A warm greetings from Oshu City! Here’s some of the recent “hot” ILC news in Oshu:

Oshu ILC City Development Vision

Chairperson of the Oshu ILC City Development Vision Establishment Committee Tomio Kikegawa (left) handing the finished vision to Oshu City Masaki Osawa

Chairperson of the Oshu ILC City Development Vision Establishment Committee Tomio Kikegawa (left) handing the finished vision to Oshu City Mayor Masaki Ozawa

The “Oshu ILC City Development Vision” has recently been completed. The vision outlines how to link our dreams for Oshu’s future with the ILC.

I was lucky enough to have a first-row seat view of a great deal of the process, from the initial workshop to get ideas from residents to working group meetings discussing city development and living support, medical care and education or industrial revitalization, to meetings finalizing the vision by the top establishment committee. The finished product has some really exciting ideas. The Japanese version has already been released on Oshu city’s website, and the English version will be uploaded soon, so please stay tuned!

New ILC Banners along Eki-dori Street!

ILC Promotion Division staff member Mai Goto braves heights and spiders for the ILC

ILC Promotion Division staff member Mai Goto braves heights for the ILC

Oshu ILC Promotion Division made some new banners along Eki-dori Street in front of Mizusawa station to promote awareness of the ILC and put them up on 4/26 and 4/27.

After careful thought, we decided on two messages: “ILCを東北に,” which means “Bring the ILC to Tohoku,” and “ILCとともに歩むまち,” which means “A City Moving Forward Together with the ILC.” The messages touch on our fervent hope for the ILC to become a reality, and our enthusiasm for working together with the ILC in the future.

About a week before, the news was broken to us that we, ILC Promotion Division staff, were going to put up the banners ourselves. It took two days, but by the end, Eki-dori Street was looking much prettier and our support of the ILC was all the more visible. As an added bonus, we had bonded with each other and gotten over our fear of heights through exposure.

This year people from all over Japan will come to Iwate (and to Oshu) for the National Sports Festival and National Sports Festival for People with Disabilities. This will be a great chance to raise awareness for the ILC project for people throughout Japan, so Oshu City will continue to find new ways to spread the word.

ILC Art at Isawa Junior High School Construction Site

Students from Isawa Nursery School with their creation (how many future researchers are in the picture? So excited to find out!)

Students from Isawa Nursery School with their creation (how many future researchers are in the picture? So excited to find out!)

Finally, on May 6, the Federation of Oshu City Councilors to Invite the ILC installed art about the ILC at the construction site for the new Isawa Junior High School.

The drawings for three of the pieces were made by students from Oyama, Natsuta and Wakayanagi Junior High Schools. The reason for this is actually pretty straightforward: in the future, those three junior high schools will be combined into Isawa Junior High School. The fourth piece was by Isawa Nursery School students. This nursery school is right across the road from the billboards. I really, really like the idea of getting children involved in something they’ll likely see every day to foster interest and a sense of ownership. There has been talk of expanding this project to include other schools, and I hope it does.

Do you have any tips on involving community children? Does your local physics research facility have children’s artwork projects? We’d love to hear about it (and see the pictures)! Please contact us at ilc(at)city.oshu.iwate.jp

Japanese

奥州市から最近のILC関連の「ホットな」ニュースをお伝えします!

奥州市ILCまちづくりビジョン [16号] 奥州市 トマス・アンナ

奥州市ILCまちづくりビジョンが最近、完成しました。このビジョンはILCとの関わりを通じて、奥州市が目指すべき将来像と行動方針を示すものです。

私は幸運にも、市民の皆さんから意見をいただくワークショップから、「まちづくり・生活支援」、「福祉医療・教育」、「産業振興」、を考える分科会、ビジョンをまとめる策定委員会など、完成までビジョンの策定に参加しました。ビジョンの完成版には、本当にワクワクするようなアイディアが入っています。日本語版はすでに奥州市ホームページに公開しており、英語版については間もなく掲載する予定です。ぜひご覧ください!

策定したまちづくりビジョンを手にする奥州市亀卦川会長(左)と奥州市小沢市長(右)

水沢駅通りにILCフラッグを設置!

奥州市ILC推進室では、ILCをPRするため、駅通り用にバナーフラッグを作成し、4月26、27日に水沢駅通りに設置しました。
メッセージを十分に考え、二つに決めました:「ILCを東北に」、「ILCとともに歩むまち」。メッセージはILCの実現への願い、将来ILCと共に活動する熱意を伝えるものです。

設置の約1週間前に、私たちILC推進室の職員でフラッグを設置することを知らされました。設置には2日間かかりましたが、駅通りが美しくなったように見え、地元がILCを応援していることが更にPR出来ると思います。また、フラッグの設置の際、高所への恐怖を乗り越え、職員同士の絆が深まりました。

今年は希望郷いわて国体の開催により、全国から岩手県・奥州市に多くの人が訪れます。これはILCを全国にPRする絶好の機会であり、市ではILCの新しいPR方法を追求していきます。

ILCのPRのため、後藤舞(ILC推進室)さんが高所でフラッグを設置。

胆沢中学校の工事現場の壁面にILC絵画を設置!

最後に、5月6日、奥州市議会国際リニアコライダー誘致推進議員連盟が平成29年春に開校される胆沢中学校の工事現場に、ILCをイメージした絵画4枚を設置しました。

3枚の絵画は小山・南都田・若柳中学校の生徒が描いたものです。なぜこの3校かと言うと、3校が統合して胆沢中学校になるからです。4枚目の絵はちょうど絵画の向こう側にある胆沢保育園の園児が描いたものです。私は子供たちが毎日の生活で見るものを作ることでILCへの関心が高まると思います。こうした企画が他の中学校にも広がっていけば素晴らしいですね。

皆さんに、地域の子供たちを巻き込む秘訣はありますか?物理研究施設のある地域では、子供の絵画の取組はありますか?ぜひアドバイスやその様子を聞かせてください!ぜひilc(アットマーク)city.oshu.iwate.jpまでお気軽に連絡をください。

胆沢保育園の園児と描いたILC絵画。
(将来の研究者は何人写っているでしょうか?それは将来のお楽しみ!)