Osaka Opens New Tourism Bureau

Above, Osaka Castle.  Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The Japan Times is reporting that a new tourist bureau has opened in the city of Osaka.

They report:

OSAKA – The Osaka prefectural and municipal governments and local business organizations jointly have opened a tourism bureau tasked with more than quadrupling the prefecture’s annual number of foreign travelers to 6.5 million by 2020. 

The tourism office, which opened Monday, is financed by a ¥750 million investment split between the three parties and runs separately from similar public entities. It is headed by Kunio Kano, 68, former regional director for Japan and South Korea with the Hong Kong Tourism Board.

 As G-fans know, Osaka was the site of the first sequel to Godzilla (1954) called Godzilla's Counter-Attack (or, Godzilla Raids Again) in 1955 and released in the U.S. as the butchered Gigantis, The Fire Monster.  In this movie, Osaka Castle gets demolished during the final battle between Godzilla and Anguirus.

Above, a view of Osaka Business Park from Osaka Castle.  Photo from a video by Armand Vaquer.

Osaka was also used in 1989's Godzilla vs. Biollante in which Osaka Business Park gets demolished.

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