Based on my experiences among the Sinama population, whose livelihood is totally dependent on coral reefs, I became interested in Human Ecology or environmental issues. This led me to switch to the study of maritime ethnology from 1997, when I received a post doctoral fellowship at the National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka.

I have chosen the sea cucumber as the main animal of focus in my research. Dried sea cucumber has been consumed in China at least 400 years and neighboring countries and regions have long been involved in Chinese sea cucumber foodways exporting the dried forms to China. Varieties in production and domestic trade networks can be observed from Japan, Southeast Asia through the South Pacific Islands. I decided to investigate an ethno-history of the development of sea cucumber foodways in Asia. Since then, I have published many articles both in Japanese and English on the historical development of sea cucumber foodways in Asia and contemporary sea cucumber fisheries.

For the last several years, I have included another issue in my research, conservation. At the CITES CoP12 (held at Santiago, Chile) in 2002, the US proposed the possible listing of sea cucumber to Appendix II of the CITES. I was aware that the “Sea Cucumber War”, a conflict between fishermen and conservationists, has been going on in the Galapagos since 1995. After I joined several meetings hosted by FAO and CITES in which experts discussed issues related to the sea cucumber, "biodiversity conservation and cultural diversity conservation" became my main interest.

I am looking forward to publishing the last 12 years of research results in a book later this year.