Japan's Okinawa Uploads Welcome Movie, Featuring "Ichariba-Chode" Hospitality

TOKYO, Jan. 6, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Japan's Okinawa Prefectural Government announced on January 6 that it had uploaded videos (http://beokinawa-pr.jp/mtl) introducing the "Ichariba-chode" hospitality, the manner of people who visit the nation's best resort islands. The announcement is part of the "Be.Okinawa" global branding project (http://beokinawa.jp/). "Ichariba-chode" is an Okinawan saying and approach to life, meaning "once we meet, we become brothers and sisters."

(Photo: http://prw.kyodonews.jp/prwfile/release/M102302/201312277280/_prw_OI1fl_60lPd6vi.jpg)

The videos were shot in several different famous destinations around the world with a cultural and anthropological approach.

Two different versions of the videos are available. The first one, "MEET the LOCALS: On the Street," shows the reaction of locals in the streets helping visitors after they are asked for directions, trends, or local attractions. The other video, "MEET the LOCALS: In the Bar" shows how locals react and communicate with tourists who are sitting alone in a bar. In the latter video, the people of Okinawa extend their "welcome to the family" hospitality by inviting the visitor to their table for dinner and conversation.

The "Be.Okinawa" website also features prominent amateur "YouTuber" Grant Schuman as he encounters and interacts with the people of Okinawa (http://beokinawa-pr.jp/uyo/) during his trip to the islands.

Schuman has gained much popularity since 2010 after shooting and uploading many videos on YouTube of his self-planned visits and contacts with locals around the world.

In the recent years, Okinawa has begun uncovering its beauty and charm and showing it to the world around them. Previously, Japan's southernmost region was a destination for the select few who had a shared love of its culture, nature, peace and hospitality.

The Okinawa government announced last year that it would begin promoting the unique island to the international market with the "Be.Okinawa" concept, and would target two million visitors by 2021, a number approximately seven times larger than that of 2011.

What is the tourism brand of "Be.Okinawa"?

Okinawa is an island located in the southernmost part of Japan. Okinawa provides a fantastic natural environment with sunshine, wind, blue seas, blue skies and white sandy beaches. The island destination offers comfort from its gentle-hearted locals. The people of Okinawa are religious, warm-hearted, charming and peace-loving. During the era of the Ryukyu dynasty some hundreds years ago, the kings of Okinawa had traded with Japan, China, Korea and Southeast Asian countries, leading to the conflation of all such cultures. As a result, Okinawa has developed a "unique style of warmly welcoming anyone, as if visitors were brothers and sisters -- family." As this had happened thousands of years ago, today the nature and people of Okinawa are waiting for those who are heading their way. Then, as natural as can be, they will welcome you and come together, to "Be.Okinawa"

Contact:

Mr. Kenichiro Yamashiro
Tourism Promotion Division
Okinawa Prefectural Government
Tel: +81-98-866-2764
Email: yamashkn@pref.okinawa.lg.jp
1-2-2, Izumizaki, Naha City, 901-2202, Okinawa Japan