U.S.–Japan Conference on Haiku Poetry, 1987—San Francisco
The first large-scale meeting of haiku poets from Japan and the United States took place in San Francisco in 1987 under the auspices of Japan Airlines and the Association of Japanese Haiku Poets. About 160 American and 40 Japanese poets attended. Presentations were made by Americans Makoto Ueda, Jerry T. Ball, Garry Gay, and Tom Tico, and by Japanese Kin’ichi Sawaki, Shigeru Ekuni, and Yoshiko Yoshino.