9th Inuyama Comparative Social Cognition Symposium Report
Period of Visit: 9‐21 January 2014
Christopher Krupenye
Duke University
Even before we reached our destination I could hear the excited vocalizationsof a not‐so‐distant group of chimpanzees. Their calls echoed through the narrow
residential streets as the car wove uphill past perfectly maintained gardens andhomes that though new still exemplified the traditional Japanese aesthetic. And I,
too, was excited. We soon arrived at the Primate Research Institute, a massivebuilding constructed in the modern industrial style and buttressed to withstandeven the most severe of earthquakes. PRI houses a unique intellectual power, all ofwhich is devoted to understanding our closest phylogenetic relatives, the primates.
As it was late, we quickly retired to our rooms in the dormitory building, jetlagged
and in need of a good rest before the start of the symposium.
iCS2‐9 assembled sixteen speakers and a large audience of professors,
postdocs and graduate students for a diverse series of dynamic presentations,fruitful discussions and engaging social events, all centered on comparative socialcognition. The topics, which ranged from affiliative behavior in dolphins to self‐
recognition in squids and from computational behavioral science to cognitive
neuroscience, spanned the limits of comparative cognition. The breadth of topics
engendered meaningful interdisciplinary exchange between the speakers, insightfulquestions from the audience and an important opportunity both to share ideas andto interact in English for all.
As one of the four speakers who was fortunate enough to be invited fromoutside of Japan to join the symposium, I am especially indebted to the Primate
Research Institute and, in particular, to Masaki Tomonaga. During the course of thesymposium, I learned about the latest in cognitive research being performed inJapan and in the west. I toured not only the unique resources for comparative
cognitive research at the Primate Research Institute, but also those possessed by theencompassing Kyoto University. With Tomonaga‐sensei and the other international
speakers I traveled to the south of Japan to see several of the university’s fieldprojects. First we visited Koshima island, home to the longest continuous field studyof wild primates anywhere in the world. The Japanese macaques, who have beenstudied there for 65 years and counting, are famous for a number of unique culturaltraditions such as potato washing and wheat washing. The monkeys even graced us
with a demonstration of some of these remarkable behaviors! The next day wemoved on to visit a site where Japanese scientists are studying a reintroduced
population of native horses. Finally, we returned to Inuyama, to engage with themany talented scientists at the Primate Research Institute before embarking on ourjourneys home to our native countries, the end of a stimulating and fruitful trip. On
the day of my departure, like that of my arrival, as the car drove from PRI toward
the train station the chimpanzees serenaded me with the sort of siren song that noprimatologist can resist – and I won’t. I’ll be sure to return as soon as I can.

An infant Japanese macaque on the beach of Koshima Island

An adult Japanese macaque in the forest on Koshima Island

Wild horses being studied by Kyoto University scientists in southern JapanOne horse gazes at other horses down the mountainA dragon carved into a temple near Miyazaki, Japan