Now inbound travel manager in Tokyo at the Japanese travel agency TRAVEL STAND JAPAN

Since Monday 09 December 2013, I work at the Travel Stand Japan travel agency in 東京 (Tokyo), happily managing the "inbound" business (services for foreign tourists in Japan). I notably analyse the inbound market, propose strategies, investigate special destinations and experiences, establish partnerships, inform travellers, propose selected activities and tours, plan and sell personalized trips, make reservations, translate, advertise, and promote Japan and the Japanese culture abroad.

Being a travel agent here should help me (1) better know Japan and its tourism industry, (2) prepare my 1-year tour around Japan, and (3) make a better world. I will hopefully get foreigners and Japanese to share their best, empower local businesses needing linguistic/cultural support, and channel holiday trips in Japan towards ecotourism and spiritual tourism. To increase my chances, I am already preparing the exam to become a Licensed Interpreter Guide in Japan...

I love the friendly ambiance of Travel Stand Japan, discuss mainly in Japanese with my 3 nice Japanese colleagues and with our partners, speak English and French with our customers (no Korean or Spanish yet), and enjoy the project! Moreover, I can reach the travel agency from home by subway and on foot in 50 minutes, normally work from 09:30 to 18:30 on weekdays, have weekends and Japanese national holidays off, and can buy delicious lunch boxes at the closest convenience store for only 390 yens :)

If you (or acquaintances) plan a trip in Japan or multi-country travel in Asia, ask me for advice/proposals based on my interests, connexions and unique experiences in Japan! Residents and travellers wishing to volunteer in Fukushima/Tohoku are also welcome :)

---

I love Japan. You too? Follow @InnerJapan on Twitter!

---

Publication #23 - Human Universality in Ubiquitous Computing: Maslow, Where Are You?

My 7-pages paper "Human Universality in Ubiquitous Computing: Maslow, Where Are You?" written with HOAREAU Christian and 橋爪宏達 (HASHIZUME Hiromichi) was published at the 5^th International Conference on Embedded and Ubiquitous Computing the 19 December 2008 (see post on EUC 2008).

Abstract: Too narrow, the productivity-oriented vision guiding ubiquitous computing should be replaced or enriched with humanistic aspects. We discuss the role of Maslow's hierarchy of needs in the creation and adoption of smart spaces, robots and wearable computers worldwide to provide elements for alternative visions of ubiquity. We show that current ubiquitous systems are stratified at the lowest levels of the hierarchy. Based on interviews, questionnaires and experiments, we highlight a positive correlation between the hierarchy of needs and the general public's perception and possible adoption of services. Finally, we discuss implications of these results, and notably the importance of creating humanistic frameworks, services and environments.

Publication: <http://horizons.free.fr/home/documents/publications/2008-12-19_cn_euc_maslow-ubicomp-where.pdf>

Co-author 1: HOAREAU Christian is a Ph.D. student in information science at 総合研究大学院大学 (Sokendai, Japan).

Co-author 2: 橋爪宏達 (HASHIZUME Hiromichi) obtained his Ph.D. of engineering in Japan from the electric engineering section of 東京大学 (University of Tokyo). He is currently professor at 国立情報学研究所 (National Institute of Informatics) in 東京 (Tokyo, Japan).

5th International Conference on Embedded and Ubiquitous Computing in 上海 (Shanghai, China), 17-20 December 2008

上海交通大学 (Shanghai Jiao Tong University) organized the 5^th International Conference on Embedded and Ubiquitous Computing in 上海 (Shanghai, China) on 17-20 December 2008. My talk "Human Universality in Ubiquitous Computing: Maslow, Where Are You?" occurred during the Context-aware Computing session.

I was motived by a room full of researchers for my 20-minutes talk. The audience was receptive, and an attendee even said that designing meaningful services for the general public (a core aspect of my presentation) was the most important problem of the moment; a heartening comment.

Reacting to my statement that context-awareness may fail like strong artificial intelligence during the 20^th century, a sharp Singaporean researcher argued about the potential of context-awareness; actually we agreed: context-awareness should prove useful but maybe not as much as initially envisioned and promised. He pertinently deplored that designers of good sensors are not involved in developing the intelligence of these sensors; I added that e.g. psychologists and sociologists could greatly help design fully integrated sensing systems.

Reacting to my statement that lack of interest in human needs hampers ubiquitous computing, another attendee indicated from experience in diabetes support that business models also lack; an element I will think about.

Finally, an attendee inquired about studies on cellular phones. I replied that I knew only one currently interesting study, which demonstrated a gap between planned and actual uses of first cell-phones. My results may similarly fail to represent requests of users when ubiquity spreads, but may suggest pertinent future services, help specialists consider neglected aspects of their work, and provide hints to designers.

Read the post "Publication #23" for details about the publication.

The conference was satisfactory, and participants were present and active; I will consider joining again in 2009 and 2010. Dining with dear Chinese friends, I missed the evening events organized by the conference committee but heard they were great.

Publication #22 - Age in Ubiquitous Computing: a Thin Thread

My 7-pages paper "Age in Ubiquitous Computing: a Thin Thread" written with HOAREAU Christian and 橋爪宏達 (HASHIZUME Hiromichi) was published at the 3^nd International Conference on Convergence and Hybrid Information Technology the 13 November 2008 (see post on ICCIT 2008).

