The conference has successfully ended on Dec. 1, 2012. The conference committees would like to make a cordial appreciation to all participants.
Conference site
- Business Innovation Center Osaka(Osaka Sangyo Sozokan).
- Address: 1-4-5 Honmachi, Chuo-ku 2, Osaka 541-0053, Japan
- Phone: +81-6-6264-9800
It is conveniently located in the central area of Osaka city. Travel time from nearby locations:
- 1hour from Osaka International Airport (Itami, ITM)
- 1hour from Kansai International Airport (Kanku, KIX)
- 30min from Shin-Osaka (Station of Shinkansen)
- 20min on train from Umeda (Northern downtown in Osaka)
- 20min on train from Namba (Southern downtown in Osaka)
Travel
The nearest station to the conference site is Sakaisuji-Honmachi on Osaka city subway. Go out of Exit 12 of the station and walk along Honmachi St. to the east. Business Innovation Center Osaka will be seen on the left side of the street after crossing over two intersections.
Note that Osaka has two airports. One is Osaka International Airport (Itami, ITM) and the other is Kansai International Airport (Kanku, KIX). Since Osaka city has many independent railway services which conveniently connect with each other, travellers can easily reach the conference site from any of the two as well as from Shin-Osaka (station of Shinkansen).
- From Kansai International Airport (Kanku, KIX): about 1hour+, 1,120JPY
Kansai Kuko -(Nankai Line)-> Tenga-Chaya -(Sakaisuji Line)-> Sakaisuji-Honmachi - From Osaka International Airport (Itami, ITM): about 50min, 620JPY
Osaka Kuko -(Osaka monorail)-> Hotarugaike -(Hankyu Takarazuka Line)-> Umeda -(Midosuji Line)-> Honmachi -(Chuo Line)-> Sakaisuji-Honmachi - From Shin-Osaka (station of Shinkansen): about 24min, 230JPY
Shin-Osaka -(Midosuji Line)-> Honmachi -(Chuo Line)-> Sakaisuji-Honmachi - From Umeda (Northern downtown): about 17min, 200JPY
Umeda -(Midosuji Line)-> Honmachi -(Chuo Line)-> Sakaisuji-Honmachi - From Namba (Southern downtown): about 17min, 200JPY
Namba -(Midosuji Line)-> Honmachi -(Chuo Line)-> Sakaisuji-Honmachi
An access guide provided by Business Innovation Center Osaka is also available, although it only reads in Japanese. Osaka Municipal Travel Bureau's page is helpful for more about public transportation.
About Osaka
(These images are copied from Wikipedia under the GNU Free Documentation License.)
Osaka, the capital city of Osaka prefecture is the third largest city in Japan by population and is the center of Kansai area, which comprises some big cities including Kyoto, Kobe and Nara.
Osaka is a historically important city. It used to be the capital of Japan in 7th century. In 16th century, Toyotomi Hideyoshi constructed Osaka castle as his headquarters. In Edo era, Osaka used to be referred to as the "nation's kitchen" for it was the trading center of foods, and since then, it has been functioning as the center of Japanese economy.
The introduction in Wikipedia is also informative.
The average temperature in Osaka in December is around 15 degrees Celsius.
Accommodations
Participants can find their hotels with less troubles in Osaka, so that the conference does not provide any special arrangement for the accommodations. If you need a help, please contact westec_op13[at]west.jtb.jp (please replace [at] to @).
The nearest hotel to the conference site is CityPlaza Osaka, from which one can reach only in a couple of minutes on foot.
For participants who prefer to stay in downtown areas, we'd recommend that they reserve their hotels in either Umeda (Northern downtown in Osaka) or Namba (Southern downtown in Osaka). It takes about 20 min by train and on foot to the conference site from any area of the two. You need to transfer once at Hon-machi station.
If you prefer a reasonable transportation to both the conference site and the downtown(s), it would be a nice compromise to stay near Hon-machi, in which you may also find many hotels.