On Monday, July 28, 2025, Mr. Toshihide Fukui, Deputy Director-General (Science and Technology Policy Bureau) of the Minister's Secretariat at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), and his delegation visited Nagaoka University of Technology (NUT). The delegation engaged in an exchange of opinions with President Kamado and the university's executive board concerning NUT’s initiatives under the "Project to Strengthen Regional Core and Distinctive Research Universities (J-PEAKS)."

The session began with an overview of the project provided by Executive Vice President Tadachika Nakayama. Deputy Director-General Fukui expressed his expectations for NUT, as a J-PEAKS-selected university, to serve as a regional core university and a domestic hub for its research fields, leading Japan’s research university clusters. He also noted that this project requires a "university-wide system reform" to enhance overall research capabilities, rather than being limited to producing specific research outcomes. Following his remarks, an exchange of opinions continued with President Kamado and the executive board regarding NUT's initiatives in this project, focusing on human resource development and utilization, as well as the strengthening of research infrastructure.

Next, Deputy Director-General Fukui and his delegation moved to another venue to receive explanations on NUT's distinctive initiatives: the Core Facility Project and the DXR Manufacturing Platform. Professor Tanaka, Director of the Analysis and Instrumentation Center, and Director Hiraga of the DXR Agile Manufacturing Research and Development Center, provided the overviews. This was followed by an exchange of opinions with technical staff and URAs regarding the current status, evaluations, challenges, and future prospects of these initiatives. Finally, the delegation toured the related facilities.