Shinkansen, B cell immunology and Swiss croissants

Hey there! The Shinkansen to Kyoto was as good as I expected/remembered. You go at speeds up to 300km/h without feeling the slightest movement. You have a lot of room and it's very quiet. So much better than flying but as expensive!



In Nara there was some confusion about where the conference venue is and I tried to find a shuttle bus in the heat. A guy from GNF who has seen me there saved me by stepping out of the shuttle calling "hey guy from San Diego". It was a relatively small conference on B cells and autoimmunity, maybe 150 participants. It was a great networking opportunity and I met some of the "historic" immunologists like Honjo but also the current hot shots and the next generation who just started their lab. I had a great time and my work caught a lot of interest. I stayed two nights at a traditional Japanese Ryokan. Fantastic! It had an openair bath from where you could see one of the famous temples. It was one of these endless pools and I would go there every night before going to bed.



One night I spent with my friend Tetsuji who was a postdoc in the lab next door at Scripps. He lives in Nara now and took me out for a classical yakitori, beer and sake evening. The real deal! The other very Japanese thing was breakfast at the Ryokan. Quite the adventure and I just ate everything. Only the salted raw octopus was a little rough early in the morning.





Last night we tried Pachinko, a very Japanese version of the slot machine. It's loud and wild and somewhat hard to see the fascination. Now I'm sitting in a "business hotel" by the train station waiting for Tetsuji to take me on a little tour around Nara before heading to Kobe this afternoon. And I had Swiss croissant for breakfast!