Japan Regions Court Tourists With New Guide To Specialty Shops

Above, the Bandai Bridge in Niigata. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Just as Atlanta is different from New York City and the Mid-West is different from the Deep South in the U.S., different regions in Japan differ from each other.

When tourists go to Japan, they generally visit Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto and, maybe, some outlying areas of those cities.

Some local governments in different regions of Japan would like to change all that and have tourists visit their areas. They have taken a step in that direction.

According to Kyodo News:

Eighteen local governments and the Japan Center for Regional Development have put together an English brochure on their "antenna shops" in Tokyo selling local specialties in the hope that foreign tourists visiting them will be encouraged to travel to their regions. 

Accompanied by photos of local traditional foods offered at those shops, the brochure includes maps of Tokyo's posh Ginza district and other areas where the shops are located, as well as information about WiFi connections. 

More detailed information about the shops in English, Chinese and Korean can be accessed online by scanning QR codes in the brochure on smartphones.

I have gone out of Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto and have ventured into Kyushu in the southwest, the Tohoku region in the northeast and Niigata on the Sea of Japan side of the main island of Honshu. I enjoyed venturing out into different areas of Japan and seeing first-hand the differences each presented.

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