I was appointed Chief Executive of the Building Research Institute (BRI) as of April 1st, 2012. I had worked at BRI for 11 years, and after 22 years I returned to BRI as Chief Executive. It feels like the good old days and braces me for an important task at the same time.

The BRI has conducted various activities such as research and development on housing, building and urban planning technology, and international training on seismology and earthquake engineering, systematically and continuously from the fair and neutral perspective of a public-sector research institute.

Meanwhile, the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011 was a painful reminder of nature's power, which can instantly destroy the basis of our daily lives, as well as of the many lessons which we still have to learn about housing, buildings and urban communities.

The challenges we face today are extremely diverse, ranging from mitigating damages due to future natural disasters based on the lessons learnt from the Great East Japan Earthquake, to promoting green innovation for housing, buildings and urban communities; recycling of resources; maintaining and restoring the stock of cities in response to the declining and aging population; and contributing to international society through building and urban planning technology.

In order to contribute to the resolution of the above issues, BRI will put all of its energy into pursuing research and development in cooperation with stakeholders of industrial, academic and governmental sectors.

April, 2012