July　7, 2003

July　6, 2003

With the support of the Conferece Commitee members and volunteer　members,
we are sending our information from Hyogo to the world. Our Awaji　Conference Homepage is trying to unite people with people, from heart to heart,　functioning with multi-media.

http://2003japan.jp/eng/index.html

Please look at these webpages and if you have any comment, please inform us
about your ideas and opinions.

We'd like to introduce you this webpage " Our Wish"2003 Conference
Theme Song.

http://2003japan.jp/negai/

Mr. Vincent Chang organized Taiwanese students who cannot come to Japan
unfortunately, but   sang this song in Chinese with the wish for peace and for Awaji　Conference. We can see individual student's face clearly and can feel everyone's sincere wish.
We woud like to see them through the Video Conference between Awaji and
Taiwan, and want to thank them.

　Please pay attention to this " Our Wish" project with 12 language
versions so far.

Best regards,
  
Kazuko Okamoto （ Public Relations Department）

Dear Participants,

Have you Registered ? Paid ? Reconfirmed ?  Got Visa ?
Got Participation Confirmation from us ?

We are going to tell you "How you get to AWAJI Yume Butai (AYB)"

◇From Kansai Int'l Airport (KIX)

* When you arrive, there is a special room for you to rest.
   After you show us your "Participation Confirmation",
   you will  take  a free shuttle bus of YOUR HOTEL
    (Washington Hotel or ones near the airport)

* There is JEARN BUS on July 21st Monday Japan time
    from Washington Hotel to AYB.

* The BUS takes you to the conference site for your registration
9:00 - 12:00 in the morning and at 13:00 opening ceremony.
It will take about 90 minutes to two hours from Washington Hotel to
the conference site by the bus.

◇From Narita International Airport, Tokyo.

* There are two ways:

1. Fly to Osaka Int'l Airport in Itami city, we will take you to the hotels
in Sannomiya area.
    On 21st morning, there is a bus to take you to AYB on time.

2. Go to JR Tokyo station and take Shinkansen Train to Shin Kobe, we will
take you to the hotels in
     Sannomiya area.   On 21st morning, there is a bus to take you to AYB on time.

The access map at Venue,
http://2003japan.jp/eng/
http://www.yumebutai.org/conf_e/
http://www.awaji-navi.jp/en/access.htm
  will help you where you are.

Hotels you are staying are mostly in AWAJI Inland.  Hotel matching will be
done in the first
week of July with your reconfirmations. Please send us your reconfirmation
as soon as possible.

 Sincerely yours,  Yoko Takagi

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　  JEARN Executive Director Yoko Takagi

Dear participants of 2003 iEARN Internatinal Conference
and Youth Summit from "abroad",

Thank  you for your registration for the 2003 iEARN International Conference
and Youth Summit in Japan.

We have to announce you that the Conference and Youth Summit's
Site,  Schedule and Program are changed  because of Sanda city's
official statement on 12th of June. Either postpone or cancellation in
Sanda city.

Since last month, we had been trying hard to hold this event in Sanda
under the strict conditions in order to overcome  SARS problem,
but the miracle didn't happen. Since we see no possibility of postpone,
we had to find some other site instead.

Fortunately, we found an alternative site in the Province near Kobe
that can accommodate the conference and residence requirements
around the conference site with Hyogo Prefectural cooperation.

The new site is Awaji Yumebutai International Conference Center
(http://www.yumebutai.org/conf_e/index.html) in Hyogo prefecture.
with this schedule below.

DATE: July 20- July 26

20th  Arrive and rest at a hotel
21th  Registration and Opening Ceremony
22nd  full day for Presentation, Work Shop,  Poster Session etc
23rd　full day for Presentation, Work Shop,  Poster Session etc
24th  full day for Presentation, Work Shop,  Poster Session etc
25th  Closing Ceremony and last night
26th  Check out and optional tour

The local event on 23rd and Home stay program are cancelled.
We will assist those of scholarship participants' 26th night payment
if you have already got the airplane ticket leaving on 27th
besides you had applied to "26 night home stay program" before.

Those who want to make an optional tour, it is possible on 26th.
You can even start 25th after the closing ceremony
"one and half day trip" to Awaji, Hiroshima, Kyoto, Nara, Osaka etc.

There is no formal Big Dinner this year, but four dinners are
at Westin Awaji Island Hotel next to the conference site:
  http://www.starwood.com/westin/index.html

Since the conference center was designed by Tadao Ando, an
architecture, there are lots of lovely walls, spaces, and spots
where your creative power will be stimulated.

