Hokkaido Toyako Summit
Venues
Nestled between the blue waters of the Sea of Japan, the Tsugaru Strait, and the Pacific Ocean, Aomori is a place of great natural beauty strongly colored by green forests, as exemplified by the heavily wooded Shirakami Mountains - a designated World Natural Heritage Site - and by Lake Towada and the Shimokita Peninsula.
In recent years, Aomori has been playing an important role in supporting Japan's energy policy as a complex energy development and supply base of a type that is unusual, even internationally. The Prefecture hosts a variety of nuclear power-related facilities, is one of the largest producers of wind-powered electricity in the country, and is operating the world's first micro-grid verification project, etc.
In the future, Aomori is scheduled to host the International Fusion Energy Research Center, where research and development targeted at realizing a next-generation fusion reactor will be carried out.
The issue of climate change, which is being taken up as a major theme at the Hokkaido Toyako Summit, is inevitably linked to the energy issue, and it is significant that the accompanying G8 Energy Ministers Meeting is being held in Aomori, where advanced solutions to energy problems are being vigorously promoted.
