Konnichiwa Japan

An area of tranquility at the University of Tokyo (Courtesy: Michael Banks)

By Michael Banks

Suitcases packed, Matin Durrani and I will be travelling to Japan over the weekend for a week-long road trip that will see us heading to Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Kamioka.

It’s a busy schedule that includes meeting with senior policy-makers and visiting a number of high-profile institutes.

The main purpose of our visit is to gather material for a special report on Japan that will be published in February 2018 (for this year’s reports on China and the US see here and here).

The packed itinerary includes the RIKEN laboratory in Wako, the Super Kamiokande neutrino detector in Kamioka as well as the Kavli Institute of Physics and Mathematics of the Universe and the Earth Life Science Institute, both of which are in Tokyo.

We will be meeting with Hikaru Kawamura, president of the Japanese Physical Society, as well as senior officials from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and Japan’s Council for Science, Technology and Innovation.

And that isn’t all – we will also fit in a seminar on science communication at Tokyo Institute of Technology.

So make sure you keep an eye out on the blog for regular updates about our trip.