Supercomputing in Japan

The K computer's performance was impressive, according to professor Jack Dongarra who maintains the TOP500 list of supercomputers, and it surpassed its next 5 competitors combined.

The fact that K computer was over 60 times faster than the Earth Simulator, and that the Earth Simulator ranked as the 68th system in the world 7 years after holding the top spot, demonstrates both the rapid increase in top performance in Japan and the widespread growth of supercomputing technology worldwide.

The GSIC Center at the Tokyo Institute of Technology houses the Tsubame 2.0 supercomputer, which has a peak of 2,288 TFLOPS and in June 2011 ranked 5th in the world.

[12][13] Historically, the Gravity Pipe (GRAPE) system for astrophysics at the University of Tokyo was distinguished not by its top speed of 64 Tflops, but by its cost and energy efficiency, having won the Gordon Bell Prize in 1999, at about $7 per megaflops, using special purpose processing elements.

The system, called Helios (Roku-chan in Japanese), consists of 4,410 Groupe Bull bullx B510 compute blades, and is used for fusion simulation projects.

The University of Tokyo's Information Technology Center in Kashiwa, Chiba, began operating Oakleaf-FX in April 2012.

[18] In June 2012, the Numerical Prediction Division, Forecast Department of the Japan Meteorological Agency deployed an 847 TFLOPS Hitachi SR16000/M1 supercomputer, which is based on the IBM Power 775, at the Office of Computer Systems Operations and the Meteorological Satellite Center in Kiyose, Tokyo.

The Earth Simulator in Yokohama was the world's fastest supercomputer in 2004, but 7 years later the K computer in Kobe became over 60 times faster.