From left to right: NINS President Kawai, Ambassador Julio Bravo, and NAOJ Director General Tsuneta (Photo: Goro Watanabe/NINS)
From May 29 to June 2, 2023 (local time in Chile), Dr. Maki Kawai, President of the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS); Dr. Saku Tsuneta, Director General of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ); officials from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT); and others, visited the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) Santiago Central Office; the Chilean Ministry of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation; University of Chile, and the Office of Chilean Affairs of Associated Universities Inc. (AUI).
On May 29, the delegation paid a courtesy visit to Ambassador Julio Bravo, Director of DECYTI (Division of Science, Energy, Education, Innovation and Astronomy) of the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to introduce NINS and express their gratitude for his understanding and support of NAOJ’s activities in Chile, and to discuss a wide range of astronomy-related collaborations, gender equality, and activities to protect the observing environment, not limited to ALMA.
On the same day, at the Joint ALMA Observatory Central Santiago Office, the Japanese delegation paid a courtesy call on Dr. Sean Dougherty, ALMA Director, and discussed ALMA’s current status and challenges.
From left to right: Prof. Norikazu Mizuno (JAO/NAOJ), NAOJ Director General Saku Tsuneta, ALMA Director Sean Dougherty, NINS President Maki Kawai, and NINS Vice-President Hideaki Takayanagi (Photo: Goro Watanabe/NINS)
On May 30, the Japanese delegation paid a courtesy visit to Minister Aisen Etcheverry of the Chilean Ministry of Science, Technology, Knowledge, and Innovation to introduce NINS and NAOJ, and to express their appreciation for the Ministry’s understanding and support of NAOJ’s activities in Chile. The Minister recognized the important contribution to the development of science in Chile made by collaboration with other countries in astronomy. They further discussed possible expansion of future cooperation.
From left to right: NINS President Maki Kawai, Minister Aisen Etcheverry, and NAOJ Director General Tsuneta (Photo: Goro Watanabe/NINS)
On June 2, the delegation paid a courtesy visit to Dr. Rosa Deves, President of the University of Chile to introduce NINS, express their gratitude for her understanding and cooperation with the ALMA project and NAOJ activities, and discuss the results to date of the collaboration in astronomy between NAOJ and the University of Chile, as well as future prospects, including expansion of the collaboration to other fields of scientific research.
From left to right: NINS President Maki Kawai, University of Chile President Rosa Deves, and NAOJ Director General Tsuneta (Credit: Universidad de Chile)
