The Seventh International Conference on Oriental Astronomy(ICOA-7)“Mapping the Oriental Sky”
The First Circular

I. The Conference
1. The ICOA-7 ThemeThe main theme of this ICOA meeting is “Mapping the Oriental Sky”. This conference discusses thehistory of astronomy in a wide perspective, from antiquity up to the 20th century for nations of Asia,
the Middle East, and some Pacific areas. It also targets the astronomy of European nations that had
historically intimate relations to those regions, including the western astronomical knowledge
brought about into the areas by Jesuit missionaries.
2. Date and Venue

ICOA-7 will be held from Monday 6 through Friday 10 September 2010 at the National
Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ, Kokuritsu Tenmondai), at Mitaka, in the western suburbsof Tokyo, Japan.
3. The Conference Program

The following research themes are treated in this conference. The last one will include all papers that
do not suitably fit into other themes and/or treat interdisciplinary fields. Each session of the meetingis basically considered to correspond to one of these themes.
a) Ethnoastronomy and Archaeoastronomyb) The Emergence and Development of Astrophysics in the Asian-Pacific Regionc) Applied Historical Astronomyd) Exchange and Development of Astronomical Knowledgee) Historical Records and Observationsf) Ancient Observatories and Early Astronomical Instrumentationg) Calendars, Calendrical Sciences and Chronologyh) Star Maps and Star Cataloguesi) Western Astronomy Brought about by Jesuit Missionaries into Asiaj) Other Recent Research
Each session chaired by an SOC member will consist of one or two invited papers (~40 minutes
including questions and comments: tentative) and contributed oral papers (~20 minutes). We arealso happy to accept poster papers.
In addition to the above academic sessions, the conference program will include a Welcome
Party on evening of Wednesday 8 September, and a full-day bus tour to the Nobeyama RadioObservatory and Gishodo antique clock museum at Suwa city (Friday 10 September).

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4. Scientific Organizing Committee

Prof. Tsuko NAKAMURA (Chair: Japan), Prof. Wayne ORCHISTON (Australia), Prof. NHA Il-Seong(South Korea), Prof. Bambang HIDAYAT (Indonesia), Prof. Shukhrat A. EHGAMBERDIEV(Uzbekistan), Prof. Mayank VAHIA (India), Prof. LIU Ci-Yuan (China), Prof. SHI Yunli (China), Prof.
Boonruksar SOONTHORNTHUM (Thailand), Prof. S. M. Razaullah ANSARI (India), Prof. Richard
STEPHENSON (UK), Dr. Suzanne DÉBARBAT (France), Dr. Luisa PIGATTO (Italy), Prof. Richard
STROM (The Netherlands), Dr. Yukio ÔHASHI (Japan), Prof. Shigeru JOCHI (Japan), and Dr.
Mitsuru SÔMA (Japan).
5. Local Organising Committee

Dr Mitsuru SÔMA (Chair: NAOJ), Dr. Fumi YOSHIDA (NAOJ), Dr. Yukio ÔHASHI (Japan), andNAOJ Supporting Staffs.
6. Registration Deadline and Fee

The deadline of registration is August 10, 2010. The fee of 9,000 yen (~US$100) includes theWelcome Party of 8 September, the morning and afternoon teas, the conference pack (including aConference Program and Abstract Booklet). If you also go to the full-day bus tour of 10 September,your payment is 13,000 yen (~US$145). The registration fee should be paid in cash in Japanese yenat the conference site when you arrive there, but the registration should be done by e-mail asdirected below by the deadline of August 10, 2010. The registration can be done by sending ane-mail to LOC (Mitsuru.Soma@nao.ac.jp) with the subject "ICOA-7 registration". In the body of thee-mail, write the following- your name,- your affiliation and address,- your arrival and departure dates,- whether or not to attend the Welcome Party on the evening of Wednesday 8 September,- whether or not to attend one-day bus tour to the Nobeyama Radio Observatory
and Gishodo antique clock museum at Suwa city on Friday 10 September
An example of the mail body:
Taro Suzuki
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan
Arrive on September 5, Depart on September 11Attend the Welcome PartyNot attend one-day bus tour
7. Abstract Submission and Deadline

