ICOPMAS-2022

Table of Contents

Dr. Sasaki attended the 14th International Conference on Coast, Port and Maritime Structure (ICOPMAS-2022), which was the first face-to-face international conference for him since COVID-19.
Dr. Sasaki deeply appreciates PMO and Prof Soltanpour.

Itinerary

It was a business trip for one night and four days with the following itinerary of Qatar Airways flights with a connection in Doha. Dr. Sasaki was told that he only needed to obtain an arrival visa for this business trip, which the secretary of the conference should have arranged, so he went straight to immigration at Imam Khomeini International Airport; however, the immigration officer told him that his visa was not registered. He went to the Visa on Arrival counter to get a visa. He had to pay the visa fee at the checkout counter, which was 71 USD; only US dollars were accepted. He had brought some dollars left over at home just in case, and it was just barely enough. What would have happened if it had not been enough? After paying the visa fee, He returned to the visa counter and thought the procedure was complete. When he explained that his credit card had an automatic insurance policy, he was told that he could not use his overseas credit cards in Iran, which made him nervous. When he was asked how long he would stay in Iran, he answered that he would stay for one night and two days, and the officer generously said that would be OK. At the arrival lobby, he was met by an official of the Port and Maritime Organization (PMO), the organizer of the conference.
The hotel was the Parsian Azadi Hotel.
Tehran is a motorized society, and the traffic jams are very bad. It took more than two hours to get to the hotel from the airport. Gasoline costs about 5 JPY/L. Tehran is under the highest level of economic sanctions from the EU (mainly due to human rights issues) in addition to the U.S., but it does not seem to be in serious trouble because of its abundant resources. It is a big country.

May 8 QR802 NRT/DOH 2230/0405+1
May 9 QR482 DOH/IKA 0735/1020
May 10 QR499 IKA/DOH 2245/0020+1
May 11 QA806 DOH/NRT 0205/1835


Doha Airport


Parsian Azadi Hotel

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View from the hotel room. Mt. Damavand is the highest peak in Iran at 5,610m above sea level.

International Conference

He gave a keynote talk entitled "Carbon removal and emission processes and the promotion of climate change mitigation in Tokyo Bay" and chaired a session on the marine environment at the conference.


Chairperson of the Marine Environment Session

Visit to the Embassy of Japan in Iran

He visited the Embassy of Japan in Iran under the guidance of First Secretary Nishi, who was attending the conference, and had an opportunity to exchange views with Ambassador Aikawa on the situation in the Persian Gulf, the water environment, and the education situation for foreign students.


With Ambassador Aikawa (right) and First Secretary Nishi (left).

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