Venue: Port Island, Kobe, Japan
The workshop is held in two meeting locations: Convention Hall of Kobe University for the plenary sessions and the Kobe International Convention Centre for the parallel sessions (see “Conference Locations” below). Both are situated in Port Island, Kobe city, Japan.
The island is to the south of Sannomiya, the city centre of Kobe. The sites are several km away from Sannomiya and are accessible by frequent “Port Liner” train service by 10-15min.
Kobe is located in mid-west of Japan. The city is a part of Kansai urban area, together with Osaka, Kyoto and other cities. The city can be reached via Kansai Airport (KIX) or through airports in Tokyo.
For more detail how to reach to Kobe, see our Indico travel page .
Conference Locations
16 April (Mon), 20 April (Fri): Plenary sessions
Convention Hall, Integrated Research Center of Kobe University
15min by Port Liner from the station "Sannomiya" to the station "K
Computer Mae", then the venue is just in front of the station (south side of the station).
You should take the train for "Kobe Airport". The trains for "Kita Futo" does not go to K Computer Mae. See below.
17-19 April (Tue-Thu): Parallel sessions
5th and 4th floors of Kobe International Convention Centre
10min by Port Liner from the station "Sannomiya" to the station "Shimin Hiroba (Convention Centre)" - then 3min walk. Please follow the sign "Int'l Convention Center" when you go out of the ticketing gate to the right (east), crossing the road by the pedestrian bridge and keep following the sign.
"Shimin Hiroba" means civilian's square.
The Port Liner train
The Port Liner connects Sannomiya the city centre of Kobe and the Port island where the meeting places are located.
The train for Kobe Airport goes from Sannomiya via Shimin Hiroba, K Computer Mae and then to Kobe airport. This line is double-track (bidirectional).
The train to Kita Futo starts from Sannomiya, going through Shimin Hiroba, Minami Koen, Kita Futo and then goes back to Sannomiya: it is a loop line. This train does not go to K Computer Mae, which is the venue for the plenary session.
The ticket from Sannomiya to Shimin Hiroba is 250 Yen, to K Computer Mae is 280 yen. Instruction for the vending machine and the ticket gates for the Port liner
We recommend you to buy an IC card called ICOCA for easy boarding to the Port Liner if you are staying in Sannomiya since you would use about 10 times during your stay. You can get it at the Port Liner Sannomiya station. They take 500 yen deposit. In order to get the deposit back, the best is to use up the remaining amount by buying normal ticket through the vending machine supplemented by cash to empty the card, since they take 220 yen commission when you reimburse the remaining amount by cash. If it is an empty card you just get 500 yen back.
General guide for the IC card ticket in Japan
Lunches on site
Lunches will be served (included in the registration fee). Buffe-style meal is served on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at near-by locations, where food with vegetable only is also available. On Tuesday we distribute a lunch box with a vegetarian option. On Thursday you get sandwiches (standard, vegetarian) to go for the excursion.
