The “ILC Scouts,” a program introducing the International Linear Collider, filmed in Oshu City and Ichinoseki City on August 18-19. On the first day, filming was held in Mizusawa ward and on the NAOJ Mizusawa Campus. The story touched on how the ILC, which could solve the riddle of how the universe began, has deep connections with astronomy. The episodes will be broadcast on cable TV networks nationwide from October to December this year, and will also be posted on Youtube.

This video series was started last year as one effort to increase national awareness of the ILC to prepare for bringing it to Japan. AAA (the Advanced Accelerator Association Promoting Science & Technology), a group working to bring the ILC to Japan, and Tokyo Cable Network are producing the program.

The three young actors in the series form the “ILC Scouts” and explore what the ILC project is from a child’s point of view. Associate Professor Tomoyuki Sanuki of Tohoku University appears in the series as the “Uncle” who explains about the ILC and particle physics to the children.

Filming for the series has been mostly in Tokyo, but the program decided to film in the area around the candidate site for the first time to include scenes of local enthusiasm for the ILC. The episodes aim to convey specific local activities to invite the ILC by filming signs and flags calling for the ILC, posters drawn by local children about the ILC, and more.

At the NAOJ Mizusawa Campus, the actors were filmed looking at Oshu Space and Astronomy Museum’s displays and the astronomy supercomputer “Aterui.” Haruto Shimazaki (aged 12) who performs the leading role as the central member of the ILC Scouts, said with a smile “This was my first time coming to Iwate, and it has really pretty nature. Science is also one of my favorite subjects at school.” In breaks between shots, he played with the two other young co-stars of the same age, and gazed with great interest at the space food being sold at the entrance of the space and astronomy museum.