Rice Blast : Springer : 9781402012280 : 1402012284 : 27 Sep 2004 : For the researchers of rice blast disease and plant blast resistances, IRBC is an important chance to exchange information and discussion on rice blast, which has been a rather minor topic on international plant pathological meetings. Especially for those in Asia, where the blast is one the most important agricultural concerns, IRBC was a unique opportunity to discuss on rice blast with scientists in the West, in where it is achieving the positions of a model pathogen and a model system to study plant microbe interactions. However, I and probably many of Japanese blast researchers have felt an accumulated frustration that, in world plant pathological conferences, the information presented from Asia is only a small fraction although they have much more information that may be valuable for world plant pathologists and resistance researchers. I have noticed also some concept gaps between the researchers in East and West, p