A delegation from the Slovenia-Japan Parliamentary Friendship Group, headed by the Honorable Mr. Dusan (“s” should be printed in diacritical mark, same applies hereafter) Stojanovic (“c” should be printed in diacritical mark, same applies hereafter) (chair of the Slovenia-Japan Parliamentary Friendship Group), and His Excellency Mr. Jurij Rifelj, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Slovenia to Japan, visited KEK Tsukuba Campus on May 14th, 2024. Slovenia joined the Belle / Belle II Experiment, an international collaboration hosted by KEK, in 2001 and the Slovenian Group has been contributing to the construction and the operation of the Experiment.
H. E. Mr. Jurij Rifelj Ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia to Japan (back row, center),
Dr. Shoji Asai, Director General, KEK (front row, second from the right)
at the entrance of Administration Building
In the opening welcome address, Director General Shoji Asai mentioned the importance of international collaborations on research projects of KEK and expressed his sincere appreciation to the Government of the Republic of Slovenia for their continued support to their researchers and also for the Order of Merit of the Republic of Slovenia which was awarded to the former Director General Masanori Yamauchi in December 2020. Professor Yutaka Ushiroda, Belle II Project Manager and Deputy Director of the Institute of Particle and Nuclear Studies, introduced the Belle II Slovenian Group, which currently has 25 participating members, noting that they have demonstrated their presence in the project through publishing the results of the physics data analysis of the Belle Experiment and have played a central role in the construction of the Belle II Detector and in the management of the international collaboration.
The Hon. Mr. Dusan Stojanovic replied by commenting that Belle / Belle II Experiment is one of the most important scientific bilateral cooperation projects between Slovenia and Japan and looks forward to the exciting future outcome of SuperKEKB accelerator and the Belle II Experiment, which will be a benefit for humanity.
H. E. Mr. Jurij Rifelj, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Slovenia to Japan (third from the right),
Dr. Mikihiko Nakao, Professor, Institute of Particle and Nuclear Studies (IPNS), KEK (left end)
in front of the Slovenian national flag at the Tsukuba Experimental Hall
The honored guests took a facility tour of the Belle II Detector and Photon Factory.
A group photo was taken in front of the Slovenian national flag at the Tsukuba Experimental Hall.