China Sanctions Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

Above, yours truly at the doorway of Air Force One (SAM 27000) at the Reagan Library.

This is downright silly.

China is imposing sanctions on the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California for hosting a meeting between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.

According to the Daily Mail (U.K.):

China is imposing sanctions against the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and other US and Asian based organizations in retaliation for the this week's closely watched meeting between the US House Speaker and Taiwan's president.

The Reagan library in Simi Valley, California, was the site of the rare high-level, bipartisan meeting Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy hosted this week for talks with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.

The sanctions effectively are a travel ban on the individuals in charge of the library and other groups involved in the meeting. They're also banned from working with Chinese organizations.

To read more, go here. 

Masami Nagasawa To Promote Taiwan Tourism

Above, Masami Nagasawa (right) during her shobijin days. 

Does the name Masami Nagasawa ring a bell to you? If you're a Godzilla fan, it should. Nagasawa appeared in two Godzilla movies.

She appeared as one of the Mothra shobijin in Godzilla x Mothra x Mechagodzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003) and in Godzilla Final Wars (2004).

Since then, Nagasawa has become one of Japan's most popular actresses.

Now, she is also promoting Taiwan tourism.

According to Taiwan News:

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)- Japanese actress Masami Nagasawa has been invited to be the spokesperson for the Taiwan Tourism Bureau's campaign once again to promote travel in Taiwan to Japanese in 2018. 

There has been a tourism campaign commercial featuring Nagasawa with as its theme "Meet Colors!" which aims to present the diversity of the country through images of the tourist attractions.

To read more, go here.

Japan Visitors Lured By Cleanliness, Safety

Above, Asakusa, Tokyo. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

One of the first things I noticed about Japan when I first visited there in 2001 was how clean the country was.

Despite the difficulty in finding trash cans in Tokyo, I thought it was amazing that the city streets and sidewalks were so litter-free.

This is one of several factors that attracts visitors from Taiwan to Japan.

According to Taipei Times:

Japan’s safe, clean and orderly society is the country’s greatest attraction to travelers from Taiwan, according to the results of a survey released by online travel search company Skyscanner on Tuesday. 

One of the most popular overseas destinations among Taiwanese, Japan had 4.26 million visits from Taiwan last year, accounting for 29.4 percent of all overseas trips by Taiwanese, Tourism Bureau statistics showed. 

In the survey, which was conducted last month among nearly 1,000 Skyscanner users in Taiwan, 86 percent of respondents said they like traveling in Japan.

To read more, go here. 

Masami Nagasawa To Promote Taiwan Tourism

Above, Masami Nagasawa (right) during her shobijin days.

Here's a blast from the past!

Japan Today reported:

TAIPEI —Japanese actress Masami Nagasawa will be the spokeswoman for Taiwan’s tourism in Japan for the coming year, the island’s Tourism Bureau said Monday, marking the first time a woman was picked for the position. 

Wayne Liu, the bureau’s deputy director general, told a press conference in Taipei that as Taiwan sees an increasing number of female visitors, he hopes Nagasawa will attract more Japanese tourists to Taiwan, especially women. 

The 29-year-old actress, who is in Taiwan to make a promotional film for the Tourism Bureau, told the same press conference that she felt honored to be chosen.

Nagasawa should be familiar to Godzilla and Mothra fans. She appeared as one of the Mothra shobijin in two Godzilla movies, Godzilla x Mothra x Mechagodzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003) and in Godzilla Final Wars (2004).

To read more, go here.

Unintentionally Great Marketing!

Above, Yui Hatano.

A Taiwan transport company unintentionally (or maybe it was intentional) made a great marketing move by including a Japanese porn star's photo on a transport swipe card.

The Daily Mail reported:

A special edition swipe card for Taiwan's transport system featuring a Japanese porn star sold out within hours overnight despite a storm of opposition from women's groups. 

Taiwan's EasyCard Corp said on its website that it sold its full run of 15,000 card sets by 4.18am Tuesday after phone orders started at midnight. 

The stored value cards - also used for convenience store purchases - feature images of Yui Hatano, a 27-year-old Japanese woman who local media say likes Taiwan and wants to help the card company's charity donation scheme.

To read more, go here.

Quake Hits Off Taiwan, Tsunami Alert For Okinawa

An earthquake hit off the coast of Taiwan today and a tsunami alert has been triggered for Okinawa.

According to The Japan Times:

Tsunami as big as 1 meter (3 feet) were reportedly forecast to hit islands in Japan’s far south Monday morning after a 6.6 magnitude earthquake struck off eastern Taiwan. 

National broadcaster NHK said waves were possible on several islands in the Okinawa chain after a very shallow quake centered on Yonaguni in the southwest, near Taiwan.

