I served as one of the organizers and introduced messages from Japan. Students, school teachers, astronomy fans from Iran, Romania, Bulgaria, and Japan presented cultural aspects of the spring equinox.

18 March 2021 (Thursday)


I particiapted in the regular meeting on science education research in early childhood to lower-grade school years, the research group of KSRUG, held on line over zoom, organized by Kotani Takuya-san of Osaka Ohtani University.

15 (Monday) - 20 (Saturday) March 2021


I participated in 2020 spring annnual meerting of the Astronomical Society of Japan, delivered on line. On 15, meeting of the committee of astronomy education and the board meeting of the Society were held. On 17, Astronomy Education Foruam was held. On 18, report on activity by the committee of astronomy education was made at the general assembly. On 20, I served as moderator of the public lecture.

14 March 2021 (Sunday)


I participated in the 4th Chubu regional meeging of Japan Society of Research on Early Childhood Care and Education, “Children Challenging the Wonders and Mysteries,” held on line.


I participated in the 1st symposium of the Childcare Policy Review Committee, Japan Society of Research on Early Childhood Care and Education, “Policies to improve the quality of childcare and early childhood education,” held on line.

13 March 2021 (Saturday)


I participated in the 5th Kyushu-Okinawa regional meeging of Japan Society of Research on Early Childhood Care and Education, “Connection between kindergarten, nursery, and elementary school and its future direction,” held on line.


I participated in the NAOJ California Office - Wakayama Shin-ai High School On-Line Lecture, “Construct a Rocket and Where are you heading to?” by Dr. Saeko S. Hayashi.

7 March 2021 (Sunday)


I served one of the organizing members of the on-demand and real-time symposium, “Creation of Physical and Human Environment to Foster Early Childhood Creative Thinking,” organized by KSRUG, the research group of science education research in early childhood to lower-grade school years, held on line and broadcast from Osaka Ohtani University Harukas Campus, Osaka City.

6 March 2021 (Saturday)


I participated in the presentation of school management course, 4th Forum of Enhancement of Teacher Skills, organized by Graduate School of Teacher Education, Wakayama Univerisity, held on line.


I participated in Senior High School-University Collaboration Joint Form of KOKÔ-Juku, organized by Kokawa Senior High School and Kii-Plus of Kii Peninsula Institute of Regional Innovation, Wakayama University, titled “Creating School and Community with Sustanable Development,” held on line.


I participated in “Introduction to Qualitative Study Related to Science Classes: To Capture More Clearly Phenomena in the Classes,” lectured by Watanabe Masafumi-san, the 3rd on-line seminar organized by the Task Force for Fostering Young Scientists of the Society of Japan Science Teaching.

5 March 2021 (Friday)


I visited Ayumi Nursery, Osaka City, and gave a talk to about 20 staff on early childhood science education based on astronomy activity.

3 March 2021 (Wednesday)


I participated on line in the last lecture of professor Jun Munemori of Faculty of System Engineering, Wakayama University, titled “My Half Century of the Technology of Intellectual Production.”

2 March 2021 (Tuesday)


I participated on line in the last lecture of professor Tsuneo Ajisaka of Faculty of System Engineering, Wakayama University, titled “In Search of Sustainability.”

27 February 2021 (Saturday)


I participated in the 2nd of academic year 2020, Mitaka on-line workshop, organized Mitaka working group of Japanese Society for Education and Popularization of Astronomy. Mitaka is software for visualizing the known Universe with up-to-date observational data and theoretical models, developed by the Four-Dimensional Digital Universe (4D2U) project of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ).

26 February 2021 (Friday)


I participated in the Mid-term Summary Symposium on Initiative for Realizing a Diversity Research Environment, held on line, which is supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan, organized by Osaka City University collaborating with Osaka Kyoiku University, Wakayama University, and Sekisui House, Ltd.

