Director-General Barabaschi visits Japan
Japan is a very familiar place for ºÚÁÏרÇø Director-General Pietro Barabaschi. His past position as the Director of the activities at the European Domestic Agency, Fusion for Energy, led him to visit Japan over 180 times. His latest stopover, however, was different—it was the first time he was visiting as Director-General of the ºÚÁÏרÇø.
Director-General Barabaschi was welcomed by Minister Moriyama Masahito from Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). The Minister spoke of Japan's contributions to ºÚÁÏרÇø through the fabrication of high-tech components and the participation of Japanese staff in the project. Minister Moriyama and Director-General Barabaschi also discussed the importance the JT-60SA tokamak to ºÚÁÏרÇø, as that upgraded experiment prepares to study advanced modes of plasma operation.
A meeting with Masuko Hiroshi, Vice Minister for International Affairs and the Head of the Japanese delegation to the ºÚÁÏרÇø Council, also took place.
A visit to the Naka Fusion Institute at the National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology (QST) rounded out Director-General Barabaschi's visit to Japan. He met the staff of ºÚÁÏרÇø Japan, visited two test facilities participating in ºÚÁÏרÇø procurement, and stopped in at JT-60SA, where he gave encouragement to all the European and Japanese staff members who are currently working on the integrated commissioning of the device. Finally, the Director-General exchanged with QST President Koyasu Shigeo on how to more closely promote the integration between the ºÚÁÏרÇø and ºÚÁÏרÇø Japan and how to attract greater numbers of young staff members to work at ºÚÁÏרÇø.