July The review "Toward the Realization of Global Change Prediction" was published by the Subcommittee on Earth Science and Technology (Chairperson: Dr. Taroh Matsuno), of the Council for Aeronautics, Electronics, and other Advanced Technologies, at the Science Technology Agency (the present MEXT).   August The Minister of Science and Technology (Hidenao Nakagawa), the US Presidential Aide in charge of Science and Technology (John Gibbons), and the President of NASA (Daniel Goldin) agreed on US-Japan collaboration on global change research. March Under the "Common Agenda for Cooperation in Global Perspective" former Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto and former US Vice-President Al Gore agreed to establish the International Arctic Research Center (IARC) and the International Pacific Research Center (IPRC) as US-Japan centers for co-operation in global change research and prediction.   October The Frontier Research System for Global Change (FRSGC) established as a joint project of National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) and Japan Marine Science and Technology Center (JAMSTEC), with four research programs: Climate Variations, Hydrological Cycle, Global Warming, and Integrated Modeling. The IPRC and the IARC were also established. May FRSGC Joint Research Satellite Facility inaugurated. October Atmospheric Composition Research Program established. August Frontier Observational Research System for Global Change (FORSGC) established, with two observational research programs: Climate Variations and Hydrological Cycle, and a research program at IARC.   October Ecosystem Change Research Program established.   November The "Information System on Global Change Research" was set up using a supercomputer (SX-5).   Conclusion of a cooperative agreement with the International Research Institute for Climate Prediction (IRI), which was established in co-operation with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Columbia Universityеs Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. May The Institute for Global Change Research (the FRSGC research site in Japan) relocated from Tokyo to Yokohama. Interim evaluation conducted by the external evaluation system. March An ultra-high-speed vector parallel computer, the Earth Simulator, commenced operation. August The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) initiated a research project focused on the "Sustainable Coexistence of Humans, Nature and the Earth". April FRSGC's management was shifted to solely by JAMSTEC. October The National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) was merged with the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) and the National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan (NAL) and the independent administrative institution: the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) was established. April Japan Marine Science and Technology Center was merged with research vessel of Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, and its operative organization and the independent administrative institution: the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology was established.   July Under the restructuring of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, the "Frontier Research System for Global Change" became the "Frontier Research Center for Global Change".Research activities based on a new five-year mid-term research plan begin. April Dr. Tatsushi Tokioka becomes the Director-General of FRCGC as the successor to Dr. Taro Matsuno.