Visitor: Atsushi Hori (TRC Massively Parallel Software Laboratory) Period: August 28 to September 2, 1995 (7 days) Place (Attended conference): Stockholm, Sweden (EURO-PAR '95)
Though it was late August, the wind in Stockholm reminded me of December winds in Tokyo. Even on the warmest days, the temperature doesn't go beyond 15 degrees Celsius. In hurried preparation for this business trip, I learned that Swedish people make the most of their short summer, but seeing isn't always believing--most people in Stockholm were walking the street in coats or quilted jackets.
I stayed in Stockholm for the last three days of August to participate in and give a presentation at the EURO-PAR '95 conference. This year's EURO-PAR was the first one merging two international conferences in the field of parallel processing; PARLE and CONPAR-VAPP. Participants came from not only European countries but also the United States, and the presentations and discussions were fruitful. Unfortunately, there were only two presentations by Japanese people, including myself. The conference was smaller than similar ones like IPPS held in the United States, yet it is a truly international conference and I had the opportunity to discuss broad-ranging topics with some researchers from different countries in a relaxed atmosphere.
Almost all information for the conference was delivered through the WWW. In addition to announcements, guides to the area surrounding the conference site, and access guides from the airport. Even the voting for the Best Paper Award was conducted through the WWW. The proceedings of the conference were published as LNCS by Springer Inc. as usual, and the same information is also available through the WWW pages (http://www.sics.se/europar95/index.html)--a revolutionary move by the publisher.
The exact location for EURO-PAR '95 was the town of Kista, a 20-minute subway ride from downtown Stockholm. Most people would probably pronounce the name of the town as "kista," but it's wrong; it should be pronounced "shista." In Swedish, "k" before "i" must be pronounced as "shi." I had no idea of such linguistic rules when I bought a ticket of subway to the town and asked for "a ticket to 'kista'", but the station attendant immediately gave me the correct ticket. One of the great attractions at an international conference held abroad is the banquet because it is usually held to entertain participants with local characteristics. In the EURO-PAR '95, we were invited to join a 2-hour sunset cruise on the Baltic Sea. The upper deck of the boat was a hall and the lower deck accommodated a small theater. Stockholm itself is a port town, and from the town to the Baltic Sea are found islands of all sizes. Checking the marine chart used as a table mat, we enjoyed chatting over our current positions during the dinner. On the way to the airport, the driver of my taxi cab asked me, "Are you going into springtime back in Japan?" "You're kidding. Japan is in the northern hemisphere just like Sweden," I thought to myself, but answered, "Nope. It's late summer," "Oh! It's the same as over here then," said the man as he drove through the cold winds marking the end of summer.
EURO-PAR '96 will be held in Lyon, France. Point your web browser at http://www.sics.se/europar95/index.html for details.