From August 4th to 9th 2013 the International Geographic Union (IGU) will hold their 2013 Regional Conference at the International Conference Center in Kyoto. There, at the birthplace of the famous Kyoto Protocol, geographers from all over the world (theoretically – personally I expect a majority of fellows from Asia, hence the “Regional” in the conference name) will gather to discuss, exchange and network for 6 days. The theme of the conference is “Traditional Wisdom and Modern Knowledge for the Earth’s Future”, and what country could be better suited for this dialog between old and new than Japan, where this opposition can be observed everywhere and all the time.