Related locations in Google Maps 
(with a few practical comments)
Conference Venue †
Aoba Kinen Kaikan (Aoba Memorial Hall)
Aoba-yama Campus, Tohoku University
Aoba-ku Aramaki Aza-aoba 6-6
Sendai , Japan
Accommodations †
Hotel Sendai Plaza can be booked at the time of registration. Shuttle bus will be operated to/from the conference venue. Details will be announced by e-mail to all the participants early in the previous week.
Transportation †
Recommended route †
To get to the hotel from abroad, the easiest way is to fly to Sendai Airport (SDJ) and take a shared taxicab (~40 minutes, depending on traffic and other passengers if any).
- The shared taxicab is legal and licensed. There is no worry about security. (It is almost impossible to find an illegal/unlicensed taxicab in Japan.)
- RESERVATION IS REQUIRED and can be made online .
- Although the online reservation form assumes that you are making a round trip from the city to the airport, you can use the same form in the other way around.
- The address of the hotel is: Hotel Sendai Plaza, Aoba-ku Hon-chou 2-20-1. The "ward" is "Aoba".
- The telephone number is a mandatory field, even though the form does not say so. An international number should be OK.
- You will receive a confirmation e-mail, perhaps in Japanese. If necessary, please look at this (unofficial) translation.
- Your driver will be waiting in the arrival lobby, just outside the baggage claim (and customs if any) of your flight, with a small green flag/banner of the company . In the (very) unlikely case you cannot find your driver, ask the airport information counter for help.
- The drivers do not speak English. Print out the confirmation e-mail, this translation, and this access map and show them to your driver.
- It costs 1,900 yen one way. Please prepare exact change since your driver may not have enough change. Pay to your driver when you get off.
It is also possible to reserve the shared taxicab to the conference venue (see above) instead of the hotel. It should not take more than an hour (provided that there are no other passengers). The cost is the same.
Other routes †
There is also a railway between Sendai Airport and Sendai Station (20-60 minutes including waiting time, 630 yen one way as of January 2010).
Another way to Sendai Station from abroad is to fly to Narita Airport (NRT), take an express train to Tokyo or Ueno Station (~1.5 hours), and then a Tohoku Shinkansen bullet train to Sendai Station (~2 hours, reservation recommended ). There are several types of Tohoku Shinkansen. We recommend Komachi or Hayate, which are the fastest though they require reservation. Trivia: cars 12-14 of Komachi are more spacious than cars 15-16 (and Hayate).
The hotel is ~5 minutes by taxicab (should cost less than 1,000 yen) from the west exit of Sendai Station. Again, print out this access map since it is unlikely that the driver speaks English.
There are also public buses between Sendai Station and the conference venue.
Aoba-yama Campus (Copyright: Tohoku University)
