On June 15, the Iwate Prefectural Government opened the Iwate ILC Coordination Office within its Advanced Science and Technology Research Center*. This office will be used by representatives in industry, academia, and government as we move towards the realization of the ILC in the Kitakami mountains (Kitakami highlands).

Mr. Shigeki Chiba, Vice-governor of Iwate, and Dr. Masakazu Yoshioka, Visiting Professor at Tohoku University and Iwate University, were at the opening ceremony by the signboard in front of the office. Vice-governor Chiba had his sights on the future: “This office will start as a hub of cooperation for all those involved with the ILC in Iwate. Eventually we’d like to make the office into a center for the ILC project as a whole, to play a role in the project coming to fruition.”

The Coordination Office will be a coordination center within Iwate that will work with the Tohoku ILC Preparation Office to bring about the ILC. The Tohoku ILC Preparation Office will be run by the Tohoku ILC Promotion Council, and opened on June 14. The office is 30.5 square meters in area, and is furnished with meeting tables and desks.

*Translator’s note: Also within this complex is the Iwate Industry Promotion Center and the Iwate Industrial Research Institute.