Wako Institute
Yoshiharu Doi, Director
Environmental policy of the Wako campus
The Wako campus is central to RIKEN, housing a wide variety of institutes and facilities including those of historical basic research as well as accelerator science and advanced brain science. Since relocating from Komagome in 1963, we have put considerable effort into the greening of the campus, and now, the matured greenery is enjoyed by the staff as well as the local community. We are one of the pioneers of the rooftop garden and have taken other environmental initiatives that make the Wako campus a role model for other institutions.
The Wako campus is well known locally for its cherry blossoms. The campus is open to the public on a Saturday at the height of the cherry blossom season for the local community to enjoy.
We are a member of the Wako Citizens’ Conference for the Environment, a part of the Wako Basic Environmental Plan in which the general public, commercial enterprises and city officials work together to improve the city’s environment. A representative from RIKEN also sits on the Wako Environmental Council. We are using these opportunities, not just to contribute to the city’s environmental efforts as a corporate citizen, but to listen to the voices of the community regarding our presence and activities here. We will continue to work to reflect local government environmental initiatives in our greening activities.
My own specialty is chemistry and I have long been concerned about environmental issues. These were once considered local problems, but are now recognized as critical problems on a global scale. It is fortunate that so many people are now working together to solve these global environmental issues.
Society has high expectations for science and technology. But the individual scientist or scientific institution can only achieve so much; communication and cooperation is vital to advance our research activities.
Research and contribution to the environment
Public open day for the local community
The Wako campus is the location of the Advanced Science Institute which is the heart of a cyclical research system in which promising ideas born of varied and imaginative basic research are nurtured and developed strategically into core research centers. Within this system, we are undertaking a number of endeavors including the creation of breakthrough materials and functions for solving energy and environmental issues, research into clean chemistry where useful substances are created cleanly, as well as developmental research into environmental stress tolerant plants using the heavy ion beam, a project that is being pursued within the Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science.