International Crisis Summit 2024 in Japan

A synopsis with photos

The first thing I will write here is another THANK YOU to the organizers and all the people who made this event happen, in spite of forces conspiring to make it not happen.

The second thing I will write here is that Toyko is an interesting place. It is certainly not Japan. I would say that Tokyo is to Japan what Tel Aviv is to Israel: their own entities and not the true representation of the country. Having said that, one day I will return to Japan to see the country.

I arrived in the night after surviving a 3 hour flight followed by a 9 hour wait, followed by another 10 hour flight. In coach. The coach flight cost me the same as a business class flight because I had to book it at the last minute because of the mess of my prior cancelled flights. Not a happy camper about that. But I am glad I held onto my firm belief that money comes and goes, but experiences are forever and unique.

I was greeted by a Japanese man named Yamada at the airport to drive me to the hotel. Thank goodness because I never would have managed the subways and trains in the dead of night after all that by myself. He was a funny man who spoke a little english so I told him I was more than happy to sit in silence to process. He eventually asked if I wanted to hear his band after he said he was a musician. I enthusiastically said yes and he played me some YouTube videos of his band while driving. I was a little disconcerted by that, but I kept reminding him to pay attention to the road. Car accidents are common. His band was quite good, and we had an enjoyable drive.

My friend Lyrico stayed up to greet me at the hotel - she is an exceptional human being and understands what I believe to be very important basic things in human relationships. She came out to the car and without hesitation and despite the fact that I smelled like road kill, she gave me the biggest hug. And I hugged back. For those of you who know me, I don’t always do that.

She guided me through check-in and helped with the 1000 yen tax (I had no cash the whole time!) and even escorted me to my room. It was on the 9th floor. It was a small room but very comfortable. No chemical sprayers, a window that opened, a comfy bed, a metal kettle, a chair for my suitcase, a toilet with a toilet seat that heated up and the very best part, a shower with a shower head with the finest but strongest spray I have ever felt and let me tell you, after that journey, I needed to feel cleansed like that. I stayed in that shower for about 30 minutes. I thought of the WEF and their ‘water preservation policies’ the whole time whilst also thinking out loud - Screw you. I need this.

And indeed I did. It was 1:30 am when I finally got my head on the pillow and I had to be up at 6 am for breakfast and to start the long day ahead. I woke up naturally at 5 am and felt ok. I got myself together and headed downstairs for breakfast and was met eventually by Lyrico, and James Lindsay. James sat across from me and we had a nice chat and I found out pretty fast that I really liked James. He’s a Gemini and all my best male buddies have been Geminis so it made sense. We chatted about his 7/11 mystery drinks, including a liver drink, and it was the beginning of a great comradery that we would share at almost every meal.

We got a bus to the closed door session that was at a venue about 20 minutes away by bus. I sat beside Meryl and we had a nice catch-up chat. We always seem to like sitting at the front of buses. I like it because I am a terrible back seat driver. Maybe she’s the same. We got to the venue and it turned out our closed-door session was in an actual chapel and somehow, that was perfect. I must say, from Robert Malone’s introduction, to Katie Ashby-Koppens’ legal input, to James Lindsay’s suggestion as to the required approach to disseminate a clear message for the following days, to Eduardo Verastegui’s passion, to me: way at the back going on about viral recombination, it was the most excellent convergence of differing minds and ideas I have experienced. It was truly inspired and ego-less.

After the closed-door chapel session, we went onto the Media Conference but not before we were given the most beautiful lunches I had had in long time. The beef was excellent! Of course, I had to try the beef and the seafood.

Robert, Jill and the Stramezzi’s loved it too. And I just noticed from this photo that Jill is a lefty like me! We’re smarter. Hehehe

Then the Media Conference was held, where we all had an opportunity to speak to the Japanese media in small panels.

I don't have a picture of my panel but I am sure I will find one.

I am sure that our stories will make it to the mainstream media in Japan eventually.

