“Saisei no Sato Yarukitown”, an NPO located in Rikuzentakata City (southern Iwate coast) held a seminar for city residents about the ILC on July 23rd at the Rikuzentakata Global Campus in the Yonesaki area of the city.

The seminar was held to teach the people of Rikuzentakata about the ILC and how it would affect the region. Around 30 people attended.

Jun Sasaki, executive director of Iwate Prefecture’s Office of Science and ILC Promotion talked about what accelerators have brought to society, and the 17 types of elementary particles. He also talked about the latest meetings and other progress regarding the ILC. “It’s important that we hold seminars like this throughout the prefecture in order to excite the Iwate people about the project. If both the government and the citizens work together to prepare the area for the ILC, then researchers will move to the area and we’ll have more exchange,” he said.

Attendees asked questions about when the ILC would start operation and where the research facility might be located. Atsuya Kumagai, a 3rd year student at Takada Higashi Middle School, was excited about the project: “I wanted to know more about the ILC and how it would affect Rikuzentakata. I think that our city will grow if many researchers visit us.”