This paper has briefly reviewed a history of neutron sources in Japan and highlighted the 1 MW JSNS (Japan Spallation Neutron Source), which is a central facility of the multi-purposed J-PARC (Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex) to be completed in 2008. JSNS will provide worldwide users with most intense pulsed neutron beams available for a wide variety of fields ranging from fundamental research of material/life sciences to industrial/medical applications to open up a new era of science and technology. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.