Statement From Tomoki Kodama
Since I was a little boy, I've loved reading books. Then I came across a book called “Captain Future:The Lost World of Time" translated by Akihiro Noda. This particular book fascinated me very much and motivated me to buy a book by myself for the first time in my life.
It brought me to the wonderful world of Science Fiction and nearly thirty years later, it lead me to Nippon2007, the first Worldcon in Asia.
The Worldcon was full of new and exciting experiences. Beyond exploring the differences of nationalities, ages, languages, and the sorts of genres that they love, we all enjoyed meeting, watching,
listening, drinking and talking with each other. You can not get this kind of fun if you are just reading SF novels.
We can share this wonderful experience with more and more people, even the more shy SF fans. And also we hope to expose the enchantments of Science Fiction to the younger generation. With the international exchange at Nippon 2007, we made the first step to larger world.
Today, we can enjoy different genres of SF works in many different languages. In Japan,we now have easy access to many kinds of foreign SF works, and so as overseas SF fans as well.
Some of the younger generation enjoy a work without being aware of it belongs to Science Fiction. If so, it might be very difficult for them to have deep understanding of its cultural background.
But when fans meet together and discuss works and writers, then they may develop a new point of view. In this exchange, young SF fans will benefit from the older fans' wealth of knowledge.
Through this discussion, SF fans around the world can deepen their understanding of SF from different cultures, and also can promote better understanding among peoples. We want to hold an international SF convention where we can share the joys of contacting with new SF contents across borders, languages and age boundaries. Through the con, we also try to increase the number of younger SF fans who respect differences in values.
With these goals, we launch HAL-CON. We hope that you will enjoy the diverse values it promotes.
Nippon 2007 was a successful worldcon, the first held in Asia. Because of its success there is a strong desire to hold another one in some years time. However, not everything at Nippon 2007 was perfect and we wish to work to improve the next worldcon in Japan. At the same time we wish to bring Japanese and foreign fans (those living in Japan and those willing to travel to Japan) together more often than once a decade. One of the things that was less than perfect at Nippon 2007 was the ability of Japanese and foreign fans to mix, both socially and within the formal program. So, we have decided to run a regular international convention in Tokyo with a bi-lingual format and both Japanese and foreign guests with the aim of mixing Japanese and foreign fans, and of providing information about Japanese SF to those from abroad, and foreign SF to the Japanese.
To avoid clashing with the Japanese National Convention (which we have no desire to compete with nor undermine) we have scheduled our event in the Spring. This also gives the benefit that Spring is a great time for visiting Japan, with clement weather and the good chance to see the cherry blossoms bloom.
Our goal is to run a small convention along the lines of Worldcon, with a dealer room, art show (and auction), social mixing space and a bi-lingual program. Conventions, though, are about the members, not the committee. Please consider getting involved beyond just attending the convention.
Suggestions for program items are welcome (though time and space are limited so we won't be able to necessarily use every idea). In this way we hope to lay the groundwork for an even more successful worldcon in Japan, while having a lot of fun along the way. We hope you will join us at Hal-Con.