I spent my childhood in a paddy field. One day, while I was helping to weed the garden, a small insect jumped in front of me. I caught it and found it to be a strange looking insect with a rostrum. I later learned that it was a member of Ceutorhynchinae. This was my first encounter with a weevil.

Upon entering Kyushu University, I viewed the largest collection of weevils in East Asia, built by the late Professor Emeritus Katsura Morimoto. He taught me the essence of his research when I started studying the Japanese Anthribidae. I also met Dr. Toshio Senoh in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and he offered to help me with my research. I will never forget the day in 2019 when my first paper on new species of the genus Derisemias was published. Minus the fact that it was in the middle of a storm on the unexplored island of Akuseki-jima in the Tokara Islands, Japan. While a student at Kyushu University, I engaged in taxonomic studies on the Japanese Anthribidae such as Choragus, Ulorhinus and Araecerus under the guidance of Associate Professor Munetoshi Maruyama.

Currently, I am interested not only in taxonomy but also in host utilization. Host utilization in Anthribidae has often been neglected, but a survey of Japanese minor journals reveals that much knowledge has been accumulated. Recently, I have been interested in taxa related to legumes and palms. In the future, I would also like to contribute to the construction of phylogenetic trees of Anthribidae to clarify the evolution of host use.

The Lake Biwa Museum (LBM), where I work, is one of the closest natural history museums to Kyoto. It is also the natural history museum of my hometown, Shiga. It houses the Kenichi Emoto Collection, a collection of more than 20,000 weevils from all over Japan, including Ryukyus and Ogasawara Islands. Please visit the museum when you are in the neighborhood. Please contact me to apply in advance to view the specimens of LBM.