In May, 2010, the inter-congress meeting of the INQUA International focus group on tephrochronology and volcanism (INTAV) was held in Kirishima City, southern Kyushu, Japan. INTAV was formed in 2007 at the International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA) congress held in Cairns. It replaced SCOTAV (Sub-commission on tephrochronology and volcanism), COT (Commission on tephrochronology), and earlier tephrarelated research groups dating back to the 1960s. Previous meetings of the group in the past two decades were held in the Yukon Territory, Canada (2005), France (1998), New Zealand (1994), and USA (1990). The venue for the 2010 meeting was the main hall of the Kokobu Civic Centre in Kirishima City, which was very generously provided free of charge by the Kirishima authorities in return partly for the delivery of two public lectures, one by David Lowe (“Connecting with our past: using tephras and archaeology to date the Polynesian settlement of Aotearoa/New Zealand”) and the other by Hiroshi Machida (“Widespread tephras originating from Kagoshima occurring in northeast Asia and adjacent seas”), on Sunday 9 May. Participants were treated to a personal welcome by the Mayor of Kirishima City, Shuji Maeda, followed by what appeared to be a very special (and delicious) banquet. However, this spread turned out to be standard lunch and dinner fare provided by the centre’s cafeteria and was enjoyed by participants throughout the meeting.