Representantes del IAC junto a la delegación diplomática de Japón en el ORM.
The Japanese ambassador to Spain, Takahiro Nakamae, visited the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (ORM) in the municipality of Garafía (La Palma) last weekend, 25th and 26th March. The Japanese delegation was completed by Kensuke Katsuda, Second Secretary; Yoji Kitamura, Councillor for Economic Affairs and Akira Kusunoki, Consul of Japan in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. They were received by the director of the IAC, Rafael Rebolo, the vice-director, Casiana Muñoz and the administrator of the ORM, Juan Carlos Pérez Arencibia.
The ambassador's visit began with a meeting with the president of the Cabildo de La Palma, Mariano Hernández Zapata. They then went to the Observatory, where, on Saturday afternoon, they visited the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC). In the evening they enjoyed a night-time observation.
The next day they met with scientists from the University of Tokyo and Nagoya University who are working on La Palma. They then moved to the LST1 (Large Size Telescope), together with Daniel Mazin, the project manager. The LST1 is the first prototype of a large telescope built by the LST consortium, in which Japan participates together with Spain and Germany, and which belongs to the CTA (Cherenkov Telescope Array) consortium. To conclude their tour, they visited the Visitor Centre.
