Plone Conference 2018 will be in Tokyo, Japan!

Start digging out your travel guidebooks – November 5-11, 2018

The annual Plone Conference will be held in Tokyo, Japan, on November 5 - 11, 2018!

Tokyo is a unique, exciting city of modern and traditional charms, and its infrastructure is rapidly evolving to welcome overseas guests for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2020. It will be the first Asian city to host the Plone Conference. The first PyCon APAC in Tokyo was held in 2013 and it attracted more than 500 participants. PyCon JP is an annual conference held in Tokyo since 2011 and the number of participants has been rapidly increasing.

 

Organizers Manabu Terada, Takeshi Yamamoto, Zenichiro Yasuda, and Takanori Suzuki submitted the winning conference proposal, vetted by the Plone Foundation Board and announced at the Foundation's Annual General Meeting held last week in Barcelona.

   

The conference will be promoted on Asian/Japanese media to grow the well-established Japanese Plone user base, and 1-day Conference tickets will be offered to increase local participation. Simultaneous translation will be provided for keynotes and other tracks. 

Venue

The Conference will be held at Ota City Plaza, a conference venue located in an area called Kamata. Kamata is famous for being the center of manufacturing and high technology of Japan. The venue is only 3 minutes-walk from Keikyu Kamata station and there are numerous hotels in walking distance. There are many restaurants and bars (or “Izakaya”, a Japanese pub) for local people to enjoy, so the participants can enjoy Tokyo’s nightlife at a reasonable price while indulging themselves in the local atmosphere.

Two large halls will accommodate more than 300 in theater style each at the Ota City Plaza. Aside from these halls, there are 8 conference rooms which have the capacity for holding training, breakouts and tutorials. Microphone (wired and wireless), projector and screen are prepared for all halls and conference rooms.

Conference Track Themes

  • Python Web (Django, Pyramid, WSGI and more)
  • Frontend (JavaScript, Design)
  • Database (ZODB, NEO, SQLAlchemy, MySQL, PostgreSQL and more)

Training – November 5 (Mon) to 6 (Tue), 2018 (2 days)

Training will be held at the Ota City Industrial Plaza, which is also the venue for the Conference. Training will consist of 3 to 4 sessions, led by professionals who are globally known for their achievement. There will be a session in Japanese for local users. Wifi will be available for participants. 

Conference – November 7 (Wed) to 9 (Fri), 2018 (3 days)

The Conference will consist of 3 tracks. Each day's program will follow a theme. One of the keynotes will be given by a Japanese speaker known for their accomplishments (it will be simultaneously translated into English). In order to increase the number of local participants, in addition to the 3 tracks, there will be an entire track in Japanese presented by well-known Japanese speakers. 

Sprint – November 10 (Sat) to 11 (Sun), 2018 (2 days)

As always, sprints will be a part of the conference schedule and will be open for all (not limited to conference ticket purchasers). 

Overview of Tokyo

Tokyo, Japan’s bustling capital city, is a modern, vibrant megalopolis which combines business, knowledge, creativity, and innovation. The city is the epitome of fusion where over 400 years of history and Japanese tradition juxtapose, providing a unique experience for all visitors. There is always something for everyone — visitors can choose from over 100,000 restaurants, enjoy any one of its 80 plus parks, immerse in the aesthetics of the Japanese tea ceremony, or indulge in a night of unique Japanese culture at a Kabuki theatre. For the 2016 instalment of its annual Quality of Life Survey, Monocle magazine has ranked the livability of some of the world's largest cities according to 22 metrics, with Tokyo coming out the top of the list.

Host City of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2020

Tokyo will be hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2020. The city is rapidly enhancing its infrastructure, and the number of flights of both Haneda International Airport & Narita International Airport is expanding towards 2020.

Safest city in the world

Japan has a notably low violent crime rate amongst the 192 U.N. countries, according to the survey of UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime). Visitors can walk the streets and feel completely comfortable even at night time. Many international visitors have wonderful stories of returned lost wallets with everything intact. Police boxes are scattered around the city and at most train stations and major city intersections. The Safe Cities Index 2015, compiled by the Economist, ranks Tokyo at the top in terms of digital security, health security, infrastructure and personal safety. The country is hospitable, clean, prompt, polite, and efficient and the tap water is safe for drinking. Therefore, it has never been heard that attendees of conferences in Tokyo became a victim of any crime.

Access to the venue from the airport

Tokyo provides great direct air accessibility for overseas travellers and is served by two international airports: Narita and Haneda. Narita International Airport offers over 1,610 international flights per week from 103 cities around the world, while Tokyo International Airport (Haneda) offers over 760 international flights per week from 31 major cities.

HANEDA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT – Connecting 31 Cities

  • Largest number of flight arrivals/departures in Japan, serving 80 million passengers a year
  • Located in the city center, 25 minutes to Tokyo Station
  • Over 760 international arrivals per week
  • Connected with 31 cities around the world with plans for increase
  • 39 international airlines serve the Airport
  • 1 international terminal and 2 domestic terminals
  • 7 km from proposed venue and surrounding hotels

NARITA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT – Connecting 103 Cities

  • 2nd largest and busiest airport in Japan, serving 39 million passengers a year
  • Connected with 103 cities worldwide
  • 88 international airlines serve the Airport
  • Three international passenger terminals
  • 80 km from the proposed venue and surrounding hotels

Accommodation

Tokyo offers more than 98,000 rooms ranging from budget accommodation to five-star luxury hotels, all assuring friendly and high-quality service to guests. There are 4,500 rooms within 15 minutes-walk or train ride from the venue. There are also Airbnb possibilities, capsule hotels and guest houses. These budget accommodations cost approximately USD 30 at the lowest.

Restaurants and bars

During the Conference, lunch will be prepared, but the attendees also have plenty of choices around the venue. There are many restaurants and bars in Kamata where local people gather. Kamata is also famous for its local shopping avenue, and you can feel the vivid atmosphere of Japan’s downtown.

 

Cost of Living

Tokyo offers quality goods and services suited for all budgets, and participants are sure to find good value for money. Although Tokyo used to be recognized as one of the most expensive cities in the world, prices are no longer high compared with other big cities. To satisfy the demanding taste buds of locals and international visitors, restaurants, cafes and bars strive to serve quality food and drinks at affordable prices.

Social Program

For the social program during the Conference, Tokyo offers various venues at reasonable prices.

 

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government and TCVB will offer in-kind support, providing a Japanese Entertainment Program (i.e., Japanese Drum performance, Ninja performance, Japanese “Awaodori” Dance performance, to be decided later) at the conference social event.

Entry Requirements

Japan has a visa waiver agreement with 68 countries and regions, where participants can enter the country for a short-term stay with a valid passport. The following is the list of countries which are included in the visa waiver programme with Japan (this information is correct as of August 2018). The period of stay granted at the time of the landing is 90 days unless indicated otherwise. For participants who require a visa, we will provide an invitation letter to registered participants.

* For details, please refer to the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. http://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/visa/short/novisa.html