23 February 2021 (Tuesday, holiday)


I participated in the on-line event, Meet the IAU Astronomer, “Where are the Martians” by Dr. Kundan Kadam (University of Western Ontario, Canada), organized by Universe Awareness Malaysia - Apadilangit, under a series of its Mars Exploration Month.

20 February 2021 (Saturday)


I participated in the session of teacher training of 2020 annual meeting of Association of Science Education, “Pre-Service Teachers are Raised in Analog Way: View through Class of Method of Science Education,” talked by Shogenji Takahiro-san, held on line.


I participated in “Writing a Paper Based on the Science Class Practice at School,” lectured by Kamiyama Shin-ichi-san, the 2nd on-line seminar organized by the Task Force for Fostering Young Scientists of the Society of Japan Science Teaching.

19 February 2021 (Friday)


I visited Ayumi Nursery, Osaka City, and practiced an astronomy talk to 20 children of 5-year-old class. Some of them already knew the news of the successful landing of the mission Perseverance on Mars early in the morning on the day. I took the news in the talk.


I particiapted in the meeting on science education research in early childhood to lower-grade school years, the research group of KSRUG, held at Osaka Ohtani University Harukas Campus, Osaka City, organized by Kotani Takuya-san of Osaka Ohtani University. We also had a meeting for the symposium we were planning on 7 March 2021.


I participated in the retirement memorial lecture of professor Tetsuo Hasegawa of National Astronomical Observatory, entitled “Clouds Above the Hill, and Beyond,” Colloquium of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan Colloquium, held on line.

17 February 2021 (Wednesday)


I particiapted in the regular meeting on science education research in early childhood to lower-grade school years, the research group of KSRUG, held on line over zoom, organized by Kotani Takuya-san of Osaka Ohtani University.

15 February 2021 (Monday)


The graduation thesis presentation of Department of Earth Science, academic year of 2019, was held on line. Three students of Astronomy seminar group presented their studies.

13 (Saturday) - 14 (Sunday) February 2021


I participated in the 14th annal meeting of the Unit of Synergetic Studies for Space, Kyoto University, “Can the human live in the space? Space education and perspective based on astrobiology,” held on line.

11 February 2021 (Thursday, holiday)


I participated in graduate thesis joint presentation of Science culture research group led by Prof. Okyudo and the research group led by Prof. Kigawa, held on line.

10 February 2021 (Wednesday)


I participated in Devision meeting of Astronomy and Astrophysics and Division meeting of IAU, under the Committee of Physics, Science Council of Japan, as an observer. I serve chair of NAEC, National Astronomy Education Coordinator team, of Japan, under OAE, Office of Astronomy for Education, IAU, International Astronomical Union, endorced by the IAU Division of Science Council of Japan.

8 February 2021 (Monday)


I participated in the on-line lecture, “Recent Results and Future Challenges of Subaru Telescope” by the Subaru director, Dr. Michitoshi Yoshida, organized by the group for the promotion of latest astronomy of the Japan Planetarium Association.

24 January 2021 (Sunday)


Research group, “Basic Research of Space and Astronomy Education in General Including Tourism,” of Center for Tourism Research of Wakayama University, of which I serve the chair this academic year of 2020, organized 5th annual symposium of Space Seen From Tourism, held on line broadcasted from Daigoji Temple, the world heritage in Kyoto City, Japan. The theme was “Space, Tourism, and Religion.”

23 January 2021 (Saturday)


I participated in the session of teacher training of 2020 annual meeting of Association of Science Education, “Learning under the COVID-19 times, View from Free Research for Younger Grades of Elementary School,” talked by Tani Tetsuya-san, held on line.

8 January 2021 (Friday)


I participated in the 3rd on-line Workshop on Aerospace and Dual-Use Technology, organized by Unit of Synergetic Studies for Space, Kyoto University.

26 December 2020 (Saturday)


The board meeting of the Astronomical Society of Japan was held on line, and I participated in the meeting as the director in charge of astronomy education.

