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Recent Progress of Biometeorology in Japan, with Special Emphasison the History of Japanese Society of Biometeorology
Yutaka INABA1* and Masakazu KIKUCHI2
1

Division of Public Health, Department of Food & Health Sciences,
Faculty of Human Life Sciences, Jissen Women’s University
4-1-1 Osakaue, Hino City, Tokyo 191-8510, Japan2
Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health,Juntendo University School of Medicine*e-mail: inaba-yutaka@jissen.ac.jp

Abstract
Biometeorology in Japan has developed in association with the Japanese Society of Biometeorology(JSB). The JSB was founded in 1962 as a national response to the foundation of the International Society ofBiometeorology (ISB) in 1956. The article covers the development of JSB from its origins to its current
state. During the first 25 years of its existence the society’s research activities centered mainly on the effects
of climatic factors on human physiology and pathophysiology comprising topics of environmental physiology, impacts of weather conditions on human health and effects of environmental pollution, etc. During its
further development the JSB has expanded the scope of its research activities, in line with the growing
importance of global climatic changes not only as factors affecting human health directly but as a generalchallenge to human living conditions, including non-thermal impacts resulting from the progress ofindustrialization and from global warming.
From its beginnings, the JSB and its members have made efforts to join the international scientificcommunity by publications in international journals as well as by increasing ties with international societies
pursuing similar scientific goals. So far, Japan has been successful in organizing two international conventions of the ISB, the 10th International Congress of Biometeorology 1984 and the 18th International
Congress of Biometeorology in 2008, both held in Tokyo.
The JSB, with its current focuses of interest and its membership composition, reflects the developmentof environmental science in general. Initially, research was focused mainly on the impact of climatic conditions on human health. With increasing awareness of the impacts resulting from man-made or natural
catastrophes and from the progress of global industrialization, other fields of environmental research havebecome increasingly important. The resulting diversity of topics in environmental science presents a crisis
as well as the chance for the JSB to broaden its multidisciplinary basis, with special emphasis on ecology,
on the problems arising in an increasingly sedentary society, and on the technical aspects of environmental
management.
Key words: annual conference, International Society of Biometeorology (ISB),
Japanese Society of Biometeorology (JSB), titles of special lectures, titles of symposiums

1. Introduction
The Japanese sense of intimate relationships between
human beings and the innumerable phenomena bywhich nature affects human physical and mental states,
is reflected in many proverbs and legends. Deeply
rooted in the cultural tradition of Japan is the awarenessof unique experiences of nature associated with as manyas 24 short seasonal periods within the annual cycle ofthe four big seasons. Known best outside of Japan is the“Haiku” with its many season words (Kigo) as a unique
Global Environmental Research
13/2009: 13-18
printed in Japan

form of nature poetry expressing delicate human feelings aroused when contemplating the beauty and harmony of nature.
On the other hand, Japan as a country with geological, geographical and climatic extremes has fostered,from ancient times, a practical sense of how to stay inbalance with nature when making use of its resources tosustain and improve human living conditions. In modern
times several scientific disciplines have developed aiming at a better understanding of the impact of theenvironment on human life. Especially in recognition of©2009 AIRIES14

Y. INABA and M. KIKUCHI

the importance of climatic factors in biological processes including human health, biometeorologicalresearch has been promoted as a multidisciplinary
approach starting more than 70 years ago. In this review
we will describe the progress of biometeorology inJapan with special emphasis on the history of theJapanese Society of Biometeorology (JSB).

2. Origins of the JSB
In 1946, Prof. Yas Kuno (Dept. Physiology, Nagoya
Univ.) organized the Research Committee of Physiological Response to Seasonal Variation within the framework of the Scientific Promotion Grants established by
Monbusho (Ministry of Education). The committee
included physicians, hygienists, biologists, and meteorologists. It established a large database of Japanese standards for body temperature and skin temperature basedon measurements with established methods. A voluntary
association subsequently emerged from the committee
as the Kankyou-Seiri Shudankai (Environmental
Physiology Group) headed by Prof. H. Yoshimura (First
Dept. of Physiology, Kyoto Prefectural Univ.) which
was successful in obtaining a number of grants insupport of their research topics. The group successfully
managed to organize symposiums once or twice per year.
Their titles are presented in Table 1 and show that thescientific activities of the group members centered onbiorhythms and topics of clinical medicine as influenced
by climatic factors under severe environmental conditions.
In 1956 the International Society of Bioclimatology
and Biometeorology (ISBB, later ISB) was established.
As a member of the Environmental Physiology group in
Japan Professor Shinji Itoh attended the founding
conference. Prof. Kuno, Prof. Yoshimura, Prof. Itohand Dr. Keizo Kamiyama (Meteorological ResearchInstitute) decided to join the ISB, thereby starting theSociety’s Japanese branch which had grown to about
30 official members in 1959.
In 1962, when Prof. F. Sargent II (Univ. of Illinois),
the first President of ISB, came to Japan, the JapaneseSociety of Biometeorology (JSB) was established inTable 1

