W3C ’s Advisory Committee meets twice a year. This year’s spring meeting was in Hiroshima during the second week of April. This was my first time visitng Hiroshima, and my tenth (!!) visit to Japan.

I landed at 羽田空港 (Haneda Airport) early in the morning on Sunday, 7 April and caught the のぞみ７ (Nozomi 7) 新幹線 (Shinkansen) to Hiroshima.

広島Hiroshima

After getting into town and checking into my hotel, I visited the peace memorial, park, & museum. Later that day I also toured Hiroshima Castle and its grounds.

The AC meeting was Monday and Tuesday, and on Wednesday we had a joint meeting of W3C’s three elected bodies: the Board of Directors, Advisory Board, and TAG. A few highlights:

• 湯崎英彦 (Yuzaki Hidehiko), the Governor of Hiroshima Prefecture, welcomed us on the first morning,
• An engineer from JAXA, Japan’s space agency, spoke to us about the challenges of networking at an interplanetary scale,
• Two representatives of OHCHR spoke to us about the relationship between technical standards and human rights challenges.

Bryan got into town on Monday while I was at work. This was his first visit to Japan, and I had such a good time showing him around.

東京Tokyo

Bryan and I headed back to Tokyo after lunch on Wednesday. After checking into our AirBnB, we had soup curry at 東京ドミニカ (Tokyo Dominica). Then we wandered over to 新宿二丁目 (Shinjuku Ni-chōme)—Tokyo's gayborhood—and had a couple drinks at Rainbow Burritos どうも (Dōmo), my home-away-from-home whenever I'm in town, with my friends Ray and Mamiko.

The next day we took the 山手線 (Yamanote Line) to 原宿 (Harajuku), where we shopped at KIDDY LAND and visited 明治神宮 (Meiji Shrine).

We then popped up to 巣鴨 (Sugamo) to have lunch with Karl and did some shopping along 地蔵通り (Jizō-dōri).

That afternoon we had some pints at Goodbeer Faucets in 渋谷区 (Shibuya Ward) before heading to 明治神宮野球場 (Meiji Jingu Stadium) to watch the Swallows play the Giants. The Giants won, alas.

On Friday morning we headed to 浅草 (Asakusa) to see 浅草寺 (Sensō-ji). After grabbing some conveyor belt sushi for lunch, we visited the Seiko Museum in 銀座 (Ginza), 日比谷公園 (Hibiya Park), and saw what little you can see of the 皇居 (Palace) from 皇居外苑 (Kōkyo Gaien).

Bryan had to fly out that night, so we grabbed ramen at AFURI and said our goodbyes.

On Saturday I took a train out to 相模原市 (Sagamihara City) in 神奈川県 (Kanagawa Prefecture) to see Ali and her wife and kiddos. I hadn’t managed to see them last year, so I’m pretty sure we hadn’t seen each other since the before times.

I went to Mike & Naoko’s that afternoon and got to spend some time & have dinner with their family before trekking back to 羽田空港 (Haneda Airport) & flying home.