On September 20, 2005, an agreement between Hiroshima University and Tomsk State Pedagogical University, Russian Federation has been made. The signature ceremony was held at Tomsk State Pedagogical University and Masashi Matsuo, Director of Hiroshima University's Institute for Peace Science, attended. Together with Hiroshima University, Tomsk State Pedagogical University established a Japan and Hiroshima University Information Corner in their university library. Local television and newspapers around Tomsk State Pedagogical University covered the ceremony and the establishment of the Information Corner.



Since its founding in 1604 as a Russian fortress, the city of Tomsk has become the heart of Eastern Siberia. Although Tomsk is not a part of the Siberian Railroad line, the university is currently at the core of education and science studies and, with close to 500,000 people living in Tomsk, about 100,000 of them students, Tomsk remains somewhat of a college town. Tomsk State Pedagogical University, established in 1902, was the first teacher's college in Siberia and, with more than 100 years of history, nine faculties, and a student population of 9,000 (including those taking classes remotely, 12,000), Tomsk State Pedagogical University is one of the leading universities in Russia today.



In 1991, the idea of a joint exchange was proposed between Professor Sergey Odintsov and University President Taizo Muta, and the exchange between Hiroshima University faculty and Tomsk State Pedagogical University began. In 2002, another exchange agreement was made between Hiroshima University's Information Media Center and Tomsk State Pedagogical University's Institute of Applied Informatics. As 2005 began, President Valery Obukhov of Tomsk State Pedagogical University came to Hiroshima University and began to arrange the details of the exchange between the broad fields of Information Science and Peace Science. It is hoped that from here forward, with the aid of research and education exchanges such as this, Hiroshima University's Information Center and the Institute for Peace Science will continue to progress and develop.