( This section has been updated for the last time.)
There will be a total eclipse of the moon on the evening of Sunday July 16, from 2202 to 2347. Do not be alarmed.
Walking from Komaba Station to the Hotel? If so, here is some further information. (See also How to go to the hotel from the airport below.) If you stand on the Kichijouji-bound platform near to the West Exit, and look across the Kichijouji-bound track, you will see an advertisement for the Komaba Eminence hotel which has an excellent pictorial map. The poster is in Japanese, but the internet address http://www.komaba-eminence.com is written in Roman letters, as well as the hotel phone number 03-3485-1411, so you will be able to recognise it. The hotel home page has an English version and you can find further information and maps there.
Maps We plan to provide local maps, but you can pick up free maps of Tokyo (and other information) at the tourist information counters in Narita Airport. We recommend doing this as there is no tourist information office near the conference location. You will not be able to check in to the hotel until 1500 (see below), so if you arrive in the morning you may as well take advantage of the airport facilities such as this.
HOTEL CHECK-IN: The check-in period is 1500-2300. When you check in, please say
MSJ-IRI Tokyo 2000
and give your name. (Conference participants will received a discount rate.) The check-out period is 0600-1100. If you return to the hotel at night after 2300, it is necessary to use the basement (?) entrance.
The day of the conference party has been changed, to Thursday July 20. The party will be at the Komaba Eminence Hotel (the conference hotel), 1900-2100.
Conference registration and financial support: All financial matters, including registration, will be handled at the conference location in the Mathematics Department of Tokyo University. The registration desk and conference office (Room 052) will be open on Sunday July 16 from 1500 to 1730 and from 0810 on the morning of Monday July 17. (The opening ceremony and first lecture begins at 0900 on July 17.) Please check the whiteboard near Room 052 for announcements and messages.
It is recommended that you carry your passport at all times while you are in Japan. This is a legal requirement, and the police will not overlook it (i.e. failure to produce your passport on request is likely to result in considerable inconvenience!). It would be a good idea to write down the telephone number of the hotel ( 03-3485-1411) and keep it with you at all times.
If you are planning private travel around Japan, the Japan Rail Pass is excellent value, and can only be bought outside Japan. The ordinary fare by bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto and back is about 28,000 yen, for example, which is close to the price of an 8 day rail pass.
Basic orientation
Tokyo International Airport (Narita Airport) is about 1.0-2.0 hours by train or airport bus from the main central areas of Tokyo (such as Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ikebukuro, Ueno, and the Tokyo Station area). All these areas are connected by very frequent local trains running on the circular JR Yamanote Line. The conference and hotel are located a few minutes away from Shibuya by (a different) local train or by taxi. Click here for a (very rough) diagram.
How to go to the hotel from the airport
Detailed instructions on how to go by train from Narita Airport to the hotel. Some further information on travel by train within Tokyo (and Japan) can be found here.Location of the Komaba Eminence Hotel
The hotel is located a few minutes walk from Komaba-Todai-mae Station. Click here for scanned hotel publicity material (in Japanese):
(These are low resolution images, but the printed versions - particularly map 1, which contains the hotel address - may be useful for communicating with taxi drivers.)
If you are walking from the station, leave by the lower-level exit (walk downstairs, not up), where you will see McDonalds in front of you. Walk past McDonalds (taking the street leading away from the railway line), and walk past the flower shop adjoining McDonalds. Turn right at the end of this street (after about 50 metres), where you will see a branch of Dai Ichi Kangyo bank, whose symbol is a white heart on a red background. (There is a sign above the bank saying "Komaba Eminence Hotel 300 metres", although this is in Japanese.) Follow this street for about 300 metres. At the end you will see the hotel.
Location of the conference
The conference will be held at the new building of the Graduate School of Mathematical Sciences of the University of Tokyo. This is part of the Komaba Campus, located in the western part of Tokyo.
Click here for a map of the area, including local rail lines. The nearest station (5 minutes walk from the conference location) is Komaba-Todai-mae Station, on the Keio-Inokashira Line.
The mathematics building is open Monday-Friday, 0830-1800, only, but it will be open specially on Sunday 16 July for conference registration. From the hotel, first walk to the station, then cross the railway line and enter the campus of Tokyo University.
The weather in Tokyo in July is likely to be warm and wet. Temperatures should be around 25C or more during the day, and rain showers are frequent. An umbrella may be useful, in particular for walking between the hotel and conference.
