Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan has launched ‘Japan Heritage’ to preserve and optimize local cultural heritages more effectively by organizing them in a specific theme or a specific story in the same manner as UNESCO World Heritage. Through Japan Heritage, the agency aims to assist local branding or foster local identity and at the same time to create a new opportunity for inbound travel promotions in cooperation with the tourism industry.
In the first year FY2015, 18 cultural themes were certified as Japan Heritages, and the agency has a plan to grand the certification to 100 themes nationwide by 2020. The Japan Heritage logo is used in the certified areas for authorization and in a variety of PR booklets to deliver a message of Japanese culture and history to the world.
Japan Heritage is a cross-ministerial effort under the governmental action plan 2015 toward a tourism-oriented nation and the Revision 2015 of Japan Revitalization Strategy.
In cooperation with the tourism industry, several travel agents have created Japan Heritage products, and Rakuten Travel, one of the leading Japanese OTAs, launches a special site for 18 Japan Heritages.
The agency has requested a budget of 1,650 million JPY for FY2016 starting April 1 2016, almost doubling from 802 million JPY for FY2015, to accelerate the Japan Heritage program. In addition, a promotional budget of 80 million JPN has been requested.
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