Nagato Yanagi is a professor at the Applied Superconductivity and Cryogenics Unit at National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS). He graduated and received a Ph.D. from Kyoto University, and has participated in the development/construction (1989-1998) and operation (1998-2025) of the Large Helical Device (LHD) at NIFS. He has proposed revolutionary concepts to accelerate fusion reactor design and development in the Fusion Engineering Research Project (2010-2022), such as the use of High-Temperature Superconducting (HTS) magnets and a simple-stacking/non-twisting HTS large-current conductor suitable for joint winding in the helical fusion reactor magnet. He belonged to Helical Fusion Co. Ltd. as a cofounder (2021-2023).