Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC; Yasuhiro Kato, President) would like to announce that the departure date of the Chikyu has been changed to August 6 from the originally planned date of August 7, 2006 (described below), because of the earlier completion of loading than scheduled at Hachinohe Port in Aomori Prefecture, Japan, for system integration test at the east offing of the Shimokita Peninsula.