Kobe International Exhibition Hall, the main venue of the "OCEANS'08 MTS / IEEE KOBE TECHNO-OCEAN'08" is located on the man-made "Port Island," accessible in approximately 10 minutes from the city center Sannomiya by the Portliner.

Port Island, where the venue is located, is a man-made island with an area of 833 ha. It has port facilities including container berths surrounding it, and also the port-activity spaces behind those facilities. In the central district is an urban area with housing developments, schools and a municipal hospital, as well as convention facilities and commercial areas. Thus, this island is acting as a cultural city on the sea that has been provided with comprehensive urban functions for citizens to live, work, recreate and learn.

At the second construction site of Port Island, the city government is promoting the "project to build a medical industrial city" with the aim to bring together medical-related industries, by providing the most advanced facilities for medical research and development.

Kobe is an international port city, facing the blue and calm of the Seto Inland Sea, and with the backdrop of the beautiful mountains of Mt. Rokko, a national park. Kobe is a vivid city with high amenities along with the endowed natural environment, the sea and mountains. Its population of about 1.5 million people includes 45,000 overseas residents from 115 countries throughout the world.

 Kobe has an excellent traffic network by air, sea and land; in particular it is located very near to the Kansai International Airport that is playing a role as a gateway to western Japan. As one of Japan's typical convention cities, Kobe has been hosting numerous international conferences. The Kobe Airport opened off the Port of Kobe in early 2006 makes access even more convenient.

With its abundant tourist resources, such as Mt. Rokko National Park, the port, old place of residence for foreigner and Arima spa, Kobe is receiving about 27 million tourists every year. In addition, as Kobe is located near such ancient Japanese capitals as Kyoto and Nara, and Himeji famous for an imposing castle, you may enjoy sightseeing at those spots in a day or half a day starting from Kobe.