JapanISSUE 65 / ConfErEnCE & MEEtIngS World / 61Almost every region of Japan popular for hosting events is exactly as it was pre-quakeJames kent, kyoto convention bureau marketing manager

Japan62 / ConferenCe & Meetings World / issUe 65Above: Kyoto and osaka have a balance of modern and more traditional meeting facilitiesRise in visitors to events in Kyoto 2008 to 2010, KYOTO CONVENTION BUREAU 66%largest event space offering. On 8 November, 1957, Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi announced in a Cabinet meeting his wish to actively promote Japan as the place for major international conferences and to put Kyoto and Tokyo on equal footing as main locations for major international conferences to be held in Japan. ICC covers a vast site of 156,000sqm and boasts more than 70 conference rooms including nine halls with simultaneous interpretation equipment. The main building, annex hall and event hall are connected by indoor passageways and linked by a digital network system comprising more than 600 fiber-optic cables. This network makes live video relay easy thereby