The exchange rate during the last few months has been around US$1 = 100-110 yen. You can find the most recent exchange rate here (without taking into account commission charges etc).
The best way to transfer cash to Japan is to use a cash card from your own bank. However, only certain special machines in Japan are connected to the international network. You can find such machines in busy areas such as Shibuya and Shinjuku, but they are not easy to find by random search. There are machines at any branch of Citibank, and in the Narita Airport terminal buildings, however.
As a concrete example, at Shibuya station, there is a machine in the front entrance of a building on the other side of the bus/taxi area at the south/west exit - see "The easiest (and most comfortable) way" in the directions for how to go by train from Narita Airport to the hotel. This building has a sign saying "DC Card". Any "DC Card" machine is connected to the international network.
Credit cards are becoming widely used in Japan. However, many large companies (eg travel agents) still do not accept them, and they are not acceptable for small purchases (eg at inexpensive restaurants).
There is no departure tax at Narita Airport (it is already included in the ticket price).
International phone calls can be made from (some) public telephones using either cash or a phone card. Instructions in English are usually displayed. Phone cards (costing around 1000 yen or 3000 yen) can be bought from vending machines in phone booths or from newspaper kiosks (ask for "kokusai phone cardo", i.e. international phone card; there are also purely domestic phone cards).
In the hotel, there is a grey phone in the lobby (and another in a phone box/booth outside the hotel) which accepts cash or KDD international phone cards; these cards (costing around 1000 yen or 3000 yen) can be bought at the front desk. There is also an orange international voice or data phone in the lobby, for which IC phone cards (also available at the front desk) are necessary. The green phones (which take NTT cards) are for domestic calls only.
Internet access may be difficult. (Tokyo University is unlikely to make this available to conference participants.) Internet cafes exist in Tokyo, but may be hard to find. Further information will be given at the conference.
Post offices are indicated by a red T symbol with a horizontal bar on top. Post cards are available in the gift shops of big hotels.
Can I get around using English? Well, yes. In the area around Tokyo University and Shibuya there are many international shops and restaurants (such as McDonalds, Starbucks,...) and also many foreigners, so English is not unusual. But most Japanese will not be prepared to answer questions in English, even in this part of Tokyo.
How expensive is Japan? A little more than Europe. In fact, prices have fallen steadily over the last 10 years, a reflection of zero inflation and the introduction of discount pricing. But do not expect uniformity: some things are actually cheaper than in the West, while others are still much more expensive. Lunch in a restaurant is generally good value, 500-1500 yen. Dinner (especially with drinks) is rather more expensive - perhaps 3,000-5,000 yen. But inexpensive restaurants (independent of time of day) are readily available, eg "conveyor belt sushi" (around 200 yen per plate of 2 pieces), noodle shops, etc. Coffee shops used to charge around 400-500 per cup; now there are many discount coffee shops (eg Doutor Coffee) where coffee, tea etc costs around 200 yen.
What Japanese customs do I need to know about? Here are some examples. SHOE REMOVAL: When entering someone's home, or seating areas of certain restaurants, shoes should be removed. (If you are with Japanese people, it will be clear when and where to do this.) It is not necessary to remove your shoes in western-style hotel rooms (except when going to bed, etc). TIPPING: There is no tipping. Just pay the requested amount and wait for your change, even in taxis and restaurants. Service charges are added automatically in hotels and certain restaurants. In restauarants you take your bill to the cash register and pay it there. TOILETS: Most toilets in modern buildings are western style; in older buildings they are usually Japanese style. Just keep looking. FORMAL CLOTHES: It is probably not necessary to bring formal clothes. But Japanese people tend to dress more formally than westerners, so a jacket (coat) is not inappropriate for men at dinners or meetings. EATING HABITS: If you go to dinner with Japanese people, it is polite to wait for them to suggest where you should sit. Wait until everyone says "kampai" before starting to drink (alcohol). Don't do anything with chopsticks that you wouldn't do with a knife and fork (except holding them in the same hand, which is obligatory).
Finally, if in doubt.... ...don't panic! Tokyo is a very safe city and Japanese people are helpful to foreigners. In the very unlikely event of a problem, best results are obtained by speaking quietly and apologising repeatedly, even if - especially if! - you strongly believe you are not at fault.
