IPhO 2023 – First Circular

January 2023

Dear Colleagues,

We have the honor of hosting the 53rd International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) 2023 based on the decision made at the International Board Meeting during IPhO2022 held online in July 2022. IPhO2023 will take place from July 10^th (Mon) to July 17^th (Mon), 2023 in Tokyo, Japan. We would like to invite you to participate in IPhO2023. Towards this important event, we are happy to share with you the logistic information that will help you to plan your trip.

 Program:  A tentative timetable of IPhO2023 is given at the end of this document to facilitate your travel plan.

 Delegations:  Each participating country/region may send a delegation, normally consisting of five students (contestants) and two accompanying persons (delegation leaders) at most. The contestants shall be students of general or technical secondary schools. Students who have finished their school examinations in the year of the competition can be members of the team as long as they have not commenced their university studies. The age of the contestants should not exceed twenty years on June 30th, 2023. The delegation leaders must be specialists in physics or physics education, capable of solving the problems of the competition. Each of them should be able to communicate in English. In addition to the delegations, teams may be accompanied by observers and guests. Observers may attend all Olympiad meetings, including the meetings of the International Board. However, they may not vote or take part in the discussions. Guests do not attend the meetings of the International Board.

The promotion of gender diversity within each participating team is encouraged.  Section 3 of the IPhO Statutes and the associated Regulations should be referred to for more details.

 Hospitality:  The organizer will provide and cover meals, accommodation, excursions and various entertainments during the Olympiad official period (10 days) starting July 9^th (Sun) and ending July 18^th (Tue), 2023.

Transportation.  Ground transportation will be provided for the official events.  Transportation service includes pick-up and drop-off of delegations* either at Tokyo International Airport (Haneda Airport) or Narita International Airport.

* Applicable to arrivals on 8^th(Sat), 9^th(Sun) and early morning of 10^th (Mon). Note that the Opening Ceremony starts at 10:00 on 10^th(Mon). To utilize the airport pick-up service, you have to include the flight number and arrival time in the Full Registration Form. As for departures, airport transportation will be provided on 17^th(Mon) and 18^th(Tue).

Trips from and to the airport on other days have to be self-covered. Individual arrival or departure on a different schedule than the group travel of the delegation will not be taken care of by the Organizer.

Accommodation:  All students shall be staying in the dormitory within the campus of the National Olympics Memorial Youth Center, the venue of IPhO2023. Each room is single occupancy with a shared bathroom.

Leaders, observers and guests will be staying at the Nippon Seinenkan Hotel.  The hotel rooms are based on two people per room. If single occupancy is preferred, a surcharge has to be incurred per night.

 Travel Insurance:  Each delegation is advised to take out an appropriate travel insurance policy. Although the organizer signs up for a contingency insurance policy to cover accidents during IPhO2023, the policy does not cover personal medical insurance.

 IPhO2023 Website:  The official website of IPhO2023 is https://international-physics-olympiad2023.com/en/.

Pre-Registration: The website for pre-registration is ready. We request the representative leader of each participating team to fill out the Pre-Registration Form at his/her earliest convenience, but no later than 15^th March 2023.

This is for us to know which countries/regions are interested in participating IPhO2023, and to collect relevant information for subsequent communication with the prospective participating teams. Submission of this Pre-Registration Form implies neither your formal commitment to IPhO2023, nor a formal invitation of your team to IPhO2023 by the Organizer.
The Second Circular and a Full Registration site will be available in April 2023.

 Visa:  Visa application may be required depending on the traveler’s origin. In case a visa is required, we recommend you to prepare well in advance for a visa application. Please check for the latest information on visa issue at the following website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan.
https://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/visa/index.html
The Organizing Committee, upon request and registration, can provide invitation letters to assist with the visa application.

COVID-19:  It is difficult at this moment to predict the status of the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan and worldwide in July 2023. The Organizing Committee will collect and post relevant information, while striving to prepare for the safe execution of IPhO2023. The Japanese border measures concerning COVID-19, as of Jan. 2023, can be found on the following webpage of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan.
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/covid-19/bordercontrol.html

Participation Fee:  Participation fees are set as follows:
Students:       70,000 JPY per person
Leaders:         70,000 JPY per person
Observers:    250,000 JPY per person
Guests:         250,000 JPY per person
Surcharge for single room occupancy* at the Nippon Seinenkan Hotel:12,000 JPY per night per person
* Applicable only to leaders, observers and guests staying at the Nippon Seinenkan Hotel. All student rooms in the National Olympics Memorial Youth Center are single occupancy with shared bathrooms.

Payment of the participation fees should be made by bank transfer. Details of the payment method will be given in the Second Circular.

Communications:   Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us via the INQUIRY FORM activated from the pull-down menu under the COMMUNICATION item in the menu-bar.

We look forward to your participation.

The Organizing Committee of IPhO2023