Last week I visited Berlin in support of delegates from Rikkyo University, the Tokyo Institute for Municipal Research and Shizuoka University. There we met Christian Koch (Court of Audit in Berlin), Dr Guenter Schulz (Berlin Senate Department for Finance of Berlin), Stephanie Landgraf (Berlin Senate Department for Urban Development) and Dr Jan Werner (Center Nahverkehr Berlin). We also met representatives of the Berlin State Parliament: Jutta Matuschek (Left Party), Uwe Goetze (Christian Democrats) and Volker Thiel (Free Democrats).