Welcome to Oto Cosmo Observatory

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

The first Yamada symposium on Neutrinos and DM in Nuclear Physics is now going on in Nara from June 9th.

We are very pleased to have the symposium today at Oto, where the Oto Cosmo Observatory is located.

I learned that many distinguished and active physicists from 15 countries are gathering in Nara for NDM.

Today, you are kindly visiting Oto even though this village is quite far from Nara. .

I would like to welcome cordially all of you.

Welcome Welcome Chief of Oto Village Toshihiro KitamuraChief of Oto Village Toshihiro Kitamura

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Our village is a mountain village, which is located in the center of Kii peninsula. We are developing our place as a “ Star light village” by setting a star observatory at the Tentsuji ridge, 800 m in hight.

There is a tunnel in our villae, which goes through the Tentsuji ridge, 500 m

in depth from the ridge. It was the Osaka University group that found this tunnel was just good for an underground laboratory to study neutrinos.

This tunnel was built as a railway tunnel for the line from Gojyo to Shingu. The plan of the new railway line, however, was given up because of the high cost in the age of motorization. Accordingly the tunnel has remained unused.

They had been looking for ways to use this tunnel.

Meanwhile, the tunnel happened to attract the Osaka University group. The group, lead by Prof. Hiro Ejiri, investigated quickly the tunnel in 1994, and found that the tunnel was suitable by all means for the low BG experiment.

Then the group built the laboratory, Oto Cosmo Observatory, and started soon the studies there in 1996.

Prof. Hiro Ejiri told us that studies of neutrinos are so important that some of

key experiments may well deserve “ Nobel prize”. We all have realized importance of neutrino studies since Prof. Koshiba was awarded Nobel prize on his neutrino astrophysics in 2002.

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We are very proud of Oto Cosmo Observatory in our village, which many physicists in the world are interested in, and are grateful to the symposium organizers to have one session here in Oto village.

As I promised Prof. H. Ejiri, now I am planning to enlarge the

entrance region of the tunnel and to widen the road for better access of visitors. Then we hope that the Oto Cosmo Observatory will be widely known, and researchers will continue the neutrino and DM studies in future.

Finally I wish great success of this symposium and further progress of your works.

Thank you for your attention. June 12, 2003.