Archive for 'Kobe' Category

The First JAPAN Incentive Travel Awards

JNTO (http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/) lauchned a new prize system to promote inbound tourism, called “JAPAN  Incentive Travel Awards” on Dec.21st. And three travel agents have been conferred the first awards and ceremony was held at the International Meeting Expo 2016 on Dec.7th(http://expo.nikkeibp.co.jp/ime/2016/eng/index.html) .

The grand prix was given to a tour of 6500 participants visiting Hokkaido hosted by LionTravel in Taiwan(http://www.liontravel.com/). The planning award was given to “Chaumet – Hurry up for sales” hosted by  teamtravel premium GmbH in Germany. That tour included 55 participants visiting spots related to jewelry using ipad services in Tokyo in style of a rally competition. And the Contribution award was given to “Millennium Achievers Tour” hosted by JTB Australia Pty Ltd. including 25 participants visiting Tokyo,Okayama,Kagawa, enjoying cultural activities of each local areas.

 

 

Harima region’s 13 cities forming the Inbound Tourism Project Review Team

13 cities and  9 towns in the Harima region in Hyogo Pref. formed a wide-area cooperative conference and set up an inbound tourism project review team to launch various inbound tour projects. As I have written in my last post, Himeji area in the Harima region now enjoys huge popularity with tourists due to the re-disclosure of  Himeji Castle to public this spring, whole of the Harima region has been stimulated and energetically conducts broader inbound plans there. (http://www.harima-united.jp/)

The 13 cities, such as  Himeji, Kakogawa,Ako, and Akashi, and 6 towns, such as  Fukuzaki, Kamikawa, and Kamigoori started inbound tour plans in collaboration with related local businesses such as travel agents and bus companies. In such projects, they plan and implement monitoring tours, such as a tour to experience making abaci called “Banshu Soroban” which is a traditional craft of Ono City and to visit  Himeji Castle, or experiencing Zen meditations at a local Buddhist temple, tea ceremonies and Himeji Castle visit. Some American, British, Spanish, Canadian residents in those areas joined the tours and are all satisfied so much. The municipalities are now vigorously continuing the inbound projects to attract and receive much more foreign tourists to reinvigorate the local society.

Himeji Castle, 500,000 visitors after the rennovation

Himeji Castle, a world heritage site and known as the “Egret Castle” due to its white and beautiful appearance in Himeji, Hyogo pref.  celebrated the record of receiving 500,000 visitors on this May 10th since the resumption of its opening of the donjon to public after the huge rennovations in the Heisei era on this March 24.  Now the castle has become so popular andreceives more than 17,000 visitors a day and might renew the record high so soon with the rapidly increasing number of the vistors. (http://translate.city.himeji.lg.jp/LUCHIMEJI/ns/tl.cgi/http://www.city.himeji.lg.jp/guide/castle.html?SLANG=ja&TLANG=en&XMODE=0&XCHARSET=utf-8&XJSID=0)

 

The 20th anniversary of “1.17”,the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake

This year we Japanese people commemorated the 20th anniversary of the Great hanshin-Awaji Earthquake on the January 17th.  In the damaged areas, municipalities hosted special commemorative ceremonies and private societies also hosted events sush as charity music conserts and so forth.  Kobe City, Nishinomiy City, Itami City and others in Hyogo Pref,  Osaka, Kyoto and other rigions and areas in the western part of Japan keep helping sufferers and their bereaved  families of the victims.  ( http://19950117hyogo.jp/other/),(http://www.city.kobe.lg.jp/foreign/index.html)

Children who were born in that year of disaster now have come of age this year. TV shows, dramas, articles and even personal blogs featuring this anniversary and related events are around. Though all the places and areas have miraculously recovered from the damages and rebuilt so well, we still retain the sadness and would keep consoling the souls of the victims and strive for improving the situations for even better.

 

 

Visit Japan Travel Mart and JATA Toursim EXPO Japan 2014

Two huge international travel marts were held at Tokyo Bigsight in Tokyo. One was “Visit Japan Travel Mart 2014″(Sep.24-26)(http://www.vjtm.jp/) and the other was “JATA Toursim EXPO Japan2014″(Sep.25-28)(http://t-expo.jp/en/index.html).  

More than 310 foriegn buyers and about 390 Japanese sellers joined VJTM2014 and had passionate exchanges of information and ideas and hosted busines seccions.  Buyers from Asian countries were especially a lot and about the half of the Japanese sellers were municipalities or relating associations of such local governments.

On the other hand,  a lot of domestic and foreign sellers and buysers joined  JATA Tourism EXPO Japan 2014. Such participants were embassies, tourism bureaus, travel agents, food companies, municipalities, railroads, airlines, hotels. universities, guide associations and so forth.  The main targets were end users of travel services and a lot of  lay Japanese people visited there and the total number was 157,589.  Upon the opening of the event, an ward ceremony  of  good  services and efforts of related promotions was hosted and the Best Tourism Award was given to The Tourism Authority of Thailand and Embassy awards were for  Thailand and Mexico, the best transporatation award was for Japan Railways East, the domestic inbound award was for  the tourism department of Tokyo Metropolis, the publicity award was for a TV show of CXTV, and the chairperson special award was for Okinawa Convention Bureau. (http://t-expo.jp/en/program/cms.html)   I personally visited the two big events and collected a lot of interesting information and exchanged ideas with the participants, some of whom were my friends or those I sometimes work with. I enjoyed the delicious food provided by tourism- related restaurants and local specialities and impressed by the greatly enthusiastic atmosphere of energies of the expos as well.

