Photo/Illutration Naomi Harada, the first woman to lead a Japanese research expedition to Antarctica, which will set sail for the southernmost continent in December 2024 (Yumi Nakayama)

The first woman who will lead the Japanese research expedition to Antarctica a year from now has expressed her strong commitment and enthusiasm to her upcoming mission. 

About three decades ago, Naomi Harada was hesitant about being in the spotlight simply for being a woman on her first expedition to the world's southernmost continent. 

But now, with more experience, the University of Tokyo professor said, “If my role can spark interest in Antarctica, I welcome it.”

The expedition, which will set out in December 2024, will be Harada's third, and she will lead the 66th Japanese research expedition to Antarctica.

She is the first woman to hold the position of leader since the first Japanese Antarctic expedition departed in 1956.

Harada, 56, who was born in Hokkaido, studied radioactive substances in the atmosphere at the Faculty of Science and Technology, Hirosaki University, in Aomori Prefecture.

Inspired by a professor who had experiences in Antarctica, she became increasingly interested in the mostly ice-covered continent.

When she was a graduate student at Nagoya University, she first visited Antarctica in 1991 to 1992. At that time, she was only the second woman ever to join a Japanese Antarctic research expedition.

Her mission to collect particles in the sea ended without being able to retrieve the research equipment.

In her second expedition in 2018 to 2019, she served as the first female deputy leader.

After returning to Japan, Harada became the head of the environmental research division of about 200 people at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology.

But she felt the loneliness of being away from research.

Last year, Harada became a professor at the University of Tokyo’s Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute.

While continuing her research on the marine environment, she was offered the role of the expedition leader.

“I wanted a do-over of the failure from my first expedition, so I thought this was a great opportunity,” she said.

Harada also began preparing research equipment with a new sensor.

“Nature is wonderful, but Antarctica is not a simple place,” she said.

The weather and sea ice change on a daily basis and activities often do not go as planned. In such a hostile environment, a frayed relationship can endanger lives of expedition members. 

“I want to observe and listen to each person closely,” Harada said, hoping that around 100 team members can unite and work together to their maximum potential.

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