Hitachi and Antarctica: 60 Years at the End of the Earth
As the icebreaker forces its path through the frozen sea, the thick ocean mist suddenly parts to reveal a craggy landmass. A pure white ice sheet extends across the horizon. Even though it is summer, a fresh wind stings the skin. It’s like a scene from a comic book. Seconded to the National Institute of Polar Research, Hitachi’s Shino Tabata, 31, arrived in Antarctica in December 2023 as a member of the 65th Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (JARE).
Japan sent its first Antarctic Research Expedition way back in 1956. Antarctica is one of the regions with the least amount of environmental pollution from human activity, and the mission was an attempt to begin to understand the Earth's natural environment and solve environmental problems by researching and analyzing meteorological and stratigraphic data. The continuing research activities have yielded significant results, including the discovery of the ozone hole and understanding the mechanism of the aurora borealis.
So how did Tabata, an ordinary Hitachi employee, join the expeditionary team and land in Antarctica? To find out, we need to take a look back at history.
The history of Hitachi and the Antarctic region began at a factory in Hitachi City, on Japan’s east coast, in 1966, at the time when the iconic British rock band, The Beatles, was touring Japan and the whole country was in a frenzy.
A bolt from the blue
“Hurry up and get back here.” That was the message that Masaaki Taga, now 84, received in February 1966 while he was in the middle of a business trip to Osaka in central Japan and was suddenly called back to the factory in Hitachi City where he worked. Not knowing what was going on, he arrived at the factory at night to be told by his boss who was waiting for him: “Just follow me.” He was led to company housing where the deputy director of his department lived. The deputy director greeted him with a smile and offered him a drink, which made him wonder even more about what was going on. While treating him to dinner, the deputy director asked Taga a question he’ll never forget, “Since you were in the mountaineering club in the University and love the mountains, you like cold places, right?”
Taga arrived at work the next day wondering if he was being transferred to Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido and his boss again told him, “Follow me.” This time, he found himself in the office of the deputy factory director, who said, “We’re sending you to Antarctica.” Perhaps because it hit him like a bolt from the blue, Taga asked an absurd question, “Do I have to take a test?” The room erupted in laughter.
In Antarctica, various equipment, not only for research but also vital for survival in the extreme cold, is operated by electricity. It is the lifeblood of Syowa Station, built by Japan in Antarctica, and is supplied by generators that were shipped in. The switchboards that distribute the power from the generators and the control panels that control the machinery need constant maintenance. Hitachi employees, who were involved in the manufacture of these machines, were selected to do the work.
Taga was 26 years old at the time, and, as a member of the team in charge of equipment management and maintenance, he joined the eighth Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition in 1966 and headed for Syowa Station.
What greeted him in Antarctica were two small capacity generators. One of them, a 20 kVA generator, was broken, and the only working one, a 40kVA generator, was providing power for both daily life and research. At the time, there was a very limited supply of parts in Antarctica. But because it was so important, Taga used the tools he brought with him to repair the smaller generator so that they could have a dedicated power source for their research.
Having fixed the generator, there were other problems waiting for Taga. There was concern when it was discovered that the rough seas during the voyage to Antarctica had caused seawater to contaminate some of the fuel brought for the generators. Using knowledge that he had gained from working at the factory, he adapted a control panel and installed it to act as an alarm system to detect if the fuel being supplied to the generator was mixed with seawater, thereby ensuring the research could continue.
Looking for “adventure”
Taga’s junior colleagues followed in his footsteps. Kiyoshi Takigawa, now 75, who oversaw generator inspections at Hitachi, went to Antarctica as a member of the 16th Expedition in 1974.
His role was also to maintain the generators and ancillary equipment at Syowa Station, but because the generators were stable and needed little attention, he was able to leave the station for a total of 116 days, one-third of his stay in Antarctica, to go out on field research. “It was like going on an adventure into uncharted territory," said Takigawa. The field researches were journeys into a pure white world without any landmarks. Their compasses did not point in a constant direction so close to the South Pole, so the team proceeded carefully.
The study team consisted of only seven members, including Takigawa. Each of them was a specialist in their field, and they included academics and a doctor. They collaborated closely on everything. Takigawa spent a lot of time acting as a windbreak for the academics, helping them keep their survey equipment from shaking. He recalls, “This was an adventure in which we shared food, stood guard, and supported each other.”
Go generator, go
The transition from a risky adventure into uncharted lands to a comfortable existence with modern conveniences, including a toilet seat with a washing function, was made possible thanks to the efforts of the mechanical installation team members in the 24th (1983) to 26th (1985) expeditions. Over this three-year period, three 200 kVA generators were installed. Toshihiro Watanabe, now 63, who helped install the units, emphasized the importance of the generators. He said that by having one unit running and one unit ready as a backup, maintenance could be carried out on the remaining idle unit, ensuring a continuous, uninterrupted supply of electricity, which is vital for life at Syowa Station.
The improved power generation capacity also brought other benefits. Up until that point, the researchers were only able to melt a small amount of snow and ice - just enough for daily life. But the new high-capacity generators produced so much heat that the researchers could enjoy steaming baths. The Syowa Station team members expressed their joy in the Syowa Station Newspaper, published daily by those at the station. The sixth verse of the Syowa Station ondo (folk song) is translated as: "The light turns on in no time, This is Hitachi's generator, Go generator, go.”
Passing the baton
We have seen how Hitachi came to participate in Antarctic research expeditions and how we supported the power generation over the initial 20 years. Our pioneering engineers passed on the baton to other Hitachi employees to support the National Institute of Polar Research and the continuing challenge in Antarctica. The second part of the article, "Meteorites, Penguins, and Power Outages: Just Another Day in Antarctica," introduces some of the expedition team members who accepted the baton.
