(Reporting by the Tokyo Bureau)

At the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo on the 31st, Governor of Iwate Tasso Takuya emphasized the following about the ILC project: “The ILC has been selected as a large-scale research project within the Science Council of Japan’s Master Plan. I expect that the national government will continue its talks with US and Europe and move to the next step of full-fledged deliberation on financial resources.”

As the local government of the candidate site for the ILC, Iwate will “prepare itself to receive foreign researchers and their families. We will also communicate the importance of the ILC’s research in order to boost enthusiasm for the project amongst the people of Japan.”

Additionally, he spoke about the construction of reconstruction roads in Iwate (following the 2011 disaster) as well as the accumulation of automobile- and semiconductor-related businesses in the basin region of Iwate’s Kitakami River. He also talked up Iwate’s policies of promoting employment within the prefecture as well as improving healthcare and welfare programs.

He was asked about corrective measures for the Tokyo centralization of government, to which he proposed, “The national government should introduce more incentives for people to set up businesses in the regions outside of Tokyo.”