Symposiums around birth of JSB.

Kyoto, starting with about 140 members and with Prof.
Yoshimura as the first president of the JSB.

3. The First Decade (1962-1972) of the JSBWith Prof. Yoshimura as the president during thisperiod, the society’s activities grew steadily. The titlesof symposiums and the numbers of general oral sessions
during these 10 years are shown in Table 2. The range ofscientific topics was extended by including environmental pollution and its effect on human health. In addition, extreme environmental challenges such as highaltitude and, in connection with scientific interest in the
Antarctic environment, the impact of extreme cold, became scientific topics of the conference symposiums.
Transactions of the symposiums as well as the oralpresentations at the annual conferences were printed by
the society only in abstract form. JSB members whowanted to publish original articles were encouraged tosubmit manuscripts to the International Journal of
Biometeorology or to adequately suited publications ofother scientific societies, because JSB had not its own
journal.
Table 2 Annual conferences of JSB in first 10 years.
year

Title of Symposiums

1962.12

Application of Biometeorology
1)season and diseases
2)application to clinical medicine
3)application to farm products4)application to animal husbandry(general oral sessions 13)

1963.9

Meteorological diseases-especially asthma
1)weather conditions as trigger
2)atmospheric pressure and attack3)air scattering pollen at Tokyo tower4)climatologic medical research on allergic diseases
5)children respiratory diseases in air polluted Kawasaki city
6)air pollution in Yokohama-Kawasaki area
(general oral sessions 13)

1964.10

Biorhythms and effect of light1)intrinsic and extrinsic factors in animal circadian rhythms
2)infra and near-infrared ray effect to the flower growing3)effect of light to the hypothalamus neurosecretion(general oral sessions 11)

1965.11high altitude medicine 6 topics(general oral sessions 9)

1966.11

Pollution in air and water (6 topics)(general oral sessions 15)

1967.10(general oral sessions 15 only)

1968.10(general oral sessions 18 only)

1969.8Biological adaptation in high altitude－mainly measurement1)subjective symptoms and case study2)laboratory measurements
3)aptitude test
(general oral sessions 17)

year

Title of Symposiums

1959.9The ideal way of bioclimatology

1959.10

Biological rhythm

1960.7

Medicine in Mountain

1960.9Artificial climatic chamber

1970.10Special lecture: air pollution from biometeorological view point(general oral sessions 19)

1961.9

Medicine in the Antarctic wintering party

1971.10

1962.4

Biological rhythm and climate

Medicine in the Antarctic wintering party(7 topics)(general oral sessions 16)

Recent Progress of Biometeorology in JapanAs an effort to communicate the society’s research
activities to the scientific community of Japan, the JSB
decided in 1968 to issue a book entitled “Biometeorology” which was published by Kinokuniya-shoten. The
aim of the book was to give a comprehensive overview
of scientific progress in biometeorology made at theinternational level in the recent past with special emphasis on the original Japanese contributions. The bookcomprised about 1,000 pages in Japanese and wasorganized in 5 chapters (1. Physiological effects ofweather conditions on human beings, 2. Diseases andweather conditions, 3. Basic biometeorology, 4. Weather
conditions and ecology of animals and plants, 5.
Weather conditions and applied biology.

