Today was the first day of WWW 2005 in Chiba, Japan. The panel I convened ("Can the Semantic Web be Made to Flourish?") went well, but I learned a lesson. I had organized some questions in advance, distributed them to the panelists and used visual aids during the session, in accordance with guidance from the panel chairs and discussion with the panelists. After all that, Jim Hendler told me after the session that the way to do it is to simply introduce the panelists and take questions from the floor! Next time I'll know :)
I had expected the conference to be primarily attended by Japanese and had prepared accordingly. I suppose I had that impression due to the cost of traveling to Japan and the fact that many people I know from W3C didn't come. Again, I was wrong. WWW 2005 is truly international, with over a thousand attendees.
Bernadette and I spent four days prior to the conference in the lovely mountain village of Nikko, about 100 km North of Tokyo. It is a very historic place, where the masoleum of Tokugawa Iyeasu is located. He was the first of the Tokugawa shoguns in the early 1600s and the basis for James Clavell's novel Shogun. The Shinto and Buddist temples are amazingly ornate. I'll post some pictures when I get home since I forgot my USB cable and can't dump them from my camera :)
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