Taiwan Tourism Promotion Event Opens in Tokyo’s Akihabara

By Sakurako Nakagawa Tokyo, April 11 (Jiji Press)–A major tourism promotion event hosted by the Taiwan Tourism Administration opened in Tokyo’s busy Akihabara district on Saturday. The two-day event, called “Taiyukan 2026,” is being held at Akiba Square, an event space near East Japan Railway Co.’s Akihabara Station, with the participation of many tourism officials and travel industry people from across the island. A feature of the event is performances of the Taroko indigenous people by Malibali Culture and Arts Group. The audience was wowed by the exotic singing voices, sounds of traditional musical instruments and dynamic dances. Besides the performances, talk shows of a Japanese bartender, a YouTuber who loves Taiwanese culture and other people are also scheduled during the event. The venue was crowded with people seeking information about trips to Taiwan. Hiroyuki Hakamata, 55, came to the event with his wife. “We’ve visited Taiwan twice and we want to go there again,” he said, adding that they were interested in the event because of their love of Taiwan, developed through their trips. He showed excitement to complete a so-called stamp rally, in which participants gather stamps on a card to receive a gift and enter a lottery to win prizes such as airplane and hotel tickets. Many visitors gathered at food stalls, buying Taiwanese beer, dim sum dishes, bubble tea and dishes from famous Taiwanese restaurants. A female visitor came to the event with her daughter ahead of their planned trip to Taiwan during the upcoming Golden Week holiday period. They bought grass jelly at a stall. “One of the reasons we love to visit Taiwan is the convenient transportation system, giving us easy access to various tourist spots,” she said. According to the tourist administration, Japan is among the top overseas travel destinations for Taiwanese people, with the annual number of Taiwanese who visited Japan up 10-fold over the past three decades at about 6.7 million. However, the number of Japanese people visiting Taiwan only doubled to some 1.5 million. “We are eager to attract more Japanese people to Taiwan by promoting rich Taiwanese culture at this event,” said Ivy Wang, director of the Taiwan Visitors Association’s Tokyo office. Since some 90 pct of Japanese visitors to Taiwan only go to Taipei, she also showed her determination to “promote many attractive spots across the island” through the Akihabara event. “I think that life is a book, and if you travel to a foreign place, you can flip over one of its pages,” said Chou Shyue-yow, deputy head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan, the post equivalent to deputy ambassador. “I want Japanese people, young and old, to visit Taiwan to flip a page.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]