Press Release

With a mission to help Japan capture and disperse inbound interest across the country, Japan Airlines and TripAdvisor jointly launched a multi-media portal called “Untold Stories of Japan” last October. Since the launch, interest in Japan by Asia Pacific travelers has increased year-on-year by 40%, led by consumers from Singapore, South Korea, Australia, Thailand, New Zealand, India and Vietnam.

To date, the videos featured on the portal have been played more than 50 million times worldwide and travel interest to the regional prefectures promoted through the portal ⁽¹⁾ – outside of Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka – have shown a higher rate of growth at 45% year-on-year. The amount of time spent by travelers on the portal within TripAdvisor is also 40% longer than the average time users spend on other TripAdvisor website pages, demonstrating the strength of the stories showcasing the regional prefectures in Japan to the world.

To complement this, JAL has also launched a new site to cover broader destinations in Japan. Travelers can now use both portals to find even more information on tourism. In addition to this, four new videos featuring Miyagi, East Hokkaido, Kyoto and Nagano have now launched on “Untold Stories of Japan.”

1. Launch of JAL’s complementary site, “Another Stories of Japan”

The “Untold Stories of Japan” features local prefecture content based on travel themes. For example, Okinawa has a “beach” theme, while Tohoku features the “Omotenashi” or “Hospitality” theme. JAL plans to add additional information based on these themes introduced through the joint TripAdvisor portal to a complementary site called “Another Stories of Japan.” The latter will showcase actual traveler experiences from these destinations.

    ※ URL for Another Stories of Japan:  https://www.world.jal.co.jp/world/en/anotherstories/

2. New videos featuring Eastern Hokkaido, Nagano, Kyoto, and Miyagi Prefecture

Following the initial launch of “Untold Stories of Japan” which covered content from Tohoku, Fukuoka/Miyazaki, Okinawa, and suburban Tokyo (Yamanashi, Saitama, and Chiba), the portal has now added content covering Eastern Hokkaido, Nagano, Kyoto, and Miyagi. For Eastern Hokkaido, Shiretoko and Akan-lake in the winter are the main features, while local experiences such as Soba-making and a hot-spring experience is featured for Nagano. For Kyoto, the videos introduce the Okoto, a traditional Japanese musical instrument, as well as a tea ceremony. Finally, nature is featured in Miyagi on Tashiro-island, informally known as Cat Island.

   ※ URL for Untold Stories of Japan to find videos:  https://www.tripadvisor.com/InfoCenter-a_ctr.UntoldStories

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1 Prefectures promoted by ’Untold Stories’ include Yamanashi, Chiba, Saitama, Fukuoka, Miyazaki, Okinawa, Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata.

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