It was a great honor to host President Houkin and his delegation from Hokkaido University in our labs. We discussed our strong history of collaboration, especially with Professor Jian Ping Gong. We are especially grateful for the work of Assistant Professor Dan King, who completed his PhD in the Crosby Research Group and continued his research and academic career as an Assistant Professor at Hokkaido University. We took this opportunity to remember Dan and to discuss future paths of strengthening collaboration between UMass Amherst and Hokkaido University.