We had a lovely dinner buffet-style complete with wine and beer, and the wait-staff were wonderful and lovely. It was the first time we all got together for a wind-down.

The next day was the Public Conference where we all got an opportunity to speak for 10 minutes to the public. I went way over time (apologies) and ended up reading my own words as I was very tired and didn’t want to leave anything important out. It was ok. I feel I could have done a better job of explaining what self-amplifying mRNA was though. Here’s a video clip that you can watch. I am not sure why the camera was not pointed at my slides for almost the entire presentation time. Apologies for that as well. You can find my slides here.

Here are some photos.

And inside the theatre.

These ones are from the first dinner.

The next day was parliament day and I led the crew to the parliament building where we eventually found our way into the building covered in sweat. We were wearing our finest to get into parliament and it was hot! The parliament building itself was rather stoic but very impressive, and a lot cooler than outside. We had a few technical issues with sound, translation and recording, but we got through.

I think this photo captures it all. We are bad-asses. That is Mr. Kawada Ryuhei in the middle. Look him up. He has an absolutely incredible story and I am grateful for his attendance as a Member of the Japanese Parliament (member of the House of Councillors).

And then we bought lunch.

At some point, we ate dinner in a restaurant about town.

There were sleeps and fun had by all in the interim but I don’t remember from being so exhausted. I think I got about 10 hours of sleep in 5 days from the full schedule. And no, I don’t party at all.

On the last day, we also had a stage rally and a march! There were a lot of people there. Like A LOT! Here are some very touching moments.

Here are some more random shots that warrant inclusion. This was Professor Shigetoshi Sano presenting at the Public Conference.

Below are some shots of our tourist day to the temple and the Tokyo Sky Tree. At this temple, everybody had an opportunity to draw a fortune and Jason pulled 4 bad fortunes in a row - the only one of us who pulled a bad one! I got regular fortune, which is fine with me.

These bad fortunes weren’t your average ‘you will have bad luck’ fortunes. These were like short stories about how you were going to die in a boat accident in a storm while your wife leaves you. It was quite hilarious actually. He pulled one more fortune and got the best fortune on the fifth try, so we agreed that would be the one that counted. I don’t have any good photos of it because my camera ran out of battery charge.

From Toyko Sky Tree.

Candid peek-a-boo at parliament during Q and A. That’s Yamada san in the back on the left. Thanks for the airport pick-up.

Tokyo at night.

This says it all. Rules. Rules. Rules.

Da gals.

Queen Christine at the Public Conference.

We found an Oktoberfest and Christine knew the songs they were playing!

New friends. New hope.

This photo steals my heart.

And Heavenese were there. Apparently Sheila E. produces them. Pretty cool!

The hearts in the people at this event beat strong and red.

A local artist named Miracle Momo drew each of us as caricatures. Little does she know that I am a caricature of myself already.

Thanks to these guys in the photo below for a really nice before-flight dinner! Risotto with chestnuts went down well and nourished me for the 40 hours of travel that came next. These are absolutely stunning photos! Chris Flowers, Tony, Lilly, Jason, Christine and Alejandro.

The last thing I would like to write is that you may notice I post a lot of candid and off-serious/science topic shots in my travel articles. I do this with a lot of intention because these trips are not about just science and information sharing: they are about collegial bonding over informal dinners and breakfasts and taking the time to get to know fellow colleagues and fighters. It’s always random, chaotic and spontaneous, but I always manage to find kindred spirits to share a laugh with. Thanks to James Lindsay for the awesome meals and laughs about liver drinks and hair. Thanks to David Bell for being my buddy and always sparing time for sanity chats. Thanks to Katie Ashby-Koppens for being an incredible person and someone who reminded me to chill out. I can’t wait to see you in Australia.

Being kind and sharing humans is what ‘they’ hate the most. So I am going to keep doing that.

I have no more words. Just love. Pay it forward.