19 December 2020 (Saturday)


I participated in “Introduction to Statistics for Science Education Research,” lectured by Unzai Hiroshi-san, the 1st on-line seminar organized by the Task Force for Fostering Young Scientists of the Society of Japan Science Teaching.

14 December 2020 (Monday)


Iranian Teacher's Astronomy Union, ITAU, and Student's International Network for Astronomy, SINA, supervised by ITAU, hosted the Eclipse Party, an international astronomy education on-line meeting, taking advantage of the live stream of the total solar eclipse from Chile. Many school teachers and students from Chile, Romania, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Switzerland, South Africa, Bulgaria, United States, Russia, and Iran enjoyed communicating with each other, and from Japan I and a graduate student of my seminar research group, Uenoyama Sachiyo-san participated in the program.

8 (Tuesday) - 12 (Saturday) December 2020


I participated in IAU Symp 367: Education and Heritage in the Era of Big Data in Astronomy: The first steps on the IAU 2020-2030 Strategic Plan, held on line over zoom from Argentina. I was one of the SOC, served the chair of session 3: Astronomy Education Research, and presented a poster at session 5: Innovation in Education.

6 December 2020 (Sunday)


NPO Picture Books for Weak-Eyesight Children holds monthly meeting, the Square of Storytelling and Books. For the meeting in December, one of our astronomy education seminar students, Sakaguchi Akito-san performed “Star Radio” over zoom. Uenoyama Sachiyo-san, a graduate student, and I also joined the activity. About ten children enjoyed the interactive star radio program.

5 December 2020 (Saturday)


Asteroid sample-return mission, Hayabusa 2, was coming back to the Earth. The 12-m radio dish of Wakayama University aimed at Hayabusa 2, receiving the radio signal, and the 60-cm reflector of Wakayama University tried to catch the light trail of Hayabusa 2. Wakayama University cafe YouTube program was broadcasted with many senior high school students who wanted to use the radio data for their school research projects (announcement [in Japanese]). Tomita was on the program while taking frames using the 60-cm reflector, and surely catch the light trail: GIF animation of 4 frames around 18:10 JST here: GIF animation of 5 frames around 19:30 JST here.

3 December 2020 (Thursday)


I participated in Devision meeting of Astronomy and Astrophysics and Division meeting of IAU, under the Committee of Physics, Science Council of Japan, as an observer. I serve chair of NAEC, National Astronomy Education Coordinator team, of Japan, under OAE, Office of Astronomy for Education, IAU, International Astronomical Union, endorced by the IAU Division of Science Council of Japan.

30 November 2020 (Monday)


I attended a meeting of Advisory Committee meeting of Kiso Observatory, Institute of Astronomy (IoA), University of Tokyo, held on line.

29 November 2020 (Sunday)


I participated in Kinki area branch 1st annual meeting of Japanese Society for Education and Popularization of Astronomy, held on line.

28 November 2020 (Saturday)


I participated in the session of teacher training of 2020 annual meeting of Association of Science Education, “Visit the Class of Schools, Live with Students,” talked by Kojima Taeko-san, held on line. I participated in the session of teacher training of 2020 annual meeting of Association of Science Education, held on line.


I participated in the opening ceremony of Kinki area branch annual meeting of Society of Japan Science Teaching, held on line.

22 (Sunday) - 23 (Monday, holiday) November 2020


I attended the annual presentation of Wakayama Prefecture Senior High School Cultural Festival, Science Division, as one of the judges, held at Faculty of Biology-oriented Sicence and Technology, Wakayama.

19 November 2020 (Thursday)


I particiapted in the regular meeting on science education research in early childhood to lower-grade school years held at Osaka Ohtani University Harukas Campus, Osaka City, organized by Kotani Takuya-san of Osaka Ohtani University.

17 November 2020 (Tuesday)


I visited library room of Department of Astronomy, Kyoto University to look for literature.


