On behalf of my colleagues worldwide who have been working so hard to develop a design for the International Linear Collider, we enthusiastically welcome the Japanese expression of interest in hosting the ILC. We report in today’s special issue of NewsLine on a special high-level meeting addressing this subject that was held in Japan last week.

The Japanese are very strong partners in the technical effort to develop a design for the ILC through the Global Design Effort. The GDE represents a unique global process to develop and make technical decisions for the technical design of such a very large international project through a worldwide organisation developing the design and coordinating the R&D programmes. As we approach our goal of producing a detailed ILC technical design, it is particularly timely and encouraging for us to learn of the Japanese interest in hosting the facility and to follow the unfolding early status reports from the CERN LHC on the Higgs searches.