Social activities included in the conference package.
Conference reception
The conference reception is held in Ariston Hotel nearby the parallel session area on Monday 16 Apr from ca. 19:00 . Light meal and drink will be served.
Transfer:
please take Port Liner from the station "K Computer Mae" (the plenary
session site) and get off at the second stop "Shimin Hiroba" station. Hotel Ariston is a few minutes walk from the station. After the reception please take the port liner to get to your hotel.
Conference dinner
The conference dinner is on Wednesday 18 Apr from ca. 19:00 at a banquet hall in Ikuta Shrine. The shrine is located to the north of the Sannomiya station, to which you can reach by several minutes walk.
Transfer: by coaches from the parallel session site to the Ikuta Shrine (~ 20min + 2 min walk). Please walk to the Sannomiya station after the dinner and enjoy typical atmosphere of Japanese city centres. Many bars and restaurants are still open.
The dishes are Japanese. Three options are available:
- Standard: contains meat and fish.
- Fish: contains fish but no meat. For some of the dishes shrimps may be included. No plan to include squid or octopus.
- Vegan: contains vegetables only (including soup extract). It contains wheat - not gluten free.
Excursion
The excursion is in the afternoon of Thursday 19 Apr. On the way back to Kobe the tour drops you either in Sannomiya or Port Island area except for the tour 3), the Sake winery tour, with which you the tour ends in the Kobe city.
Please choose one of the following three tours when you register.
1. Himeji Castle coach tour
The Himeji Castle is one of the first UNESCO World Heritage from Japan, build in 1609 (the beginning of Edo era). It takes about 1.5 hours from Kobe to Himeji. There you first climb up a hill and go into the castle on stone wall (total height: about 90m). We then visit a traditional Japanese garden "Koko-en" nearby for a rest. Expected return at 18 h or later depending on traffic condition.
Note that the tour starts immediately after the session and you need to pick your lunch box to have inside the coach.
Himeji castle official site (with eight languages with machine-translation):
http://www.city.himeji.lg.jp/guide/castle.html
Koko-en flyer (English, Chinese, Korean, French)
http://himeji-machishin.jp/ryokka/kokoen/download/images/pamph/foreign_language.pdf
2. Naruto "Uzu Shio" (whirling tide through a narrow channel) coach + boat tour
The channel is located at the south of Awaji island. The tour first cross the bridge with the world longest span (Akashi channel bridge), go through the island. We take a boat to see the eddying Naruto channel.
Awaji Island official site: https://www.awajishima-kanko.jp/en/
Naruto whilpools: https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e7852.html
(note: the boat may not start from the Naruto side of the bridge, which is described there; instead the boat may leave from the Awaji island side.
The boat you will take starts from Naruto city, the tip of the Shikoku island after crossing Naruto Channel bridge.
https://www.uzusio.com/en/
(don't expect that the eddi is as strong as the movie you see on this site ...)
On the way back you will be dropped at "Awaji Highway Oasis" with possibility of overseeing Akashi channel and the bridge + some shopping/eating snacks.
http://awajishimahighwayoasis.com/ (sorry, Japanese only)
Note that the tour starts immediately after the session and you need to pick your lunch box to have inside the coach.
Expected duration of the tour: 5 hours (return at 18h) depending on traffic condition.
3. Nada "Sake" (rice wine) brewery coach + short walking tour
This tour is closed since it has reached the capacity.
Sea-side area of Kobe has been famous for Sake brewery thanks to good underground water from the Rokko mountains. The tour visits a Sake winery for tasting and learning the brewing technique, including unpasteurised young Sake. We plan to visit Swanotsuru Museum .
The tour then visits Nunobiki waterfall, which is located merely 20min walk from civilised area. It is hilly walk on paved road and you are advised to take shoes, which are not too dressy.
About Nunobiki waterfall: https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3563.html
http://plus.feel-kobe.jp/facilities/detail.php?code=0000000093
Then the tour takes you to the Nankin-machi (Nanjing) China town, from there you stroll around, possibly to eat Chinese snacks or go to shopping area of Kobe. The tour ends there.
About Nankin-machi:
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3551.html
http://plus.feel-kobe.jp/facilities/detail.php?code=0000000021
Expected duration of the tour: 3.5 hours (ending in the China town). If you wish to visit the place not organised by this tour, you can drop off and stop by on the course to continue your own tour - just make sure you tell the organiser before you do so.
Visit to "K" Computer at RIKEN AICS (optional)
Note: the visit is limited up to 70 people and you need to sign up on Monday 16th in the morning at the registration desk. Please read until the end to see how to.
On the first day of the DIS2018 workshop, April 16th (Mon), a tour of the "K" computer will be held by using a short time between the end of the afternoon session and the conferene reception.
The "K" is a 10 petaflops supercomputer which was the world's fastest supercomputer when it was built in 2011 and still holds the first place of the HPCG benchmark. It is located in RIKEN-AICS, next to the workshop venue.
Because the number of people who can be guided is limited up to 70 people, we'll accept only the first 70 applicants. Tour tickets will be distributed at the reception desk in the morning of the tour date, 16 April (Mon): first-come, first-serve basis. Please sign up and hold a ticket there.
