SAKIGAKE管理人 From August 2 to 7, 2026, the Asia Oceania Geosciences Society 23rd Annual Meeting (AOGS2026) was held primarily at the Fukuoka International Congress Center. Munetoshi Kondo, Representative Director of SAKIGAKE JAPAN Corp., presented a poster at the conference.
The presentation was titled “Designing an Off-grid Distributed Cold Storage and Logistics System for Coastal Hazard Preparedness.”
Approximately 3,900 Participants from 55 Countries and Regions
AOGS is an international academic community that brings together geoscientists from around the world, particularly from the Asia-Oceania region. The community spans a wide range of disciplines, including atmospheric sciences, ocean sciences, hydrological sciences, solid earth sciences, planetary sciences, solar and terrestrial sciences, biogeosciences, and interdisciplinary geosciences, providing a forum for sharing the latest research on the Earth and space.
The 23rd Annual Meeting held in Fukuoka brought together 3,917 participants from 55 countries and regions. A total of 3,699 research presentations were delivered, including 1,983 oral presentations and 1,716 poster presentations. This was the first AOGS Annual Meeting held in Japan in 12 years, following the 2014 meeting in Sapporo.
At the venue, where more than 1,700 posters were presented, researchers from universities and research institutions, doctoral students, and experts from various countries exchanged ideas while discussing figures and data. Rather than simply displaying research findings, the venue was filled with an energetic exchange of knowledge, where new research ideas and collaborations emerged across disciplines and national borders.
Turning Everyday Seafood Logistics into Resilience Against Coastal Hazards
Our presentation focused on the design of an off-grid cold chain for remote islands and coastal areas in Indonesia.
In seafood logistics in these regions, ice and diesel generators are used to maintain freshness after catch. However, in areas where power infrastructure and cold storage facilities are insufficient, seafood quality can deteriorate before products reach the market, leading to food loss and reduced income for fishers.
Furthermore, when coastal hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis, storm surges, and floods occur, multiple types of infrastructure—including electricity, fuel supplies, roads, ports, and communications—may become unavailable simultaneously. Even where large refrigerated facilities exist, they may not necessarily be able to maintain their functions if electricity or fuel supplies are disrupted.
To address this challenge, we are developing a distributed system that combines solar power generation, storage batteries, PCM (Phase Change Material), highly insulated cold storage boxes, and other technologies, without relying solely on specific large-scale facilities.
Onboard cooling, temporary storage on remote islands, marine transportation to the mainland, and inland transportation to markets are not considered separately. Instead, the core of this research is to design them as an integrated logistics system that does not completely cease functioning even during disasters or power outages.
Off-Grid Seafood Cold Chain Transportation System
The Off-Grid Seafood Cold Chain Transportation System being developed by SAKIGAKE JAPAN is an initiative aimed at decarbonizing seafood logistics and reducing food loss in unelectrified remote islands and coastal areas in Indonesia. Field verification and business development are currently underway as part of a project selected for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s Global South GX Promotion Project.
The system combines solar power generation, storage batteries, PCM (special cold storage materials), highly insulated cold storage boxes, and mobile cold storage units, integrating the entire logistics process from onboard cooling immediately after catch to cold storage hubs on remote islands and coastal areas, and inland transportation to the mainland and markets. By reducing dependence on commercial electricity, diesel generation, and refrigerated trucks, we aim to establish a sustainable cold chain even in regions with vulnerable power infrastructure.
In addition to supporting everyday seafood logistics, the system is also being considered for future use as a regional cold storage hub during disasters. By combining decarbonization through GX with regional resilience, we aim to connect infrastructure that supports everyday logistics with disaster preparedness. The research presented at AOGS2026 is part of our efforts to implement this type of “cold infrastructure” in society.
Learn more about the Off-Grid Seafood Cold Chain Transportation System
Researching the Conditions for Technology to Function in Society
The academic value of this presentation lies not only in the performance of PCM and cold storage boxes, but also in its interdisciplinary examination of how these technologies can contribute to enhancing regional resilience.
Implementation requires consideration not only of technical evaluations such as cold retention time and temperature changes, but also of catch volumes, transportation distances, electricity conditions, implementation costs, operational personnel, maintenance by local communities, and rules for use during disasters.
This is a theme that cuts across disaster preparedness, energy, logistics, fisheries, climate change adaptation, and regional development. Acceptance at an international academic conference does not mean that the research is complete. Rather, it means that the topic has been incorporated into the AOGS program as one worthy of discussion within the international research community.
Organizing the knowledge gained through field verification and business development into a verifiable framework, rather than leaving it solely as experiential knowledge, represents an important step forward.
From the Field to Academia, and from Academia Back to the Field
SAKIGAKE JAPAN is developing an off-grid seafood cold chain in Indonesia as part of a project selected for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s Global South GX Promotion Project.
What we emphasize is not simply bringing Japanese technology overseas as it is. Instead, we work with local fishers, logistics operators, universities, companies, and government bodies to identify challenges and redesign the system into a form that can be continuously operated within the local context.
We organize knowledge gained in the field as research and open it to international discussion. We then bring perspectives gained from researchers and experts back into local design and verification. This continuous exchange between the field and academia helps improve the precision of social implementation.
The system is also not intended solely for use during disasters. In normal times, it has the potential to contribute to maintaining seafood freshness, reducing food loss, increasing fishers’ income, and reducing dependence on diesel fuel. During emergencies, it may support low-temperature logistics for food, pharmaceuticals, and other essential supplies.
Everyday economic activity itself can become part of disaster preparedness. This initiative puts SAKIGAKE JAPAN’s concepts of “Phase Free” and “distributed autonomy” into practice as infrastructure for coastal communities.
Bringing Japanese Disaster Preparedness and Climate Adaptation Technologies to the World
Presenting our socially implemented initiative at AOGS2026, where researchers from 55 countries and regions gathered, marked an important milestone for us.
SAKIGAKE JAPAN will continue not only to export Japanese disaster preparedness and climate adaptation technologies as products, but also to combine and adapt them to local challenges, verify their effectiveness, and transform them into systems that can be continuously operated.
By connecting science and business, technology and communities, and normal times with emergencies, we will continue working to implement Japanese technologies as social systems that function effectively around the world.
We would like to express our sincere appreciation to everyone involved in organizing and operating AOGS2026, everyone who visited our presentation, and all of our domestic and international partners who continue to support this project.