Hello,

Wikimedians in Kansai ([[m:WiKansai]]) hosted a WP10 event in Kyoto,
on Saturday,
January 22nd. The event consisted of two parts, lecture and party, at
Hatena Inc. HQ
and an izakaya, casual tavern in Japanese style, respectively.
Around 30 people attended in a sum and had a good time. The audience included
hard core Wikimedians, students, business people, engineers and academics.
Most of them are living in Kansai region, but some came from other
cities like Tokyo.

The event is titled ウィキペディア10周年感謝のつどい in Japanese, literally meaning
Wikipedia 10th Anniversary: Appreciation meeting. Appreciation from volunteers,
readers and any other people who feel Wikipedia benefit their lives, to everyone
who made it come in reality.

Lecture part: Hatena Inc. (http://hatena.ne.jp) Kyoto HQ offered us
the venue for free
as well streaming which three staffers of them took care. I gave a
short welcoming
and thanking message, then we watched Jimmy's video letter, subtitled
by User:Whym
Ting Chen aka Wing on skype video chat gave also a welcoming, thanking
and encouraging message to be committed to make Wikipedia much greater:
he surprised the audience with introductory in Japanese and his
message was received
very warmly.

And a keynote: a local academic, Hideo Toyama gave a lecture titled "Meaning of
being sincere intellectually", how his view toward Wikipedia has changed,
how academics and students consider and use Wikipedia, what on Wikipedia they
notice and not, how Wikipedia could enlighten and alter our
epistemological view
- before Wikipedia who could have imagine an encyclopedia changed
minute by minute? -
and overall how we should treat Wikipedia. His analysis and proposal
"use Wikipedia
in an appropriate way with full knowledge how it works" were
thoughtful and positive, on  contrary of a popular view to Wikipedia
"unreliable so don't use".

Social hours: after Toyama's keynote, we had a good time there with
beer and pizza briefly. Shinji Tanaka Hatena Inc. CTO gave his best
wishes toward us at Wikipedia for toasting. During social hours at
Hatena, some Japanese Wikipedians in other regions took minutes to
give their friendly messages on skype. Some expressed their own view
and opinions on Wikipedia and the audience in venue seemed to take it
interesting as testimonials from hardcore Wikipedians.
At the closing of Part 1 and for transmitting to Part 2, User:VZP10224
who led the organizing team gave a small speech.

Then we walked down in the early evening Kyoto and went into an izakaya.
We occupied a tatami room and enjoyed chatting, good taste dishes and
sake and so on :)  People showed their enthusiasm to the project,
brought opinions and proposals, or asked opinions on their own
projects and ideas which could collaborate with Wikipedia.
Overall, it was very amusing and exciting hours and we entertained each other.

Lecture part has some online records, enjoy :)
video: http://vimeo.com/19253436 (mostly in Japanese, very long)
Jimmy's video letter subtitled: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idquQGVVwao
photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/takot/sets/72157625828438525/

On behalf of Wikimedians in Kansai, I'd appreciate everyone who helped
us to make happen.

Cheers,

--
KIZU Naoko / 木津尚子
member of Wikimedians in Kansai  / 関西ウィキメディアユーザ会 http://kansai.wikimedia.jp

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