Japan launches 'Discover Spirit of Japan' campaign to woo tourists, S'poreans back
Japan launched a major reboot of its Visit Japan tourism campaign on Friday, almost exactly two years after the deadly earthquake and tsunami that rocked the nation.
Titled “Discover the Spirit of Japan”, the new campaign’s main goal is to tell the world that it has fully recovered from the 8.9-strong Tohoku quake that killed nearly 16,000 people and resulted in billions’ worth of damage to buildings and infrastructure.
The reboot marks the 10th anniversary of its Visit Japan campaign but in a break from previous years, puts the focus squarely on the people of Japan, who made world headlines with their stoic resilience and human spirit in the triple threat – quake, tsunami followed by radiation crisis -- of the March 2011 disaster.
Celebrating the creations, character and common life of its people told through the traditional Japanese “Awa Dance”, the photo-and-video campaign is captured on a newly created website (see http://www.visitjapan.jp/en/).
Relying heavily on social media to get the word out, the website is available in 17 languages including English, Korean and simplified Chinese and contains over 160 videos promoting major tourist attractions and the people.
For good measure and star appeal, the campaign also pulled in celebrity ambassador Carly Rae Jepsen, the Canadian whose worldwide smash hit “Call Me Maybe” is also part of the project.
“What makes Japan special is its people”, said Australian-Kiwi businessman Terrie Lloyd, part of an advisory panel member for the Japan Tourism Agency (JTA), during the launch ceremony held in Tokyo in front of a press pack of almost 50 journalists.
“Visiting a Japanese restaurant in your country is not the same as visiting Japan. You have not visited Japan until you have come here,” said Lloyd, who has lived in the country for the past 30 years.
Singaporeans slow to return
JTA international division director Shuichi Kameyama told Yahoo! Singapore he also hopes the campaign speaks to Singaporeans.
“Tourist arrivals from Singapore has been one of the slowest to pick up,” said the 47-year-old, admitting that Singaporeans still had reservations about possible after-effects of the radiation leak around the Daiichi nuclear plant.
“We are trying to change that perception. One of the reasons why we did a photo contest is so that non-Japanese people could show to the world that the country is safe,” he added.
Based on the latest 2012 figures, Singapore was No.7 on the list of top foreign visitors to Japan. Over 140,000 Singaporeans visited the Land of the Rising Sun last year, still far below pre-earthquake levels of 180,960 in 2010.
So is Japan totally safe to visit?
“Apart from a 20-kilometre radius directly surrounding the plant, yes, it’s perfectly safe to travel to Japan,” said Kameyama.
“99.999% of Japan is fine. And you can see that from how tourism numbers are slowly back to reaching the same as pre-disaster levels,” he added.
Indeed, total tourist arrivals to Japan rebounded strongly, hitting a total of 8.36 million for the whole of last year, a little short of the record of 8.61 million achieved in 2010. It is hoped this new campaign will help the land of Harajuku girls and manga breach the 10 million mark this year.
Singaporean Samantha Tan, 32, who was among the winners of the crowd-sourced “Share your WOW! Japan” photo contest, said there was nothing to fear.
“There are so many beautiful places in Japan. Fukushima itself is so many times bigger than Singapore so you are talking about a very small area,” said the freelance wedding photographer, who has been back to Japan six times since the 2010 quake.
"Japan’s my favourite place to go. I love the food, the people are so warm and friendly, and whichever prefecture you go, there are just so many beautiful, scenic places.”
