Summary of the history of the French-Japanese Society of Oceanography by Professor Hubert-Jean Ceccadi, Honorary President

For the 40th anniversary of the Société Franco-japonaise d’Océanographie France on 20 and 21 November 2024, Professor Hubert-Jean Ceccaldi has presented us with a few historical landmarks concerning the creation of the Société Franco-japonaise d’Océanographie and the relationships that this Society has built up, particularly with the academic world in France and Japan.

Professor Hubert-Jean Ceccaldi founded the Franco-Japanese Society of Oceanography in 1984. He has supervised over fifty theses and is the author of over 300 publications. He is a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, Chevalier dans l’Ordre du Mérite, Commandeur des Palmes académiques, Commandeur de l’Ordre du Soleil Levant japonais, has been awarded the Croix de la Valeur Militaire with citation and is a Chevalier du Mérite Maritime. He is a member of the Académie des Sciences, Lettres et Arts de Marseille.

He is now Honorary President of the Frencj-Japanese Society of Oceanography from France. The Society is sure to continue its important mission of promoting exchanges between the two countries in the field of marine science, thanks to the dynamism of a team built around a core of French specialists with a particularly good knowledge of Japan: Chairman Patrick Prouzet and Vice-Chairman Yves Hénocque (both former IFREMER members), as well as a number of top-level scientists with a passion for Japan, including Professor Catherine Mariojouls (AgroParisTech), Professor Jean-Claude Dauvin (University of Caen-Normandie), Professor Eric Feunteun (Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle and Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes), Dr Patrick Vincent (formerly of the Okinawa Institute of Sciences and Technology) and Dr Franck Lagarde (IFREMER).

There is no doubt that this motivated and relevant team will continue the successful French-Japanese cooperation established over many years in the field of marine sciences.

This motivation and legitimacy are recognised by our Japanese partners, as demonstrated by the invitation sent by the Japanese Embassy in France to attend the 50th anniversary of Franco-Japanese cooperation in science and technology on 2 December 2024 at the CNRS headquarters in Paris and the residence of the Japanese Ambassador to France. Présence de la Société Franco-japonaise d’Océanographie au 50ème anniversaire de la coopération Franco-japonaise en Sciences et en Technologie

History and personal comments

Why take a particular interest in Japan when it comes to marine science? This is easily explained by historical factors and shared perspectives on the future.

The two countries had long-established relations in the past, the details of which are generally little known in France. These include the work of :

• Léonce Verny, who built Japan’s first naval arsenal at Yokosuka.
• The jurist Gustave Boissonade, who introduced a modern system of laws, providing a solid foundation for Japanese law.
• Engineer General Louis Emile Bertin, who built and developed Japan’s first navy and coastal defence, and constructed two new arsenals at Sasébo and Kuré. Bertin’s modern ships outclassed the Chinese and then Russian fleets, particularly during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, which Japan won by sinking 45 Russian ships at the Battle of Tsushima. Several military missions helped Japan’s military development.

A prestigious starting point for the Franco-Japanese Oceanography Society: the FNRSIII bathyscaphe

In 1960, France had a unique engine in the world: the FNRSIII bathyscaphe, which could descend to any depth on the ocean floor. Japanese scientists wished to use this engine to dive into their deep-sea trenches. To facilitate these dives, Professor Tadayoshi Sasaki, from Tokyo’s University of Fisheries, created the Franco-Japanese Society of Oceanography for the occasion, an association that would later enable exchanges between French and Japanese specialists.

Aquaculture development

In Marseille, France, the Director of the Endoume Marine Station, Professor Jean-Marie Pérès – who had been introduced to the Emperor of Japan at the time of the bathyscaphe dives – noted that world fisheries were steadily declining, and concluded that fish and shellfish aquaculture would inevitably develop. ‘We need to start and develop research in this field. There have been a few attempts at shellfish aquaculture in the private sector in France, without much success,’ he told me.

In 1969, he organised a three-week mission to the USA and three weeks in Japan for me. ‘Put together a programme with the information you have. When you come back, you’ll tell us what needs to be done’, he told me.

