The Emily Dickinson International Society invites you to attend its upcoming international conference, “Emily Dickinson in Japan: Like Fabrics of the East,” to be held in Kyoto, Japan, August 3-5 2007. Kyoto, the former imperial capitol of Japan, is the home of many of Japan’s universities and colleges as well as Japan’s most beautiful temples, shrines, gardens, and historical sites. The conference theme takes advantage of our location: we will consider fabrics of language, fabrics of cultural exchange, fabrics of landscape and perspective, Dickinson’s reception in Japan, and Dickinson in cross-cultural poetics.

Other sessions will offer perspectives on topics ranging from “Dickinson and the Face of God” to Dickinson in contemporary video game design. At the conference’s opening reception and ceremony we will be welcomed by representatives of the American Embassy and the Mayor of Kyoto.

Conference Hotels: The Palace Side Hotel in Kyoto (http://www.palacesidehotel.co.jp) will be the primary conference hotel and the site of all meetings and sessions. Reservations may be made through May 31 via the hotel’s web site; please mention your affiliation with the EDIS conference. Rates, location, and other information follow:

The Palace Side Hotel (on Karasuma Avenue and near Marutamachi Station) Karasuma Shimodachiuri Agaru, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto, 602-8011 Japan http://www.palacesidehotel.co.jp Tel: +81-(0)75-415-8887; Fax: +81-(0)75-415-8889 Single room: ¥5,040 (15 rooms); Twin room: ¥8,400 (20 rooms)

JTB WesternCorp, an Osaka-based travel agency, will assist conference attendees with lodging at several other nearby Kyoto hotels which are located on the conference map. Kyoto will be crowded the weekend of August 3-5, so please make lodging arrangements early.

Rock Garden at Ryoanji Temple

Excursions: Cultural activities in and around Kyoto have been planned for the afternoon of Saturday, August 4. Conference-goers and their guests may choose to visit either the Headquarters of the Urasenke School of the Way of Tea, where they can see authentic tea rooms and the exhibition gallery and enjoy sweets and tea (limited to 50 participants), or Miidera Temple in Otsu, where Ernest Fenollosa is buried. The two groups will come together at Enryakuji Temple on Mt. Hiei, located between Kyoto and Otsu. A vegetarian supper at the temple will be followed by a visit to the Garden Museum of Hiei, which enjoys an evening view of Kyoto on one side and of Lake Biwa on the other. A cafeteria at the museum offers coffee, desserts, and light meals. Either bus tour will cost ¥9,000. JTB WesternCorp will be handling reservations for the excursions as well as for the satellite conference hotels.

Summer Evening on the Kamo River

Registration: The conference registration fee for EDIS members and for members of the Emily Dickinson Society of Japan will be $110.00; for nonmembers and late registrants (after June 15), $130.00.