Japan is not alone among nations of the world in facing a massive shortage of helium gas.

In case you thought, what's the big deal, the gas is only used for things like inflating balloons at places like Tokyo Disneyland, think again.

There is a worldwide shortage of helium gas, a lightweight and colorless, non-toxic, inert substance that is recovered from natural gas production and used by medical institutions as well as in charting atmospheric changes.

Japan imports all of its helium gas, and has relied on the United States to meet its needs as the country produces about 60 percent of the world's needs.

The problem is that the United States has placed priority on domestic sales.

Qatar produces about 30 percent, but the growing shortage has led to fierce competition from nations such as China and India to obtain the gas for industrial and other uses.

The situation is now so dire that on Dec. 20 the Physical Society of Japan and the Chemical Society of Japan jointly issued a statement calling for cooperation between industry, the government and academia for the recycling of helium gas as well as establishing a structure to stockpile the gas in Japan.

"Unless countermeasures are taken before a crisis situation occurs, not only researchers but the industrial sector as well will suffer," said Shingo Katsumoto, a physics professor at the University of Tokyo who also serves as vice president of the Physical Society of Japan.

Visitors to Tokyo Disneyland in Chiba Prefecture no doubt were dismayed in recent weeks to learn that helium-filled gas balloons featuring Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters were no longer being sold some days.

Oriental Land Co., which operates the theme park, said a shortage of helium gas since late October meant that no balloons are available for sale.

Tokyo-based Yume Fusen is a wholesaler of helium gas, but the volume it has been acquiring has been dropping since the start of the year.

In recent months, the company said it had only been able to acquire about 30 to 40 percent of levels available in past years.

What meager stockpile it has left is quickly sold, meaning the company has had to tell even regular customers it is plain out of gas.

Helium gas is used in magnetic resonance imaging equipment in hospitals as well as to manufacture semiconductors and optical fiber. The gas is also used in special manufacturing processes because it can be frozen in liquid form at temperatures as low as minus 269 degrees.

SUPPLY SHORTAGE IN U.S.

Helium is found underground and mined along with natural gas. But a growing focus in recent years on shale gas mining in the United States has led to a sharp drop in the volume of gas removed from underground. Shale gas is found in shallow rock formations, making it possible for helium gas to escape into the atmosphere before it is captured for industrial use.

In the 1990s, the United States had huge reserves of helium gas it had stockpiled during the Cold War. But that supply started to run out and last year the remaining inventory was put up for auction.

That leaves Qatar to make up for the shortage, but the Middle Eastern nation has been forced to jack up its prices of helium gas.

According to officials of Iwatani Corp., an Osaka-based supplier of industrial gas, the cost of importing helium gas from Qatar has risen because of diplomatic tensions with its neighbors, such as Saudi Arabia.

Construction has started on new helium gas plants in Qatar and Russia, but the shortage looks set to continue until those plants begin operations.

The volume of imports from the United States has halved over the past 10 years, while the price has shot up by 2.3 times.

Naotami Miyagaki, an executive officer with Iwatani, said, "the supply shortage will likely continue for the next two to three years." He said the main cause was a structural problem that is now at crisis level.

While hospitals in Japan are being given priority in ensuring supplies of helium gas, some research efforts have been affected.

A research group under the Japan Aeropace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has only been able to hold one of six planned launches of observation balloons into the upper atmosphere this fiscal year.

Tetsuya Yoshida, who heads the Scientific Ballooning Research and Operation Group, said, "If we cannot conduct experiments, we will lose continuity in our data and that will make it difficult to write up research papers."

About three-quarters of the helium gas used in Japan is not recovered. That's because the law of physics applies, and the gas escapes into the atmosphere.

The Institute for Solid State Physics at the University of Tokyo began collecting used helium gas from October. About 90 percent of it can be recycled and returned to liquid form.