The Japan Tourism Agency has launched the "Welcome Advertisement Campaign" at 6 international airports in Japan (Haneda, Narita, Kansai, Chubu, New Chitose and Fukuoka) together with "Arashi," the tourism-oriented nation navigator who promotes tourism to Japan for foreigners. Starting on Sunday, December 1, the campaign advertisement featuring the members of Arashi expresses our gratitude as we move closer to achieving the 2013 target of 10 million foreign visitors to Japan.     

-- About Arashi, the tourism-oriented nation navigator

In 2010, the Japan Tourism Agency appointed Arashi, one of the most prominent artist groups in Japan, as a "tourism-oriented nation navigator" who, as a volunteer group, has been supporting PR activities to attract inbound tourism to Japan.

Arashi is popular among broad age groups from children to the elderly. In 2009, it became the first artist group to occupy the first and second positions in the singles category of the Oricon annual chart for two consecutive years, and made its debut at the annual "Red and White" New Year's Eve singing contest sponsored by NHK. They have also performed live in China (Shanghai), Korea (Seoul) and Taiwan (Taipei), commanding widespread popularity in countries and regions in East Asia.   

The Agency appointed Arashi as a tourism-oriented nation navigator because the potential future travelers to Japan in East Asian countries, where a major portion of foreign visitors come from, can identify with the young and energetic members of Arashi. Moreover, unique individuality of its members and vibrancy as a group help convey a more friendly and familiar image of Japan to different generations.

Arashi's activities as a tourism-oriented nation navigator to date include "Arashi of Japan - Gifts  to elementary/junior high/senior high schools throughout Japan" held on September 10, 2010, "Message from Japan" on July 11, 2011, and "Donation for the revival of tourism in the disaster-affected region" on November 3, 2011.

-- About graphic advertisement

The Japanese government is taking every measure to achieve the goal of welcoming a record 10 million foreign visitors to Japan in 2013. As a part of such measures, the Welcome Advertisement Campaign featuring the tourism-oriented nation navigator Arashi has been launched at 6 international airports (Haneda, Narita, Kansai, Chubu, New Chitose and Fukuoka) since December 1 (Sunday) to express gratitude to the visitors to Japan.

A huge graphic advertisement featuring Arashi is placed near the arrival gate of the 6 airports. The impressive graphics showing members of Arashi taking amusing, lively poses in suits in five different vivid colors with beaming smile is created to communicate the heartfelt message of "Yokoso!" (Welcome) and "Arigato" (Thank you) to visitors from abroad. Discover the fun related to each local area hidden in the graphic ads at the 6 international airports in Japan.

-- About original gift from tourism-oriented nation navigator Arashi

As a token of gratitude for visitors contributing to achieving our goal of welcoming a record 10 million foreign visitors to Japan in 2013, we are pleased to give away the limited-version original gift "Arashi Cool Japan Tenugui" (Japanese-style cotton washcloth) to 1,000 visitors from overseas during the December 1-31, 2013, period on a first-come, first-served basis.

The "Arashi Cool Japan Tenugui" will be distributed at the following five locations: Tourist Information Center (Marunouchi), Kansai Airport, Chubu Airport, New Chitose Airport and Fukuoka Airport. Please visit our website ( http://www.jnto.go.jp/ ) for more details.  

For details of the advertisement at 6 international airports (December 1, 2013 to January), please reffer to the attached PDF file.