Accel Kitchen is a program in which junior-high, high-school, and KOSEN students carry out real inquiry-based research using a cosmic-ray detector they build themselves. A palm-sized detector arrives at your home, and it all begins by measuring cosmic rays right from your living room.
The program is run with funding from the Mitsubishi Mirai Ikusei Foundation. There are no participation or enrollment fees of any kind. The cosmic-ray detector, electronic parts, and analysis software are all loaned or provided to you. All your family needs is an internet connection and a single computer.
At a workshop held at a university or research institute, students assemble the circuit with a soldering iron. After that, they can measure cosmic rays in the living room or outdoors, with most of the activity carried out online.
Undergraduate and graduate-student mentors, together with researchers from CERN and KEK, support the activity. It's an environment where real researchers engage with your child's questions.
Yes — it's completely free.
Accel Kitchen is run with funding from the Mitsubishi Mirai Ikusei Foundation (a general incorporated foundation). There are no participation or enrollment fees of any kind. The cosmic-ray detector, electronic parts, and analysis software are all loaned or provided by Accel Kitchen. All your family needs to supply is an internet connection and a single computer.
The detector is on loan for the duration of the program. Before participation begins, we ask the student and a parent or guardian to sign a loan agreement. The agreement clearly sets out the terms covering damage, loss, and other equipment matters, and we hand over the equipment only after you have reviewed and agreed to them.
We provide written instructions and video manuals, and whenever handling is unclear, students can ask a mentor or staff member right away. We've put a support system in place so that worrying about "what if I break it" never becomes a barrier to taking part.
When there is a workshop at a university or research institute, or a visit to a counseling facility, we ask a parent or guardian to sign a separate consent form. You review the details in advance, and participation proceeds only after a parent or guardian has confirmed and agreed to them.
For these in-person activities, Accel Kitchen arranges insurance. In the unlikely event of an accident or injury, we make sure no cost falls on your family. We explain the details during the intake interview before participation begins.
Most mentors are undergraduate and graduate students who threw themselves into inquiry-based research during their own junior-high and high-school years. Nearly all of them take part out of a wish to support the students coming up behind them, and they treat participants' stumbling points and questions as their own.
The activity takes place mainly on Discord (online chat), which our staff monitor at all times. Mentors and participants never communicate one-to-one in private — everything goes through group channels. All online video chats are also recorded and logged, and stored in a form that can be made available if needed.
Any personal information we collect is used solely to operate the program. We never provide or sell it to third parties.
For details, please see the privacy policy on our website.
Yes. The activity centers on a 30-minute online mentoring session once every two weeks. Because the schedule is set between the mentor and your child, you can take breaks during club tournaments or exam periods.
One participant, for example, paused during the entrance-exam crunch in their final year of high school and resumed after being accepted. The goal of the program isn't simply "to keep going," so students can progress at their own pace without strain. You can also withdraw at any time, and returning the detector when you leave can be handled online.
Participation is fundamentally an individual student application. Because the activity takes place at home, there is no administrative work for the school and no school approval is required. Teachers are welcome to get involved by supporting students working on SSH and research projects.
An interested student finds the program and applies on their own. Because the activity is mainly online and done at home, no administrative work falls on the school and no school approval is needed. Teachers don't have to do anything in particular.
When a student working on SSH or a research project has applied and joined on their own, they can build "cosmic-ray inquiry" or "particle-physics inquiry" into their research theme. There is no separate recommendation quota, but the most important form of involvement is for teachers to properly support and assess the work a student is pursuing on their own initiative.
If you'd like to adopt it formally as a class or school program, we handle this individually on a paid basis. We'll propose a plan tailored to your scale, format, and goals, so please get in touch first.
Before a full rollout, there's an on-site workshop where teachers and students can experience Accel Kitchen firsthand. It's a half-day program in which you assemble a detector with a soldering iron and measure cosmic rays that same day.
Accel Kitchen activities can be listed as an extracurricular record for recommendation and comprehensive-selection (AO) university admissions.
If anything is unclear, please don't hesitate to reach out anytime.
We're also glad to discuss your child's application, use for SSH, or adopting a school program (paid).