As we informed before, SARS drops us heavy burdens and restrictions.
It is tremendous work to change iEARN Conference site and all residence
just one month before. Everything is delayed and often cause your frustration.
Everything is higher cost than Sanda and we need to find more financial aids.
We are going to explain our SARS policy soon.
Under this circumstance, we thank you for your patience and
collaboration to make iEARN Conference together.

More information will be ready very soon.
We will reconfirm each of your attendance and make contact you by mail.
Regarding VISA process, if you have got already VISA, you can use it
without any changes.

We are very very sorry to the same iEARN friends
who have to stay at their countries because of SARS.
We really hope your countries will be off out of the list of WHO quickly as
possible:
http://www.who.int/csr/sars/areas/2003_06_20/en/

Friends:

Awaji is a largest island in Japan near Kobe surrounded Seto Uchi Sea,
suspended by
pure long white bridge. "Yume" is dream, "Butai " is theater stage in Japanese.

We will focus on every  detail with all our time and energy to welcome you at
this new stage.                                          from All Japan staff

 Today we will reach the　final decision.

.  We will catch up our delayed works with our full staff and effort. Thank you for your patience. Please keep your eyes on to the conference.
Best regards, Yoko　　　　　　　　　　　　

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　JEARN Executive Director Yoko Takagi

.....................................................................................................................................

Dear iEARN Friends,

  We know that you are busily preparing to come to Japan for the iEARN
  Conference.  We are very eager to meet each of you in July.  We are
  very sorry that we have not responded to your questions promptly,
particularly in the last several days.

  Please listen, dear friends, this is a very important announcement
  from us, the host of iEARN Conference this year.

  As all of us know, we are facing the fear of SARS and suffering its
  effect in various ways all around the world.

  In Japan, there was news that one traveler from abroad, who was
  affected by SARS, traveled in the part of Japan where the conference
  will be held.  Although not even one person was infected in Japan,
  this incident resulted in significant fear among the population.
  More than two thousand people had health checks, a few hundred people
  were isolated for 10 days, and uncountable shops and hotels suffered
　from severe economical damages as people were afraid to visit this
　area.

  This became a big issue in Japan, particularly in this region.
  Because of this incident, there have been requests from local
  citizens to the Sanda city government to postpone or cancel the
  conference.  As has been shown in the case of Toronto,  it is clear
  that SARS is not necessarily a type of epidemic disease to come to a
  complete stop, JEARN,  the Sanda city government, Kwansei Gakuin
  university and the Hyogo prefectural government have continued
  negotiation in order to hold the conference in a safe and secure
  environment and manner.

  In conversations with local Sanda and Prefectural officials, we have
  identified the following three options that we are exploring.
  1. Option 1: To respect local Japanese concerns, we hold the
  conference under the condition that:
       * No participants from any countries which are on the list of  A,
　　　　B, C regions as
         designated by the World Health Organization (WHO)
         http://www.who.int/csr/sars/areas/en/
      * No participants who come to Japan will travel via  any airports in　the
         listed A, B, C countries
      * While in Japan, participants will follow practices to build an
　　　awareness　and alertness for a SARS outbreak among participants.

  2. Option 2:  We find an alternative site in the Province outside of
  Sanda that can accommodate the conference and residence requirements.

  3. (Worst case scenario): the  iEARN Conference will be cancelled if:
       * Japan is on the list of World Health Organziation (WHO) because
　　　 an unlikely outbreak of SARS in Japan.
      * Hyogo Anti-SARS Office is set up and asks us to cancel due to
　　　 local fear and concern
       * iEARN Conference Organizer Committee decides to cancel.

  As for the A,B,C countries staying in their own countries because of
　SARS reasons:   We will maintain close communication and share
  presentations and events during the conference week through video
  conferencing linked between those countries and the conference site.

  We are very sorry to announce these strict conditions which are so
  different from what we first planned, and which are so different from
  previous years in which iEARN welcomed everyone who wanted to come
  with hugs. Please understand this difficult situation for us as
  conference hosts.  We have suffered through many, many meetings, as
  well as headaches, stomach-aches, tears, and anger toward the
  unexpected SARS outbreak. We sincerely hope that all of iEARN members
  understand the conditions. Although the numbers of staff are limited,
  we also will do our very best.  We know that the conditions are not
  fit the iEARN policy. However, we are working to identify the minimum
  limitations to at least be able to hold the iEARN Conference in
  Japan.  We need your full support to hold the conference in Japan by
  overcoming this unexpected problem of SARS.

  Sincerely yours,  Yoko Takagi

  JEARN Executive Director Yoko Takagi