“The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” in USJ grand open

Universal Studio Japan  in Osaka opened a new theme area of the worldwide popular fantasy series, “Harry Potter” on Jul.15.  (http://www.usj.co.jp/harrypotter/)

The theme area is 40,000 ㎡ with re-enacted facilities of those in the stories, such as the magic school that wizard children go, and at restaurants and stalls where special food described in the stories  are available.

On the grand opening day, about 3000 people visited the area  and  everyday it receives a lot since then. USJ made the record high of the number of visitors there with more than 10 million last year and now it expects to have more than 12 million this year with these new attraction services.   About 45 billion yen (≒$440 million )which is equal to  the half amount of an annual budget of USJ  was spent on building this new area.  Some hotels expand their capacities expecting a huge increase in  visitors and job opportuniies are expected to increase as well in Osaka, kobe, Kyoto, and other areas in Kansai, which will surly invigorate economy there.

Smiling faces in front of “Tetsujin28”

Umbrellas bearing the smiling faces of children from areas hit by natural disasters around the world are opened in front of a statue of a robot cartoon character “Tetsujin28 (鉄人28号)” in Kobe, to wish for the reconstruction of northeastern Japan following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Kobe Illuminage 2011 – Kobe Municipal Fruit & Flower Park

Kobe Municipal Fruit & Flower Park is lit up with 3 million LED lights as part of the Kobe Illuminage 2011 event.

As the name suggests the main theme of the park is fruits and flowers. This park which is laid out in the form of a medieval European castle provides wonderful facilities like a public bathhouse, a swimming pool, ice skating and lush gardens filled with multi-hued flowers and juicy fruits.

The children will love to loiter and play in the park. What can be more delighting than spending some time amid the enthralling natural surroundings and pick seasonal fruits like peaches, pears, grapes, chestnuts, apples and apricots.

The display continues through Jan 17.

View Kobe Municipal Fruit & Flower Park in a larger map

Ai Kawashima performed for earthquake victims in Kobe

Singer-songwriter Ai Kawashima (川嶋あい）, 24, on January 16 held a free concert at Minato no Mori park in Kobe as a tribute for victims of the Great Hanshin Earthquake, which occurred on January 17, 1995. The park, which opened last year, is a popular spot for local artists. Some 300 fans gathered in a light snow for the performance.

Kawashima has been dreaming to become a singer from a young age. Her father vanished before she was born, and she was raised by her mother. She first began learning to play the piano at the age of three. Kawashima’s mother died when she was just 3 years old. She was taken to an orphanage and eventually adopted by the Kawashima family, owners of a construction company. Her adoptive father died when she was 10, and her adoptive mother died when she was 16. Every year since her adoptive mother’s death, she has held a concert on August 20th in her memory. Now she is singing not only for her mother, but also for people who listen to her songs, wishing for world peace. Kawashima has also helped to establish schools in poor countries, 3 schools have already been built, her goal is to build 100 schools.

Before she became famous, she set herself the goal of performing 1000 times on the street, finally accomplishing this after she became well known.

Kobe earthquake occurred on Tuesday, January 17, 1995, at 05:46 JST round Kobe. Approximately 6,434 people lost their lives; about 4,600 of them were from Kobe.

Kawashima played three songs, including “I Remember,” and “Tabidachi no Hi Ni.”for the earthquake victims in Kobe.

Kobe Port Tower’s optical fiber-made starry sky

Kobe Port Tower now undergoing renovation will have an optical fiber-made starry sky in the observation deck on its top floor. The tower will open to the public on April 28.
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Uno Kanda, Rinka, Hinano Yoshikawa X Kobe Girls Collection 2010

Many “kawaii” models joined in the Kobe Girls Collection 2010 Spring-Summer show at Kobe World Kinen Hall.

The Kobe Girls Collection (神戸コレクション) is a fashion event that has been held in Kobe, over 30 brands and some have participated. It is characteristic of this event that is public relations to consumer, and chance for young designers to publish their own design.

The wildly popular 6-hour show featured about 70 top models and celebrities in Japan took part in the annual event.

Among the celebrities modeling clothes were Uno Kanda (神田うの）, Rinka　（梨花）, Hinano Yoshikawa（吉川 ひなの）, Aki Hoshino（ほしのあき）, Anna Umemiya（梅宮 アンナ）and Yoko Kumada（熊田 曜子）. Read the rest of this entry »

Kobe Luminarie festival

Kobe city (神戸市） has been adorned with colorful illuminations, drawing crowds of visitors.
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Burberry Blue Label Kobe Sogo

Burberry Blue Label Kobe Sogo
バーバリーブルーレーベルそごう神戸店
At Sogo Kobe store, 8-1-8, Onoe-dori, Chuo-ku, Kobe
078-271-0196 　
Ladies Read the rest of this entry »

Burberry Blue Label Kobe Daimaru

Burberry Blue Label Kobe Daimaru
バーバリーブルーレーベル大丸神戸店
At Daimaru Kobe store, 40, Akashimachi, Chuo-ku, Kobe
078-327-5107
Ladies
MAP:Burberry Blue Label Kobe Daimaru Read the rest of this entry »