To read more, go here. 

Taiwan Sees Tourism Opportunities Due To Plunging Japanese Yen

The Taiwanese airline and tourism businesses are seeing opportunities caused by the recent devaluing of the Japanese yen against the U.S. dollar.

The U.S. dollar is currently trading at 114.55 yen in Tokyo.

According to the Focus Taiwan News Channel website:

Taipei, Nov. 8 (CNA) The plunging Japanese yen against the U.S. dollar has made traveling to Japan more affordable, which is expected to give a boost to Taiwan's airline and tourism businesses, TransAsia Airways said Saturday. 

Fred Wu, president of the mid-sized Taiwan-based international carrier, said that the strong depreciation of the yen against the greenback has raised many local people's interest in traveling to Japan by taking advantage of cheaper travel costs and relatively lower consumer prices in the country.

To read more, go here.

Japan-China Tensions Cause Drop In Chinese Tourism To Japan

Above, Sensoji Temple in Asakusa, Tokyo.  Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The dispute over a group of islands between China and Japan have caused a drop in Chinese tourism to Japan.

According to the Japan Times:

The number of foreigners visiting Japan continues to rebound from falls following the massive earthquake and tsunami of March 2011, but Japan-China territorial tensions are casting a shadow over tourism industry hopes that the trend will continue in 2013. 

According to the Japan National Tourism Organization, 8.36 million people visited Japan from abroad in 2012, the second-largest figure on record and up sharply from the previous year’s 6.21 million.

More than 200,000 people visited Japan from China in July 2012, before the bilateral dispute over the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea worsened. But after tensions rose over the islets, the monthly number plummeted below 60,000 in November and December.

Fortunately, tourists from other countries (primarily from Thailand and Taiwan) are making up for the drop in Chinese travelers to Japan.

To read the full article, go here.

China/Japan Island Dispute: Stupidity of the First Order

Who is right and who is wrong, I don't know.  But it seems to me that the economic boycott of Japan by Communist (they're still communists and communists will always be communists) China over some islands is hurting the Japanese economy.

Boston.com (Boston Globe) is reporting:

TOKYO (AP) — The craggy island specks in the East China Sea aren’t even an economic backwater. They have no factories, no highways, no shops, no people — only goats. But the high-pitched row between Beijing and Tokyo over their ownership is exacting a growing toll on Japan, threatening to send its recovery from last year’s disasters into reverse. 

Sales of Japanese cars in China are in a free-fall. At the China Open last weekend, a representative of Sony Corp., which is a sponsor of the tennis tournament, was loudly booed at the title presentation for the women’s final. Chinese tourists are cancelling trips to Japan in droves. And some analysts say Japan’s economy will shrink in the last three months of the year. 

The business and economic shockwaves come after Japan last month nationalized the tiny islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, which were already under Tokyo’s control but are also claimed by Beijing. The move set off violent protests in China, and a widespread call to boycott Japanese goods. Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. dealerships were burned down in one city.

The boycott is hurting all the wrong people.  The Japanese tourism industry, auto industry and other industries had absolutely nothing to do with the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands matter.  They are being made to pay for this territorial dispute.  Also, as China and Japan conduct a great deal of business, China is also shooting itself in the foot when the blowback from the boycott hits their own economy.

The violent protests in China had to have been sanctioned by the Chinese government.  Nothing happens in China unless the communist government approves it.  And, why are some in Taiwan getting worked up over this?  Where's their dog in this fight?

This is stupidity of the first order.  Are these tiny specks of land in the East China Sea really that important?

To read the full article, go here.

Taiwan Sees Surge In Japan Tourism

Above, a colorful building in the Ginza-Yurakucho section of Tokyo. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Travel professionals in Taiwan report that interest in traveling to Japan is on the upswing. At least on the part of Taiwanese tourists.

Taiwan News.com reported:

Taipei, Nov. 6 (CNA) People involved in the local tourism sector have said they had seen travel to Japan surge in recent months and the country regain its status as one of the most desired travel destinations for Taiwanese tourists. With the coming of Taiwan's largest travel fair in mid-November, travel agencies expressed optimism about Japan's tourism market, which suffered after a massive earthquake devastated the country's northeastern region in March. "Demand has been high since summer," Jophia Fang, manager of Japan Airlines' passenger sales department, said recently.

According to latest Tourism Bureau statistics, more than 457,000 Taiwanese visited Japan between June and September, a 5.6 percent increase over the same period last year.

Above, a Nagasaki streetcar. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

They also note that interest in Japan tourism "remains hot" despite the appreciation of the Japanese yen.

To read the full article, go here.