Azure Travelers Meetup #2: A Kobe Trip and SUPER GT Race Weekend
On April 13, 2024, we held the second Azure Travelers meetup, our “Kobe Trip,” at Microsoft AI Co-Innovation Lab KOBE on the 24th floor of the Kobe Commerce and Trade Center Building.
This time, we organized the meetup with members of the Kansai community Sukiyanen Azure and Kobe-based Kobe Digital Lab. I traveled to Kobe on April 11, explored the city while preparing for the meetup, and headed to Okayama International Circuit after the event. Here is a photo-filled look back at the four days from April 11 through 14.
Table of Contents
The Meetup
Meetup Overview
Azure Travelers began with a simple idea: visit different parts of Japan and enjoy learning together with the local community. After Sapporo in January 2024, Kobe became our second destination.
Azure Travelers Meetup #2: Kobe Trip with Sukiyanen Azure
- Date and time: Saturday, April 13, 2024, 10:30-18:30
- Venue: Microsoft AI Co-Innovation Labs Japan (24th floor, Kobe Commerce and Trade Center Building)
- Admission: Free
- Theme: A variety of Microsoft Azure features
- Hashtag:
#AzureTravelers- Event page: connpass
Posts from attendees that day are collected in this Posfie roundup. Together, they capture the atmosphere from setting up the venue through the sessions, the roll of the die, and the after-party.
Microsoft AI Co-Innovation Lab KOBE
Microsoft AI Co-Innovation Lab KOBE was a bright, open venue with large windows overlooking the city. Members of Sukiyanen Azure led the morning panel discussion, and speakers from Kobe Digital Lab also joined the program.
Schedule
| Time | Session | Speaker |
|---|---|---|
| 10:30 | Registration opens | - |
| 11:00-11:10 | Community overview | Naoki |
| 11:10-12:00 | Something Like a Panel Discussion | Sukiyanen Azure organizers + others |
| 12:00-13:00 | Lunch break | - |
| 13:00-13:30 | Jump Up with Copilot! | Takashi Eto |
| 13:40-14:20 | If You Are Using Containers, Azure Is the Answer! Why Azure Container Apps Is My Personal Favorite | ussvgr / S.Yoshikawa |
| 14:30-15:10 | Hands-on Azure AI Studio Prompt Flow for Accelerating LLM Adoption | Daichi Taguchi / Gucchi |
| 15:10-16:10 | Break, snack introductions, and lightning talks | Lightning talk speakers |
| 16:10-17:00 | A Deep Dive into Using AI Search for RAG | Taishi Miyata |
| 17:10-17:40 | Building a Career Alongside Generative AI | Yuka Kakiuchi |
| 17:50-18:30 | A Talk About DevSecOps Workflows | kkamegawa |
| 18:30 onward | Closing and cleanup | JAT organizers |
The program ranged widely across containers, generative AI, RAG, and DevSecOps. As in Sapporo, we also gathered around snacks and souvenirs that people had brought from their regions. With attendees arriving from around the country, it felt unmistakably like an Azure Travelers meetup.
Because we value meeting people in each destination, only two sessions were streamed online: the community introduction and the panel discussion. The recording is available in the YouTube archive.
An Olympian Transforms His Training with Power Platform
One session that especially stayed with me was Takashi Eto’s “Jump Up with Copilot!”
Eto is an Olympian who competed in the high jump at both the Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo Games. At Kobe Digital Lab, he develops applications with Power Platform and works on digital transformation initiatives. In his session, he showed how he uses Power Apps and other tools to build a coaching app that collects his training data and BI charts for analysis, then puts those insights to work in competition.
Gathering the data you truly need yourself, analyzing it, and feeding the results back into your next training session is a wonderfully concrete use of Power Platform. Hearing it directly from the athlete made the story even more compelling.
The Die Really Landed on Fukuoka
At the closing session, we followed our tradition of rolling a large die to choose a future destination.
Before the roll, I had said, “I want to go to Fukuoka,” and Fukuoka actually came up. There was something joyful, yet oddly weighty, about saying where I hoped to go and then watching the die grant that wish. After this meetup, I stopped trying to pressure the die before a roll.
The Fukuoka trip chosen that day is scheduled for October 2024 as the fourth meetup.