I visited Daigoji Temple, Kyoto City. The astronomy education and tourism group of Wakayama University organizes annual symposium of Center for Tourism Research, Wakayama University, and this academic year, we are holding the 5th symposium at Daigoji Temple, the world heritage, in Kyoto City. I arranged the symposium with Daigoji Temple manager monk and symposium staff.

14 November 2020 (Saturday)


I talked about the international collaboration and trend in astronomy education at National Earth Science Edutator's On-Line Communication Meeting. I discussed various topics on earth science education at school with participants on-line including senior high school teachers in charge of earth science.

13 November 2020 (Friday)


I present the latest results by our research group on astro-tourism and space-tourism, Space & Mobility Group, at CTR Research Forum 2020 held on-line over zoom, Center for Tourism Research, Wakayama University.

10 November 2020 (Tuesday)


I gave a lecture, “Look up the sky, Feel the universe and the Earth” at the monthly meeting of Minabe community college for the elderly, held at Minabe town civic hall, Minabe Town, Wakayama Prefecture.

8 November 2020 (Sunday)


I participated in the annual meeting of research presentation of Japan Society of Earth Science Education, held on line.


I participated in the monthly activity organized by the NPO, Picture Books for Weak Eyesight Children; we enjoyed sounds of animals in Costa Rica, introduced by a zoologist.

4 November 2020 (Tuesday)


I had a one-hour session of astronomy using Mitaka for 5th graders of Miya-kita elementary school, Wakayama City, at two day-camp at Kada International Exchange Youth Center. Two of my seiminar students joined and observed the activity. Orifinally the star-watching event was planned if it was fine.

31 October 2020 (Saturday)


I attended the annual Education Conference held on line over zoom as an adviser for science classes by Mr. Fumihito Kubo held at Attached Elementary School, Faculty of Education, Wakayama University.

29 October 2020 (Thursday)


I visited Miya-Kita Elementary School, Wakayama City. I had a meeting with school teachers for a star-watching event of the school.

28 October 2020 (Wednesday)


I visited Attached Junior High School, Faculty of Education, Wakayama University, Wakayama City, where one of our research group, Ohkita Rikuto-san was practicing teacher's training under supervision of Mr. Shutaro Sakaihara.

27 October 2020 (Tuesday)


I visited Attached Junior High School, Faculty of Education, Wakayama University, Wakayama City, where two of our research group, Sakaguchi Akito-san and Maeda Yuto-san were practicing teacher's training under supervision of Mr. Noboru Satake and Mr. Mitsuhiro Yano, respectively.

20 October 2020 (Tuesday)


I visited Attached Elementary School, Faculty of Education, Wakayama University and participated in video recording and observing the class by Mr. Fumihito Kubo, which will be used for the on-line annual education conference of the school held on 31 October.

18 October 2020 (Sunday)


I gave a lecture on the universe using the simulator Mitaka, organized by Izumi Circle of International Exchange, at Izumi City Plaza, Osaka Prefecture. Three of my seiminar students joined and observed the activity.

11 October 2020 (Sunday)


I gave a lecture, “Feel the Universe,” a course of teacher's license renewal at Wakayama University, Wakayama City.

8 October 2020 (Thursday)


I had a one-hour session of astronomy using Mitaka for 5th graders of Shikago-kita elementary school, Wakayama City, at two day-camp at Kada International Exchange Youth Center. Three of my seiminar students joined and observed the activity. Orifinally the star-watching event was planned if it was fine.

6 (Tuesday) - 9 (Friday) October 2020


I participated in the second Shaw-IAU Workshop on Astronomy for Education, organized by the Office of Astronomy for Education, the Internationa Astronomical Union. The workshop was broadcast via internet using the Hopin system.

5 October 2020 (Monday)


I particiapted in the regular meeting on science education research in early childhood to lower-grade school years held on line over zoom, organized by Kotani Takuya-san of Osaka Ohtani University.

