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Onsen prefecture

     Tourism Oita was added in Japanese DMO last year. Oita prefecture in Japan is famous for hot spring. The number of hot spring wells and the yield of hot water are the largest in Japan. Oita is also called “Onsen prefecture”. That is why the logo shows wooden bath oke and towel. In addition, the steam is written by “OITA”. The message under the logo means Japan's number one Onsen. Also, it is wririten that Oita is full of charm. However, there is device on kanji of “charm”. The correct kanji is replaced by different kanji, and the word means “taste”. That is to say, Oita has many attractions of food too. Kabosu which is a kind of citrus fruit, pear and Shiitake mushroom are specialty of Oita. Oita also has sea, so it can get a lot of fish such as horse mackerel, puffer fish, prawn and something like that.

     The brand of Oita is absolutely Onsen. Even among them, Beppu Jigoku Meguri (Beppu Hell Tour) is a unique spot. The name, Jigoku (hell), was derived from the fact that the site is unapproachable, because of fumarolic gas of around 100 degrees. Thermal mud and hot springs have been gushing tremendously from the ground for over 1,000 years. There are 8 Jigokus in total at Beppu consisting of ‘Umi Jigoku (the cobalt blue ocean hell), Chi-no Ike Jigoku (deep-red blood pond hell), Oniishi Bozu Jigoku’ (Onishi Shaven Head Hell), Yama Jigoku (Mountain Hell), Kamado Jigoku (Boiling Hell), Oniyama Jigoku (Demon Mountain Hell), Shiraike Hell (White Pond Hell) and ‘Tatsumaki Jigoku’ (Geyser Hell). That is in no other place than there. The visitors can enjoy unusual hot springs there.

     Travelers to Oita are increasing today. The targets are people who seek relaxing places and foreigners who are interested in Japanese culture. I think it is a good point to focus on foreigners. However, there are two issues. Few staffs can speak English. Oita should have many bilingual staffs. Also, about half of hot springs doesn’t allow people with tattoo to use them. They should be lenient for everybody to enjoy hot springs. (352 words) Nov 19th, 2017

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Cabin Hotel is new trend

     Foreign travelers to Japan are increasing today. Solo travelers and backpackers are also increasing. On the other hand, the lack of hotels is a serious social issue in Japan. Japanese hotel industry is rushing to build new hotels, but it doesn’t catch up with the capacity. Accordingly, capsule hotels are receiving a lot of attention which can accommodate many guests recently. Although capsule hotels so far don’t have good images on the safe and comfort sides, the current capsule hotels are developing enough to allow woman to stay alone safely.

     “Cabin hotels” are receiving a lot of attention recently. The hotels are kind of capsule hotels, but they offer higher quality than capsule hotel and lower price than business hotels do. Y’s CABIN Yokohamakannai was opened in Yokohama last October. The cabin hotel has lobby with a feeling of freedom by high ceiling and big windows, a lounge, hot spring with sauna for man, shower rooms for woman amenities and free wifi. Moreover, it is established to separate floors of rooms for men and women, and each room has a storing table, TV, a closet with key. The guests can relax and stay with security. The cabin hotel provides great facilities and services to enable consumers to feel luxuriousness.

     Cabin hotels strive to offer not only reasonable price but also luxury and security. Many of them also have currency exchange machine and copy machine. I assert that cabin hotel is more popular and bigger because more and more foreign travelers will come to Japan by Tokyo Olympics and business trip and solo trip will increase too. In addition, not a few people want to keep hotel charges down as much as they can. I thought that capsule hotel was uncomfortable and the users were almost man before I wrote this blog. However, they have evolved into cozy spots for all people. I want to use cabin hotel when I travel or visit somewhere for business. (326 words) Oct 29th, 2017

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     These days, “resort” comes into fashion in Japan, and there are many resort style cafes such as Hawaiian pancake cafes and cafés with superb view. Among them, “sandy beach café” has been increasing today. The prominent character of the cafés is to be covered the floor with real fine-grained sand. In other words, tables, chairs and sofas are put on sand. People can enjoy while putting their shoes or sandals on. Also, some cafés allow people to walk barefoot, and some ones allow people to borrow slippers for protect their own shoes. In addition, there are sandy beach bars, and they serve tropical cocktails. A bar creates the shore by flickered and danced lights. “Hammock café” is also seen all over Japan lately. There are hammocks instead of chairs, and people can enjoy eating, reading books and chatting with friends while being swayed. Moreover, cafés with pool or waterside are gradually getting popular in Japan too. Most of the pools are for only seeing, but people can feel like they stay at a resort hotel. At the cafes side of river or canal, the situation gives people inner peace.

     These kinds of cafes often use Hawaiian things such as surfboard, palm tree and ukulele for decoration because Japanese people have been attracted Hawaii for the resort area since a long time ago. For example, many Japanese new couples tend to choose Hawaii for their honeymoon, and to stay in Hawaii on New Year's Day is luxury symbol in Japan. Even many Japanese celebrities enjoy there on the day every year. These café also serves Hawaiian food and drink such as loco moco, poke, pancake and tropical juice. It is easy for Japanese to remind “resort area” by these things.

     I think that this new concept which focuses on the resort area is wonderful because many Japanese people seek relaxation in hurry-scurry life. Moreover, about half of the popular foreign destination from Japan is resort area. It means that many Japanese want to travel there. However, they hardly visit there because resort areas are too far and expensive for them. That is why the cafes of resort style are increasing for them, and Japanese people can savor the feelings of the resort easily.

