From the Editor
Japanese Edition Vol.12
My aunt living in Kyushu
finally made up her mind and came to Tokyo in September. Why did she have to
"make up her mind"? Because she needs a wheelchair to move around. It was an
entirely new experience for me and I knew nothing about wheelchairs: where to
rent/buy one, what type, whether or not any official documents are needed to
rent, and so on.
Who do you call when in trouble? Ghost Busters? No, the
Internet!
I accessed the Internet and found lots of information I
needed.
But it was difficult to find appropriate, accurate and better
information from a large amount of data. I really hope that the smart search
engine being developed at the Tsukuba Research Center will help find and sort
the information.
Another thing I found was that there are so many steps,
stairs and gaps everywhere in town. These are no trouble for those without
physical handicaps, but it's not easy for people in a wheelchair to travel on
such uneven surfaces.
Despite needing a wheelchair, my aunt tried to
visit Kamakura, an ancient city located southwest of Tokyo, which she'd long
dreamed of visiting. We rented a wheelchair from the Kamakura city office and
walk around this historical city with a guidebook for wheelchair travelers that
I'd found on the Internet. She enjoyed the white blooms of bush clovers in the
early fall at Hokai-temple (an old Buddhist temple). Kamakura is now her
favorite city.
Noriko Namikoshi
Japanese Edition Vol.13
At the turn of each new
year, I mistakenly think that I can be a different "I" every year. This year,
the " different I " will be able to publish "RWC NEWS" on schedule and make its
contents more worth reading. As a first step, the whole layout including the
cover page has been slightly changed. One of our goals is to create an RWC NEWS
which causes the reader to leaf through more pages.
Any stories in
relation with the 21st century sound like fantasies or about a faraway future
for me. But it's less than a year to the new century .... When I wrote about
this point, I found that the 21st century actually starts on January 1, 2001. In
fact, arguments have been continuing on this matter since 400 years ago. Some
insist that the 21st century will start in 2000. In China and some Christian
countries, it is believed that 2000 is the first year of a new century and a new
millennium. Because the very first year of the Gregorian calendar was determined
to be year 1, then logically the 21st century will start in 2001. But it would
be much easier to understand if the calendar had started from the year 0. Where
should I make this suggestion? Maybe it's too late?
We have three years
to go before the Real World Computing Project ends. The project is progressing
to develop technologies that would be a bridge between old and new centuries.
Though the current global situation is not favorable for the project, we must
make steady progress toward the goal in the coming century.
Noriko Namikoshi