2 October 2020 (Friday)


I participated in the on-line symposium, International Parallel Earth Day, organized by Rosa Ros, the president of NASE (Network for Astronomy School Education): YouTube video record. The participants from 19 countries reported the Parallel Earth / Globo Local practice. I introduced photos taken on the autumnal equinox day in 2020, taken by Tsujimoto Masazumi-san, a senior high school science teacher, Tanaka Satoka-san, a science museum staff, and Okuda Masaru-san, a citizen astronomer, all of them were the participants of NASE-Japan 2019, the 152nd NASE course in Osaka, Japan.

29 September 2020 (Tuesday)


I visited Kinokawa Junior High School, Wakayama City, where two of graduate students of Professional Development in Education, Shimonishi Kota-san and Kimura Ryuta-san were practicing teacher's training and research on education.

28 September 2020 (Monday)


I visited Shikago-Kita Elementary School, Wakayama City, and observed a class by Nagaoka Takahiro-san, a graduate student of the teacher education, who was in the training internship at the school. I had a meeting with school teachers for a star-watching event of the school.


The International Astronomical Union, European Regional Office of Astronomy for Development, in collaboration with Universe Awareness, organized an online Dialogue, as a formal part of the United Nations 75th anniversary celebrations. The Dialogue was broadcasted through YouTube: YouTube video record. During this event, messages on the Pale Blue Dot from children around the world were introduced as well. Three message videos were submitted for this event, and one of them was broadcasted during the event; from around 34 m 55 s of the video record.

26 September 2020 (Saturday)


I participated in the annual meeting of Kyodai UchuKai, the gathering of people related to Department of Astronomy, Kyoto University, as one of the staff, held on line.

20 September 2020 (Sunday)


I participated in Mitaka on-line workshop, organized Mitaka working group of Japanese Society for Education and Popularization of Astronomy. Mitaka is software for visualizing the known Universe with up-to-date observational data and theoretical models, developed by the Four-Dimensional Digital Universe (4D2U) project of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ).

19 September 2020 (Saturday)


I participated in the annual general assembly of Japan Society of Earth Science Education, held on line.

15 September 2020 (Tuesday)


I visited Attached Junior High School, Faculty of Education, Wakayama University, Wakayama City, where one of our research group, Takamatsu Miyu-san was practicing teacher's training under supervision of Mr. Shutaro Sakaihara.


I visited Kinokawa Junior High School, Wakayama City, where two of graduate students of Professional Development in Education, Shimonishi Kota-san and Kimura Ryuta-san were practicing teacher's training and research on education.

14 September 2020 (Monday)


I particiapted in the regular meeting on science education research in early childhood to lower-grade school years held on line over zoom, organized by Kotani Takuya-san of Osaka Ohtani University.

7 (Monday) - 10 (Thursday) September 2020


I participated in 2020 autumnal annnual meerting of the Astronomical Society of Japan, delivered on line. On 7, meeting of the committee of astronomy education and the board meeting of the Society were held. On 8, Astronomy Education Foruam was held.

7 September 2020 (Monday)


Graduate students of Professional Development in Education will take teacher training internship program for four weeks as Kinokawa Junior High School, Wakayama City. I visited the school's morning staff gathering to deliver the school staff our gratitude of giving us the training program.

3 September 2020 (Thursday)


I visited Attached Junior High School, Faculty of Education, Wakayama University, Wakayama City, where one of our research group, Takamatsu Miyu-san was practicing teacher's training under supervision of Mr. Shutaro Sakaihara.

29 August 2020 (Saturday)


I participated in Global Hands-On Univerese Conference 2020 with one of our research group's graduate students, Sachiyo Uenoyama. The conference is one-week 24-hour non-stop on-line one. The video and materials are archived at G-HOU Facebook site, and our presentation was recorded in this video, from around 2 h 28 min to 2 h 46m.