Paper abstracts to be presented at the ICOA-7 must be prepared referring to the attached sample(see the end of this announcement). The length of an abstract should be between 150 and 300words. Papers with too short abstracts (e.g., a few lines) or that have nothing to do with the themesof the conference may be declined to accept or be requested to amend (also do not forget to tell us
which of the above 10 themes your paper belongs to, so that we can organize the conference
program more easily) . All abstracts should be emailed to Mitsuru Sôma (Mitsuru.Soma@nao.ac.jp),
with the deadline of 31 July, 2010.
8. Conference Proceedings

The proceedings of ICOA-6 held in 2008 at James Cook University, Townsville, Australia is now inprint at Springer. Although we are considering a similar publication for the ICOA-7 proceedings, thedetail is not yet decided and will be announced at the meeting. Editors of the Proceedings will beWayne Orchiston, Tsuko Nakamura and Richard Strom (tentative).
2II. Accommodations and Transportation
1. Accommodations near Mitaka and in Tokyo(1) In-campus hotel: Cosmos Kaikan

NAOJ has a guest house inside the campus for research visitors, with 10 single rooms (690yen/night/room, plus 1,550 yen/room for cleaning; the cleaning fee will become twice if you stay
more than 5 nights), 2 twin rooms (1,670 yen/night/room, plus 3,100 yen/room for cleaning), and one
family-type room (2,500 yen/night/room, plus 4,650 yen/room for cleaning). The fee for cleaning mayvary according to the actual number of people staying in the room. The LOC has kept all the rooms
for ICOA-7 during September 5(Sun) – 11(Sat). They are fairly cheap and have good access to theconference, but no breakfast or supper will be provided and it takes about 15 minutes on foot to theclosest restaurant or supermarket for food shopping. Although anyone can make applications toCosmos Kaikan, LOC holds the right to give priority for the rooms to non senior andwithout-financial-support participants (on a first-come first-served basis). If you wish to stay here,
send email to LOC (Mitsuru.Soma@nao.ac.jp) with your arrival and departure dates and the roomtype you want by July 31, 2010.
(2) Hotels at Musashi-sakai Station

LOC has reserved 10 single rooms each at the following hotels, just next to Musashi-sakai JRrailway station:a) Hotel Mets Musashisakai: http://www.jrhotelgroup.com/eng/code/codeeng124.htmb) Hotel Citytel: (Phone: +81-422-33-5111. No English website).
Room charges of both the hotels are about 8,000-8,500 yen (including breakfast, tax and service
charges). You may directly book a room at the hotels, or LOC (Mitsuru.Soma@nao.ac.jp) may taketrouble to reserve a room for you. You can reach NAOJ on a 15-minute public bus ride (210 yen perperson) from Musashi-sakai station, which is the closest JR railway station to NAOJ. There are many
restaurants and super markets for eating and shopping around the hotels.
(3) Hotels near Shinjuku Area

Shinjuku is one of the major terminal stations in Tokyo, about half an hour train ride fromMusashi-sakai station. On the Internet, you can easily find hotels of various ranks in this area. If you
are interested in sightseeing of Tokyo downtowns at the off-time of the conference, you mayconsider this possibility as well, but in that case you should book a room at such hotels by yourself.
2. Meals during ICOA-7

Since NAOJ is located at a somewhat inconvenient place, it takes about 15 minutes on foot for you
to reach the closest restaurant, supermarket or a so-called “convenience store” for buying food.
Because of that, we set up a little longer lunch time of 1.5 hours. The cafeteria of Coop Shop in theCosmos Kaikan provides a traditional Japanese-style lunch during 11:40AM–1PM, and you can also
buy simple snacks and stationeries there (10:30AM–5:30PM).
3. Getting to NAOJ (Mitaka campus) from Overseas
Except for some countries of the Far East, almost all flights arrive at the Narita International Airport.
You can find a good explanation on the route from Narita to NAOJ at:

http://www.nao.ac.jp/E/access/3

Although the above website does not mention, there is another means --- an airport limousine
bus service that takes you directly from Narita airport to Chofu, which is one of the closest railway
stations to NAOJ. It costs 3,200 yen --- not cheap, but if you consider that a few times changing oftrains in crowded downtown Tokyo with a large suitcase is troublesome, the limousine bus may pay
enough. From Chofu station to NAOJ there are frequent public-bus connections of a 15 minutes ride.
Timetables of the airport limousine bus will be announced in the Second Circular.
4. Options for Accompanying Guests

