ASCHT2011

The opening day of the ASCHT11 is approaching. All the participants are cordially welcomed to attend the symposium. Please find the final remarks on the schedule and arrangement.

To download a PDF file of access information, click here.

Yasuo Kawaguchi
Secretary general, ASCHT11

As the 22-26 Sep. is the best season for tourists who enjoy coloring of the trees in Kyoto. September 23rd is the national holoday. So the hotel rooms in Kyoto will be occupied soon. The organizing committee strongly recommend to reserve your hotel room as soon as possible.

There are few rooms available in the two hotels in the "Hotel reservation". We will close the registration site when all the rooms have been occupied.

Letter to ASCHT11 participants from President of Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO).
Please see also JNTO "Japan Now on Video".

National Tourist Administration of the People's Republic of China released information on May 30.

http://www.cnta.gov.cn/html/2011-5/2011-5-30-11-4-25951.html

The travelling in Japan has returned to normal in June. The news also states "The atmosphere radioactive level of Tokyo and other cities which are near to Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant is in the normal range. Radioactive level of other cities in Kansai, Hokkaido and Kyushu which are farther from nuclear leakage area is even lower."

We kindly invite you to upload the final version of your full paper, which is revised according to the reviewer(s)' comments before the deadline. The PDF file can be uploaded from the website. Please overwrite the existing one by a new version. The full papers will be included in a CD-ROM proceedings.

The due date of (i) the final full-paper submission (if needed), (ii) the one-page abstract submission (if needed), and (iii) the early-bird registration is July 31, 2011.

Note: The submitted abstracts (A4 format, 1 page) will be published in a "Book of Abstracts". If you want to renew your abstract, please also overwrite the existing PDF file of your abstract by a new version via the website. (Deadline: July 31, 2011)

Note: The presenting authors must be pre-registered for the conference. When your group submit three papers, three persons are requested to register. Without registration with full-payment of the registration fees, the authors may not be scheduled in the scientific program nor appeared in the program book and CD-ROM.

National Tourist Administration of the People's Republic of China released information on April 28.

http://www.cnta.gov.cn/html/2011-4/2011-4-29-17-30-82393.html

The last notice recommending refrain to travel to Japan (Mar. 15, 2011) has been relaxed. The information states "Currently, Japan starts the post-disaster reconstruction. Except for Fukushima area, social order and personal life have returned to normal in the majority of areas."

Kyoto locates at about 550km from Fukushima and experiences no effect from the nuclear plant accident. There is no travel restriction at all in Kyoto and Tokyo regions, and travel through Tokyo is also functioning as usual. ASCHT11 committee will pay constant attention to the evolution of the nuclear accident and keep you be informed.

ASCHT11 committee received over 185 abstracts from 13 countries. This is approximately the same size as the previous ASCHT09. So we are sure that the conference will be successful again. Thank you for your contribution. You are now requested to upload a pdf file of the full paper for the proceedings through the webpage by June 15th. Please prepare the manuscript according to the instructions found in the conference web site (see http://www.ascht2011.com/hp_paper.php).

You may have a particular concern to the Fukushima nuclear reactor accident. As it is now being recognized worldwide, the cooling procedures of the damaged reactors are now being established and the release rate of radioactive materials has been significantly reduced. Additional radiation by the nuclear accident is almost neglibible for almost all part of Japan except in the close vicinity of the reactor site. For more detailed information, please visit "Reading of environmental radioactivity level by prefecture" given on the website operated by MEXT, which gives the daily radiation level at major cities in Japan; Kyoto is No.26, Tokyo, 13, and Chiba (close to Narita airport), 12. The radiation level is within its normal background range except at Fukuoka. For the comparison, you may also look at the site in which the normal radiation level at major towns in China is presented.
(http://english.mep.gov.cn/News_service/news_release/201103/t20110318_207127.htm, where note that 1 μGy/hr is equivalent approximately to 1 μSv/hr in the MEXT table).

In addition, there is no travel restriction at all in Kyoto and Tokyo regions, and travel through Tokyo is also functioning as usual. So, we don’t find any difficulty for ASCHT11 to be held as planned in Kyoto, September 22-26, 2011. We regognize that the safety of symposium attendees is the overriding issue. We will pay constant attention to the evolution of the nuclear accident and keep you be informed.

The guidelines for preparation of full papers will be published in the week of April 10-16. If your abstract has been accepted, you will be notified by e-mail when the guidelines and templates are posted.

An earthquake with the magnitude of 9.0 occurred in Tohoku area of Japan on March 11, 2011. The chair and the secretary has been received a lot of warm message from attendees and advisory committee members. We all are shocked by this heavy disaster caused by earthquake and tsunami. Our hearts go out to victims in northern Japan and all those affected by this event.

We are carefully watching the development of the nuclear reactor accident. It is now under control and going to be stabilized soon. Effect of the radiation and radiative materials is limited only in the close vicinity of the reactors (within 20-30 km). So, we have now no concern on holding ASCHT11 in Kyoto. The symposium relating situation are as follows:

1. The site of the symposium, Kyoto is safe. The secretary office members are safe too.
2. The earthquake is calming down and an alert of tsunami has been called off.
3. We will proceed with the symposium as planned.

So, attendees are to proceed the registration and preparation of the travel. To date, we have received around 170 abstracts. Due to the request, we extended the deadline up to 31st March. The additional application of the abstract is very welcome.

With warm regards,

Hiroshi Kawamura,
ASCHT11 General Chair