Abstract: Ubiquitous computing can significantly improve the general public's quality of life worldwide from birth to old age because it allows monitoring, awareness and support in many environments thanks to sensors, actuators, remote connections, and dedicated knowledge bases. However, ageing influences its usefulness and appropriateness due to growth and decline as well as changes in activities and uses of technology. We discuss potential dedicated services with smart spaces and wearable computers based on the cognitive, physical, physiological, and sensory characteristics of young people and older adults. Our main contribution is to show that existing services support few age-specific needs, and that designs miss age-appropriate techniques, taking into account the whole life span with personal, public and shared systems.

Publication: <http://horizons.free.fr/home/documents/publications/2008-11-13_kr_iccit_age-ubicomp-thread.pdf>

Co-author 1: HOAREAU Christian is a Ph.D. student in information science at 総合研究大学院大学 (Sokendai, Japan).

Co-author 2: 橋爪宏達 (HASHIZUME Hiromichi) obtained his Ph.D. of engineering in Japan from the electric engineering section of 東京大学 (University of Tokyo). He is currently professor at 国立情報学研究所 (National Institute of Informatics) in 東京 (Tokyo, Japan).

3nd International Conference on Convergence and Hybrid Information Technology in 부산 (Busan, South Korea), 11-13 November 2008

The Advanced Institute of Convergence Information Technology (AICIT) organized the 3^nd International Conference on Convergence and Hybrid Information Technology in 부산 (Busan, South Korea) on 11-13 November 2008. My talk "Age in Ubiquitous Computing: a Thin Thread" occurred during the New Trends of Information Sciences and Services workshop, which I chaired.

I extended my 15-minutes talk as several speakers were missing, and got numerous general questions about children. Read the post "Publication #22" for details about the publication.

The conference was disappointing because most sessions featured unrelated topics and because numerous speakers were missing; I hope that the organizers will more thoroughly select and group the papers next time. As usual in South Korea, the buffets were excellent; the nearby 해운대 (Haeundae) beach was beautiful and relaxing.

Publication #21 - ユビキタス社会における、快適かつ能率的な操作の為の個人プロファイルの設立:一般人の意見?

My 4-pages paper "ユビキタス社会における、快適かつ能率的な操作の為の個人プロファイルの設立:一般人の意見?" ("Creation of Personal Profiles for Comfortable and Efficient Interactions in U-Societies: Laymen’s Views?") written with HOAREAU Christian, AUSTERMANN Anja, and 橋爪宏達 (HASHIZUME Hiromichi) was published at the 日本バーチャルリアリティ学会第13回大会 (13^th annual conference of the Virtual Reality Society of Japan) the 24 September 2008 (see post on VRSJ大会 2008).

Abstract: We introduce laymen's views on individual profiles to improve ubiquitous environments as well as interactions between humans and personal, shared or public systems. We evoke knowledge sufficient to create profiles based on physical and mental abilities. Using questionnaires and interviews, we highlight problems experienced by the general public then indicate its perception of usefulness and risks for oneself and one's family, as well as wishes for services and situations. We briefly discuss the creation, updates and exploitation of profiles, privacy and trust, and perspectives for future social investigations.

Publication: <http://horizons.free.fr/home/documents/publications/2008-09-24_vrsj-taikai_profiles-laymen-views.pdf>

Co-author 1: HOAREAU Christian is a Ph.D. student in information science at 総合研究大学院大学 (Sokendai, Japan).

Co-author 2: AUSTERMANN Anja is a Ph.D. student in information science at 総合研究大学院大学 (Sokendai, Japan).

Co-author 3: 橋爪宏達 (HASHIZUME Hiromichi) obtained his Ph.D. of engineering in Japan from the electric engineering section of 東京大学 (University of Tokyo). He is currently professor at 国立情報学研究所 (National Institute of Informatics) in 東京 (Tokyo, Japan).

日本バーチャルリアリティ学会第13回大会 (13th Virtual Reality Society of Japan Annual Conference) in 奈良 (Nara, Japan), 24-26 September 2008

The 日本バーチャルリアリティ学会 (Virtual Reality Society of Japan) organized its 13^th annual conference in 奈良 (Nara, Japan) on 24-26 September 2008. My talk "ユビキタス社会における、快適かつ能率的な操作の為の個人プロファイルの設立:一般人の意見?" ("Creation of Personal Profiles for Comfortable and Efficient Interactions in U-Societies: Laymen’s Views?") occurred during the first session on wearable computing.

After my 10-minutes talk, an attendee asked me whether we consider levels in personal profiles. "Levels of description" going from vague to precise would help deal with more or less trusted services; "levels of abilities" would help deal with variations of abilities due to e.g. chronic diseases. We should consider both types of levels in future works.

Then a manager from NTT Docomo asked why we include cognitive information in profiles. To answer, I took children as an example: children understand relationships between objects differently from adults; groupings of menu items meaningful for adults may be inappropriate for children. Thus, knowing the cognitive characteristics of a user enables a smart space to dynamically select an appropriate visual interface for a child versus an adult, and to modify it when the child's abilities change with age.

Finally, the chairman asked me how we can protect information that a user wants to hide when a game system evaluates abilities for profiles. During my talk I had proposed to build and update personal profiles using games so that the process is transparent and fun to users; I had also indicated that people may easily share perceptual information for profiles but not cognitive information. The chairman thus asked me how to link those two elements. Users cannot know what a game evaluates unless it is open source. A solution is for the game to provide a file describing abilities (ideally in an international standard) only to the user, who can then remove unwanted elements before providing it to services.

Read the post "Publication #21" for details about the publication. An English version is being prepared.

The conference went on finely and I could benefit from a visit of 国際電気通信基礎技術研究所 (Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International aka ATR), where I was impressed by the Geminoid of 石黒・浩 (ISHIGURO Hiroshi).