June 2, 2007 - Rotary Annual Seminar in Tokyo - Part 1

As part of our Rotary World Peace Fellowship requirement we must participate in a final seminar in Tokyo during which we give some information about our experience as a Peace Fellows in Japan, often involving a discussion of our thesis research and conclusions. The program lasted about half a day and I presented about half-way through the program.

In the middle of my 20 minute presentation what seemed (to me) like a strong breeze swept through the room disrupting the powerpoint screen and causing a bit of a ruckus. I passed off the incident with a silly side comment and kept on moving in my presentation. Only afterward did I realized the air conditioning was on and all the windows in the room were closed. My colleagues informed me that it wasn't a breeze at all but an earthquake! Yes, ladies and gents my research has shaken the world ;-). After the seminar I did a google search and found out it was a 4.6 level quake - not small potatoes! Here is a pic of my presentation.














Thankfully, I got out of the presentation alive (and so did everyone else, I think ;-) but nearly got trapped in quick sand during the Q & A with a bizarro question from an attending Rotarian who asked me how my research on transboundary protected areas could be implemented to resolve the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Since my research was focusing on a project in SE Asia I didn't have too much to say but gave it my best shot...I was glad the Q & A was only 20 minutes though! This is the Q & A session which was moderated by my dear Thai colleague Pop.