This year in late July/early August, some of our lab members – Ken, Andrew, Alicia and Hannah – took a trip to Yokohama, Japan to attend the International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS). Here we share some of the highlights.
The team arrived in Yokohoma very early on a Sunday morning and after a swift taxi ride to their accommodation, the travelers hit the hay, or rather, their tatami mats. However, they were woken not long after this by an earthquake.
“I thought the shaking was because our accommodation had been built over a railway tunnel or something. I just went back to sleep, unworried. It wasn’t until morning that Andrew told me it was an earthquake and I thought, ‘wow, classic Japan!’” – Hannah
The weather was also a little warmer than the group were expecting.
“The weather was definitely a surprise, both that it was so hot and humid, and despite my complaints I kind of enjoyed it. ” – Andrew
The opening ceremony at the conference the next day included presentations from Hiroshi Yamakawa (President of Jaxa), Gilberto Camara, (Secretariat Director of GEO), Franz Ming-Chih Cheng (Director of international Affairs at NARL) and Sandra Cauffman (acting Director of Earth Sciences Division at NASA). In addition, the ceremony hosted an appearance and brief welcome from none other than the Emperor and Empress of Japan.
After the opening ceremony, the conference went into full-swing.
Alicia and Hannah attended the Women in GRSS forum and Women’s luncheon, with speakers from Ursa Space, Astraea, the University of California, The University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Australian National University. Presenters shared their experiences in their respective careers, the importance of women mentors for women in remote sensing and the benefits of business acumen and 360 degree feedback. This was possibly the most valuable part of the conference for Alicia and Hannah.
“(The Women’s luncheon) was inspiring and really fun, especially the icebreaker bingo played at the lunch. An easy way to meet people in different areas without a huge amount of pressure. ” – Alicia
Hannah also got a little star struck during the women’s luncheon.
“We picked a table at random for lunch and I actually ended up being sat next to Sandra (acting director of earth Sciences at NASA) which was a little nerve wracking but very cool. We met a lot of really awesome scientists at that luncheon.” – Hannah
Ken presented his poster on recent collaborative work on seagrass mapping along the South Australian metropolitan coast, work which Andrew was also a main contributor.
“Presenting the poster, I met other seagrass researchers from around the world (shout out to Al-Anoud Al-Khatlan from Kuwait, Trinh Xuan Truong from Japan, and Pramaditya Wicaksono from Indonesia). Now we’re in contact we’re looking at possible collaborations.” – Ken
For Ken, another highlight of the conference was hearing more about some of the interesting new developments in a variety of remote sensing fields.
“It was great hearing about Alfredo Huete’s talk on combining remote sensing of grass flowering and machine learning to improve pollen forecasting. It was a great example of an application of machine learning with direct relevance to the real world. I’m now also talking with Alfredo about possibly bringing his work to SA to improve pollen forecasting here. ” – Ken
For Andrew, finding people working on the same topic as him also had its benefits.
“Seeing that other people had been researching the same ideas as me was actually a highlight. On one hand it’s disheartening to get beaten to presenting/publishing on something new, but it was also a relief for the idea to be validated by others, to see that it was worth pursuing. It has also been the kick up the bum I needed to really get stuck in and finish things off.” –Andrew
Alicia presented a poster at the symposium on her PhD work on integrating a variety of remote sensing techniques to assist in mineral exploration in South Australia. Attending presentations allowed Alicia to see the direction this research niche is heading in the future.
“I got to see even more of the huge variety in geological remote sensing, and not just for geological applications. There is so much work in calibration and validation of satellite products as well as environmental and climatic applications. There are so many interesting projects that I had no idea about until IGARSS!“- Alicia.
In spare time, the group got to taste some really great food, including ramen, pizza, some dishes from China Town (why not?!) and a variety of grilled food including Ginko nuts from a local Yakitori grill.
“A friend has been on at me for about 6 years to ‘go out for ramen’. I’ve always resisted because I’m not a fan of wet noodle things. But, we ate ramen in a little place run by one chef, (ordering via) tickets from a little machine. (We had to use) google translate to figure out which buttons to press. When we got our food the taste was amazing. I’m kind of a convert now, and will make an exception for that kind of messy wet noodles in the future.” – Ken
Yakatori grill! 
Roll your own Sushi!
“Whether from a vending machine, 7/11, street vendor or fancy restaurant the food in Japan is simply amazing.” – Andrew
“I loved “roll your own” sushi! You get to order on a piece of paper and they make it on the spot in front of you. So delicious and fresh, I’d never had sushi like that before.” – Alicia
The group also managed to fit in some sight-seeing, visiting Yokohama Sky Tower, the Cup Noodle Museum and a day trip to Tokyo to see Ginza, Maiji Jingu Shrine and gardens, Takeshita Street in Harajuku and the infamous Shinjuku crossing – the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world.
“I was quite surprised by Meiji Jingu, I was going along expecting to see lovely gardens and fancy architecture, which I wasn’t disappointed by. However, as a non-spiritual person I was surprised that I found the place to be special somehow, calming and serene despite the number of tourists roaming about.” – Andrew
“The Meiji Jingu gardens were so peaceful to be in. I also went to the Imperial Gardens in Tokyo and every space you walked to was immaculately manicured, it was very impressive.” – Alicia
Hannah looked for creatures in the Meiji Jingu gardens and was rewarded! 
A well looked after Bonsai.
“Conversely, Ginza was a wonderful riot of colours, stores, people and food. And Takeshita St was… certainly a thing. With a store that kept running shoes in refrigerators.” – Ken
“The Cup Noodle Museum was certainly one to write home about. The “make your own cup noodle” area was such an assault on the eyes and ears, completely chaotic. But it had me laughing in stitches and actually, I think I learnt a few things I didn’t expect. So for those reasons alone, it was a great experience.” – Hannah
The conference closed conveniently during a summer festival in Yokohama with a spectacular firework’s display, which the team were able to catch the last 15 minutes of over a few drinks.
After the conference Hannah stopped by the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology to meet with the Laboratory of Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics, led by Professor Hidekatsu Yamazaki. There she shared a brief presentation on her PhD work so far.
“The team at Tokyo University were so welcoming and it was nice to present to people who were genuinely interested in my research. I only had an hour or so to spend with them but it was such a great experience. They do really interesting work and I really hope we can keep in touch in the future.” – Hannah
Andrew, Ken and Alicia stopped by Singapore on their way home, squeezing in a little more sight-seeing before returning to Adelaide.
Safe to say the #spatialpointsfam had a great time at the conference and exploring Japan.
The next IGARSS conference will be held in Waikoloa in Hawaii, July 2020.
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