Message from Professor Shunji Murai

Shunji Murai General Secretary Asian Association on Remote Sensing

It is my great pleasure to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Asian Conference on Remote Sensing (ACRS), here in Hong Kong, China in 1999. On behalf of the Asian Association on Remote Sensing as well as one of the founders of the first ACRS held in Bangkok, Thailand in 1980, I would like to share the gratitude to be able to continue our own conference by Asian, for Asian and with Asian. Now we have become an adult, from a teenager, who should have a duty to be independent truly with our own discipline and spirit.

Very fortunately the sprit of the ACRS came from "Asian friendship" from the start. Our duty at the 20th anniversary is not to forget the origin of the ACRS and to continue and promote the spirit. In this sense, I feel very happy to be able to publish the memorial book on the ACRSs.

It was not easy for the ACRS to survive for these twenty years. Firstly, we did not and do not have any subsidy nor fund to support the ACRSs except the fund of the host, the income from inexpensive registration fee and commercial exhibitions and the special support of Japan Association of Remote Sensing (JARS) for the publication of the proceedings every year.

Secondly, I received many criticisms, say, the poor quality of presented papers, the poor English presentations, the poor information etc. at the beginning, but now I am not receiving many criticisms. I am sure that the ACRS has progressed remarkably in these twenty years in the quality of presentation as well as in the management.

Thirdly, the secretariat was and is just a small volunteer team, that is only Ms. Chiwako Fujino and myself plus some students of Murai Laboratory, Institute of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo. Fortunately we have now special knowhows to manage the organization of the ACRS every year with this minimum team of supporters.

I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the ACRS hosts, the AARS members, the Japan Association of Remote Sensing, the United Nations ESCAP, and many other colleagues and friends not only from Asia but also from Europe and North America for their kind support to the ACRSs and to the General Secretary.

On this special occasion, I would like to wish all the best and the long life of the Asian Conference on Remote Sensing.