<s>
Japan	O
operates	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
centers	O
for	O
supercomputing	B-Architecture
which	O
hold	O
world	O
records	O
in	O
speed	O
,	O
with	O
the	O
K	B-Device
computer	I-Device
becoming	O
the	O
world	O
's	O
fastest	O
in	O
June	O
2011	O
.	O
and	O
Fugaku	B-Device
took	O
the	O
lead	O
in	O
June	O
2020	O
,	O
and	O
furthered	O
it	O
,	O
as	O
of	O
November	O
2020	O
,	O
to	O
3	O
times	O
faster	O
than	O
number	O
two	O
computer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
K	B-Device
computer	I-Device
's	O
performance	O
was	O
impressive	O
,	O
according	O
to	O
professor	O
Jack	O
Dongarra	O
who	O
maintains	O
the	O
TOP500	B-Operating_System
list	B-Operating_System
of	I-Operating_System
supercomputers	I-Operating_System
,	O
and	O
it	O
surpassed	O
its	O
next	O
5	O
competitors	O
combined	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
K	B-Device
computer	I-Device
cost	O
US$10	O
million	O
a	O
year	O
to	O
operate	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Japan	O
's	O
entry	O
into	O
supercomputing	B-Architecture
began	O
in	O
the	O
early	O
1980s	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1982	O
,	O
Osaka	O
University	O
's	O
LINKS-1	O
Computer	O
Graphics	O
System	O
used	O
a	O
massively	B-Operating_System
parallel	I-Operating_System
processing	I-Operating_System
architecture	O
,	O
with	O
514	O
microprocessors	B-Architecture
,	O
including	O
257	O
Zilog	B-Device
Z8001	I-Device
control	B-General_Concept
processors	I-General_Concept
and	O
257	O
iAPX	B-Device
86/20	I-Device
floating-point	B-General_Concept
processors	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
SX-3	B-Device
supercomputer	I-Device
family	O
was	O
developed	O
by	O
NEC	O
Corporation	O
and	O
announced	O
in	O
April	O
1989	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
SX-3/44R	O
became	O
the	O
fastest	B-Operating_System
supercomputer	I-Operating_System
in	O
the	O
world	O
in	O
1990	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Fujitsu	O
's	O
Numerical	B-Device
Wind	I-Device
Tunnel	I-Device
supercomputer	B-Architecture
gained	O
the	O
top	O
spot	O
in	O
1993	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Japanese	O
supercomputers	B-Architecture
continued	O
to	O
top	O
the	O
TOP500	B-Operating_System
lists	O
up	O
until	O
1997	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
K	B-Device
computer	I-Device
's	O
placement	O
on	O
the	O
top	O
spot	O
was	O
seven	O
years	O
after	O
Japan	O
held	O
the	O
title	O
in	O
2004	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
NEC	O
's	O
Earth	B-Device
Simulator	I-Device
supercomputer	B-Architecture
built	O
by	O
NEC	O
at	O
the	O
Japan	O
Agency	O
for	O
Marine-Earth	O
Science	O
and	O
Technology	O
(	O
JAMSTEC	O
)	O
was	O
the	O
fastest	O
in	O
the	O
world	O
at	O
that	O
time	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
used	O
5,120	O
NEC	O
SX-6i	O
processors	O
,	O
generating	O
a	O
performance	O
of	O
28,293,540	O
MIPS	O
(	O
million	O
instructions	B-General_Concept
per	O
second	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
also	O
had	O
a	O
peak	O
performance	O
of	O
131TFLOPS	O
(	O
131	O
trillion	O
floating-point	B-Algorithm
operations	O
per	O
second	O
)	O
,	O
using	O
proprietary	O
vector	B-Operating_System
processing	I-Operating_System
chips	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
K	B-Device
computer	I-Device
used	O
over	O
60,000	O
commercial	O
scalar	B-General_Concept
SPARC64	B-General_Concept
VIIIfx	I-General_Concept
processors	O
housed	O
in	O
over	O
600	O
cabinets	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
fact	O
that	O
K	B-Device
computer	I-Device
was	O
over	O
60	O
times	O
faster	O
than	O
the	O
Earth	B-Device
Simulator	I-Device
,	O
and	O
that	O
the	O
Earth	B-Device
Simulator	I-Device
ranked	O
as	O
the	O
68th	O
system	O
in	O
the	O
world	O
7	O
years	O
after	O
holding	O
the	O
top	O
spot	O
,	O
demonstrates	O
both	O
the	O
rapid	O
increase	O
in	O
top	O
performance	O
in	O
Japan	O
and	O
the	O
widespread	O
growth	O
of	O
