Technical Tour and Social Excursion
Quick Links - Technical Tour
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Technical Tour
Visiting research institutes in Tsukuba Science City area
ICPR2012 will have a free technical tour visiting outstanding research institutes in Tsukuba Science City area on Nov.16[Fri] (the next day after the conference is over).
An English spoken staff accompanies the participants from Tsukuba for all the day. Advanced reservation is strongly encouraged. (Reserved participants will have priority).
Lunch is not included.
| Technical Tour Information |
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[Min – Max participants] 2 |
[Fare] Free (Lunch is NOT included) |
[Reservation site] Link to come here |
[Time schedule] Pick-up:9:30(Tsukuba Sta.) -9:40(conference site) 10:00 – 12:00 : University of Tsukuba
12:15-13:15 : Lunch at U-Tsukuba Campus 13:15-13:30 : bus ride from U-Tsukuba to AIST 13:30 – 15:30 : Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
15:30 – 15:45 : bus ride from AIST to Tsukuba Sta. |
Social Excursion
1. Full day tour to Nikko
ICPR2012 will support a social excursion bus tour on Nov. 16 [Fri] (the next day after the conference is over).
Nikko tour
Nikko is famous for beautiful nature (beautiful lake Chuzenji-ko in Nikko mountain range and Kegon-no-taki waterfall) and among them is the Nikko-Toshogu, one of the most beautiful and finest wooden structures (shrine) in Japan founded by the first shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa of Edo era. It is a part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of “Shrines and Temples of Nikko.” It is located about 100km north-west away from Tsukuba. A chartered bus will bring you to Nikko as a round trip. An English spoken guide accompanies participants from Tsukuba to Nikko for all the day.
Advanced reservation is required.
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Social Excursion
2. Half day tours
During the ICPR2012 main conference, ICPR2012 will hold a short tour every day. ICPR2012 welcomes ICPR2012 participants and their accompanies to the four half day tours below. They might be changed due to the weather condition and/or demands from participants. An experienced English spoken guide accompanies participants. Advanced registration is encouraged (reserved participants will have priority).
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[Reservation] We will contact you by the from e-mail address, so please send the e-mail that you can check usually. |
Nov.12(Mon): Very short walk-out in Tsukuba
[Time] 10:00 (- 15:00)
The guide will show you how to move around Tsukuba Convention Center and Central Tsukuba. Then we move to a big regional shopping center (IIAS Tsukuba) by local public bus ride. We will visit:
- Convenience store : "Mini-Stop" (map)
Similar convenience stores could be found all over Japan (Seven-Eleven, Lawson, Family-Mart, ...). Open 24 hours. - Book store “Book-Ace Tsukuba / TSUTAYA (map)
Books are basically inexpensive and colorful. You may find Manga there too. Open 24 hours(!). - Drag store “Terashima” (map)
- “Dayz town” (map)
A shopping structure that has a supermarket store, drag store, amusement/game corner, restaurants (so called “izakaya”), and Karaoke. - Tsukuba Mitsui Building (map)
Tsukuba Mitsui Building is one of the tallest buildings in downtown Tsukuba area. You can see nice city view from the top floor. - Q’t (CREO square) (map)
Q’t (“cute”) is a building of a shopping mall at the Tsukuba station. We will have lunch at cafeteria on 1F (approx. 1,000 JPY or so). - Tsukuba Station (map)
The gate station to Akihabara by Tsukuba Express (TX) line. - Public bus ride
5min, 200JPY from Tsukuba sta. to IIAS Tsukuba - IIAS Tsukuba (map)
IIAS (“e-ash”) is one of the largest shopping mall in North Greater Tokyo Area, having 200 and more shops. - Cyberdyne Studio
Cyberdyne provides extra-skeleton robots to support challenging people. The company is founded by a professor of University of Tsukuba.
Nov.13(Tue): Mt. Tsukuba and Tsukuba-san-Jinja Shinto Shrine
[Time] 10:00 (- 15:00)
Mt. Tsukuba is recognized as one of the best 100 mountains in Japan. It has twin peaks and about 870 meter high. It is located at the north end of Kanto plane (greater Tokyo spreads out on it), so you may see good view down to Tokyo from its top if you are lucky enough. We will go up to the top by a cable car. you won’t need to walk hard (approx. 1km or so). We will also stop by at the Tsukuba-san-Jinja Shinto Shrine to pray for our safe trip to the top, which is close to the lower side station of the cable car. It is recommended to have shoes good for walking.
This event might be canceled due to weather condition.
- Bus between Tsukuba Sta. and Entrance of Tsukuba-san-Jinja : 1,400JPY (40min, 700 JPY for one way )
- Cable car fare 1,020 JPY (8min for one-way, fare is for round-trip)
- Lunch at the mountain top coffee shops (approx. 1,000 JPY, or you may bring your lunch box)
Nov.14 (Wed): Tokyo Sky Tree in ASAKUSA area
[Time] 9:30 (-16:00)
Asakusa (including Sensoji temple and Kaminarimon) is one of the most popular sightseeing spot in Tokyo area, and actually it is directly connected from Tsukuba by Tsukuba Express (TX) line. Close to Asakusa is Tokyo’s new sightseeing spot of 634-meter-high Tokyo Sky Tree. You may have a walk downtown Akihabara before you go back to Tsukuba.
- TX ride
Tsukuba - Asakusa : 1,100 JPY (one-way)
Tsukuba - Akihabara : 1,150 JPY (one-way)
We will take TX for both go and return. - Other ride (around Asakusa): 140 - 300 JPY
- Tokyo Sky Tree (350meter-ticket): 2,000 JPY (if available; it is still very popular)
Nov.15 (Thu): Tsukuba Science City
[Time] 10:00 (-16:00)
Another name of Tsukuba is “Tsukuba Science City” as it was artificially designed to pile up advance research institutes thirty years ago. Some of them run exhibitions that are open to public.
- JAXA Tsukuba Space Center : free
Operation and test center of Japan Space Activities. Some Japanese rockets and satellites are displayed. - Tsukuba Science Square and Geological Museum of AIST : free (closed on Mondays)
AIST is one of the largest governmental research institute and have two exhibitions, one for science promotion and one for collections of geological stuffs of Japan. (Note that Tsukuba Science Square will be a part of Technical Tour on Nov.16 too.) - Tsukuba Expo Center : 500 JPY (closed on Mondays)
Tsukuba once held the international science and technology expo (Tsukuba Expo ‘85). The center is a kind of science museum where both adults and kits can enjoy the wonders of science. - Sakura Minka-En : free (closed on Wednesday)
Located closely to the Tsukuba Expo Center, you can see a very old and traditional farmer house at Sakura Minka-En. It was originally build at later Edo era.
- You will use local bus ride from the conference site to JAXA, and AIST to Expo center (you will walk from JAXA to AIST for 1.5km/20 min, and from Expo center/Sakura-Minka-En to the conference center). Each bus ride will need about 250 JPY.
Related Links
Other sightseeing tour of Japan
JAPANiCAN.com
Lodgings at popular sightseeing spots become very crowded during the tourist season, so it is necessary to book well in advance. For details, please visit the following website.
* The link site is operated by JTB Japan Corp. JTB has been appointed as an official travel agent for the Conference.
ICPR2012 location map
Locations related with ICPR2012 are shown in Google ICPR2012 local map.
http://goo.gl/maps/lhQAH