4. The Next 13 Years (1972-1984) of JSB
Under the successive presidency of two Professors of
Hygiene, Hiromasa Kita (Tokyo Medical Dental University) from 1972 to 1976 and M. Kikuchi (Juntendo
University) from 1976 to 1984, the number of society
members increased from 140 to 488. Table 3 summarizes the special programs (symposiums and/or
lectures) during this period and shows that the numberof general oral sessions increased during this period
from 23 to more than 60. At the society’s annual conferences the inclusion of topics such as engineering,
Table 3 Annual conferences of JSB during 1972-1983.
year

Title of special lecture and/or symposium

1972.11Special lectures:
1)several basic problems in biometeorology2)the impression of 6th International Biometeorology(general oral sessions 23)

1973.9Special lecture: relationship between human body and heat radiation inroom from the view point of engineering research(general oral sessions 29)

1974.11

Symposium "thermal adaptaion" (5 topics)(general oral sessions 44)

1975.10Special lecture: Japanese cultural adaptation to the cold and heat(general oral sessions 45)

1977.1

Special lecture: environmental planning of microtemparature heating in
the factories in the cold area
(general oral sessions 53)

1977.11Special lecture: a study on the seasonal variation of mortality in the hotspring area
(general oral sessions 57)

1978.11Special lectures:
1)a role of environmental factors in body temperature radiation
2)central nerves control for regulation body temperature(general oral sessions 60)

1979.11Special lecture: thermal sensation and skin diseases(general oral sessions 49)

1980.11Special lecture: circadian rhythms for the response of body temperature
regulation(general oral sessions 65)

1981.11Special lecture: several problems for fever(general oral sessions 63)

1982.10Special lecture: biological clocks in animals and man(Seminar) Control and adaptation for artificial climate (8 topics)(general oral sessions 68)

1983.10Special lecture: mountain and life
(general oral sessions 63)

15adaptation to the environment and health statistics
indicated the expanding scientific scope of the JSB. An
increasing number of special lectures and symposiums
were devoted to these more recently included fields ofresearch but the role of the thermal environment inbiometeorological research continued to remain themost frequently addressed topic.
From 1963 the abstracts of the annual meetings of
the JSB were published consecutively in the Japanese
Journal of Biometeorology (JJB). Since 1980, JJB has
published original articles in two or three numbers of
the respective volumes until now, other than the annual
meetings of the JSB in abstract form. At the international level the development of the JSB was marked by
the society’s promotion, in 1962, as an affiliated member of the ISB, and since that time several JSB members
have contributed to the ISB as Executive Board
Members. The 10th International Congress of Biometeorology 1984 in Tokyo, the first to be held in Japan, had
345 official attendants with 95 scientists from abroad.

5. The Next 15 Years (1984-1999) of JSB
During this period, JSB had three presidents and one
attending president. They were all thermal physiologists
related with Prof. Kuno. When Professor Kokichi Ohara(Nagoya Univ.) passed away prematurely during his
term in 1985, Prof. Tokuo Ogawa (Aichi Medical
College) served as the attending president. From 1987 to
1990, Prof. Akio Nakayama (Osaka Univ.) and from1990 to 1999 Prof. Tetsuo Nagasaka (Kanazawa Univ.)
served as the presidents of the JSB.
After the International Congress of Biometeorology
in Japan Professor Kikuchi was elected as the presidentof the ISB for the term 1984-1987. More than 40 new
members entered the JSB increasing its membershipnumber to more than 500.
In 1987, the JSB celebrated its 25 year anniversary at
its annual congress in Kyoto. The transactions of thejubilee congress were published as a special issue of theJapanese Journal of Biometeorology (1987).
In 1992, the transactions of the annual congress of
the JSB held in Tokyo at the occasion of the society’s
30th anniversary were published as a book entitled“Seikishougaku-jiten” (Encyclopedia of Biometeorology) with Asakura-shoten as the publisher. The bookcomprised 440 pages organized in 5 main chapters and
32 sub-chapters. The titles of the 5 chapters were: A:
Science of Health, B: Life and Weather, C: Meteorological Environment and Human Life, D: Weather andClimate, E: Bioclimatology and Environment, respectively.
Table 4 documents the increase of contributions to
the general oral sessions from 40 to 70 and further documents that the range of topics continued to broaden.
Notable as new topics were contributions dealing withthe origin of human races, with the victims of atomic
bombing as a man-made catastrophe and with victims oflarge earth quakes as a natural catastrophe. Symposium
titles elucidating the impact of the environment on

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Y. INABA and M. KIKUCHI

human conditions ranged from basic sciences (biorhythm, thermal physiology, electromagnetic fields) toapplied sciences, including field work, to assess environmental changes responsible for the occurrence ofhuman diseases, especially epidemics, their impact onplant or animal development, environment and amenity(role of microclimate), and the impact of artificial lights
and of extreme environments on human life.