Japan missions

Here I was on a series of missions to various laboratories in the United States, then to Japan: Nagasaki, Kagoshima, Tokyo, at the Tokyo University of Fisheries, where the Franco-Japanese Society of Oceanography of Japan had been founded. I visited various laboratories that had been recommended to me and I realised that the farming of marine aquatic animals was very complex and would require a great deal of research.

On my way back, after setting up aquariums in the Endoume laboratory, we carried out new research on Japanese shrimps (Penaeus japonicus) supplied by the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, which was carrying out trials of its own.

We began to publish results on Japanese shrimp, to the great surprise of Japanese specialists, who discovered that a French laboratory was working on an interesting Japanese species.

The number of exchange topics increased. Students attracted by this new field wanted to carry out research on these themes. The national marine studies organisation, COMEXO, which later became CNEXO, then Ifremer (after the merging of CNEXO with the Institut Scientifique et Technique des Pêches Maritimes in 1984), funded much of the research, as did the CNRS.

A large number of the 57 theses that I have been able to supervise stem from these scientific and technical programmes.

Further trips to Japan led me to discover the multiplicity of scientific and technical research structures in that country, not only in universities, but also at prefectural, departmental and municipal level, through various local associations and even in the private sector. All of these initiatives produce a wealth of original results, which may or may not be published, but are often highly innovative. It is this contact with people who are truly fascinated by the sea that is most interesting.

In addition to this specialised research, there is also dialogue and exchange between government ministries in the two countries on issues such as deep drilling, nuclear power stations and high technology, which are published in official reports.

In 1972, I left the university without changing my location, being recruited by this remarkable institution, the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, which is based at the Sorbonne, but which has laboratories all over France and even overseas. The Endoume marine station is home to mine.

My laboratory at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes was called ‘Biochemistry and ecology of marine invertebrates’, to study the physiological and biochemical mechanisms of adaptation of certain marine invertebrates to a variable environment: temperature, salinity, light, photoperiod, circadian cycles, reproductive cycle, variations during the intermating cycle, available food, quality and composition of available food, digestive enzymes, blood proteins, pigments, etc., which were still little studied in Japan.

At a time when we are experiencing climate change, we need good data: the optima are not the same for the different species or at the different stages of the biological cycles.

The kick-off to Franco-Japanese Symposiums

A first French-Japanese symposium, devoted to aquaculture, was organised at the University of Montpellier in 1983, and brought together a group of French researchers who decided to meet in Paris the following year and set up an association under the French law of 1901, which would be a twin to the one founded in Japan in 1960.

Yves Hénoque, Catherine Mariojouls, Denis Bailly, Hubert Ceccaldi, Nadine Lucas, Ghislaine Bourguignon, Jean-Marie Thierry, François Simard and Akiko Nishikawa, all of whom worked at several universities and research centres, decided to register the association’s statutes at the Paris Prefecture of Police with the following aims: ‘To contribute to the improvement of relations between French and Japanese people concerned with research, development and exploitation in the field of the oceans and to ensure effective liaison in France with the Franco-Japanese Society of Oceanography of Japan’ This mission has not changed since.

We were fortunate to have the support of Professor Maurice Fontaine, Director of the Paris Oceanographic Institute. Passionate about migratory fish, he was very interested in the research being carried out in Japan on these subjects. He hosted the SFJO headquarters at the Oceanographic Institute, as well as the annual board meetings.

Logo of the French-Japanese Society of Oceanography

The association needed a distinctive sign. As the association is French, the logo is tricoloured. The shape is circular, to remind us that the partner is Japanese. Its flag, the Hi-No Maru, features a red circle, the same colour as the bottom of the logo. Two semi-circles of the same size symbolise the twin associations. Undulations in the lower part recall the waves on the surface of the sea and the internal waves. The undulations at the top are a reminder that the oceanographic satellites communicate via waves.

Development of Franco-Japanese exchanges

Since the creation of the SFJO, new and more numerous relations have been established with our Japanese colleagues. Japanese specialists have visited my laboratory at the Endoume marine station, several of my doctoral students have been sent to Japan, and I have received invitations from universities, foundations and associations.

In addition to their scientific experience, young doctoral students learn a lot about Japanese life, culture and society. They come back punctual, better organised, happy to work in a group, avoid arguments and public confrontations, and are confronted with other ways of life. For each of them, this is a subtle but significant achievement that has left its mark on their personality.

