Minister Takuya Hirai visited Tonomachi King Skyfront with an entourage of six people from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, August 21, 2019.
After taking in views from the 4th floor of the Life Science & Environment Research Center (LiSE) of Haneda Airport on the opposite bank of the Tamagawa River and the construction work taking place on the Haneda Connection Road (tentative name) that will link the airport with Tonomachi, everyone moved to the 1st floor meeting room where Mr. Junichi Kato, Deputy Mayor of Kawasaki City, and Mr. Takeshi Suzuki, General Manager of Kawasaki City's Coastal Area International Strategy Headquarters, greeted the guests and gave an overall explanation of the King Skyfront to the forty or so people in attendance. They then heard from Project Leader Hiromichi Kimura, Keio University's Project Professor Ryota Yoshimoto, and Project Leader Yutaka Akiyama who each summarized the Center of Innovation (COI) Program, the Research Complex (RC) Program, and the Program for Building Regional Innovation Ecosystems, respectively. After exchanging opinions, the minister and his entourage walked to the Central Institute for Experimental Animals where they were given explanations of the ongoing activities by Chairman Ryuta Nomura while touring the facility. The minister's visit concluded by transferring to the Johnson & Johnson Tokyo Science Center by car where they received an overview from Ms. Eri Ozaki of Medical Professional Education and toured the center. Although the minister's visit was short, we highly value the opinions he gave suggestive of how Tonomachi should be in the future.