Editor’s Note

Half a century has passed since the establishment of IDACA. The environment surrounding the training participants has been changing in various ways with the passage of time. About 20 years ago, there were no televisions inside the rooms where the participants stayed. The participants gathered in the lobbies and audio rooms where televisions were installed and enjoyed chatting noisily. Televisions are now installed in each room, and the participants no longer gather in the lobbies. It is now the golden age of the Internet. Some participants are fiddling with personal computers and mobile phones even in the middle of a lecture. The Internet enables acquiring information immediately and connecting with people all over the world. In the past, the staff at IDACA had felt that they should cherish their encounters with the participants, thinking that they may no longer be meeting these people again. This relationship is changing to a closer relationship in which the IDACA staff members are now thinking that they could contact the participants at any time. I feel that this change is taking place in parallel with the arrival of a time where things that were rare and precious can be acquired readily.