25 (Tuesday) - 27 (Thursday) August 2020


I participated in the on-line annual meeting of Japan Society for Science Education. On the second day of the meeting, I participated in the question and answer sessions of the keynote speech and the invited lecture.

22 (Saturday) - 23 (Sunday) August 2020


I participated in the on-line annual meeting of Society of Japan Science Teaching. On the second day of the meeting, I participated in the workshop arranged by the editorial board of the society journal. I also participated in the meeting of Science ranch of Japan Association of Universities of Education, held during the society annual meeting.

21 August 2020 (Friday)


I participated in the second on-line Workshop on Aerospace and Military Research, organized by Unit of Synergetic Studies for Space, Kyoto University.

16 (Sunday) - 18 (Tuesday) August 2020


I participated in the on-line annual meeting of the 34th Astronomy Education Meeting and 2020 annual meeting of Japanese Society for Education and Popularization of Astronomy. I presented the report of the working group of NAEC Japan team; National Astronomy Education Coordinator of Office of Astronomy for Education, International Astronomical Union.

3 August 2020 (Monday)


The launch meeting of international network of NAEC (National Astronomy Education Coordinator) of OAE (Office of Astronomy for Education), IAU (International Astronomical Union) was held remotly over zoom. I participated in the meeting as NAEC-Japan team member.

29 July 2020 (Wednesday)


I participated in the Open Collaboration session of Japan Open Science Summit 2020 Cyber Week.

18 July 2020 (Saturday)


I attended the steering committee of KOKÔ Juku, held at Kokawa Senior High School, Wakayama Prefecture.

12 July 2020 (Sunday)


I participated in the Japan Geoscience Union 2020 annual meeting reld remotly over web-zoom. I presented “Internet Broadcasting of the Solar Eclipse on 21 June 2020 and Its International Collaboration” in the Discussion Forum Session of G-04 Geoscience Outreach.

3 July 2020 (Friday)


I participated in the 4th Symposium of Sora Tourism, Tourism Local Activation Project by Sora Tourism Promotion Council, and the general assembly of the council; both of them were remote meetings over Teams.

29 June 2020 (Monday)


I visited Shikago-Kita Elementary School, Wakayama City, and observed in-service teachers' science classes and attended the reflection conference.

26 June 2020 (Friday)


I participated in the on-line open seminar over zoom, "What we learned during the suspended term in schools" organized by Attached Junior High School, Faculty of Education, Wakayama University.

21 June 2020 (Sunday)


I was on the internet live programs on the solar eclipse. On the summer solstice day, at the middle of Taiwan where the tropic of Cancer crosses and “the zero shadow day” comes in, annular solar eclipse occurred and in Japan partical solar eclipse was observed. I transmitted live movie taken by an ordinary cell phone camera to YouTube live program, From North to South in Japan, “Observe the Partical Solar Eclipse on the Summer Solstice Day!” (from the official channel of Faculty of Tourism, Wakayama University). Dr. Masami Okyudo instructed me on how to transmit the movie, and many staff helped me. I was also on the live program Malaysia - East Asia Universe Awareness Solar Eclipse 2020 (MY-EAUNIVASE) which relayed ten countries/areas, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, broadcasted from Kuala Lumpur. The digest of the broadcast is here. Led by Hafez Murtza, the chair of Universe Awareness Malaysia, Apadilangit, I would like to say thank you to great staff related to Universe Awareness and National Outreach Coordinator of the IAU. From Osaka City, we could not see the clear solar image due to thick clouds, but we enjoyed the show by sharing the images around the area and the international collaborative event.

14 June 2020 (Sunday)


I was on the YouTube live program, “Hayabusa celebrating 10th anniversary of return and Hayabusa 2 wishing safe return,” organized by Iida City Museum, Wakayama City-Wakayama University Local Liaison Office, JAXA-ISAS, supported by Kansai Television (10:00-12:00 JST).