Most ELSI activities and meetings are held at the TiTech campus at Ookayama, which is located near the center of Tokyo. This is where the ELSI main office is located, and where many of the Earth Sciences faculty conducts research. This is also where I gave my lunchtime talk, after being invited along with Betul Kacar to present our respective research activities to the (very interdisciplinary) ELSI research faculty and students. After Betul gave her first talk here, one of the ELSI members, Kiga-Sensei (Dr. Daisuke Kiga), realized that many of the students in his research group and several of his colleagues from around Tokyo would be interested in seeing her presentation. So, we scheduled another presentation with Kiga-Sensei for the following Monday.

An awesome way to integrate Japanese operatic storytelling with science discourse.

The trip out to the campus was pretty convenient- we only had to make one transfer, and by the end of the trip we had emerged into the outskirts of the city. The campus location was quite beautiful! The dense, leafy foliage of the trees on the hills surrounding the campus were such a welcome sight as we made the brief walk to the building with the grad student who had been sent to escort us from ELSI, Mr. Kazuaki Amikura. The building itself was marvelous, with about 20 floors of sciency goodness stacked one atop the other. Betul gave her talk, with over 40 attendees hailing from numerous research groups at the campus, and even some researchers from the Tokyo University Pharmaceutical Sciences School in attendance.

After the talk, Betul and I were given a tour of the research facilities on Kiga-Sensei's floor. The labs had the full complement of sequencing, imaging and culturing equipment- Kiga-Sensei had received quite a bit of lab start-up funds with his establishment at TiTech. Even as busy as he was, Kiga-Sensei was so generous with his time, providing some helpful advice regarding Betul's avenue of research throughout our visit.

Me and Betul Kacar having yakitori with students and researchers from TiTech and Tokyo University.

But after a long, hard day of traveling, presenting and touring, we were ready for a bit of local fare. A group of about a dozen researchers and students took us to a nearby yakitori joint (Japanese BBQ) for some chicken, beef, natto (fermented soy beans!) and beer and sake. The food was delicious, but the best part was the warm conversation throughout the evening. Yuko Kawaguchi, one of the undergrads that joined us for the evening, was particularly curious about how astrobiology research is conducted in the US and the differing roles for women in science outside of Japan. Kiga-Sensei even finished up an iGEM meeting to share his expert knowledge of fine sake with us later in the evening!