Information for Participants

Volcanic Information

Mt. Ontakesan, which is located at the center of the main island of Japan and about 800 km far from Mt. Usu, erupted on Sep. 27, 2014. For more information about volcanic warnings in Japan, please refer to JMA site. There is no warning for Mt. Usu.
Volcanic Warnings by Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) https://www.jma.go.jp/en/volcano/

Weather

In usual years, the end of October is late autumn at Lake Toya. This year, it is almost in early winter. Probably, we will have our first snow until the end of Oct. at Sapporo. If you have a plan to drive a rental car in Hokkaido, winter tires, low speed and soft breaking are necessary for safety driving in winter.

Dress Code

No rule. Casual and warm wear is recommended.

Shoes

Don't wear shoes with slippy soles or high heels. You will walk on boardroad and ragged road of Nishiyama Craters Walking Trail in Volcano Tour in Oct. 28 afternoon.

Banquet

The symposium banquet will be held at the Manseikaku's party room "Four Seasons" floored in tatami mats. You can join it in relax wear, including Onsen style with yukata kimono and haori coat.

YakitoriNight@Toya : Snack Party for Students

The SSRR local organizing committee offers a snack party for student participants. It will start from 20:00, Oct. 27(Monday), at "Muroran Yakitori Ippei." You will enjoy Hokkaido beer and delicious yakitori, grilled chicken or pork. To attend this party, please find Mr. Keita Takahashi, a Ph.D candidate at Hokkaido University, near the registration desk and get an invitation card from him.

Fireworks

You can enjoy firework demonstration on the lake during 20:45 to 21:05 every night. About 400 fireworks are launched from a boat on the lake.

PC and Projector

No PC for presentation is prepared in conference rooms. Please bring your PC / Tablet and check the video output to a projector which has only VGA (mini D-Sun15) video interface.

Internet

Toyako Culture Center, venue for SSRR 2014 symposium, offers no internet connection service. It is also difficult to find free WiFi spots in Toyako Onsen town. Manseikaku Hotel Lake-side Terrace offers WiFi service only at lobby and cafe rounge on the gound floor. NTT docome, KDDI au, and Softbank mobile provide 3G and 4G mobile communication services. The communication services using WiMAX and WiMAX2 are not available in Toya area.
One way to get internet access at Toya is to purchase a SIM for visitors. Please refer the following sites for more details.
b-mobile VISITOR SIM https://www.bmobile.ne.jp/english/index.html
OCN mobile one prepaied SIM for VISITOR https://service.ocn.ne.jp/mobile/one/visitor/en/

ATM

Post Office (JP-bank)
more info. https://www.jp-bank.japanpost.jp/en/ias/en_ias_index.html
Seven-Eleven
There is a Seven Bank ATM at Seven-Eleven shop next to Hotel Manseiku Lake-side Terrace with which you can withdraw Japanese yen using any of the major international credit cards.
ATM at Date-shin (Date Shinyo Kinko) cannot deal with cashing using international credit cards.