The International Linear Collider (ILC) is a future electron-positron linear collider with SCRF technology, with center-of-mass energies of 250-500 GeV (extendable to 1 TeV). The ILC is a machine to open new doors to physics beyond the Standard Model, by extremely precise measurement of the Higgs boson and the top quark, as well as new particle searches complementary to those at the LHC. After the publication of the ILC Technical Design Report that demonstrated maturity and readiness of the project, hosting the ILC as a global project has been officially under discussion in Japan. In this talk the physics potential at the ILC is discussed and current status of the ILC project, including recent developments on promotion of the project in Japan, is reported.