In the keynote speech at the annual general meeting, Yoshinobu Hara, who was appointed Mayor of Inuyama this year, spoke about the past decisions that made Inuyama the tourist city it is today, and his thoughts on the future, drawing on his own experiences with Inuyama.
While the world was moving toward urban development to combat depopulation in rural areas, the city received a lot of criticism at the time, but its decision to preserve the old castle town streets led to the creation of the tourist city Inuyama we know today. However, there are still many challenges to overcome in revitalizing the region, and his desire to create a tourist town that will lead to the happiness of local residents was felt to be an important message for many other regions as well.
Economic data clearly indicates that 2023 will be the year of a major economic upheaval that occurs once every 30 years. In the inbound business, those who can ride this wave will seize major business opportunities; those who miss out will miss out. This article will provide a prologue.
In business, connecting Japanese and foreigners on the same footing creates new interactions and business opportunities. The Association will support your business model. Learning at regular meetings, networking at social gatherings, and deepening connections at events will lead to strong business matches. Why not deepen your bonds with over 110 fellow members here and discover ideas for developing your business?
Starting in fiscal year 2023, we will launch activities to meet the diverse needs of our members, including those who want to develop business with foreigners, those who want to increase their interactions with foreigners, and foreigners who want to deepen their business in Japan.
With three years of self-restraint due to the COVID-19 pandemic coming to an end, we can expect a full-scale return of inbound tourism in 2023.
In light of this situation, the Japanese government has positioned inbound tourism as a pillar of its future national strategy, seeing it as the only policy leveraging the weak yen. As a benchmark, it has set a goal of achieving 5 trillion yen in consumption as soon as possible. Public agency budgets for next fiscal year have also seen significant increases, including a 40% increase to a total budget of 181.4 billion yen, 255.5 billion yen for tourism-related matters at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and 12.3 billion yen for visit Japan promotion, a 1.9-fold increase from last year.
The Association also views next fiscal year as an opportunity to proactively develop its business.
This regular meeting was a kickoff meeting for business development, with a particular focus on business bidding.
Participants will consolidate their strengths, form a member consortium, and create a framework for joint participation in future proposed bidding projects. Based on the results of a survey submitted by members at this regular meeting, we will provide individual information on this matter.
Foreign workers in Japan are important to the development of companies and regions, yet many business managers may not have a proper understanding of this issue. Therefore, this time, using the seminar research of Meijo University students as a starting point for discussion, we held a panel discussion on the current situation of foreign workers, featuring various experts.
The experts included Professor Yuri Sadoi of the Meijo University Faculty of Economics, who studies foreign employment; Attorney Masaki Tanabe of Nagoya International Law Office, who supports foreign workers; Mr. Than Than Aung of the Myanmar Japan Center, which provides human resources development for workers in Myanmar; and Mr. Masaharu Yamada of Yoshix Holdings Co., Ltd., which employs a large number of foreign workers.
What became clear from this discussion was that the idea of foreign workers as low-wage workers is a thing of the past, and that a changing society means that hiring workers with excellent knowledge and skills will become a key theme for corporate development. However, if we continue with current approaches, it may become difficult to hire excellent foreign workers.
This discussion made it clear that even for business managers who have not been accustomed to hiring foreigners, hiring foreigners with the right knowledge can lead to the development of both the company and the region, and it also made it clear that there is a need for continued information exchange on this topic.
We learned from a report by Hiroshi Shirai, CEO of Ryochi Communication Partners, who runs the popular Vietnamese restaurant "Huong Lai" in Ho Chi Minh City, which employs orphans and street children in Vietnam and trains them to become socially useful members of the workforce.
Getting the Vietnamese children, whose ways of thinking and behavior are completely different, to all work together on the same vector was a constant struggle. He realized that rather than trying to change the other person into his ideal version of himself, he needed to change himself to match their perspective, and gradually they would begin to connect with each other.
Hori Yasuko has been re-examining the tourism potential of Aichi Prefecture and is currently working on "profit-generating tourism" in Nishio City, from creating tourist courses to training guides. Using real-life examples, she shared tips on how to generate concrete revenue for inbound tourism in Aichi Prefecture.
Indonesia is a large country with a population of 280 million, and expectations are high for its future growth and development.
Indonesia has a large number of people who are pro-Japan, and in a survey, Japan was ranked number one by a large margin as the most popular overseas travel destination. It is clear that Indonesia is a very promising foreign country both as a future investment destination and a place to attract inbound tourists.
