Before you travel
Three things we need from you
One
Your flight itinerary
If you have not yet sent us the documents setting out your flight itinerary, please do send it as soon as you have it.
Two · closes 19 September
The special events form
Some events during the conference have limited places, and we need numbers for the Saturday excursion. If you have not filled it in and would like to join any of them, please do so now.
Sign-up formThree · by 22 September
Speakers: send your presentation by 22 September
A PowerPoint file, to Manuela Salazar. Having everything preloaded on the room computer saves several minutes of cable-swapping at the start of each panel.
Getting here
Travelling to Kobe
Every route ends at Shin-Kobe. The hotel is beside the station.
From Kansai International · KIX
The Airport Limousine Bus, 2,200 JPY one way (3,700 JPY round trip), runs all day from both terminals, from just outside Arrivals. It is one service with two possible endings.
Several an hour
To Sannomiya (Kobe city centre)
About 65 minutes, with departures every fifteen to thirty minutes all day. From Sannomiya it is one subway stop to Shin-Kobe, or a five-minute taxi.
Exactly two buses a day
Continue to Shin-Kobe, to the hotel door
Leaving Terminal 1 at 13:40 and 17:15, and Terminal 2 about fifteen minutes earlier, at 13:27 and 17:02. They reach the hotel at 14:55 and 18:30.
If your flight fits one of those two, take it — you avoid changing with luggage. Otherwise Sannomiya and the subway is quick and straightforward.
Step by step, if you are going via Sannomiya
1
Leave the terminal
Come out of Arrivals and take the doors straight ahead of you, onto the street.
2
Find bus stop 6
At Terminal 1 it is stop 6, at Terminal 2 stop 4 — signed “Kobe Sannomiya / Rokko Island”. Take the first bus that comes; no reservation needed.
3
Pay and ride
Tap a contactless card or phone on the reader as you board — one tap pays the fare. ICOCA and Suica work too, or buy a ticket at the machine by the stop. About 65 minutes.
4
Sannomiya to the hotel
One stop on the subway (Seishin-Yamate line) to Shin-Kobe, or a five-minute taxi.
From elsewhere in Japan
Shin-Kobe is the only Shinkansen stop in the city, and the hotel is beside it.
Going back to the airport
There is more choice: buses leave Shin-Kobe directly for KIX roughly every hour through the morning, the last one at 14:20. After that, travel via Sannomiya.
Timetables and fares
Where you stay
The hotel
Thursday & Saturday · sessions and meals
ANA Crowne Plaza Kobe
1-Chome Kitano-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe 650-0002 — beside Shin-Kobe station. Google Maps
- Check-in
- From 16:00 · check-out by 11:00.
- Breakfast
- Included.
- Wi-Fi
- Free throughout the hotel.
- Rooms
- Sessions are in the Banquet Rooms on the 9th floor · registration and the shuttle meeting point are in the main lobby on the 4th floor.
Day by day
The four days
Where to be and how to get there. For the sessions themselves, see the programme.
Wednesday 23
Arrival and registration
The registration desk is open 15:00–18:00 in the hotel's main lobby, 4th floor — look for the desk with the SOFAS logo. If you arrive too late, or on another day, you can register individually on any following morning at the session venue.
At the desk you will be given your personal SOFAS conference bag. Your signature will be required at the registration. We also collect the ropeway fare for the Saturday excursion here, in cash, from those who signed up.
There is no organised dinner on the arrival evening, so please make your own plans — Sannomiya and Kitano are full of options a few minutes from the hotel.
Thursday 24
At the hotel
The founding, the plenary and the invited talks, all in the Rosemary Room, Banquet Room, 9F. No transport needed — everything is in the building.
Friday 25
At Kobe University
08:45
The shuttle bus leaves for Kobe University. Gather in the hotel's main lobby on the 4th floor. If you miss it, please take a taxi to Kobe University Rokkodai 2 Campus, at your own expense. The address for the Kobe University Graduate School of Humanities is 1-1 Rokkodai-cho, Nada-ku, Kobe, Hyogo 657-8501, Japan.
21:00
The return bus leaves the university for the hotel, after dinner. It picks up at the same roundabout in front of Humanities A where it set you down in the morning.
The bus sets you down in front of the Humanities A building. All the panels take place in Building B: rooms B233 (Room A), B232 (Room B) and B231 (Room C), coffee breaks in B234, and Lorenzo Marinucci's “Scent and Logos” workshop in B235 (Room D). All of these are on the second floor — in Japan the ground floor counts as the first, so it is one flight up from the entrance.
The Season Lao exhibition is at the Yamaguchi Seishi Memorial House, a five-minute walk across the same campus, open 10:00–16:30.
Please use only the conference rooms. No other room, office, laboratory or floor of the university may be entered.
Saturday 26
Closing and the afternoon excursion
The closing session is back at the hotel, in the Jasmine Room, Banquet Room, 9F. The afternoon excursion follows for those who signed up — the Nunobiki Herb Garden by ropeway, then a final soundwalk in Kitano with Sam Auinger & katrinem. There is no conference lunch on Saturday.
Meals
What is provided and what is not
| Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wed 23 | — | — | Not provided — the arrival evening is free |
| Thu 24 | At the hotel | Bentos at the hotel | At the hotel, 19:00–21:00 |
| Fri 25 | At the hotel | Bentos at the university | University cafeteria, 19:00 |
| Sat 26 | At the hotel | — | — |
On the ground
Practical notes
Getting around on your own
- Transport card
- If you have an iPhone, you do not need to buy one. You can add a Suica or ICOCA directly in Apple Wallet and top it up with your own card; it works on every train, subway and bus in the Kansai region, and in most convenience stores. Android phones bought outside Japan cannot do this — buy a physical ICOCA or Welcome Suica at any station.
- Taxis
- The GO app is the standard in Japan and works in English. Uber also operates in Kobe and dispatches ordinary taxis. Both accept foreign cards, which saves explaining an address in Japanese.
- Cash
- Many small restaurants, the campus cafeteria and some taxis are cash-only. Foreign cards work reliably at 7-Eleven and Japan Post ATMs; most other bank machines will refuse them.
- Weather
- Late September in Kobe is mild but humid, with occasional rain. Light layers and a small umbrella.
A few house rules
- Smoking
- The Kobe University campus is entirely non-smoking, indoors and out. Street smoking is also restricted in much of central Kobe, so look for the marked smoking areas.
- Rooms
- Please use only the conference rooms. No other room, office, laboratory or floor of the university may be entered.
- Nuts
- Please do not bring peanuts or nuts into the conference rooms. Some participants have allergies, and shared rooms and coffee breaks are exactly where this goes wrong.
Anything else
- Programme
- The full programme, with all rooms and times, is always the current version — check it rather than a printed copy.
- Book of abstracts
- Download the book of abstracts (PDF).
- Anything not covered here
- parisi.alberto@yahoo.com
The programme page is the live version
Times and rooms can still change in the last days before and during the conference. The programme on this site is always the current one, and anything that changes on the day we will also send by email. If a printed programme and the website disagree, trust the website.
Full programmePractical information on this page last updated