     Thanks for resort style cafes, people can relax and enjoy different time like “extraordinary space” from the usual. Even rainy day or winter, people can feel warmth of resort areas. (402 words) Oct 15th, 2017

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What I learned from a Chinese garden

     I went to Dr. Sun Yat-Sen because the garden is used by a classical Chinese style and let visitors learn about history, culture and lifestyle in Ming dynasty China (1368-1644). Visitors can feel for the atmosphere of traditional Chinese culture though they are in Vancouver.

     The garden is the first traditional Chinese garden which is replicated Ming dynasty outside of China. I enter the garden, and in another moment I could see many bamboos and pine. In Chinese gardens, plants symbolize human virtue, so bamboos mean elegance and pines mean life force. Also, there is a pond, and the water surface expresses the essence of Taoism’s shadow. I understood that they symbolized the search of nature, mind and body that expounded Chinese Taoism ideas. In this way, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen is basically an orthodox Ming style garden. However, it is mixed with other dynasty’s styles. The garden was built by Vancouver architect Joe Wai and landscape architect Don Vaughan. They say that they adopted other dynasty’s elements on purpose because they wanted to symbolize various “Chinese culture”. Moreover, there are not only Chinese elements, but also Canadian ones. There are many rocks and they are from China, while the plants which surround rocks are from Canada. I learned that the maintenance of cultural heritage did not always mean old materials and national things. They show in what way Chinese culture will prosper in Canada.

     Many people from all parts of the world have immigrated to Vancouver, and there are particularly a lot of Chinese-Canadian. Also, to preserve ethnic culture is Canadian national policy, and Chinatown is the historical and cultural property of pluralistic society. That is why Dr. Sun Yat-Sen is very important for Vancouver and Chinese-Canadian to share as one cultural fortune. The garden ties between culture and people.

     To learn about culture is to understand characters and features of foreign countries. When we come in contact with people who have different cultures, we tend to judge them on our standards, sense of values and views and assume that they are in the wrong. We need to understand why they think such a thing and why they act such an attitude. Also, we can know our culture objectively when we realize them because we can reconsider ourselves by having the point of view to understand other cultures. I could understand Chinese culture again by visiting Dr. Sun Yat-Sen and searching its history and background. (405 words) Oct 1st, 2017

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The biggest  jewel in the world

     In recent years, there are more and more tours which people can enjoy superb views such as Salar de Uyuni, Victoria Falls and Angkor Watt in Tourism. Lake Baikal is also one of the popular sightseeing spots, and I am interested in there.

     Lake Baikal is in the southern Siberia area of Russia. The shape of the lake is like a crescent. It is said that Lake Baikal was basically trench, and it was independent of the sea 30 million years ago. After that, the lake took a long time to become desalination. The maximum water depth is 1,632 m and the maximum width is 79.5 km. That is why Lake Baikal is the oldest, the deepest and the largest freshwater lake in the world. Also, it was designated a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site in 1996.

     In winter, it falls below -30℃ at Lake Baikal, and the surface of the lake freezes over. However, the lake has a high transparency. Thanks for that, the lake is changed the huge beautiful ice like crystals. Also, people install the road signs on the surface and we can drive cars while long winter. Moreover, the rails are laid and trains can run. In spring, the ice surface causes the cracks, and then, they rise toward the sky. They are called “The Pearl of Siberia”. These are miraculous things! Actually, there are many endemic species around the lake, and it is also called “Organic Evolution Museum” In summer, visitors can meet Baikal seals. They are only seals that can live in fresh water. There are about 100,000 Baikal seals. They are smaller than another seals that live in the sea. Their height doesn’t reach 150 cm even in their adulthood. And their features are their upper part of the body is round and their eyes are big, so they are very cute! Any other things, visitors can experience bird-watching, swimming and fishing there. We can enjoy Lake Baikal every season. (328 words)

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“Photogenic” can contribute to tourism

     These days, the term like “photogenic” is in vogue by young people. Most people of them enjoy SNS such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and “photogenic” is used by Instagram especially. Instagram aims for pictures above sentences, so there are many people who try how good they can post.

     The features of “photogenic” are colorful, fashionable, surprising and extraordinary. The objects are mostly food, sweet, drink and superb view. Even wallart can become the photogenic spot. Due to the above reasons, the people who go to fashionable café and sightseeing spots for get “photogenic” pictures are increasing. Also, restaurant, café and tourist attractions which had long been popular among people focus on “photogenic”, and they add new menu such as pretty parfait and colorful ice cream and hold events like light-up.

     In my opinion, when people see a “photogenic” picture about a place, they can want to go there. When people see a “photogenic” picture about food, they can think “looks delicious” and want to eat it. When people see a “photogenic” picture about goods, they can want to buy it. In this way, “photogenic” pictures perform the same functions as word of mouth.

      “Photogenic” pictures can get a lot of “like” in Instagram. Because many young people want a lot of “like”, they put effort into taking “photogenic” pictures. Why do people want “like” so much? I think the action leads to human psychology. The number of “like” shows how popular the posted picture is, and people can know how many people sympathy with them. Certainly, I am happy if I get a lot of “like” for the photo I took. Also, when I take pictures, I sometimes think about Instagram.

     This social phenomenon is new trend by Internet society. It is important for marketing to conscious of “photogenic” because many people seek “photogenic” things, also they can be advertisement. (311 words)