The series "Profile: A person of Asia" feature administrative officers, who work actively every day in Asia, and international students, who are expected to play active roles in Asian cities in the future. This issue introduces Dr. Marcelino Q. Villafuerte II who deals with climatic disasters in Philippine after completion of PhD study in TMU.

In front of the PAGASA Central Office,
Quezon City, Philippines

I was born in a small town located in Bicol Region, southern part of Luzon, the biggest main island in the Philippines. It takes approximately eight hours by bus heading southeast to go to Bicol from Manila, the capital of the Philippines. Bicol is famous of its perfectly cone-shaped Mayon Volcano. Several small islands with beautiful beaches can also be found there, which are among the main attractions of the region. Because Bicol Region is facing the Pacific Ocean, it is among the areas first hit by the typhoons crossing the country. That situation, perhaps, inspired me to join my current office.

Currently, I am working at the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA). PAGASA is the country's national hydrological-meteorological service provider. Specifically, I belong to the Climatology and Agrometeorology Division of PAGASA. My everyday work includes providing climate information for the benefit of the general public, analyzing weather situations, and conducting scientific researches, among others.

I go to the office on weekdays but sometimes even during holidays, so I decided to live close to my office. My home and my office are both located in Quezon City, the biggest city in Metropolitan Manila. The public means of transportation in Metropolitan Manila include railway transit (but with only few lines), provincial and city buses (usually used for travelling long distances), metered taxis and air conditioned utility vehicles (usually used to avoid inhaling polluted air), jeepneys (these are open-air type of vehicle with two long parallel seats that can accommodate 10 passengers in each seat sitting side by side with each other), and tricycles (three-wheeled motorized vehicles that can enter small alleys usually used for travelling short distances, but sometimes can be considered as the most expensive way of public transportation in the country). From my house, it only takes a 5-min walk and an additional 15-min jeepney ride to go to my office.

My first participation at a major international conference organized by the American Meteorological Society and held in Austin, Texas

Basically, my research in TMU was focused on addressing the primary question that most people in my country are asking, particularly those who are victims of extreme weather and climatic events. That is, whether global warming is responsible for extreme weather events that brought disastrous impacts on their lives. Through the exceptional guidance provided by my professor (Prof. Jun Matsumoto, to whom I am very much thankful) and with the great help shared by each members of our laboratory (Laboratory of Climatology), we addressed such concern by extensively utilizing observational datasets and employing advance scientific methodologies. We began by analyzing changes in extreme rainfall and tried to connect such changes with the rising global mean temperature. Thankfully, our results brought remarkable findings that are among the pioneering studies on that field, which is conducted in a less studied region of the world: the Philippines and the whole Southeast Asia. And thus, our results were published in three international journals.

Before arriving in Tokyo, I thought that living there would be costly, difficult, and inconvenient. After living in Tokyo for three years, I found those suppositions to be exactly the opposite. Even though luxurious things can be found in Tokyo, there are several alternatives for expensive ones. In fact, a complete meal could cost less than 500 yen. Almost all people are polite and helpful as well; and walking around even late at night is safe and comfortable.

Old people (ages starting from the late 60's) are still working in Tokyo; they are really hardworking individuals that you can find some of them serving at the restaurants, convenience stores, shopping malls, public parks, and even cleaning rest rooms. Also, there were times (in fact, many times) that I saw very old people, carrying various stuffs, buying grocery items on their own, and walking alone. Although it is reasonable for a country with an aging population, I felt uncomfortable to see working elderlies or see them walking alone because in our country, in general, we take good care of our grandparents. And hence, we make sure that some or at least one younger member of the family would take care or watch over them. Later on, however, I understood their situation and those old Japanese people served as my inspiration in pushing myself to work harder independently.

Poster presented at the European Geosciences Union's Annual General Assembly, which was held in Vienna, Austria.

