Quantum Diaries

Kyoto is of course one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and this season, autumn, is the best season for Kyoto, as leaves on trees changes their color, with quite confortable temperature/humidity which is suitable for sightseeing. Therefore— I could not find a hotel in Kyoto, although I need to attend at the workshop for a week. I should have booked a hotel long before, but I completely forgot the fact that Kyoto is special like this. So, I was forced to commute everyday from Osaka, taking 1 hour by train and 30minutes by walk, to attend at the workshop. This is the reason why I got so tired after the workshop. In the walk every morning to the Yukawa institute, trees and temples were beautiful, but that actually did not help me refreshed enough, unfortunately.

However, the workshop itself was fruitful for me. I met many friends who work outside Japan, and discussions with my friends were very intriguing and stimulus. In the week, Yukawa institute looks like Santa Barbara KITP: relaxing mood for discussions without caring any time schedules, and lots of specialists of string theory who all have depth and width. I felt that this is a way to a success of Yukawa Institute, as I have heard from several participants from abroad that the visit to Yukawa institute for this workshop was fruitful/joyful. This owes much to the organizers and also to the secretaries at Yukawa institutes, as I have heard that a secretary arranged even a nursery school for participants who have a small child, that is great and even unbelievable for me as in Japan there is a serious national issue of complete lack of nursery schools compared to the number of infants/kids.

Kyoto is one of my home towns as I spent 10 years of my life there. Nothing has changed since then, except for the fact that an old building in physics department, in which I enjoyed prof. Kugo’s lecture on particle theory 15 years ago, has gone for rebuilding.