On February 13th, council members from 11 city councils in southern Iwate and northern Miyagi visited with the non-partisan Federation of Diet Members for the ILC (FDMILC) and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) to petition for the ILC.

Fifteen council members from Ichinoseki, Oshu, Ofunato, Rikuzentakata, Sumita, Kanegasaki, Hiraizumi, Kesennuma, Tome, Kurihara, and Minami Sanriku traveled to Tokyo. At the FDMILC, they met with Chair Hon. Takeo Kawamura and Hon. Takashi Fujiwara (House of Representatives, Tohoku proportional representative). At their talk, Takashi Tsukiyama of the Ichinoseki council said, “The ILC will lead to the accumulation of accelerator-related industry in the Tohoku region. As an international hub for scientific research, the ILC will greatly contribute to the world, and lead to new developments of the region.”

Hon. Kawamura responded, “The international organization of scientists spearheading the ILC have set March 7th as the deadline for the Japanese government to express intent in the project. We are doing what we can in this last stage in order to get the government to give a positive answer. We would also like to strongly encourage the financial world to get involved.”

At MEXT, they met with Keisuke Isogai, the head of MEXT’s Research Promotion Bureau. According to participants, Mr. Isogai said, “We are at the stage where we are deliberating with related government ministries and organizations. We would like to release our position around the beginning of March.”