Konnichiwa! Thanks for joining me on my dolphin journey. I’m Leanne, originally from the UK but have been living in Japan for the last five years. Japan is a wonderful place to live, with diverse landscapes, fascinating culture and the kindest people. So I am delighted to be combining my love of living in Japan with my dedication to dolphins!

 

Before moving to Japan I was a research intern for Sea Watch Foundation, a fantastic British charity based in New Quay, Wales, studying the bottlenose dolphins in Cardigan Bay. 

This experience filled me with passion and drive to pursue a career in dolphin research. I had already accepted a position as an English teacher in Japan for after the internship ended so I arrived in Osaka on a mission to find any dolphin opportunity I could. Luckily I found an amazing professor who I assisted studying flipper rubbing in wild Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins. 

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This lead me to my current job as researcher for Mutsu Bay Dolphin Research in Aomori, Northern Japan studying Pacific white-sided dolphins. The dolphins pass through the bay on their annual northward migration.

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Being on a boat is my happy place and I have had many amazing experiences at sea: from watching a large pod of Pacific-white-sided dolphins cooperatively hunt a shoal of sardines whilst listening to their communicative chatter on a hydrophone, to meeting the gaze of a bottlenose dolphin as it glides right by the side of the boat.

 

On this blog I wish to share my thoughts on the subjects that motivate me, such as marine conservation, cetacean research and to keep you updated on all the dolphin opportunities that come my way here in Japan.

Wherever you are in the world, let’s keep spreading the marine conservation message!