It is a great pleasure for us to announce that the Microwave Workshops and Exhibition (MWE 2004) will be held over a three day period from Wednesday 10th through Friday 12th November 2004, at the exhibition halls in Pacifico Yokohama, Yokohama, Japan.

MWE is the only comprehensive exhibition in this field to be held in Japan - covering technology, industries and education related to microwave. It offers overviews of the state of the art and future visions of microwave by forefront researchers, as well as providing fundamental education for engineers. The theme of MWE 2004 is "From Ubiquitous Devices beyond Global Communications", covering both the present and near future aspects of microwave technology which is becoming more and more involved in social systems and economic activities.

At the opening ceremony, we have two keynote speeches by leading persons in electronic industry.
First, Mr. Naoki Tokitsu (Secretary General of Internet ITS Consortium) will address the strong relation between microwave communication technology and transport systems which demand increasingly more information and intelligence. The second speech by Mr. Minoru Kuramoto (Executive Vice President of Panasonic Mobile Communications Co., Ltd.) will be a talk on the technology and the service of the mobile communication evolving rapidly into IP, Broad Band and Ubiquitous system.

More than 350 companies, from both Japan and overseas, and over 30 universities and colleges are scheduled to participate in MWE 2004 where they will exhibit new products, technologies, and research activities. Historical and system exhibitions are expected to show the big current trends of microwave technology and its contributions to social infrastructure. The product presentations at the seminars of participating companies are highly valued by both field engineers and exhibitors.

The MWE has been held annually since 1991, and is affiliated with the APMC (Asia-Pacific Microwave Conference) which is held every four years in Japan. During these years, the precious opinions of many people have contributed to the development of MWE. With your ongoing understanding and cooperation, we will continue to contribute to the development of industry and technology, and to foster young researchers and engineers, by organizing workshops and exhibitions as meeting places for new technology and new industry, meeting the demands of the day.

In closing, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to everyone who supports us in organizing MWE 2004.

Yohei Ishikawa Chairman, MWE 2004 Steering Committee (Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.)