January 4th marked the start of a 3 day science course organized by the Oshu City Board of Education for city middle school students. 31 students from 10 Oshu schools will be learning advanced science and technology through tours and experiments at KEK (High Energy Accelerator Research Organization) and Tsukuba Space Center in Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture. A small ceremony was held early in the morning at the City Hall to wish the students good luck. Maesawa Middle School’s Kaede Sasaki represented the rest of the students in a speech to parents and guardians, saying, “We’ll be well-behaved in Ibaraki, and we’ll bring as much knowledge as we can back to Oshu.” BOE chief Shigeki Tamonoki said he hoped for the students to grow a lot on this trip.

This science course began after Nobel Laureate Dr. Masatoshi Koshiba gave a seminar at an Oshu school in 2003, and has been held 14 times. At KEK, the students will be taught a seminar by researcher Masaaki Ono, who was born in Oshu City himself.