Last year was a rewarding one for me in terms of international exchanges. To participate in international forums of diversified character, I went to Belgium and the U.K. in the spring, to Italy in summer, to Thailand and the U.S. in autumn, and then hosted another in Tokyo in winter.
It was sleeting in Brussels when I participated in the Round Table for the G-7 Ministerial Conference for Information Society. However, the hall was filled with the excitement and enthusiasm of delegations from the G-7 countries and the European Union. We not only agreed upon basic guidelines but also established 11 collaborative R&D areas. Based on this, NACSIS has been concentrating its R&D efforts in two areas, namely, the gigabit test bed project and the electronic library project, in both of which Japan has been designated to play a leading role.
Crocuses were in full bloom when I visited Cambridge and then gave a talk at the London School of Economics. I was happy to find that the subject matter of my talk ÒTechnological Innovation for the Good of Humanity -A Japanese PerspectiveÓ attracted consid-erable attention from the audience and the full-day discussion the following day, presided over by Sir Arthur Knight, was quite thought-stimulating. In Cambridge and in London, I was touched by the warmth of my colleagues including Sir Michael Atiyah and Sir John Thomas, and found with much pleasure that the NACSIS collaboration with the British Library as well as Cambridge, Oxford and other universities has been conducted successfully.
Peonies, wisterias and other gorgeous flowers were in full bloom when I was in Rome and Bologna. Gala celebrations were held there for the centennial of MarconiÕs invention of wireless telegraphy. Mrs. Gioia Marconi Braga and other relatives and friends of Guglielmo Marconi were our magnanimous hosts and hostesses. The Marconi International Symposium that followed and lasted for two days was a truly memorable event. Almost all Marconi Fellows including myself gave talks, renewed acquaintances and seriously discussed the future of information technology and society. In fact, quite a few of the issues discussed were very closely related to what NACSIS has done or is intending to do. And I felt that NACSIS was rightly positioned in the midst of an enormous wave sweeping the whole world towards an information society.
Under tropical sunshine, everything was glittering in Bangkok when I was there in early October. The cut-over of a 2 Mbit/sec communication link which was installed by NACSIS between Japan and Bangkok, brought me to this land of smiles. Owing to the support of Professor Pairash Thajchayapong and many others, the ceremonies and demonstrations proceeded smoothly. I was very favorably impressed by the enthusiasm of their top leaders, namely, Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Thaksin Shinawatra who spent much time for me to explain his visions and strategies into the future, and Minister of Science, Technology and Environment Mr. Yingpan Manasikarn who canceled his trip to China to preside over the opening ceremony. It was timely for NACSIS to extend its network SINET to Thailand in the year 1995 which was proclaimed there as the Information Year. I very sincerely wish this would bring the maximum possible benefit for our Thai colleagues.
The Joint High-level Advisory Panel (JHAP) meeting for the U.S. Japan Agreement on Cooperation in Research and Development in Science and Technology brought me to Seattle in the last week of October when salmon and trout were rushing up-stream to lakes and rivers from the Pacific Ocean. Since the Agreement was signed in 1988 between President Reagan and Prime Minister Takeshita, the JHAP meetings have been held each year alternately in the U.S. and Japan. Owing to the outstanding leadership of Dr. Norman Newleiter and Professor Wataru Mori, the Co-chairmen for the Panel, discussions were conducted in a constructive and friendly atmosphere. I was particularly happy to see that high recognition was given to the Japanese efforts for strengthening scientific and technological exchanges between the two countries, including the enhanced connection of SINET to the U.S. by way of a NACSIS 6 Mbit/sec communication link.
Finally in early December when snow capped Mt. Fuji was clearly visible from Tokyo, I co-chaired with Dr. Rodney Nicols another meeting, a co-chairmenÕs meeting for the U.S. Japan Committee on Scientific Co-operation. The Committee has had a long and fruitful history since an Agreement was signed by President Kennedy and Prime Minister Ikeda in 1961, and has launched a number of bilateral co-operative projects and seminars in addition to an extensive program of exchanging scholars. Co-chairmen agreed to continue and enhance present activities and especially to encourage collaboration between research centers in U.S. and Japanese universities. The importance of enhancing mutual access to scientific and technological information was also recognized, and in this respect, the contribution being made by NACSIS was acknowledged and further collaboration was encouraged.
After all, in the light of the world scientific and technological communities becoming increasingly borderless, the function to be played by NACSIS in enhancing international information exchange has become even more crucial. We are determined to accomplish this goal, and ask our readers for their continuing support and encouragement.