ICPR2012 Banquet

Good evening; konban-wa!

As co-general chair, I have the pleasure and great honor to welcome you to the conference banquet.

The ICPR has a long tradition of promoting exchange of ideas and personal contacts through both the technical program and the social program.

As perhaps the only attendee here who also attended the first IJCPR in Washington, D.C. in 1973, let me tell you how things have changed. The late Professor King-Sun Fu, the general chair, was 43 years old. There were only 89 papers. Now we have not only 313 oral presentation papers, but also 629 posters. This increase, by a factor of 10.58, is remarkable. Back in 1973, there were only 312 participants. Now, over 1200. It was at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., quite modest compared with the Tsukuba Epochal Congress Center.

I hope all you international visitors are enjoying Japan. There's such a wonderful combination of exotic and modern. With the shinkansen bullet trains, Japan broke new ground. With the most advanced user interface in the bathroom, the toilet technology here is unsurpassed. If you haven't tried it, make a point to do so before you leave. And our Tsukuba Epochal Congress Center has been a fabulous venue for this conference.

Before we drink the sake, I want to thank the full organizing committee and all of you who worked so hard to make this conference a reality. That includes first and foremost our Japanese co-chair, Professor Yuichi Ohta of Tsukuba University's Department of Intelligent Interaction Technologies. To Ohta-sensei, our great thanks!

My time is limited, but I want to name a few folks --- my co-chair Jan-Olof Eklundh, and the program chairs Alberto del Bimbo, incoming IAPR President Kim Boyer, and especially Professor Katsu Ikeuchi, who had the misfortune to break an ankle just before the conference but did so much towards the program. And all the track chairs, and so many other organizers. And all of you -- authors, referees, attendees, staff, sponsors, and guests. Arigato Gozaimashita; Thank you!

Before I give up the microphone, I'd like to sum up the spirit for tonight with a couple of limericks, if you will kindly indulge me.

The twenty-first I. C. P. R.

In Tsukuba, Japan's where we are.

The program's been fine,

But let's now drink rice wine,

Before travelling home from afar.

The Tsukuba team have been great hosters

For Pattern Recognition papers and posters,

And we'll long remember

That time in November

When sake was drunk by us toasters.

Welcome to the banquet!