I am very happy to open this forum for you who are interested in pragmatics and IPrA in particular. This is intended to be a virtual meeting place where everyone can come and express their ideas on how we can advance the academic field of pragmatics.

While I welcome the academic wind from all directions, it has been my regret that little is known about the Islamic world. It had long been my dream to be able to visit one of the Islamic countries. In March, 2008, Dr. Mayouf and his colleagues of Sebha University at Sebha, Libya, held an International Workshop on Emancipatory Pragmatics. (Sebha is 800 kilometers south of Tripoli, the capital of Libya.) Three Japanese scholars (including myself) were invited to attend.

We had a great time exchanging ideas with colleagues and students at Sebha University. (Here are some pictures from that event.) What impressed me most was the comfort I felt throughout the duration of my stay. There was an air unspoiled by modernity in a physical and spiritual sense. 'Warm sun, warm people' made me feel freed of the hassles of the real world.

On the way back from Libya, I went to Amsterdam, where the Sociolinguistic Symposium 17 was held. I had a sort of cultural shock being back in a modern city. This was ironic, since I come from the modern city of Tokyo!

Dr. Li Wei of the University of London organized a workshop on 'Cultural Values and Language Behavior: Focus on Asia.' Four Japanese and four Thai presented papers on language use in these languages, and discussed the relevance of the cultural values behind discourse. This workshop must have appeared unique in a European oriented conference, as we dealt with the 'cultural values' observed in the languages and discourse. Dr. Li Wei, Dr. Krisadawan Hongladarom and I strongly feel the need for this kind of workshop to be continued until we reach the stage where everybody on this globe has a better understanding of different cultures and different peoples.