supercomputing	B-Architecture
technology	O
worldwide	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
GSIC	O
Center	O
at	O
the	O
Tokyo	O
Institute	O
of	O
Technology	O
houses	O
the	O
Tsubame	B-Device
2.0	I-Device
supercomputer	B-Architecture
,	O
which	O
has	O
a	O
peak	O
of	O
2,288	O
TFLOPS	O
and	O
in	O
June	O
2011	O
ranked	O
5th	O
in	O
the	O
world	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
RIKEN	B-Algorithm
MDGRAPE-3	I-Algorithm
for	O
molecular	O
dynamics	O
simulations	O
of	O
proteins	O
is	O
a	O
special	O
purpose	O
petascale	O
supercomputer	B-Architecture
at	O
the	O
Advanced	O
Center	O
for	O
Computing	O
and	O
Communication	O
,	O
RIKEN	O
in	O
Wakō	O
,	O
Saitama	O
,	O
just	O
outside	O
Tokyo	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
uses	O
over	O
4,800	O
custom	O
MDGRAPE-3	B-Algorithm
chips	O
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
Intel	B-Device
Xeon	I-Device
processors	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
given	O
that	O
it	O
is	O
a	O
special	O
purpose	O
computer	O
,	O
it	O
can	O
not	O
appear	O
on	O
the	O
TOP500	B-Operating_System
list	O
which	O
requires	O
Linpack	B-Application
benchmarking	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
next	O
significant	O
system	O
is	O
Japan	O
Atomic	O
Energy	O
Agency	O
's	O
PRIMERGY	O
BX900	O
Fujitsu	O
supercomputer	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
Historically	O
,	O
the	O
Gravity	B-Device
Pipe	I-Device
(	O
GRAPE	B-Device
)	O
system	O
for	O
astrophysics	O
at	O
the	O
University	O
of	O
Tokyo	O
was	O
distinguished	O
not	O
by	O
its	O
top	O
speed	O
of	O
64	O
Tflops	O
,	O
but	O
by	O
its	O
cost	O
and	O
energy	O
efficiency	O
,	O
having	O
won	O
the	O
Gordon	O
Bell	O
Prize	O
in	O
1999	O
,	O
at	O
about	O
$7	O
per	O
megaflops	O
,	O
using	O
special	O
purpose	O
processing	O
elements	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
DEGIMA	B-Device
is	O
a	O
highly	O
cost	O
and	O
energy-efficient	O
computer	O
cluster	O
at	O
the	O
Nagasaki	O
Advanced	O
Computing	O
Center	O
,	O
Nagasaki	O
University	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
used	O
for	O
hierarchical	O
N-body	B-Algorithm
simulations	I-Algorithm
and	O
has	O
a	O
peak	O
performance	O
of	O
111	O
TFLOPS	O
with	O
an	O
energy	O
efficiency	O
of	O
1376	O
MFLOPS/watt	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Computational	O
Simulation	O
Centre	O
,	O
International	O
Fusion	O
Energy	O
Research	O
Centre	O
of	O
the	O
ITER	O
Broader	O
Approach/Japan	O
Atomic	O
Energy	O
Agency	O
operates	O
a	O
1.52PFLOPS	O
supercomputer	B-Architecture
(	O
currently	O
operating	O
at	O
442TFLOPS	O
)	O
in	O
Rokkasho	O
,	O
Aomori	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
supercomputer	B-Architecture
is	O
a	O
Fujitsu	O
PRIMEHPC	O
FX10	O
(	O
a	O
commercial	O
version	O
of	O
the	O
K	B-Device
computer	I-Device
)	O
configured	O
with	O
4,800	O
compute	O
nodes	O
for	O
a	O
peak	O
performance	O
of	O
1.13PFLOPS	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
June	O
2012	O
,	O
the	O
Numerical	O
Prediction	O
Division	O
,	O
Forecast	O
Department	O
of	O
the	O
Japan	O
Meteorological	O
Agency	O
deployed	O
an	O
847TFLOPS	O
Hitachi	O
SR16000/M1	O
supercomputer	B-Architecture
,	O
which	O
is	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
IBM	O
Power	O
775	O
,	O
at	O
the	O
Office	O
of	O
Computer	O
Systems	O
Operations	O
and	O
the	O
Meteorological	O
Satellite	O
Center	O
in	O
Kiyose	O
,	O
Tokyo	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Each	O
node	O
consists	O
of	O
four	O
3.83GHz	O
IBM	O
POWER7	B-Device
processors	O
and	O
128GB	O
of	O
memory	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Starting	O
in	O
2003	O
,	O
Japan	O
used	O
grid	B-Architecture
computing	I-Architecture
in	O
the	O
National	O
Research	O
Grid	O
Initiative	O
(	O
NAREGI	O
)	O
project	O
to	O
develop	O
high-performance	O
,	O
scalable	O
grids	O
over	O
very	O
high-speed	O
networks	O
as	O
a	O
future	O
computational	O
infrastructure	O
for	O
scientific	O
and	O
engineering	O
research	O
.	O
</s>
