Public Relations Office
 
KEK started open house event in April 1976, right after the delivery of the first beam from Proton Synchrotron accelerator. We probably were the first government laboratory in Tsukuba Science City to have such annual open house. For a long time, interfacing with general public had been taken care by a committee of researchers organized by KEK administration office, and no dedicated standing organizations were placed. It was October 2001 when KEK Prof. Hirotaka Sugawara, then KEK’s Director General, invited a famous Science Commentator, Mr. Yuichi Takayanagi of NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) as the Professor to lead the newly established Public Relations Office. As Takayanagi set the course of public relations activity in KEK and retired in 2003, had completed his term in the office, Dr. Youhei Morita succeeded the office.

Youhei Morita has been the key person in communication on the Internet, as he initiated the KEK Homepage in 1992, and organized an effort to establish the web page called “Kid Scientists” in 1998. The Latter offers interesting readings on science for young kid and was motivated by the public concern that young generations were losing interests in science in general.

Since the start of this office, KEK’s out-reach activities became quite visible. This includes updating the news page on Web and briefing to news media every week, publishing various kinds of pamphlets, taking care of visitors of all kinds, orchestrate KEK Open House and other science events in town, and various kinds of lectures for high school students and general publics, working together with science museums in Japan and so forth. Most of them have been carried out by a small number of people in the Public Relations Office. Hence the office is one of the busiest spots in KEK.

The basic concept of the office is shown in the figure below which Youhei uses to explain their activities. He considers that the major body of this public relations work is “education”. In today’s Japan, young generations tend to take the outcomes of science for granted and not recognize the importance of carrying out the continuous effort of fundamental research activities, which would have, in turn, renovated our lives.

As the result, their interest in science, especially in fundamental science and basic researches is fading rapidly. This is a serious threat for us, as we need motivated successors to continue our researches that would have a span of over 10 to 20 years. So the Public Relations Office is hard at work to laviate the spirits of children towards science. Besides for this, Youhei has been the Asia-region communicator for the International Linear Collider project. From the amount of work he has been doing, I wonder when he finds time to sleep and eat. (T.K.O.)