This paper describes the details of the Japan's participation in the EISCAT Radar Scientific Association as the 7th associate country approved in 1995, emphasizing strong collaboration with Norwegian scientists and the EISCAT Radar Scientific Association towards the realization of the Svalbard second antenna. Also described is a brief summary of Japanese EISCAT-related scientific achievement, comprehensive scientific collaborations so far between Japan and Europe, and hopes for EISCAT_3D.

EISCAT, the European Incoherent SCATter system, was an advanced research radar system established in northern Scandinavia in the mid-1970s for studies of the aurora and the earth's plasma environment. This paper describes the operation, development, problems and successes of the system during its first 2 decades, as recalled by its former deputy director.

The Jicamarca Radio Observatory is a research facility of the Geophysical Institute of Peru, located near the city of Lima, that has been conducting observations and studies of the equatorial ionosphere for more than 50 years. In these notes we focus to the period of its construction and roughly the first decade of its operation (1960–1974). We emphasize observational and instrumental developments that shaped the capabilities of one of the most powerful incoherent scatter radars in the world.

The article concentrates on the German role in the establishment of the European Incoherent Scatter Radar (EISCAT). It outlines the scientific motivation of the Max Planck Society for participating on behalf of two of its institutes. Special attention is given to the augmentation of the scientific scope of the radar by the installation of an ionospheric heater facility. The first years of EISCAT operation are summarized from the personal viewpoint of the author.