ICA Joint Workshop on Future Internet and Ubiquitous Cartography 2019 (FIUCarto2019) in Akita, Japan during July 12 to 14, 2019

• Photos

01. Aims

• Communication among researchers on latest technologies and theories in web, mobile and ubiquitous mappings and their applications and social problems
• Developing a research agenda on future internet and ubiquitous cartography for sustainable evolution of maps and spatial thinking based on IT society
• Mapping cartography, geography, history, technology, culture and society of Akita or local regions of Japan into our knowledge and media

02. Dates and Place (Tentative)

• Dates: July 12 to 14, 2019
• Place: Akita University, Tegata Campus [wiki], Japan (Akita City, Akita Prefecture) Akita is the best place of rice [1] and Sake in the world.
  One of Rooms #201 and #207 in Bldg. #5 (39.728013, 140.133416), Faculty of Engineering Science, Tegata Campus, Akita University
  P4GM+QG
• Local Arrangement Person: Masatoshi Arikawa
  

03. Rough Plan (Tentative) [It is an old tentavie plan. A new concrete plan is coming soon.]

• July 12, Friday: Preliminary Day
  • Afternoon: an open meeting on developing a research agenda on future internet and ubiquitous cartography
  • Late afternoon: a walking tour of Akita City around a castle ruin "Senshu Park(็HŒ๖‰€)" of Akita
    (Sen-shuu means thousands (Sen=็) of autumns (Shuu=H) or politely good-bye forever or the end of my life. It may sound sad, but we, Japanese are pleased to enjoy the beauty of sadness. You may know "Wabi-sabi". [1])
  • Evening: a welcome dinner at a Akita style causal restaurant [Examples of traditional meals, Traditional folk events]
• July 13, Saturday: Meeting Day
  • Morning and afternoon: research presentations and discussion
  • Late afternoon: setting a research agenda on future internet and ubiquitous cartography
  • Lunch: a lunch box will be prepared at the venue
  • Dinner: Akita style restaurant near the venue [ex. Shenshu Komachi]
• July 14, Sunday: Technical Visits Day (You can join part of the following visits, but you need to make reservations in advance.)
  • Morning(1): experiencing a local citizen's market [1]
  • Morning(2): visiting a Sake factory [1]
  • Lunch: a Japanese restaurant
  • Afternoon(3): Ogata Geopark or/and Namahage (UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage) [1, 2]
  • Afternoon(4): experiencing a traditional Japanese house and activities

04. Participant Fee

• To be decided onsite later. Basically, only necessary expenses for meals and transportations. .

05. Transportation[1, 2, 3, 4]

• 20 mins on foot from the East exit of JR Akita Sta. to Akita Univ. [1]. It takes 5 mins by taxi from East Exit of JR Akita Sta. to Akita Univ. [1].
• 4 hours using Shinkansen (Akita Komachi) from JR Tokyo Sta. to JR Akita Sta.
• 40 mins using a limousine bus from Akita Airport to JR Akita Sta. [1]
• There are flights from "HANEDA Airport" in Tokyo, but NO flight from NARITA Airport. It takes about one hour from HANEDA Airport to Akita Airport.
• 9 hours using a night bus from Tokyo to JR Akita Station. [1] The price of the nigh bus is usually a half of the fee of Shinkansen, but it may be tough.

06. Accommodation [1]

It is difficult to find hotel rooms on Saturday, July 13 because Ekiden (Long Run Relay) will be planned on Sunday. Local arrange staff will help you. Please feel free to ask me if any trouble happens.

• Local Arrangement Person: Masatoshi Arikawa
  

• I recommend private reasonable hotels, so-called Business Hotels in Japanese, around JR Akita Sta. # about 20 mins on foot for Akita Univ.
  (Unfortunately, there are no hotels run by and near Akita university)
  • Toyoko Inn (East Side, \7,000~)[connected to sta. national wide most reasoble hotel chain in Japan with free small breakfast]
  • Comfort Hotel Akita (West Side, \6,000~)[Common in USA, but Japanse small size, high functional room with free small breakfast]
  • Hotel Alpha-1 Akita (West Side, \6,000~)[only Japanese site, but reasonalbe]
  • Dommy Inn Akita (West Side, \7,000~)[only Japanese site, but good quality with spa]
  • Hotel Metropolitan Akita (West Side, \11,000~)[connected to sta., only Japanese site with automatic English translation function, but a good hotel]
  • Akita View Hotel (West Side, \11,000~)[the 2nd best hotel in Akita City]
  • Akita Castle Hotel (West Side, \12,000~)[the best hotel in Akita City]
  • Richmond Hotel Akita Ekimae (West Side, \7,000~)[a good and reasonalbe hotel with high quality facilities]
  • Route-Inn Grantia Akita Spa Resort (West Side, bit far, \9,000~)[Little far, the best hotel spa in Akita City]
  • Daiwa Roynet Hotel Akita@(Kawabata, \7,000~)[Little far, but reasonable]
  • E-Hotel Akita (Kawabata, \6,000~)[Little far, but my favorite with public bath]
  • and so on
  • The above comments on hotels are my opinions. You should also check other's opinions about the hotels on hotel information sites. Other hotels out of the list are evaluated lower by me.
• There are more than twenty hotels around JR Akita Station. You can search hotels from hotels.com(where Akita) and bookings.com(where Akita). Actually, I recommend Rakuten Travel(where Akita) which is a No. 1 hotel information site in Japan. https://travel.rakuten.com/ or https://travel.rakuten.co.jp/. You can compare the price. I think that there are generally no bad hotels on the sites and in Japan.
• I am surprised that the price of a hotel on English sites is generally more expensive than Japanese sites. If you like, I will make hotel reservations for you from Japanese web sites. For example, the price of Comfort Hotel Akita is about 9,000yen from the English site, but 5,000yen from the Japanese site.

07. Info of Akita

• Akitafan.com
• True North Akita
• Akita Prefecture PR Song by Yanagiba Toshiro
• Japan Off The Beaten Path: Autumn In Akita Prefecture | Japan Travel Guide
• One scene of Namahage (UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage)
• Akita Folk Songs [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11]
• (Not Important)Good-bye Two Runs Squeeze was made successfully by Kanaashi Agricultural High School, Akita City in the National High School Baseball Championship, 2018 Summer
• Akita Inu (Dog) Diplomacy[1, 2, 3 ]