FAQ and Small Tips

If I will arrive after 23:00 ?

The front desk and main entrance of the Shonan Village Center are closed from 23:00 to 7:00 (11:00pm to 7:00am)

If you will arrive after 23:00, please go to the the Night Entrance, where you can meet the security guards. They will keep your room key.

From the main entrance of the Shonan Village Center, please go left along the building of the Center, you will find the Night Entrance.　You can find an intercom near the Night Entrance.

Please push the button on the intercom, the security guards will respond and take care of you.

The same notice will be placed on the main entrance door during the nights.

Hotels for October 7^th

There are several options if you will arrive on Oct. 7th

(1) Stay at a hotel in city center

Probably a hotel near one of the following Stations are convenient:

“Tokyo”, “Shinagawa”, “Shinguku”, “Yokohama”

All of them are kinds of hub stations and the down-town.

You can get there from Narita Airport directly by JR’s Narita Express (NEX) train. And on Oct 8th, you can go to Zushi (the nearest station for the Shonan Village) by JR’s train called;

“Airport Narita” Rapid Train (from “Tokyo”, “Shinagawa”, “Yokohama”), or
“Shonan Shinjuku” Line Train from “Shinjuku”

For hotels, there are too many hotels around these stations.

The Airport Limousine buses stop some of the major hotels in Tokyo and Yokohama. It usually takes longer than trains and the travel time is heavily affected by the traffic conditions. But it may be convenient as it directly goes in front of the hotel.

(2) You can stay at the Shonan Village Center

Please make reservation directly Mr. Kei Matsumoto, Shonan Village Center:

Email: shonan-meeting[at]shonan-village.co.jp?? (Please substitute @ for [at] )

If you will take morning flight out Narita on Oct 13^th

You can take a Rapid “Airport Narita” train which departing the Zushi Station at 5:11am. This is the direct train to the Narita Airport and arriving the Airport at 7:40am. Taxi from the Center to Zushi Station must be booked a day before at the latest.

The front desk of the Center will take care of you to book a taxi.

If you will change to NeX at the Ofuna station, you may be able to get the Airport slightly faster. From Zushi, Ofuna is the 3rd Station of the local train, and takes 11-13 minutes.

Ofuna – (NEX)- Narita Airport

5:25am??????? 7:18am

6:04am??????? 7:56am

6:22am??????? 8:10am

EXCURSION on OCT 10th

On the afternoon of October 10th, an Excursion is planned.
We will start from the Center by a chartered bus to Kamakura and have a dinner at Japanese Restaurant called “Hachi no Ki”.
We will visit Daibutsu (Great Budda) then walk to Hase Temple, from where probably we can enjoy the view for town and sea shore as it is in the middle of a hill. Then we will go to Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine by the Bus.? (or we may take an Enoden Tram, which running along sea side from Hase to Kamakura Station, then walk to the Shrine by walking through Komachi Street, where many small local shops of local hand crafts, cafe, restaurants.? Two volunteer guides will take us to there.
The “Hachi no Ki” is situated near Kita-Kamakura (North Kamakura), where surrounded by quiet but rich green and several small old ZEN temples and their gardens, from 13-16th centuries.
Kamakura is one of the popular destinations of one-day trip from Tokyo. (Often the participants of NTCIR Workshop visit the day after the workshop.)? It is a historical small town, where the Japan’s political metropolitan was situated in late 12-16th century.? Many top ZEN temples are in the area.? Also the town is facing sea shore with sand beach and surrounded by green hills and small mountains. There are several walking trails are available through the hills. (You can enjoy walk or hiking on weekend before or after the Workshop, if you like)

Some tips for sightseeing spots in and around Tokyo

There are too many options that you can enjoy. Taking sightseeing tour bus is one of the easiest way.
If you are interested in traditional arts;

Kabuki (audio-guide service in English is available) or Museums (Probably Tokyo is convenient for them)
Asakusa, historical town in Tokyo (also you can visit a new highest tower as well)
Jinbo cho (old book shop street, near NII. Some shops sell old scrolls or Ukiyoe (wooden Printings) as well.
Imperial Palace Garden and several museums around them (Tokyo station is closest. (from Tokyo station to Imperial Palace, it takes 10 minutes on foot)) Also close to NII.

If you are interested in Shopping,

Ginza, Marunouchi (in front of Tokyo Station), Shinjuku are good choice. Ginza is also near Tokyo Station and these two are high-ends.

If you are interested in electronic equipment or sub-cultures like AKB48 girls singing & dancing team, Manga, Anime, Maid-cafe;

Akihabara: Tokyo Station is near. By 2 stops by local train

If you are interested by “theme park”,

Tokyo Disney land is situated in between Tokyo and Airport.
Giburi-no-Mori: take a local train from Shinjuku.

