Ten Days in Japan

Miyazaki

Recently, I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to travel to Japan for the first time to attend a very interesting conference, where the topic was “Iron-based Superconductors: Advances towards applications” (IBS2app). Held over three days in Miyazaki, it was really an expertly organised and curated conference, with research ranging from materials science to magnet engineering, device fabrication to fundamental physics, all on the central topic of iron-based superconductors. The quality of all the work presented was first-rate and provoked many lively discussions, with many experts on the subject in attendance. As well as the research, we also enjoyed some delicious food, both in the traditional Japenese style as well as the local Miyazaki style (I’m looking at you, Miyazaki beef). All in all, it has to be one of my top-ten conferences I have been to, and it looks like there will be a follow-up workshop in 2027 - definitely one to add to the calendar!

At the conference, I was very happy to share our latest research on the curious ferromagnetic superconductor EuFe\(_2\)(As\(_{1-x}\)P\(_x\))\(_2\) (preprint here). While I admit that it was perhaps a bit of a fringe topic for the wider audience, I was very happy to meet some interested individuals and get some new ideas and perspectives on our findings. I was also very pleased to finally meet some collaborators in person, after having spent a good while only corresponding via email! I also made nany new acquaintances, and the many interesting discussions I had have given me some great ideas for new projects, some of which will hopefully spin out into successful future collobarations.

Tokyo

A perk of attending any conference is of course the opportunity to travel to new and far-flung places that you otherwise might not get a chance to see. I have always wanted to visit Japan, so this came as a golden opportunity for me to spend a few days in Tokyo after the conference. As an added bonus, my sister flew from Australia to meet me there.

Some of the highlights of my trip were visiting the Imado maneki-neko shrine, hunting for gacha capsule machines (so many different kinds!) and playing Street Fighter II at an arcade in Electric Town (I still got beaten by my older sister - how does she do it?!). Of course, one can only see so much in a few days in Tokyo, so I think the only thing to do is go back! Until next time… じゃ、また !