From July 2nd to 7th, 2023, the International Conference on Strongly Correlated Electron Systems (SCES) 2023 was held in Incheon, South Korea. The authors of this article, Hori (D2), Takahashi (D2), Ogata (D1), Matsumura (M2), Tomikawa (M2), and Assistant Professor Kitagawa, participated in the conference.
On July 2nd, they took Jeju Air from Kansai International Airport to Incheon International Airport. They departed shortly before noon, and the flight took approximately 2 hours. Since some of the authors were not comfortable with flying, they eased their fear of flying by enjoying some beer at Kansai Airport before the flight.
The author who enjoyed a beer at Kansai Airport and the author who rejoiced upon arriving at the hotel
After arriving at the airport, they used a taxi to get to the hotel. Once they checked in at the hotel, they headed to the welcome reception. However, it’s worth noting that Google Maps couldn’t be used for walking navigation in South Korea due to national security reasons. They could still search for train and bus routes, though. This was quite challenging for the author who has a poor sense of direction.
Starting the next day, the international conference began with all participants gathering in the morning for plenary talks. The schedule was packed, and during the lunch break, they had poster presentations. Since the poster presenters didn’t have much time for a leisurely lunch, they were provided with light lunch boxes at the venue. Approximately 400 people participated in poster presentations, including the authors. Each day, about 10 poster awards were given, with a prize of 100,000 won (approximately 10,000 yen). Unfortunately, no one from their research group received an award (they wanted that prize money), but they had valuable discussions about research with various people, making the international conference meaningful.
After the summary talk on the final day, they spent one night touring Seoul, the capital, and returned home the following day.
