The Maritime Safety and Security Policy Master's Degree Program (1 year course) given by the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies and the Japan Coast Guard Academy, with funding from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, received its first class of 10 students from four Southeast Asian countries and Japan on October 1, 2015.

In 2015, preservation and restoration work was finished on the training ship "Meiji Maru", which Japan has designated an important cultural property, and the Meiji Maru Commemorative Museum (tentative name) is to be completed in the spring of 2016. Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology is a place where the history of Japan as a maritime state can be studied, and where the launching of the Meiji Maru maritime museum will promote the true development of maritime society and serve as a venue for exchange open to the public.

In order to attain the widest implementation for ocean education throughout Japan, we need to develop educational materials performable in all the schools including those in land-locked areas. Such materials must meet the following three criteria: (1) it meets the request that the ocean should be taught naturally and unconstrainedly, particularly in schools where students cannot see the sea in their daily life, (2) it is relevant to curriculum, and (3) it requires little space and cost. In this article I will introduce one example of such materials, with which students can easily exercise salt making using an evapolation plate and a small amount of seawater in an elementary school science classroom.