These concrete exchanges have also gradually led to the creation of a network of friendly relations in Japan, both scientific and personal. These exchanges have formed the basement and the breeding ground on which the current links between the two research communities have grown, and also between the communities of stakeholders, as shown by the solid links that have been forged around oyster Our Goals ). After the major epizootic that affected wild and cultivated stocks of Portuguese oysters (Crassostrea angulata) in the 1960s, Professor Imai of Tohoku University, with the help of the scientific adviser to the French Embassy in Japan, Dr Dupuis, and Dr Kunio Goto Death of Kunio Goto , supervised the shipment of Japanese oyster spat to France. This saved the French oyster industry from bankruptcy.

On 11 March 2011, a massive tsunami hit the coast and oyster farms of Sanriku province in north-east Japan. Oyster farms and monitoring stations were destroyed. The SFJO Japan went to the area to find out what equipment was needed to relaunch at least part of the oyster farming industry. With the help of the SFJO France, the ADA (Association pour le Développement de l’Aquaculture), generous donors and oyster farmers who had not forgotten the aid provided by Japanese professionals, solidarity was established. As usual, Japan is recovering from this terrible disaster.

Information material

Information sheets written in French in Japan by correspondents living there were sent to active members of the SFJO in France: the first ‘Flash Japon’ was published in 1986 in the form of small booklets. More than fifty issues were published up to 1994. The cumbersome nature and cost of this system led to the ‘Lettres de la SFJO’ and the ‘Carnets de la SFJO’ replacing the ‘Flash Japon’ for a few years.

Several symposiums and events were held and carried out under sometimes difficult conditions, reducing the capacity for regular transfer of information between the two associations.

Maison franco-japonaise

As a result of the many scientific contacts I had established with Japanese specialists, a member of the Quai d’Orsay suggested that I consider a position as Director of the Maison franco-japonaise in Tokyo, which is home to 25 specialised Franco-Japanese scientific societies, including the Société franco-japonaise d’océanographie du Japon.

I occupied this exciting post for four years, from 1988 to 1992. Several multidisciplinary research programmes were organised, leading to seminars and symposia as well as 120 conferences in several disciplines, thanks to the support of the French Embassy and the Japanese bureau of this remarkable institution. It welcomes young researchers interested in Japan in all disciplines. The CNRS, Ifremer and several French universities have all taken part in these exchanges. This position has facilitated the organisation of several Franco-Japanese oceanography symposia. One example is a series of meetings organised by François Simard, then resident at the Maison Franco-Japonaise, on the subject of algal restocking. Five meetings were held in cooperation with the municipality of Higashino, located south of Fukuyama, and were published in five volumes forming the 5th Franco-Japanese Oceanography Symposium.

Publication of a series of symposia

There has been a succession of Franco-Japanese symposia: Sendai, Marseille (3), Shimizu, Nantes, Hiroshima, Higashino, Tokyo (4), Paris, Kobé, Boulogne-sur-mer, Bordeaux, Shiogama, the last in 2023 in Caen. The list of symposia and their characteristics can be consulted on the website of the SFJO (https://socfjp.com/)

Cover of the 16th Franco-Japanese Oceanography Symposium held in Shiogama in 2015

There is no mention here of the visits made by professional organisations (oyster farmers, fishermen, managers, etc.), which were led in Japan by French members of the SFJO France and specialists from the SFJO Japan working on site.

Our partners

These partnerships have been a success with excellent partners such as Professors Komatsu Teruhisa and Koïke Yasuyuki, President and Vice-President of the Franco-Japanese Oceanography Society of Japan, who were both awarded the rank of Officer in the French Order of National Merit at the French Embassy in Tokyo.

We cannot speak of Professor Yasuyuki Koike without mentioning his mentor, Professor Yutaka Uno, whom many young French aquaculture researchers have known. He also sent many young Japanese researchers to France, including Yasuyuki Koike, who contributed to the development of abalone farming in France. For his contribution to bringing together the communities of young French and Japanese researchers, Professor Uno was awarded the Palmes Académiques.

