Japan IFRF Club has been established and its first meeting was held successfully on November 23, 2015. Japan IFRF Club, JIC, aims to facilitate lifetime friendship and mutual communication among former Japanese IFRF investigators and persons who have contributed to IFRF.

The first JIC meeting was attended by five former Japanese investigators, Tetsuo Akiyama, Naokazu Kimura, Isamu Ikeda, Masato Tamura and Tsuneaki Nakamura and two IFRF contributors, Susumu Mochida and Shuusaku Mike Suda. Unfortunately three former investigators, Akifusa Hagiwara, Junnosuke Daimon and Masaru Takei were absent.

Tetsuo Akiyama, the first legendary Japanese investigator at IFRF, has happily accepted the lifetime chairman of JIC, under the condition that the chairman has the full authority to select his favourite restaurants with delicious food and drink for future JIC meetings. Accounting of JIC has been agreed to be as precise as IFRF measurement technologies.

Susumu Mochida briefly lectured on the present status of IFRF, delivering very encouraging information as to the next generation of IFRF. Mike Suda, already 78 years old but incredibly as robust as the previous No. 1 furnace at IJmuiden, shared his vivid recollections of sending Japanese investigators to IFRF. All the participants again thanked him for his tremendous contributions.

As is easily imagined by the photo alongside, all the participants greatly enjoyed the meeting. One may have difficulties to recognise who’s-who, but should notice a green book held by the chairman Akiyama, “The Spirit of IJmuiden” by Roman Weber.

JIC is a voluntary organization open for all the IFRF-related Old Boys and Old Girls. Also JIC sincerely expects sister IFRF clubs to be established in other countries, and hopefully a global IFRF club meeting to be held in the foreseeable future.