The Journey
Azure Travelers is about more than attending a meetup and heading home. Walking around, eating, and taking photographs in each destination are all part of the experience. This time, I arrived in Kobe on the evening of April 11 and traveled as far as Okayama on the 14th, the day after the meetup.
April 11: From Shinagawa to Kobe
After joining a get-together in Shinagawa, I traveled straight to Kobe. Once there, I stopped at Kokinro for my usual takana ramen and gyoza, then went straight to the hotel.
The salty pickled mustard greens melting into the broth, together with a plate of gyoza, brought a long day of travel to a satisfying close.
April 12: Nankinmachi and Streaming Setup
I woke up early and wandered from Motomachi toward Nankinmachi. While walking through the quiet morning streets of Chinatown, I spotted Spider-Man sitting on top of a building. He was so unexpected that I had to point my camera at him.
I spent most of the day working. In the evening, I went to Microsoft AI Co-Innovation Lab KOBE to set up the streaming equipment for the next day.
Back then, we did not book a venue for the pre-event gathering. Whoever happened to be around would simply head out for a drink together. Finding an open table in Sannomiya on a Friday night was not easy, though. After trying several places, we just managed to get into Kamigata Gochiso-dokoro Hiikiya, Sannomiya. The sake was excellent.
Afterward, we went to HACK.BAR Kobe and spent a distinctly Kobe evening with members of the tech community.
April 13: Morning Photography and the Meetup
I woke up early again and took a car-share vehicle out for some photography. My first stop was near Shioya Station on the JR Kobe Line. I was after the brief moment when the morning sun reaches the seaside tracks and turns the rails red.
From there, I went to Kobe Airport to photograph airplanes, crossed the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge to Awaji Island, photographed the bridge from the island side, and returned to Sannomiya. It was an impressively full morning before registration for the meetup had even opened.
For lunch, I went to Chinese Dining Tori on the first floor of the Kobe Commerce and Trade Center Building. Its location made it easy for the organizers to get back to the afternoon sessions.
After the meetup, we held the after-party at Sannomiya Sanchoku Ichiba, Sankita-dori. They kindly accommodated a last-minute change in our group size, which was a great help.
Our second stop was The AVERY’S IRISH PUB (Tabelog), followed by a third stop back at Kokinro. A final bowl of ramen brought the long day to an end.
April 14: The SUPER GT Season Opener
The next morning, I traveled from Kobe to Okayama International Circuit to watch the opening round of the 2024 SUPER GT season.
Before the race, there was also a fighter jet flight demonstration. Seeing two jets approach over the circuit brought plenty of excitement before the racing had even begun.
That day’s winners were the No. 36 au TOM’S GR Supra in the GT500 class and the No. 2 muta Racing GR86 GT in GT300.
SUPER GT puts the faster GT500 class and the GT300 class on the same track. Okayama International Circuit is narrow, and several cars would bunch together through the corners, making every pass in front of us spectacular to watch.
After the race, I returned to Kobe. With a little time to spare, I went to Steakland Kobe (Tabelog). The steak grilled on the teppan right in front of me was delicious.
I had always imagined teppanyaki as a leisurely meal, but here everything moved quickly from ordering to cooking. In the best possible way, it felt almost like fast food, and I could still enjoy Kobe steak with limited time.
One last story: I left my ETC card inside the car-share vehicle I had used for the drive. I did not notice until after I was back in Tokyo. I contacted the card issuer for a replacement and asked the car-share company to dispose of the old card if they found it during vehicle maintenance. Apparently, a trip demands your attention right to the very end.
Reflections
At our first meetup in Sapporo, people came together with the energy to simply give the idea a try, and our organizing team grew from there. Kobe felt like the first meetup we created after that team was fully in place.
Together with Sukiyanen Azure and the team at Kobe Digital Lab, we built an event at Microsoft AI Co-Innovation Lab KOBE that ranged from Azure and generative AI to Power Platform and DevSecOps. Eto’s session on using Power Platform for his own athletic training was exactly the kind of talk that could only come from this place and this speaker.
At the same time, the organizing team was still finding its way. Even after the event, our organizers’ thread was full of discussion about what had not gone well and what we wanted to improve next time. Those conversations were part of it too: Kobe was the meetup where Azure Travelers began to take shape as an event.