博多で博士と会った。

Another long gap in the blogging, I seem to be making a habit of it lately. This time it’s for a little less stressful reasons than beamtime however. I’m currently sat in the very swank Hilton SeaHawk hotel in Hakata Japan for a scientific conference.

I was really excited about this for a couple of reasons. Firstly it was in a Hilton hotel. My god everything in the place looks so expensive I don’t half feel like a bit of a bumpkin. Secondly this was my first real international conference and not only that my first conference within my new field. Many of the big names whose papers I’ve been rending over the past year are here.

At the start of the conference I was pretty daunted. As I said I’m pretty new to the field and most of the people here have made massive contributions. Also at least 90% of those in attendance are physicists. I’m still a little bit behind in that department and the conference has taught me I have a long way to go.

That being said I can still follow the talks and I’ve learnt more in the past couple of days than I'd managed in about a month. Admittedly I didn’t give a talk, just presenting a poster and I’m quite glad I’m not since I didn’t really have much to present. Anyway it’s been a great week, the vast majority of people at the event are European and I even got to meet a couple of PhD students from the UK working in a similar field.

 

The last day was a real highlight. I spent the farewell banquet sat next to Professor So Iwata, an absolute legend in my field. He’s pretty young but his contributions have been massive. To top it off he’s a cracking guy, really down to earth and just into the experiments that he does. I’m not sure if it’s the long time he’s spent working and living in Europe but he is a very untypical Japanese researcher.

We also went on a bit of an excursion. This was a real typical Japanese, in that it was exhausting we got bustled about and didn't see very much. It was interesting nonetheless. We set out early for a three-hour bus drive to Mt. Aso, the largest active caldera in the world. The central area actually consists of five peaks; Neko, Naka, Eboshi, Kishima and Taka, with Naka being the only one accessible by road.

This seemed like it would be really cool and the tour guide cheerfully told us all (in Japanese though it was kindly translated) the history of the mountain range. According to legend a giant once tried to break through the Aso range to distribute fresh water and fertile soil to the people below. He kicked it three times and whilst not successful in breaking down the range he did managed to create a road.

 

We moved to the top via a cable car that spewed out some of the most esoteric facts I’ve ever heard, even in Japan. I really won’t bore you but it was a detailed break down of the cable cars construction and history. Sadly the top was a let down. The crater was too active and spewing far too much sulphuric ash to safely stay near by. A little gutted we were all bundled back into the bus.

Next stop was a traditional Japanese bbq place. This really was BBQ indoors. We had grills set up with hot coals underneath and the it was just a case of get cooking really, I love how in Japan the more expensive a meal is the more likely you are to have to cook it yourself.

Following that it was back on the bus for another two hours to check out the Daizaifu Tenmangu shrine. This shrine is dedicated Sugwara Michizane, known as the god of learning so fairly appropriate I thought. I’ve been to a few shrines before now but this one still impressed. The three giant bridges leading to the entrance where quite a sight; a large arched one followed by a flat bridge and then another arch representing the past, present and future.

There also many cow statues around the temple, a rather unusual motif in Japan. The legend goes that Michizane died in disgrace and his body was pulled to his burial site by an ox driven cart. The ox however stopped at one point and refused to budge and so it was believed that this was Michizane’s spirit indicating where he wished to be buried. It is said if you have an ailing body part and you rub the corresponding body part on the cow it will become better.

Our final stop was out into the streets of Hakata for the famous Hakata Ramen. The noodles here are a lot thinner than normal ramen noodles, much more similar to Chinese egg noodles which is probably a reflection of Fukuoka’s close proximity to China. The soup is also pretty special. Like most ramen noodles it comes in Tonkotsu (pork bone) based broth. In Hakata however it’s really thick and almost looks white. Extra fat? Maybe. Extra delicious? Definitely.

On the second to last day we finished the morning talks a bit early so I went for a little wander. My initial plan was to try and check out the Fukuoka tower but to be honest the sea breeze was so gorgeous I got lost in my wandering. I think being on the coast again is making me homesick. Anyway after about ten minutes I came across a sign for a place called "Robosquare". I've been here over a year and yet I've encountered so very few robots. This place was like a mini car emporium displaying some of the funky robots being developed in Fukuoka, including robo pets, cleaners and a crazy dancing Ipod stand. Definitely worth the short walk.

Coming out of this I’ve learned a few things about conferences that I’ll share with you here:

 

1.  The old guys speak the loudest – I guess it’s a given, they’ve been in the field longest so they have the most to say. They also love to argue.

2.  The phrase ‘we can discuss it after the talk’ actually means ‘you clearly didn’t understand my question and your rubbish answer is taking too much time.’

3.  People like to talk about their own fields, regardless of how relevant it is to the talk that's just been given.

4.  Generally there is no bad blood though.

5.  The secretaries are always super stressed don’t bother them. This is a golden rule.

Sadly the last one I failed on pretty bad. Having a few allergies is always a problem and stupidly I didn’t notify anyone in advance as nobody asked me (what happened to that being an adult thing?). It wasn’t a issue till the last day and I think in the UK it wouldn’t be a big deal. In Japan though culture around food is very different and I think returning or refusing stuff is a major no no. Live and learn I guess, just wish I’d stop sticking my foot in it.

 

Anyway going forward it’s been a great week on the whole. I’m coming out of it with a bit of a fresher mind and also a more concrete idea of where my research can fit in to this field, which is no bad thing.

Mata neee.