I had a great privilege to conduct my research at TMU. The university's support for my research-related needs was overwhelming. I was able to attend several international and local conferences that boosted my confidence on my research findings, met new friends and expanded my professional network, as well as learned new things while enjoying places that are generally, my first time to visit. While those things were much appreciated, the language was still the main barrier for maximizing my learning experience at TMU. Although my professor encourages each of the laboratory members to prepare their presentations (if not totally in English, but at least the figures should be English-captioned) during our laboratory seminars, fully understanding someone's talk conducted in Japanese is still difficult. As an example, there was a time when I ask the speaker (my "kouhai") something about his research without knowing that someone has already raised that same question. Despite those difficulties that are mainly communication-related, I enjoyed my overall stay and studying at TMU.

Trash picking activity together with my family at Quezon Memorial Circle, Quezon City, Philippines.

The knowledge that I gained during my 3-year of study period at TMU will certainly be applied in operational services in which my office is currently engaged. Such knowledge will also be shared not only to my colleagues here in PAGASA, but also to other students here in the Philippines. As a matter of fact, I have been assisting graduate students on their research through co-advising, thesis reading, and mentoring. I will also be teaching climatology in the next Meteorological Technicians Training Course, which is going to be held in PAGASA. In addition to that, I share climate-related information in a wider scientific community by conducting researches that are timely and socially relevant in solving climate-related problems and presenting them at national and international conferences.

The Asian Human Resources Fund (AHRF) scholarship was aimed to connect Tokyo and the 21 members of the Asian Network of Major Cities 21 (ANMC21), including the Metropolitan Manila. And therefore, as one of the recipients of the AHRF scholarship, I am expected to play a role in connecting my home city, the Metropolitan Manila and Tokyo. Keeping that in mind, I practice the basic things that I learned while staying in Tokyo to my home city. While in Tokyo, I saw Japanese families who go to the park and teach their children in taking care of the environment. I share that experience with my family and tell them to be a good example to others, for example, by occasionally going to the park for trash picking activities. Another thing that amazed me while staying in Tokyo is that we need to return all the dishes and utensils after dining. And because I want that good habit to be practiced in the Philippines too, I regularly do that in our office's cafeteria. Those are just simple examples, but are among the essential things that will bring Tokyo close to the heart of the people living in Metropolitan Manila. Looking forward into the future, I might be promoted to a higher position in my current office, and that could perhaps lead me to become the main focal person for enhanced collaboration between my office and our counterpart in Tokyo, the Japan Meteorological Agency (although collaborative works already exist as we are bounded by the World Meteorological Organization), as well as with other institutions including TMU.

I am highly indebted to a number of people who helped me in several ways during my stay in Tokyo. First and foremost, I am very much thankful to my Sensei, Prof. Jun Matsumoto, for his exemplary supervision during my doctoral study and treating me (and all his students) like his own children. Also, I wish to extend my gratitude to my laboratory mates, roommates (Rm. 729 of Bldg. 8, TMU), AHRF batchmates (as well as "senpais" and "kouhais"). I am very much thankful as well to Dr. Wada of Tokyo Metropolitan Tama Medical Center, who carefully treated me when I got sick and patiently explained my health condition for almost two years of my regular visit to his clinic. Special thanks should also go to Ms. Sasayama of Hachioji City Public Health Center for showing me how Japanese nurses treat their patients very carefully, and to my tutor, Ms. Aiba for all the help she extended to me. Thanks as well to the staff of International Center for making my stay (and my relatives) in Tokyo a lot easier. Lastly, I appreciate the friendliness shown by my housemates (an apartment at Shimoyugi) and our party buddies (they know who they are, so I don't need to mention their names here), who made my stay in Tokyo more enjoyable.

Studying in Tokyo is really fun and enjoyable. It is a place where technological advancement and old style of living harmoniously exist together. And thus, exchange students are highly encouraged to experience those things in Tokyo. Nevertheless, they should always keep in mind that the main purpose of their presence in Tokyo is for studying. So I strongly advise them to learn everything wholeheartedly, and bring those good things in their home country.