PWRI Web Magazine Editorial Staff
P.R. Managerial Meeting
<Tsukuba>
General Manager: Dr.Kazunori Wada Representative managers: Mr.Tomio Akita, Ms. Harumi Moriki, Mr.Toshio Yarimizo, Mr.Masuo Kondo, Mr.Minoru Kikuchi, Mr.Makoto Kimura Managers: Mr.Yoshiaki Sato, Mr.Shinsuke Setoshita, Mr.Akira Kamakura, Mr.Yoshinori Nonomura, Ms.Yuko Nagaya, Mr.Yuya Kato, Dr.Mamoru Suwa, Mr.Yuji Okayasu, Mr. Naoyoshi Hayashi, Mr.Koji Ishida, Mr. Nobuharu Isago, Mr.Tomoyuki Noro, Mr.Yasushi Josen
<CERI>
Mr.Nobuhiko Komachiya, Mr.Tadayuki Wada Representative managers: Mr.Osamu Hatakeyama, Mr.Masahiro Shibagta, Managers: Mr.Hirofumi Kitsuta, Ms.Yuri Sakai, Ms.Maiko Kawanaka

Editor's Note
I felt that a lot of snow fell in Sapporo City this year, but I hear that the cumulative snowfall in Sapporo from October 2008 until the last day of March 2009 was 489 centimeters (Chuo-ku in Sapporo City) (announced by the Sapporo District Meteorological Observatory). The average annual value is 630cm, and it is reported that for 2 consecutive years, snowfall was more than 1m below the average annual values. Nevertheless, snow shoveling was a terrible task, and I think that it would be great if snow didn’t fall. When snow is blown by the wind, it seriously impacts traffic.

Snow obstructs traffic and daily life and is treated as a curse, but snow-utilization measures, or the use of snow as a source of cold energy, are being undertaken in various parts of Japan. Snow-utilization technologies will advance and we may be near the day when snow will not be viewed as a curse, but as a valuable source of energy falling from the sky.

The Civil Engineering Research Institute for Cold Region of PWRI is undertaking research to ensure safety of traffic from blowing snow and research on ways to protect roads from snow avalanches. Research to transform the image of snow from “Snow as a Curse” to “Snow as a Blessing” is being conducted through the creation of technologies to use snow for daily life accompanied by the development of technologies intended to eliminate the obstruction of traffic by snow.

(Hirofumi Kitsuta)