Tokyo wins bid to host Asia Pacific Cochlear Implant Symposium

ASIA – The Tokyo Convention & Visitors Bureau (TCVB) has won its bid to host the 12th Asia Pacific Symposium on Cochlear Implant and Related Sciences (APSCI 2019). The decision was made during the 10th APSCI, held in Beijing, China, earlier this month. The 2019 event will mark the first time the Symposium has been held in Tokyo, although it will be the conference’s third time in Japan, following the Symposium in Osaka in 2001 and in Kyoto in 1996. Over 800 doctors and scientists, including 600 delegates from abroad are expected to take part in the Symposium, 5-8 November, 2019, at the Keio Plaza Hotel Tokyo. Prof. T Yamasoba from the University of Tokyo, said: “The bid win owes much to the continuing scientific contribution of Japanese specialists to the Cochlear Implant (CI) field. Also, we learned a lot from our last bid loss in 2013. This time we put more effort into close communication with our colleagues to earn understanding of the scientific significance of hosting APSCI in Japan”. Japanese doctors have played significant roles in cochlear implant field over the years and the first single channel CI surgery in Asia was performed in 1980 in Tokyo by Prof. Kamio from Nippon Medical School. Since the introduction of the CI, more than 10,000 patients have received the treatment in Japan, mostly in Tokyo. The Tokyo Metropolitan government and TCVB contributed to the successful bid by providing support including support letters from the governor of Toko and TCVB chairman, helping with the bid paper.