(j3.2006) (SC22WG5.3444) 2008 WG5 in Japan?

[Malcolm Cohen]

To flog a dead horse that has already left the stable...

Bill Long said:
> I think the bean counters will complain about meetings in notoriously 
> expensive locations,

Japan is notoriously expensive?  Only if you stay in notoriously
expensive hotels and eat at the most notorious restaurants.

We stay in a cheap (and inexpensive) hotel in Las Vegas, but actually
inexpensive hotels are also available in Tokyo within reasonable
distance of the JIS meeting rooms (assuming we'd be meeting at the same
place as before).  Last time I looked (maybe a year or so ago) single
rooms were cheaper at one of the hotels than at the previous hotel
(Marriot?) in Las Vegas!  Whether that's still true or not, it's
certainly not necessary to pay big bucks for the privilege of a bed in
Tokyo.

> especially after the London meeting this year.  

Yes, London is expensive, particularly with the dollar so weak and the
pound so unnaturally strong (and little chance of the pound weakening
until the economy crashes again, the way it's being propped up by high
interest rates to keep inflation under check).

In fact IMNSHO London is far more expensive than Tokyo: public transport
costs have gone beyond ludicrous to obscene.

> However, if we can commit to all of 2009 and 2010 in Las Vegas, I 
> suspect I can argue this is an exceptional case.

Fortran is an international standard.  Las Vegas is not particularly
well-placed for international attendees.

WG5 should not be meeting in Las Vegas all the time, or even half the
time.  IMHO we should be having 2/3 of the meetings outside the US.

Cheers,
-- 
........................Malcolm Cohen (malcolm at nag-j.co.jp), Nihon NAG, Tokyo.