Attending the ELSI 2nd International Symposium in Tokyo was a wonderful experience.We can't thank the staff and scientists at ELSI enough for making our first visit to Japan so easy and enjoyable. Our accommodations were very comfortable and centrally located and the wonderful people at ELSI quickly addressed any and all concerns we had. The symposium was an integrated mix of topics discussing the evolution of a habitable Earth and the origins of life.

Currently, one of ELSI's goals is to bridge the gap between the Earth and Life sciences and an interdisciplinary symposium, such as this one, successfully allowed for such connections to be developed. We both presented our research at the symposium (Michelle - talk; Matthew - poster) and had many opportunities to engage in conversations with a breadth of scientists on current hot topics of debate. We also gave presentations at the post-symposium at ELSI, organized by Professor John Hernlund, which included a series of scholarly talks by young scientists who may not have had an opportunity to present at the symposium. Hopefully we got some people excited about using zircon geochronology to date events occurring in the early solar system such as large scale bombardments, which are possibly directly involved in the formation of a habitable planet.

The symposium was full of great new research in both fields and was a valuable experience for us academically. We very much look forward to attending the symposium next year.

Michelle and Matt with Hachiko, the famous meeting place in Shibuya

We used our entire free time to visit some areas of Tokyo and immerse ourselves in the Japanese culture. We were repeatedly warned about the complicated subways and expensive food; however we found the mass transit to be very easy to navigate and did not find it difficult to stay on our food budget.

We were able to experience the exciting nightlife of Shibuya, the Buddhist traditions at Sensō-ji and shopping at Nakamise-dōri in Asakusa, and the thrilling action of the Tsukiji fish market. We enjoyed walks through the gates of the Imperial palace, the forest trees surrounding Meiji shrine, and the pathways lined with cherry blossom trees in Ueno Park.

We definitely ate our fair share of sushi and enjoyed so many different types of Japanese cuisine like soba and tempura, oden, tonkatsu, and sweet breads filled with koshian anko (Michelle's favorite!). Other foods like ramen, fried dumplings, gyoza and curries were also quite popular, delicious and affordable.

We also got to have some quality time with our good friends John and Christine (both ELSI scientists), spending time playing with their daughter Camilla and eating out with the locals in Ookayama. We found the cleanliness and calm of Toyko to be very surprising for the largest metropolis on the planet. Having traveled many cities around the world, Tokyo quickly became one of our favorites and we can't wait to return soon.