KAGRA Open Day 2026 Showcases a State-of-the-Art Research Facility

On Saturday, June 20, 2026, the KAGRA Open Day 2026 was held. This event was organized by KAGRA Observatory, Institute for Cosmic Ray Research (ICRR), The University of Tokyo, with co-organization by the City of Hida and the NPO Uchu-Marugoto Hida Academy. Approximately 200 participants, selected by lottery from around 3,100 applicants, attended the event.
Participants started from the Roadside Station Skydome to the KAGRA facility under the guidance of local volunteers. In the underground experimental facility, they toured the site while listening to explanations from ICRR researchers about the objectives of the KAGRA project, experimental methods, and the structure of the facility and its tunnel system. Visitors were able to observe up close the various components of the detector, including the multi-stage vibration isolation system reaching a height of 13.5 meters, as well as the vacuum systems and the 3-kilometer-long vacuum ducts within the tunnels.
Participants who saw the massive observational equipment firsthand commented, “The scale of the apparatus was far greater than I had imagined,” and “It was great to receive explanations directly from active researchers.”