ICPR Travelogue

ICPR 2012 is fast approaching, and we are looking forward to another great conference this year. The Japanese government was kind enough to invite an ExCo member to visit the conference site and discuss with the organizers about the upcoming conference. I had a short visit to Tsukuba city on my way back from my wonderful vacation in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.

My visit was a confirmation of my thoughts that our Japanese colleagues would have a very professional and well organized conference. As we all know, our Japanese friends went through some very rough times recently, however, from what I saw, they have not allowed this disaster to alter their lives in any way, life went on as usual.

Tsukuba Science City was an hour drive away from Tokyo. Even though we were in the middle of winter with snow covering the ground, I could imaginee how nice the place will be in the fall with leaves changing colors. It was apparent that the city is a scientific center, with universities and research labs all around.

The conference site is very nice, a modern building with all amenities taken care of. The conference center is within walking distance of the train station, which would make the commute quite easy for those people who would rather stay in Tokyo and enjoy the city life at night. In fact, during the day, we took a high speed train to Tokyo, visited some sights in Tokyo and came back the same day.

In my talk with all the organizers, their eagerness to do the best possible and the typical Japanese way of attending to details left no doubt in my mind that we will have another great conference in November, and I am looking forward to having a great week scientifically and socially.