Masanobu Shibuya
Born in 1949 in Hokkaido. As a commercial diver (Shibuya Diving Industry Co.), he has been engaged in a variety of underwater engineering work, including the restoration of Kobe port. He also conducts a lot of field research on "Human-Dolphin Communication." Recently, he started a project called the "Diving Integration Research Institute," and is trying to apply diving methods to various fields, such as the rehabilitation of handicapped people.
Why did we interview Shibuya to "sense" Japan?
Shibuya's Scuba Diving Activities
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 Working underwater: Shibuya welding joints of a bridge girder |
 At Higashi Ogi Island |
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Shibuya working on the Kobe Port reconstruction project Earthquake memories:
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| Shibuya working on the Kobe Port reconstruction project |
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| Damage at a council wharf in Higashi Nada-ku |
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| Damage at warehouses, a quay and the No. 1 Hyogo pier |
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| Land subsidence: No. 1 and No. 2 Hyogo piers and a quay |
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 Why did we interview Shibuya to sense Japan?
Shibuya and the sensorium staff have been acquainted with each other for about 3 years. Shibuya has taken sensorium staff diving off Mikurajima Island and Yakushima Island in Japan. He has been engaged by underwater engineering companies, and he also runs a diving school. A unique aspect of his school is that his courses include lessons on how to dive without equipment. His diving tour was very unusual. In the morning he took us round the island, and then he brought us to a point where the water was very cold, directly above an underwater spring that has its source in a river on the island. We could actually feel this water that had travelled from the mountains to the sea through our diving suits. And in the afternoon, he took us to the mountain where, dipping our bare legs in a stream, we thought about the sea. We learned more about important environmental issues via this direct experience than we could by simply reading a book. Shibuya is always diving, either with his school, or for research, or for underwater engineering. We wanted to introduce his unique environmental sense of Japan, gained through his diving activities. P.S. When creating this section of the sensorium we were struck by the thought, if Shibuya has all this rich experience, why doesn't he create his own page on the Net. However, every two months, Shibuya sends an informal newsletter about where he has dived recently and his impressions to his friends and members of his diving school. The latest missive was 10 A4 sheets and some photos about a recent dive he did in the Ogasawara Islands. When you think about it, Shibuya has been offering the ideal sensing Japan long before we launched our project. (sensorium staff, NISH) |
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[A View of Kobe from the Sea with Shibuya]
[Shibuya Dived in the Icy Swamp]
[map page of sensing Japan]
The theme of the sensorium and texts that relate to sensing Japan are in the library of the linked senses. If you are interested in these texts (some are rather long), please click the text icon or the name of the text.
["water" Aquatic Sensibility by Shin'ichi Takemura]