Other distinguished partners were Professors Shiro Imawaki who was the predecesor of the current president of the SFJO Japan, Nakagawa Heisuke, Kittaka Jiro, Kanazawa Akio, Yagi Hiroki, Arakawa Hisayuki, Nomura Tadashi, Teshima Shin-Ichi, Hirano Reijiro, Nakano Toshiki, Yoshida Jiro, Takeuchi Toshio, Tominaga Masahide, Katoh Juichi, Aruga Yusho, Matsu-ura Fumio, Kakimoto Hiroshi, Okaichi Tomotoshi, Fukuyo Yasuwo, Kase Kazutoshi, Kayama Mitsu, Ina Kazuo, Hamano Akira, Hirayama Kazutsugu, Kiyono Michiyasu, Iibushi Toshio, Okoshi Kenji, Sato-Okoshi Waka, Mimura Toru, Tsuchiya Makoto, Takahashi Hideyuki, Yamane Takeshi, Tanoue Hideaki, to name just a few of our most prominent colleagues.

Most of them have carried out research in France. The traditions established on both sides are to organise joint work and produce joint publications.

It is important to stress that visits to both Japan and France are facilitated by the presence of researchers working in the area where the symposia are taking place.

Partner universities and research organisations

There are a large number of universities in Japan, and many of them carry out research in the marine environment. Most of them have large research stations and facilities at sea: small boats and sometimes high seas vessels.

The University of Tokyo is the most important of these. It is home to a specialist institute, the Ocean Research Institute, with around a hundred researchers, located in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, where Professor Komatsu has taught and carried out research.

The Tokyo University of Science (Tokyo Rika Daigaku), where Professor Koike taught, became the University of the Oceans or Kaiyo Daigaku in 2003, following its merger with the University of the Merchant Navy. It has ten research vessels, two of which are ocean-going. The Franco-Japanese Oceanography Society, which organised the bathyscaphe dives in 1960, was founded at this university.

Others, often with fewer resources at sea, but of great interest, such as :

• Tokai University (Shimizu)
• Kagoshima University
• Nagasaki University
• National Fisheries University
• Kyushu University
• Hiroshima University
• Kitasato University
• Ryukyu University
• Kobe University
• Tohoku University
• Toho University
• Tokyo University

This introduction to the history of the SFJO does not mention the major scientific research or marine technology bodies with which exchanges have been established, such as the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (Jamstec), the Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry (Criepi), the Environment Management of Enclosed Costal Seas (EMECS), the Marine Ecology Research Institute (MERI), the National Research Institute of Fisheries Sciences (NRIFS), the National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management (NILIM) and the Fisheries Research and Education Agency (FRA), to name just a few of those with which relationships and exchanges of varying levels of importance have been established.

Nor does this retrospective mention the relationships established with private companies, municipalities, cooperatives and various associations whose themes and interests were similar to those of SFJO members.

Finally, we must not forget the close relationship that both the SFJO France and the SFJO Japan have had with the Sasakawa Foundation, which has supported our efforts to promote science and disseminate our work. Nor those that the SFJO has had with the Marseille Town Hall, which asked me to act as an informal expert to facilitate exchanges between our town and its twin city of Kobé, which I also knew quite well. So I made a series of visits to Kobé Town Hall to strengthen the links between the two cities in a variety of areas.

Do our exchanges with our Japanese colleagues form part of the history of relations between Japan and France?

Certainly not in the “great history”, that would be too pretentious. We haven’t built any ports, arsenals or navies.

In a modest way, we belong to this “small history” that is being written between people seeking solutions to problems that are identical in both countries, but specific to each period, and each partner approaches them with its own culture, past and traditions.

The future will be written in the context of adapting to climate change and, more broadly, to global change. The project validated by the two SFJOs, France and Japan, entitled ‘Nature and Culture’ is in line with the concepts promoted by Japan: Sato-Yama and Sato-Umi, harmony between man and his terrestrial, maritime and marine environment.

This commemorative medal was designed by Nicolas Salagnac, an engraver who has been awarded the title of ‘meilleur ouvrier de France’. It features two great monuments in France and Japan, symbolising the association of our cultures: Mont Saint-Michel and the great Torii of Miyajima.