Dear Participants of Protostars and Planets VII,
It is just one month before the start of the in-person meeting of PP7 on April 10. We have important announcements as follows:
– Schedule and Deadlines
– Payment of Registration and *Reception Fees
– Travel Information
– Invitation Letters and Visa
– COVID-19 Policy
– *Welcome Reception
– Program and Final List of Posters
– Poster Printing Service
– Childcare Services
– Local Tourism
– Attention to Scam E-mails
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[Schedule and Deadlines]
All dates are Japanese Standard Time (JST):
– March 15th: Childcare Reservation
– April 2nd: Reservation and Payment for Welcome Reception
*see below for welcome reception
– April 5th: Registration and Payment for PPVII Attendance
– April 10th: Start of PPVII meeting
[Payment of Registration and *Reception Fees]
All the participants MUST pay the registration fee online to attend the in-person meeting. The deadline for the payment of registration fee is April 5th, JST. Your registration will be canceled if you do not pay before the deadline. While the deadline is April 5th, we would greatly appreciate it if you could pay the fee as soon as possible so that we can estimate the number of the participants accurately.
We will also hold a welcome reception on the evening of April 10th (see below). This is optional and we collect the fee separately (5,000JPY per person).
To make payments, log on to the registration system, “AMARYS”, and follow the instructions.
https://amarys-jtb.jp/ppvii/
If you are not sure if you have registered before, do not start new registration but contact us at:
inquiry@ppvii.org
[Travel Information]
We provide the travel information from major international airports to the conference venue below.
http://ppvii.org/access-information/
Note that Japan still requires all travelers flying into Japan to be fully vaccinated (3 doses) or provide a negative PCR test result within 72 hours of the departure of the flight. For smooth travel, install the “Visit Japan Web” application on your smartphone and pre-register your travel information. Please see the government website below:
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/covid-19/bordercontrol.html
Also, we recommend that you make a hotel reservation as soon as possible, because it is a tourist season. You can find many options along the Subway Karasuma line between K07 Marutamachi station and K12 Kujo station. There are many hotel booking websites available:
– Agoda: https://www.agoda.com/
– Booking.com: https://www.booking.com/
– Expedia: https://www.expedia.com/
– Hotels.com: https://jp.hotels.com/en/
– Jalan: https://www.jalan.net/en/japan_hotels_ryokan/
– Rakuten Travel: https://travel.rakuten.com/
[Invitation Letters and Visa]
For those who need invitation letters and/or documents for visa application, read the instruction at:
http://ppvii.org/invitation-letters-and-visa-documents/index.html
and request through the Google Form (recommended) in the page or e-mail.
Visa-related inquiries should be directed to:
visa@ppvii.org
[COVID-19 Policy]
The Japanese government will largely relax the restriction due to COVID-19 soon. In particular, a new “Appropriate Mask Usage” policy will be introduced from March 13th. However, it is still categorized as a Category II Infectious Disease, which means the strong control is still in effect.
In order to protect all the participants and ensure smooth organization of the conference, we cordially request all the participants to follow our policy. Our reactions to COVID-19 are the following:
– The conference venue is GBAC STAR certified, and we are following the standard COVID-19 measures of Japan and the conference venue.
– We will provide a package of seven masks and a bottle of hand-sanitizer to all the participants. The masks are standard nonwoven fabric masks which satisfy the regulation in Japan, and we request all the participants to wear masks inside the conference venue.
– We will monitor the body temperature of participants at the entrance.
– We will ask participants who feel sick or show symptoms to self-isolate at the hotel and follow the COVID-19 regulation. Please report us immediately if you feel sick or you are tested positive. We will provide Zoom connections for those who are in self-quarantine.
For details, please take a look at our COVID-19 information page, which will be available soon. We will post information about clinics, pharmacies where you can get test kits, etc. Also, you can find more information on the government website: https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/covid-19/multilingual.html .
[*Welcome Reception]
We will hold a reception in the evening of the first day after the sessions. Light meals and beverages (beer, wine, soft drinks) are served.
Venue: Room “Swan” at Kyoto International Conference Center
Date & Time: Monday, April 10, 18:00-20:00 (after sessions)
Price: 5,000 JPY (tax included)
The original registration fee does not include reception, so we collect the reception fee separately. Participation is, of course, optional. The reservations and payments should be done by April 2 (JST) through the registration system. The cancellation on or after March 27 (JST) is non-refundable.
[Program and Final List of Posters]
The updated program is available at:
http://ppvii.org/program/index
In addition to the review talks, there will be a special session about the latest JWST results on Wednesday afternoon. Speakers are:
Ewine van Dishoeck, “Astrochemistry with JWST”
Thomas Henning, “Star and Planet Formation with JWST”
Charles Beichman, “Exoplanets with JWST”
And the final list of posters is available at:
http://ppvii.org/chapter/post
We have coordinated posters from six groups:
HKSFG: SF-02-1XXX
ALMAGAL: SF-05-2XXX
ALMA-IMF: SF-05-3XXX
Early Planet Formation in Embedded Disks (eDisk): PF-04-4XXX
The MIRI mid-INfrared Disk Survey (MINDS): PF-04-5XXX
NOMADS: ES-03-6XXX
[Poster Printing Service] (Updated Mar. 24)
We will provide an optional poster printing service through a private company (Kinko’s), which will print your poster and bring it to the conference venue for a fee (about 100USD/100EUR). We will let you know the details when the service is ready. For more information, please see this updated post.
[Childcare Services]
Deadline for the reservation of childcare services is March 15th JST. The fee for childcare is 10,000 JPY per family per day (and half-day prices are available). Reservations can be done through:
https://forms.gle/5uttYKf9gq87
You will receive announcements regarding payment after you make reservations.
[Local Tourism]
There is no excursion, but we will have a travel information desk at the conference site.
In addition, here are some useful links for sightseeing.
*SUNRISE TOURS JTB:
– Sunrise Tours offers a wide range of tours featuring approximately 400 courses with a focus on recommended popular destinations in Japan for people of all ages who enjoy seeing the sights, experiencing culture, and being amidst nature.
https://www.sunrise-tours.jp/e
*Sharing Kyoto:
– A sightseeing website offering unique cultural experiences in Kyoto. Restaurant reservation service is available!
https://sharing-kyoto.com/
– A local concierge will propose a unique and original Kyoto experience just for you. Tours of Wagyu beef and Kaiseki restaurants are out of reach for travelers!
https://sharing-kyoto-cp.com/l
[Attention to Scam E-mails]
There are many phishing attempts reported in other conferences. We do not arrange accommodations for participants, and all the communications should be sent from the organizing committee or JTB (the travel agency operating the registration system) by emails, or posted on Mattermost. Please be aware of scam attempts, and do not respond to such emails. If you receive a suspicious or questionable email, please report it to us at inquiry@ppvii.org.
We are looking forward to seeing you in Kyoto.
Best wishes,
Shu-ichiro Inutsuka, on behalf of PP7 organizers