Prof. Peter Jenni, the spokesperson of ATLAS experiment, and Prof. Jos Engelen, the deputy director general (chief scientific officer) of CERN, visited Hamamatsu Photonics, Univ. of Tokyo, Univ. of Tsukuba, and KEK. ATLAS will start taking data in 2007 as one of the four experiments in the LHC project at CERN.
 
They visited Hamamatsu Photonics on May 16, the company that has produced silicon microstrip sensors for the ATLAS silicon tracking detector to which the ATLAS-Japan group has been working on. Prof. Jenni presented the ATLAS Supplier Award to the president, Mr. Hiruma, to express gratitude for their cooperation and production of very high quality sensors.
 
On May 18, Prof. Jenni made a presentation of LHC and ATLAS experiment at KEK and had various in-depth discussions with the members of the experiment in Japan.
 
After visiting the vaccuum tube factory of Hamamatsu Photonics, Prof. Jenni said, "I am very impressed by the science and the professionalism but also in a way by the craftsmanship which goes into this job." He also commented on the Japanese ATLAS colleagues. "They build very significant parts of the experiment. I expect they will continue to take leading roles in physics also."
 
KEK is a member of the ATLAS experiment and is producing a significant part of the detector such as silicon tracking detector, muon trigger chambers, superconducting solenoid in collaboration with companies and other Japanese universities.