ISPGR Conference

June 18-22, 2011, Akita - Japan 

Dear ISPGR members,

As I'm sure you are now aware, in March of this year we had an unprecedented disaster caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent tremendous tidal wave in cities along the north east coast, facing Pacific Ocean. Nearly thirty thousand people have lost their lives (including missing people) mostly due to the tsunami. This also brought about a serious problem with the nuclear power plant in Fukushima. Many countries are very concerned about radiation, although this problem is limited to the area near the plant (30km radius). Japanese and foreign specialists are doing everything they can to control this problem. All efforts are being made, day and night, to reach a stable condition. It may take time to attain this level. 

Such being the case, ISPGR board members had several telephone conferences to discuss the problem, and ran a poll to ascertain each participant’s willingness to attend this meeting in June. It turned out that two-thirds of the participants were reluctant to attend under this condition, even though everything was lined up to move forward with the meeting.

Based on careful deliberation on this matter, we have come to a conclusion that the Akita meeting should be postponed for two years, until 2013, as recently addressed by ISPGR president Bas Bloem. Accordingly, it is with deepest regret that we inform you we are unable to carry out the ISPGR Akita meeting as it was scheduled for 2011. 

I hope that the 2013 ISPGR Conference, which will hopefully be a conjoined meeting of the ISPGR and Gait and Mental Function group, will become the most fruitful and exciting meeting thus far. Thank you for your understanding of this situation. Your generosity, patience, and kindness are greatly appreciated.

If you have any further questions, please let us know:
ishioto@med.akita-u.ac.jp or ispgr2011@ilcc.com.

Kazuo Ishikawa
Conference chair of the 20th ISPGR Akita Meeting

Masahiko Yamamoto
Co-Conference chair of the 20th ISPGR Akita Meeting

*Information regarding the registration and abstract fees for the ISPGR 2011 Conference can be found here.