![Director-General Pietro Barabaschi paid a courtesy visit to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (centre) on 30 November 2023. Also present during the meeting were ITER Chief Strategist Takayoshi Omae (first from left); ITER Deputy Director-General for Science & Technology Yutaka Kamada (second from right); and Masaaki Taira, a member of the Japanese House of Representatives (first from right). (Click to view larger version...)](../../img/resize-830-90/www/content/com/Lists/Stories/Attachments/3963/pm_kishida_20231130hyokei01.jpg)
Director-General Pietro Barabaschi paid a courtesy visit to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (centre) on 30 November 2023. Also present during the meeting were ITER Chief Strategist Takayoshi Omae (first from left); ITER Deputy Director-General for Science & Technology Yutaka Kamada (second from right); and Masaaki Taira, a member of the Japanese House of Representatives (first from right).
Prime Minister Kishida has been the head of the government of Japan since October 2021, when he was appointed by the emperor after being nominated by the National Diet. Concurrently, he is the head of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party.
![During his multiday trip to Japan, Director-General Barabaschi also met with the chairman of the Japan Business Federation Keidanren, Masakazu Tokura (second from left). Keidanren is a federation of 1,600 businesses, organizations and associations whose mission is ''to draw upon the vitality of corporations, individuals and local communities to support corporate activities which contribute to the sustainable development of the Japanese economy and improvement in the quality of life for the Japanese people.'' (Second from right is State Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Soichiro Imaeda.) (Click to view larger version...)](../../img/resize-830-90/www/content/com/Lists/Stories/Attachments/3963/dg_pietro_ja_tokura_small.jpg)
During his multiday trip to Japan, Director-General Barabaschi also met with the chairman of the Japan Business Federation Keidanren, Masakazu Tokura (second from left). Keidanren is a federation of 1,600 businesses, organizations and associations whose mission is ''to draw upon the vitality of corporations, individuals and local communities to support corporate activities which contribute to the sustainable development of the Japanese economy and improvement in the quality of life for the Japanese people.'' (Second from right is State Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Soichiro Imaeda.)
Japan has long been a steadfast partner in the realization of ITER, participating alongside Europe, Russia and the United States in the project's early conceptual design activities (1988-1990), hosting one of three Joint Work Sites during engineering design (1992-2001), proposing a site for the project, and—since the signature of the ITER Agreement—hosting a number of advanced fusion research projects in complement to ITER under the umbrella of the Broader Approach. As Member to the ITER Project, Japan is responsible for delivering critical components and systems, including niobium-tin