Mar 5th 2017 O.A.
Travel & Adventure Show
The nation’s largest travel trade show, Travel and Adventure Show was held at the LA Convention Center on February 18th through the 19th. Travel agencies, hotels and public transportations of home and abroad participate to promote their traveling experience to the attendees. Attendees gathered informations about the area by brochures and experiencing recreational activities. At the Japan booth, 12 companies and local governments promoted Japan with the Japan National Tourism Organization. Informations about local inns, festivals and world heritage sites were provided at each prefecture’s booth. At the Kansai booth, New Kansai International Airport and the Osaka Convention & Tourism Bureau publicized Osaka’s local food, takoyaki fried dumplings and promoted their prefecture through videos. According to the Japan National Tourism Organization, foreigners visiting Japan last year exceeded 24 million. That is a 21.8% rise from last year, the highest in history. From the US, 1 million 200 thousand Americans visited Japan. That is an increase of 2 hundred thousand from the previous year and many are from California, so the number of increase is looked upon for the future.
JBA 56th Anniversary Reception
A reception party was held at the official residence of the Consul General of Japan, on February 23rd celebrating the 56th anniversary of JBA. JBA is an economic organization found in SoCal, the biggest Japanese American community in the US. The organization was found to help resolve the issues the Japanese companies will face when advancing into the US. During the ‘70s, the currency system was introduced and the JBA mainly corrected the tax issues and other business related matters. 130 people from JBA members, local community members and government agency representatives attended the reception. Mayor of Torrance commented that the city and JBA has deep and strong bonds. Stephen Cheung, the President of the World Trade Center Los Angeles, announced the official numbers of how much the Japanese companies contribute to the economy and emphasized on the importance of the bond between the two countries. JBA President, Okawa stated “The key to our success is the cooperation and understandings of the local people” and also talked about the importance of promoting Japanese companies to the US.