Table 4 Annual conferences of JSB during 1984-1998.
year

Title of special lecture and/or symposium

1984.11Special lectures:
1)indoor environmental problems from the view point of hygiene2)body temperature and metabolic inhibition by nonthermal stimuli, especially stimulus ofarterial pressure receptor(general oral sessions 50, poster session 8)

1985.12Special lectures:
1)recent several problems in tropical agricultural climatology2)geopathology and changing disease pattern(general oral sessions 49, poster session 7)

1986.11Special lecture: research on the origin of Japanese by virus(general oral sessions 46, poster session 8)

1987.11<the 25th anniversary conference>Special lecture 1: climate, health and disease
Special lecture 2: effect of environmental factors (cold, photoperiod, food) on hibernation(general oral sessions 46, poster session 26)

1988.10Special lectures: origin and ecology of aborigines in Hokkaido(general oral sessions 61)

1989.9Special lecture: CO2 global warming and biometeorology(general oral sessions 49)

1990.11Special lecture: epidemiology for atomic bomb victims in Nagasaki city
Symposium I : the bases and application of biorhythm (4)Symposium II : perspective of biometeorology (5)(general oral sessions 66)

1991.11

Symposium: creation of living environment and biometeorology (7)Round table discussion: the thought of biometeorology (6)(general oral sessions 70)

1992.10<the 30th anniversary conference>
Symposium I : an image of the future for human physiological adaptation (5)Symposium II: an image of the future for human thermal response research (5)Symposium III: an image of the future for human environment of city (4)Symposium IV: biometeorology of plants (4)Symposium V: climate and diseases (4)Symposium VI: prospect and retrospect of index and optimization for thermal environment (4)Special lecture: seasonality of fetal environment and constitution and disposition(general oral sessions 53)

1993.11Special lecture: magnetic field and behavior of livings(general oral sessions 53)

1994.10

Symposium: biometeorology of amenity (6)(general oral sessions 49)

1995.10Special lecture: the great earthquake in Hanshin area
Symposium: fieldwork and biometeorology (6)(general oral sessions53)

1996.10Special lecture: balneotherapy and biometeorology―a health resort medicine
Symposium: residence environment and health in the elderly― from the biometeorological view
(general oral sessions 50)

1997.10Special lecture: the beginning of clothing physiology
Symposium 1: biometeorology in electromagnetic field (3)Symposium 2: biometeorology of artificial lights (3)(general oral sessions 40)

1999.1

Special lecture: the ecological significance of circadian timing in mammals
Panel discussion : new prospective of biometeorology (4)Symposium: human body in extreme environments (5)(general oral sessions 64)

Recent Progress of Biometeorology in Japan

6. Recent 10 Years (1999-2008) of JSB
During this period, JSB had 3 presidents, Tetsumi
Horikoshi (1999-2005, Nagoya Institute of Technology),
Kazuyuki Kanosue (2005-2008), Waseda Univ.) andOsamu Sitou (Shimane University) since 2008 to present. This period marks a change insofar as many of thefirst generation of active members of the JSB, which
represent the fields of basic and applied thermophysiological and of medical research, are retiring. As a result,the number of active members has been declining forsome time. As Table 5 shows, this is reflected by a decrease in the number of presentations at the generalsessions to 30 in 2004. On the other hand, the fact that
global warming in particular and the global environment
in general have become central issues of biometeorology is increasingly reflected by the topics of theannual conferences. It offers the chance to attractscientists from various fields of environmental research.
As a result, the number of JSB members has started tore-increase since 2005.
On the occasion of its 40th anniversary the JSB published a table of contents (only printed table, now it ispossible to see in the homepage) presenting the contributions of the society to scientific journals. As acontribution to national public health 2007 “the Guideline for Heat Disorders in Daily Life, ver. 1” waspublished by the JSB. Further, in 2008 a homepage of
the JSB was established. It will be associated with eachacting president’s university, currently: http://www.med.
shimane-u.ac.jp/assoc-jpnbiomet/index.html.