A Ukrainian cooking class was held for refugees from Ukraine at the Naka Lifelong Learning Center in Nagoya's Naka Ward. A total of 28 people participated, including 18 association members, 8 Ukrainian refugees, and 2 Ukrainians living in Japan. 15 reporters from five television stations and 2 reporters from two newspapers also attended, making for a very successful event.
In the morning, Lyudmila Kawaguchi, president of the Japan-Ukrainian Cultural Association, provided cooking instruction. The Ukrainians, divided into six tables, cooked borsch and kiev cutlets together. In the afternoon, they enjoyed these dishes while enjoying a Japan-Ukraine social gathering.
When asked about the refugees' challenges, they mentioned: 1) They want to work, not just receive aid, but also work, but they can't find jobs because they don't speak Japanese; 2) Travel costs from their homes to Nagoya to attend Japanese language schools are a significant burden, costing them 1,000 yen a day; and 3) The SIM cards provided by the government have a monthly limit of 15GB, which is insufficient for video calls with family back home.
The Aichi Inbound Association (Inc.) intends to seriously consider how we can respond to these concerns.
On December 22, 2021, we held a Christmas party for Vietnamese and Japanese people.
A total of 51 people participated on the day, including 23 Japanese, 22 Vietnamese, 3 Burmese, 2 Chinese, and 1 Indonesian.
For hand-rolled sushi, we experimented with adding cilantro, a vegetable typical of Vietnamese cuisine. The most popular was a sushi roll made with cilantro, shrimp, and cucumber, served with sour chili sauce, which both Japanese and Vietnamese said was delicious. Another popular option was cilantro wrapped around flying fish roe or canned tuna.
Gatherings that promote international exchange through food inevitably foster greater closeness and cultural exchange. We will continue to work to eliminate racial and national barriers by creating opportunities for such exchange.
On December 22nd, we held a Christmas party for Vietnamese and Japanese people.
On the day, 51 people participated, including 23 Japanese, 22 Vietnamese, 3 Myanmarese, 2 Chinese, and 1 Indonesian.
Vietnamese and Japanese people work together to make fresh spring rolls.
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For hand-rolled sushi, we experimented with adding coriander, a vegetable typical of Vietnamese cuisine. The most popular was a sushi roll made with coriander, shrimp, and cucumber, served with sour chili sauce, which was praised by both Japanese and Vietnamese people as being delicious. Another popular option was wrapping coriander with flying fish roe or canned tuna.。
At the end of the event, a Vietnamese-only rock-paper-scissors tournament was held, and the winner received a box of pho.
Gatherings that promote international exchange through food inevitably foster greater feelings of closeness and allow for cultural exchange. We will continue to work to eliminate racial and national barriers by creating opportunities for such exchange.
The genius of illusion magic that Aichi is proud to present to the world! We covered the magic show by DAIKI.
Large-scale illusion magic shows that attract a lot of people have almost stopped since last year due to the box office restrictions imposed by COVID-19.
To solve this problem, Mr. Daiki Tanaka of Magic Off Illusion, a.k.a. [DAIKI], developed "Drive-in Illusion Magic" where people can watch the show while riding in their cars.
The studio, built in a converted warehouse, allows guests to watch the show on stage while riding in a car.
This way, you can watch the illusion magic with a lower risk of infection. Of course, you are also free to get out of the car and relax on the couch to watch the show.
On this day, two families with eight guests, including small children, got out of the car and relaxed on the sofa and carpet to watch the show.
The advantage of watching up close is that the guests can participate and experience the card magic.
The children's eyes were glued to the illusions as they unfolded one after another right in front of them. Not only that, but the children can also participate in the illusions on stage.
When the children of the 3 and 6-year-old guests approached the round table, to their surprise, the table floated in the air. Their eyes lit up as they saw the table wandering in the air right in front of them.
Not only that, but when a six-year-old girl lay down on the stage, was covered with a sheet, and was encouraged by the illusionist, she floated softly in the air.
He asked her, "How did you feel when you were floating? She replied, "I didn't know.
The guests seemed to lose themselves in a series of breathtaking illusions, such as the situation they had imagined in their minds being written on a piece of paper and coming out of a treasure chest, and the cast in the box disappearing in the fire.
There is no doubt that the large-scale illusions that DAIKI specializes in on a larger stage are tourism content that can be used by people around the world.
The Aichi Inbound Association will continue to support DAIKI as a centerpiece of inbound content.
wpmaster
Reported by: Mr. Wiwi
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