Yokohama

Yokohama Port, Park, Western-style houses from Meiji-Era, Largest Chinese Town, Silks shops, shopping and arts, etc.

Around Shonan Village, Kamakura (next station to Zushi) is one of the very popular one-day trip destinations from Tokyo. Historical town with various old temples and shrines, and rich nature both sea shore and hills that you can enjoy walking.

Hakone
Great resort in the mountain with a lake and hot spa.

Kyoto

Of course, always a great choice is you have longer time. From Tokyo or Shinagawa, it takes 2.5-3 hours by Super Express Train (Shin Kan Sen).

Kyoto Mago-no-Te (Kyoto City Tourism Association)

Kyoto Prefecture Tourism Guide (Kyoto Tourism Federation)

Kyoto Travel Guide (taking time in Kyoto)

Nikko
- Gorgeous shrines and a great water fall: ? ? http://www.nikko-japan.org/
- World Heritage
Ueno
- Tokyo down town near Tokyo University, serveral large-scale national muesums, zoo and park : http://www.ueno.or.jp/index.html (in Japanese)

Hope the above will help you to have some image. If you have any specific interest, please let us know. We will search the good places for it.

Taxi / Bus in front of the Zushi station

You will find taxis in front of the Zushi station. Please show this card to the driver, and you will reach Shonan Village Center. A one way fare is approximately 3,000 yen. Some taxis accept credit cards, but others accept only Japanese yen cash. Please make sure if a taxi accepts credit cards on its window of rear seat before you get into.

To take a bus for Shonan Village Center, please wait in line at the bus stop 1 until the number 16 bus comes. A one-way fare is 340 yen. Only a few services in hours are available. The time table is here.

Currency Exchange

You can find several bank booths in the Narita Airport:

http://www.narita-airport.jp/en/guide/service/list/svc_11.html

The front desk of Shonan Village Center can exchange following kinds of currency to Yen : US Dollar, Euro, Pounds, Canada Dollar, and Australia Dollar.

ATM for Credit Cards

If you find a JP Bank ATM, the following brands of cards can be used for cash withdrawal: VISA, VISAELECTRON, PLUS, MasterCard, Maestro, Cirrus, American Express, Diners Club, JCB, China Unionpay, DISCOVER.
JP Bank ATMs are usually in post 〒 offices.

There is a Yokohama Bank ATM on the 1st floor of Shonan Village Center. It’s available from 9 a.m. to 18 p.m. on weekdays. But it doesn’t offer Cash Advance service by credit card

Food Restriction

If you have any food restriction, please declare it to Shonan Village Center. It is recommended to mention any food that you can not eat more specifically than only “vegetalian” or food categories.

Swimming Pool

The swimming pool in Shonan Village Center is available from 7:00 a.m. to 22:00 p.m.

Walking Around Shonan Village

You can walk or jog around the hiking course. Please keep from the residential area, or you may be lost.

Mobile Phones in Japan

Due to different communication standard, mobile phones from your home country may not work in Japan. Most importantly, there is no GSM network in Japan, so GSM-only phones do not work. For details, please consult; http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2223.html

* Some Personal Experiences *

Based on some personal experiences of the past NTCIR participants.

– high-end business nokia worked in Japan (from Scandinavia)

– AT&T usable in Japan by “international roaming” and “data roaming”. And “data roaming” can be switched off in the settings, which still lets you use WIFI when available. (from US)

– Other people whom I asked said that they could not use their mobile phones in Japan.

The above comments are personal experiences. So please check by yourself with your mobile phone company and make sure your mobile will be usable in Japan or not.

* In Case Your Mobile is NOT Worked in Japan *

Hideo kindly summarized the possible options as below;

Hire a mobile phone
Hire a sim card and use your phone
Hire a mobile wireless router and use your phone

1) is perhaps the simplest but could be most inconvenient.

2) is good if your phone can use a sim card in Japan (i.e., unlocked / same network system). My personal recommendation is actually

3). The router is usually small, and has no data access limit. Send emails/texts via internet. Checking maps. Talk to your family using Skype. Might not be the cheapest, though. Softbank has 1575 JPY/Day. But please note that 3) is usable for only smart phones.

You can book a phone/sim/router in advance on the internet and pick up/return at the Narita airport.

See http://www.narita-airport.jp/en/guide/service/list/svc_19.html

Softbank (iPhone distributer in Japan)
http://www.softbank-rental.jp/e/rental.php

Docomo (Largest telecommunication in Japan) http://roaming.nttdocomo.co.jp/en/service/

Telecomsqaure
http://www.telecomsquare.co.jp/inbound/en/index.php

JAL ABC
http://www.jalabc.com/english/

Hope this helps.

Thanks Hideo and some past participants of NTCIR!