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As an international event, the 18th International
Congress of Biometeorology (ISB2008, chaired by
Dr. Masami Iriki) was held in Tokyo with 282 attendants,
including 165 attendants from abroad.

7. Prospects
In 2012 the JSB will celebrate its 50th year anniversary. Looking back at the past 50 years shows that thesociety has kept pace with the general development
which is characterized by growing concerns about therisks associated with the changes of the global environment. At the international political level the so-called
Kyoto Protocol (Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change) of 1997
established legally binding commitments for the reduction of greenhouse gases as major contributors to global
warming. Since that time, the increasing importance of
global environmental changes for biometeorology at thenational level has been recognized by the scientificcommunity of Japan in general and by the JSB inparticular. For the JSB it may be expected that the decrease in number of members with a medical background will be supplemented by concomitant increases
in number of members devoted to new emerging topics
in the multidisciplinary field of global environmental
research. Continuing development in this direction
would strengthen the zeal of the JSB to make essential
contributions to the problems of ecology and epidemiology in the widest sense as fields of growing importancefor the well-being and survival of human societies.

Table 5 Annual conferences of JSB during 1999-2008.
year

Title of special lecture and/or symposium

1999.10Special lecture: adaptation of heart for hypoxia
Symposium: fitness and biometeorology (3 topics)(general oral sessions 54)

2000.11

Symposium: Does human being be ruined ?－thinkingof the effect for global warming (4 topics)(general oral sessions 56)

2001.10

Symposium: a study of human thermal amenity (4 topics)

2002.11Special lecture: recent topics for cedar pollinosis
Symposium: relationship between human beings andplants (5 topics)(general oral sessions 42)

References
Special issues in celebration of the 25th anniversary of JSB(1987) Japanese Journal of Biometeorology, 24 (Suppl.). (inJapanese)
http://www.med.shimane-u.ac.jp/assoc-jpnbiomet/mokuji24-39.doc(in Japanese)(general oral sessions 58)

2003.10

Symposium: global warming and prediction and/or
prevention for heat disorders (5 topics)(general oral sessions 43)

2004.10

Open Symposium: changing environmental factors andhuman health (4 topics)(general oral sessions 30)

2005.10

Symposium: progress of engineering in biometeorology(4 topics)(general oral sessions 35, poster session 14)

2006.10

Symposium: biometeorology contributing to the(4 topics)
society(general oral sessions 40, poster session 13)

2007.11

Symposium: climate in wealthy life (5 topics)(general oral sessions 40, poster session 17)

Yutaka INABA
Yutaka INABA is a professor of Divisionof Public Health at the Jissen Woman’s
University. He retired in March, 2008
from a professor of Department of
Epidemiology and Environmental Healthat Juntendo University School of
Medicine. He was a secretary-general of
the Japanese Society of Biometeorology
under the president Kikuchi from 1979 to
1984, and was editor-in-chief of Japanese
Journal of Biometeorology from 1995 to 2002, and is one of the membersof the executive committee of JSB. He is interested in various aspects of
epidemiology including meteorological diseases. He is now a representative of NPO BioClima Research Committee which made a start inJuly, 2008.

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Y. INABA and M. KIKUCHI
Masakazu KIKUCHI

Masakazu KIKUCHI is Professor
Emeritus, Juntendo University. He
graduated from the University of Tokyo,
School of Medicine and received thedegrees of M. D. in 1945 and of Ph.D. in
1952. He was a Professor of Hygiene,
Juntendo University School of Medicine
from 1954 to 1983, after an Associate
Professorship at Gunma University. In
1984, he became a Professor of the Graduate School of Kagawa Nutrition
University and served in this function until 1993. He was the President ofJapanese Society of Biometeorology from 1976 to 1984, the Chairman of
the Organizing Committee of the 10th Congress of International Societyof Biometeorology (ISB) in 1984 and the President of ISB from 1984 to
1987. He investigated the influence of ambient temperature changes on
homeotherms. He found, as the results of a series of experiments on the
immune stimulations, that a change of ambient temperature doesn’t
directly bring about a shift of body temperature, but that it has an effect on
homeotherms by influencing their adaptation process.

(Received 15 January 2009, Accepted 12 March 2009)