At the beginning of 2025, National Geographic Society facilitated a gathering in Tokyo for Explorers based in Japan to meet one another. We shared some great meals, learned a bit about everyone's work, and initiated plans to hold a public event.
That event took place during the weekend of 10-11 January at Tokyo Metropolitan University, bringing together 13 Japan-based and Japan-associated Explorers, as well as one each from Thailand and the Philippines. Many of us gave short talks to introduce our work, under the common theme "How I Became an Explorer."
Though I was generally familiar with what most people do, there were some interesting revelations. Did you know, for instance, that penguins eat jellyfish? I didn't. At first pass, this doesn't make a lot of sense. Jellies are mostly water. This implies that calories expended for the effort of grabbing a jellyfish most likely exceed calories gained. [Scratch head here.]
The penguins' trick appears to be choosing to scarf down only/ mainly jellyfish with gonads, presumably because reproductive organs are relatively high in energy content. Clever birds—not only can they swim and huddle against bitter cold, but they're good at math too!
The group owes a huge debt to Adam (the bald Aussie who isn't nearly as grouchy as he might appear). He volunteered to herd kittens for an entire year to make this event happen (I use the term kittens instead of cats because we are in Japan. Kawaii matters.). Let's just say getting hard-working Explorers dedicated to their intellectual pursuits to focus on meeting logistics is a challenge. The good thing is that everyone recognises and super-appreciates how hard Adam worked.
Arigatou gozaimasu, Adam-san.
From a personal perspective, I was particularly happy that I had the opportunity to talk with many students, mostly from TMU, but also from other universities, including one visiting from Singapore where I lived for many years (turns out, we have mutual friends), and even a recent graduate (a really talented science illustrator, please hire him if you need scientific art). It was nice to know that the serious message embedded in the silliness of my talk got through.
On a separate note, I was featured in the Dare to Explore section of National Geographic Kids magazine last November.
The story depicted is of my first meeting with a juvenile sperm whale. She is the whale who changed my life.
The story is accurate. My wardrobe is stylised. I am definitely not that colour-coordinated 😊
Sperm whales live a long time. I like to think that she's still out there, somewhere in the Pacific, occasionally wondering, "I wonder how my chew toy is doing?"