The end of May saw the acceptance and rejection letters being sent out from the organizing committee to those who had submitted proposals to the BRIT XII conference. This was the result of a month and a half of both private and public debate by the scientific committee, who ultimately selected 200 papers from over 40 countries. The number of submissions from Russia, India and Finland was particularly noticeable, while applicants stretched from the European countries well-represented by the Netherlands, France and the UK, to Canada, the USA, China and central Asia. Panel submissions were overwhelmingly from Southeast Asia, while the Middle East, Africa and Central and South America are also represented with some fascinating papers. With around 75% of those in attendance not from either of the two hosts, Japan and Korea, it promises to be a richly international conference. More information and the provisional program of events should be up on the homepage by the middle of June.

I would like to thank and extend my gratitude to all who responded to the original call-for-papers.

Akihiro IWASHITA