The Honourable Dr. Kirsty Duncan PC MP, Minister of Science, visited KEK (the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization) during a trip to Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan for the G7 Science and Technology Ministers’ Meeting. Along with their Japanese colleagues, Canadian researchers from the University of British Columbia, McGill University, University of Regina, University of Toronto , TRIUMF, University of Victoria, and York University were there to welcome the minister and present the Belle II and T2K experiments. U of T Professors John Martin and Hirohisa Tanaka are members of T2K , a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment that sends a beam of muon neutrinos 295 km from Tokai to Kamioka. Following introductions from the KEK Director General Masanori Yamauchi, TRIUMF Director Jonathon Bagger, Institute of Particle Physics Director Mike Roney for Belle II, and Professor Karlen for T2K, Dr. Duncan enjoyed a tour of the Tsukuba Experimental Hall and officially opened the TRIUMF KEK office. Inside the office, with its spectacular view of Mount Tsukuba, the minister heard poster presentations from three Canadian graduate students, including U of T PhD student Corina Nantais . On behalf of the Government of Canada, The Honourable Dr. Duncan congratulated all involved in the successful collaborations between Canadian and Japanese scientists, adding a little Japanese too!

Photo Caption:
From left: Nick Hastings (University of Regina, postdoc) , Robert Seddon (McGill PhD student) , Alexandre Beaulieu (UVic PhD student), Samuel de Jong (Uvic PhD student), Minister Kirsty Duncan, Corina Nantais (U of T PhD student) , Mitchell Yu (York PhD student) and Christine Nielsen (UBC PhD student).