Jindai Botanical Gardens and Jindaiji Temple in Chofu City are within walking distance from NAOJ. For
explanations of them see
http://wikitravel.org/en/Tokyo/Chofu
and for Jindai Botanical Gardens see also
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jindai_Botanical_Garden
The center of Tokyo can be reached within an hour by public transportation, so you can visit many
places in central Tokyo. For tourist information in Tokyo see
http://www.tourism.metro.tokyo.jp/english/index.html
5. Financial Support for Foreign Participants

The LOC is ready to provide several attendants from abroad with partial financial support for domestic
expenses (hotel charges, etc.) up to 50,000 yen per person. Anyone who makes a presentation at theconference and wants the above offer should contact Mitsuru Soma, although the amount of support
depends upon the number of applicants.

III General Information about Japan(1) Visa and Invitation Letter
Except holders of the nationality in European countries, US and some Asian countries, the Japan
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Gaimu-sho) requires each overseas tourist an entry visa into Japan,
issued from the Japan Embassy/Consulate in each country. The LOC is happy to write an invitation
letter upon request (Mitsuru.Soma@nao.ac.jp) for you, if it is necessary for visa application and/or
research leave permit from your institute.
(2) Climate of Mitaka and Tokyo in September

Tokyo is hot and humid in summer times (the average temperatures: 27 deg-C in August and 23.5
deg-C in September). It may be better for you to prepare for sudden rainfalls or thunder storms,
having a handy umbrella. You can find the relevant info at:
http://www.tourism.metro.tokyo.jp/english/tourists/info/basic_info/climate/climate1.html(3) Some Japanese Basics
Japanese Currency and Credit Cards:

In Japan we have decimal currency, with 1, 5, 10, 50, 100 and 500 yen coins, and 1000, 2000, 5000,
10000 yen bank notes (or bills). Banks are open on weekdays, but not in evenings orweekends. American Express, MasterCard and Visa credit cards are widely accepted. Also see thefollowing:
http://www.tourism.metro.tokyo.jp/english/tourists/info/basic_info/money/index.html - 1
Sightseeing Info:

http://www.tourism.metro.tokyo.jp/english/index.html
4Other Items:

Regarding telephone calling, Internet access, taxi, tips at hotels and restaurants, the voltage ofelectric appliances, Japanese customs, etc., you can access the useful and necessary info at thefollowing website:
http://www.tourism.metro.tokyo.jp/english/tourists/info/index_info.html(4) For Further Information

For various inquiries, here are email addresses of LOC members Mitsuru Sôma and Fumi Yoshida,and phone and fax numbers of Mitsuru Sôma’s office:
Email: Mitsuru.Soma@nao.ac.jp, Fumi.Yoshida@nao.a.cjp
Phone: +81-422-34-3788, Fax: +81-822-34-3708

IV. Abstract sample
Dr Elizabeth Alexander: first female radio astronomer
Wayne Orchiston, Centre for Astronomy, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland
4811, Australia (Wayne.Orchiston@jcu.edu.au)
Although radio astronomy was born in 1931, it only began to flourish after WWII, largely as aresult of wartime technological developments. One of the by-products of these defense
science initiatives was the independent detection of solar radio emission in the USA, Denmark,Britain, Australia and New Zealand. The initial New Zealand observations were made with anRNZAF 200 MHz COL radar unit between 27 March and 1 April 1945, and were investigated byBritish-born Elizabeth Alexander, Head of the Operational Research Section of the Radio
Development Laboratory. She then arranged for observations to be made at five different
radar stations during April, and followed up with further solar monitoring between July andDecember 1945. Through this research, Elizabeth Alexander unwittingly became the firstfemale scientist to work in the field that would subsequently become known as 'radio
astronomy'. This paper will discuss these pioneering investigations, the short research paperthat Alexander published on this work in early 1946, and her remarkable pre- and post-war
scientific careers in Singapore and Nigeria. It will also show how this wartime New Zealandwork helped trigger the radio astronomy research program within the CSIRO's Division ofRadiophysics in Australia.

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