A 10-petaflop supercomputer will be built in Japan by 2012. This supercomputer will boast a computing speed that is 50 times faster than the world's current fastest computer. RIKEN (the Japanese analog of the US National Laboratories) is responsible for the development, construction, and operation of the supercomputer, which is a huge government project with a total budget of 110 billion yen including facilities for the system and the research grid project. This talk will first provide a brief overview of RIKEN. Afterwards, we will describe the newly-established Next-Generation Supercomputer R&D Center, what is the significance 10-petaflops, and what we hope to achieve with a 10-petaflop supercomputer. The project goes beyond the construction of a fast computer: it will also provide support for applications and actively seek and nurture international research collaborations of the highest caliber, involving top scientists. Thus, we will briefly outline possible avenues to enhance future research collaborations between Harvard and RIKEN researchers.