National Institute of Polar Research (国立極地研究所) is the Japanese research institute for Antarctica. The agency manages several research bases on the continent:
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The NIPR has several research centers on Antarctica topics. Among others there are meteorological, geological, glacier motion, life science, ice dynamics, etc. Since 1969 a new topics began: the collecting meteorites. In the Meteorite Collection of the NIPR there almost 17000 specimens of meteorites. This is one, of the largest meteorite collections all over the world. The Antarctic meteorite research is guided in the United States by ANSMET.
The NIPR Antarctic Meteorite Research Center loans a set of 30 thin sections of various meteorite types. The Institute prepared 20 sets of this collection. They were used in several European countries, too: in Hungary, Romania, Denmark, Belgium. In the set students can study the most interesting meteorite types. Even Lunar and Martian meteorites can be found in the set.