Just the other day, I was humming the song, "What a Difference a Day Makes" (in my opinion, the best version is by the '50's songstress Dinah Washington) and, wow, what a difference a year has made for ELSI!

ELSI had its one-year anniversary party last night. Come to think of it, the launch party held twelve months ago took place in the same exact space as last night's event. It is hard to believe this given the transformation of this first floor space after the building renovation, as mentioned by Piet Hut in the previous blog. What used to be a drab space that could not be entered casually without removing one's footwear Japanese-style, is now a warmly-lit, open room of inviting access, with plenty of places to sit amongst the playful pieces of tables in the shape of continents. What remained unchanged from last year, perhaps in a more focused and mature way, is everyone's sense of excitement and optimism for ELSI's future.

The party had a wonderful turn-out, attended by ELSI members as well as distinguished guests and supporters of our institute. ELSI director Kei Hirose, whom we are so accustomed to seeing in his standard wardrobe of comfortable sweater, opened the party with a speech in his suit and tie. We had a number of speeches from our guests but I will introduce two here. Tokyo Tech's president Yoshinao Mishima, who has been a strong and steady supporter of ELSI, gave us warm compliments on our progress and his expectation that our institute will continue to be a source of pride for the university. The WPI Program Officer assigned to ELSI, Shoken Miyama, also commended our achievements in our first year and sharing his optimism in our prospects.

Both of our vice directors, Shigeru Ida and Ken Kurokawa, also gave short speeches of what this year has been like. I looked around the room at the director, the vice directors and the key PIs who have played an active role in building the organization of the institute over these twelve months and more. While they remained the same in their smiles and demeanor, I have to say that many of them have more white hairs, something they all admit to. I think of the part in the song where Dinah croons, "...What sun and flowers where there used to be rain...my yesterday was blue, dear..."

Of course there remains many challenges ahead for ELSI but we should be proud of some of the solid foundations that we have put down this year. We should be proud of the various activities that are taking place here, be it collaborations with visitors, hosting and sponsoring of workshops, frequent Study Group meetings, many opportunities for talks and lively discussions, daily coffee-time where all members get together to catch up with each other, just to mention a few.

ELSI's year-long transformation is not exactly the same in content as that of Dinah Washington's love song. But the progress and success of our institute requires a commitment beyond each individual's basic job description, a kind of love of our institute, shown through love of science, love of one's research, love of our work and our role here. There are so many elements that work together to make an organization vibrant and thrive. Yesterday's party was a wonderful opportunity to confirm what a great group of people we have at ELSI, from scientists to staff. And a heartfelt thank you to the amazingly efficient administrative staff, as this party, with all the tasty food options, most definitely could not have occurred without them.

At the party was Camilla, the daughter of active ELSI members John Hernlund and Christine Houser, wandering around exploring the crowd. When they moved to Tokyo this past summer, Camilla was not yet walking. This is another reminder of the passing of time, of what a difference a day, a week, a month, a year at ELSI makes. I am looking forward to reporting back on next year's anniversary party.