Dr. Toshikazu Hanazato is currently a visiting professor in the Institute of Engineering at Kanagawa University located in Yokohama, Japan. He is also a professor emeritus in the Graduate School of Engineering, Mie University. He is a former vice-president of ICOMOS Japan, having been active as a member of ISCARSAH representing ICOMOS Japan since 2000. He received MS and PhD from Tokyo Institute of Technology on the research subject of pile foundation engineering. After graduating, he affiliated with Gunma University, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Taisei Corporation and Mie University. In those experiences, he has been involved in research, education, and practice in the fields of earthquake engineering, geotechnical engineering, and timber structural engineering.

Since the late of 1980’s, he has been studying the earthquake resistance of architectural heritages in foreign countries. In particular, he has been interested in the seismic safety of the Parthenon Athens, Greece, which has survived for 25 centuries in the seismic area in the Mediterranean See. In addition to the research activities, he also serves as a member of expert committees, providing guidance and advice on the structural conservation and restoration of architectural heritage structures of both timber and masonry throughout Japan. For example, he has been involved in the anti-seismic protection of the Atomic Bomb Dome, a World Heritage Site in Hiroshima. Since 2005, he had been involved in the scientific research project for mitigation of earthquake disasters in developing countries in seismic areas. One of the participating counties was Nepal. After Napal Earthquake of 2015, as a principal researcher of the interdisciplinary expert team of Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research, Japanese Governmental Fund, he conducted the survey of the damage to heritage structures in Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur. The structural role of timber was focused on in this research because most of the heritage structures were constructed of masonry with timber frames.

He also supports the restoration of cultural heritage sites damaged by the Noto Peninsula Earthquake of 2024. He serves as a member of the expert committee for the restoration of a number of important cultural property wooden buildings of Wajima Sojiji Temple. He is a chief of the working group of structural restoration.

Professor Hanazato Toshikazu