Rescheduling/relocation of the ICHL XX NOT considered at this point

[KIKUSAWA, Ritsuko]

Dear Colleagues,

I'm sending out this note in response to several inquiries we have
recently received about possible relocation or rescheduling of the
conference. Osaka has been little affected by the earthquake, tsunami,
or radioactivity, and the local Organizing Committee (who are all
living a normal life in Osaka, travelling periodically to Tokyo,
trying to do what we can do for those who live in affected areas) see
no necessity of considering the relocation or rescheduling of the
conference for the moment.  

However, we have decided to extend the early registration deadline by
one month despite the disadvantages that will result in the organizing
procedure. The decision was made considering the responses of foreign
governments and universities that have advised their
citizens/employees not to visit Japan. This is a precautionary
measure, however, it makes it impossible for some people to officially
register for the conference. We should probably note here that some
countries have decided to temporarily move their embassies away from
the Tokyo area, and have chosen Osaka as their relocation site,
apparently considering that this city is unlikely to be affected by
the problems in the north.

The Japanese population, including us, are carefully monitoring the
situation for any developments that may affect us. We know also that
our conference is still four months away and any problems that may
arise in the near future should be well taken care of before then. 

I thank you again for the messages with supports and encouragements we
have continuously been receiving since the incident. I hope all of you
for now join us as we calmly watch how the situation with the nuclear
plants develops (or rather, improves) in the next few weeks. And
again, I would like to express my sincere condolences for those who
live in the affected areas. 

KIKUSAWA Ritsuko
Director, ICHL20 Organizing Committee

│ It is just over 600 km between Fukushima and Osaka as the crow
flies. 

│ For those who are interested, the reading of environmental
radioactivity levels is available in English at the following website
of the Japanese Ministry of Education:  
http://www.mext.go.jp/english/radioactivity_level/detail/1303986.htm
(Listed by prefectures; organized from the north to the south)


=================================================
KIKUSAWA Ritsuko Ph.D.
National Museum of Ethnology, Japan
The Graduate University for Advanced Studies
ritsuko at minpaku.ac.jp

The 20th International Conference on Historical Linguistics,
to be held for the first time in Asia in July 2011. 
See http://www.ichl2011.com/
=================================================

_______________________________________________
Histling-l mailing list
Histling-l at mailman.rice.edu
https://mailman.rice.edu/mailman/listinfo/histling-l