October 1st 1997

The municipal industrial exhibition is about to open the day after tomorrow. New COARA members were asked to present an Internet experience corner from the officials. So volunteer members of COARA have been preparing for it by having meetings every Wednesday. It is now October, the final stage of the bug detecting. I am assigned to a coffee shop. I went out to buy materials for it today. In the evening, we had the eighth preparation meeting. After discussions, we made demonstration panels and billboars.

October 2nd 1997

All the materials were brought in to the booth today. I went to the site(Oita castle park) in the morning to arrange the coffee corner. Under the big tent, our COARA corner is shining bright in yellow wall papers. It is rainy today but I hope it will be cleared up tomorrow.

October 3rd 1997

The exhibition started today. When I visited Oita castle park early in the morning, I found the municipal members in charge were preparing for the opening ceremony of the exhibition. Our COARA booth was also ready for the opening ceremony by preparing panels and banners which we materialized through the discussions. Every thing was done on last evening by voluntary members. I took part in the preparation of the coffee corner. The mayor and other major officers cut the tape and broke the cerebration ballto kick off the exhibition. many people came to our booth and pleasantly exchanged talks on the Internet.

October 12th 1997

Today is also the final day of Municipal Industrial Exhibition. After all we went to the party to celebrate the successful completion of the exhibition for ten days supported by voluntary dedication of COARA members. All the participants were very happy and fully satisfied with their efforts covering from the planning to the management.

October 25th 1997

I have visited Suwa city during 23rd-25th October. I was invited to join "Smart Lake Information Harvest Festival" which was coordinated by six communities around lake Suwa. On the first day, I gave lecture on our COARA's activity through my experience under the big title of "Advanced making community." Suwa city is regarded as a city of fine industry and sight seeing, but they are planning to re-activate the city through multimedia. Many people are making efforts on voluntary basis. It was very simulative for me. The basic presentation was made by Mr. Toshiharu Kato who have actually watched the activities of Smart Valley in California for several years. Mr. Hirosi Itoh of Yamanashi University also made presentation about High-speed Communications Experimental Design between Suwa and Tokyo. I have learned much , indeed.