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On behalf of the International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP) 2012 Organizing Committee, we would like to cordially welcome you to Kyoto, a city of many auspicious meetings in the past. Kyoto has three distinctive faces. First, Kyoto was the capital of Japan for over 1000 years—from the 8th century through the 19th century—and it has 2000 temples and shrines with many national treasures. With seventeen registered properties, such as Kiyomizudera Temple and Kinkakuji Temple (the “Golden Pavilion”), it thus became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994. Kyoto is a cultural and sightseeing center of Japan, and more than 50 million domestic and international visitors every year come and enjoy their stay in Kyoto. Almost everything that is now referred to as “Japanese culture” has its origin in Kyoto—a place that gives the opportunity to touch Japanese traditions where they were born. In particular, spring is the season for tender green and beautiful flowers in Japan, and one of the best seasons to visit Kyoto. In late March, Kyoto is in a special festive mood at the start of the cherry-blossom season. Second, Kyoto is a city of university students. It has more than 30 universities of various types, totaling 110,000 students, which amounts to 7.5% of the whole population of the city. This percentage of students is the highest in Japan. Moreover, there are several leading universities in the field of information and communication technology (ICT) in the Kansai region. Several research institutes in this region, at Keihanna Science City on the borders of Kyoto, Osaka, and Nara Prefectures, are also active in the ICT area. People from these universities and institutes are contributing to ICASSP 2012 as organizing committee members, the plenary speakers and exhibitors. Third, in Kyoto there are many unique companies in mechanical, electrical, and precision instruments, etc. These companies are research-oriented and highly profitable. In the early Meiji era, when the capital of Japan was transferred from Kyoto to Tokyo, Kyoto people put special emphases on education and promotion of the local economy through science and technology. Since then, this wisdom—together with traditional craftsmanship—has produced many venture companies, some of which have grown into world-class enterprises. And, some of these companies are supporting ICASSP. The ICASSP meeting is the world’s largest and most comprehensive technical conference focused on signal processing and its applications. The 37th edition of ICASSP is the second time ICASSP has been held in Japan. The first time was in 1986 in Tokyo. The characters of the two venue cities are very different, and the socio-economic situation of Japan from both the domestic and international aspects have changed drastically during these 26 years; however, we believe that Japan has kept its strength in many fields of science and engineering—including the areas related to ICASSP. This year, we will have about 1350 paper presentations (selected from more than 2700 submissions) on the latest technical developments together with plenary talks by leading experts and timely tutorials. Exhibits, “show-andtell” demonstrations, and on-site workshops will offer all attendees various types of technical experiences. A special workshop for signal-processing education in emerging Asian countries has been organized. This year, the Opening and Award Ceremony is expanded so as to be a more pageantic event. What’s more, during the “Welcome Reception and Banquet” you will be able to experience some typical Japanese culture and cuisine. The conference venue is the Kyoto International Conference Center (ICC Kyoto), which is the Japan’s first state-sponsored international conference center. The buildings are designed as a combination of trapezoidal and inverted triangular forms reminiscent of the old Japanese architecture “gassho-zukuri,” resulting in few vertical walls or columns. ICC Kyoto is in the north-east part of the city and is easily accessed from JR Kyoto Station in 20 minutes or so by the Karasuma Line of Kyoto City Subway at the terminal “Kokusai-Kaikan.” The venue is known as the birthplace of the Kyoto Protocol at the Third Conference of the Parties to the United Framework Convention to Climate Change (COP3) in 1997. Finally, we would like to acknowledge the dedicated efforts of the Organizing Committee members. We also gratefully acknowledge the precious support from the relevant organizations, foundations, and companies. Special thanks are extended to Conference Management Services for their superb work concerning paper handling and registration. We also wish to thank the Secretariat for arranging local services and the Kyoto Convention Bureau for their help with publicity. We hope that you will not only enjoy the technical and social programs of the conference but also enjoy meeting local people and experiencing Japanese culture during your stay in Kyoto. We look forward to meeting you in Kyoto soon. Hideaki Sakai and Takao Nishitani |