NAOJ Future Planning Symposium 2026:
Toward the NAOJ Implementation Plan and Beyond

　 National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) has been holding an annual symposium to discuss its future plans together with the community, based on deliberations of the Science Advisory Committee. In 2021, the symposium “Thinking about Future Plans Across Wavelengths” focused on scientific perspectives and priorities. In 2022, “How to decide and promote future plans” addressed the framework and processes for determining future projects. In 2023, “Science Roadmap of NAOJ” served as a trial of the Science Roadmap (SRM) development process. In 2024, under the same theme, the SRM formulation process was formally launched, and proposed roadmap ideas were presented and discussed. In 2025, “Toward the Formulation of the NAOJ Science Roadmap and Implementation Plan” introduced the draft SRM and gathered feedback from the community. Based on these discussions and community input, the Science Roadmap was finalized and published in May 2026 as the NAOJ Science Roadmap Report.

　 Building upon the Science Roadmap, the FY2026 symposium will provide a forum for discussing a proposed implementation plan toward execution during the Fifth Medium-Term Goals and Plans period (FY2028-2033). This will be an important meeting not only for NAOJ but also for the future of astronomy in Japan. We therefore hope to receive input from members of the astronomy community across the country. In particular, we strongly encourage early-career researchers, who will play leading roles in the future of astronomy, to participate actively in the discussions. We sincerely look forward to your participation.