The alliance of Liberal Democratic Party (LDP, Japan’s ruling party) politicians from Hokkaido and all the prefectures of Tohoku visited the national government on February 8th to make a petition for the ILC. The international organization of scientists spearheading the ILC have set March 7th as a deadline for Japan to express an intent in the project, so initiatives are being ramped up by related organizations to encourage the government to make its decision.

Hon. Shunichi Suzuki (counsel to the alliance, House of Representatives, Iwate 2nd district), Hon. Tsuto Chiba (Head of the alliance), Hon. Tomokazu Iwasaki (secretary-general for the alliance) and other politicians visited the Prime Minister’s residence where handed over their petition to Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga.

The petition called for
△A positive expression of intent in the ILC as soon as possible, and a quick start to international negotiations
△Placing the ILC as a national project that would develop Japan’s science and technology, build up more rural regions, help the recovery from the 2011 disaster, and improve national resilience

According to those in attendance, Hon. Suga responded, “It is a very big deal to receive a petition from an alliance of politicians from seven prefectures, so I will take this to heart.”

Afterwards, Hon. Iwasaki said, “We were not able to get a concrete answer this time, but we have less than one month to go before the deadline. We would like to broaden our alliance out from Tohoku and Hokkaido, and work tirelessly to petition the government until the end.” The Federation of Diet Members for the ILC will also strengthen their efforts to petition administration officials.