From: "Ted White" <twhite8 at cox.net>
To: "WSFA members" <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: 2007 Worldcon
Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 18:17:42 -0400
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

----- Original Message -----
From: "dicconf" <dicconf at radix.net>
To: "WSFA members" <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 24, 2004 1:02 PM
Subject: [WSFA] Re: 2007 Worldcon

>
> On Mon, 23 Aug 2004, Ivy Yap wrote:
>
> > --- "Ted White" <twhite8 at cox.net> wrote:
> > <snipped fascinating first-hand account of battling to get Worldcon
overseas>
> > >>>>
> > So how about a Japanese Worldcon?  It has two strikes against it for
> > most Americans and Brits:  First, it's almost as far away -- and
> > expensive to get to -- as Australia.  And second, it's a distinctly
more
> > alien culture, non-English-speaking, and thus perceived by many as less
> > hospitable.  Plus (maybe strike three) it's a Damned Expensive country
> > -- at least in the cities where a Worldcon could be held.  Just one
> > strike might not be a problem, but two or more strikes are. <<<<
>
> Yes, it is a distinctly alien culture.  It's not just a few blips of
towns
> and cities set in the middle of a howling desert.

Most Americans of the mundane sort are uncomfortable in non-American
cultures.   (This is why American hotel chains make their foreign hotels
indistinguishable from their American hotels.  It allows tourists and
business people to find a reassuringly "American" home base on their
travels.)    There was a time when most fans Weren't Like That, but I think
that time has pretty well passed now, at least when we speak of the 8,000+
who attend US Worldcons.

--Ted White