NinjArigato, with more than 1 million views, is now showing the world the “charms of Japan”.

According to the Japan National Tourism Organization, the number of foreigners visiting Japan last year exceeded 36 million. This was 5 million more than the 31 million recorded in ’19 and a record high. And with Expo 2025 Osaka-Kansai, a world-class event to be held in Osaka this year, the record of more than 40 million visitors is now a realistic possibility.

However, behind the scenes, “overtourism” has become a problem in popular tourist destinations such as Kyoto and Mt. One of the expected solutions to this problem is to diversify the number of visitors to Japan.

The number of foreign tourists has been increasing in recent years, and urban areas and famous tourist spots are becoming more and more crowded. However, there are still wonderful regions, places, and cultures in Japan that are unknown to many foreign tourists. The big challenge is how to promote these to the rest of the world.

said Keisuke Kuroda, president of ARIGATO Corporation, which is engaged in activities to promote sightseeing spots that are still little known overseas.

Mr. Kuroda uses a yellow ninja character with rabbit-like ears called “NinjArigato” to promote Japan to the rest of the world.

Mr. Ryo Taniguchi, mascot designer for the Tokyo Olympics

The character was created based on the concept of “ARIGATO,” a universal Japanese greeting. The character was created with the concept of sending a message to the world.

The character was designed by Ryo Taniguchi, who also designed the mascots for the Tokyo 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Milaitowa and Someity. NinjArigato, the “self-proclaimed” Japan Tourism Ambassador, was born on January 11, 2011, International Thanksgiving Day. He is especially fond of visiting power spots and festivals, and is always trying to share the charms of Japan with the rest of the world.

His video introducing the attractions of Hyogo Prefecture has received over 1.01 million views. The Fukuoka version, released in June of this year, has received more than 1.51 million views and is attracting a great deal of attention from around the world.

For example, Amagasaki City in Hyogo Prefecture is located between the major tourist destinations of Osaka and Kobe, but tourists from overseas inevitably overlook it. Working in unison with the local government, we created this video in the hope of conveying Amagasaki’s charms to the world. We asked singer-songwriter Mizusaki Kyun from Kobe to supervise the music, and popular cosplay YouTube star Sakuraun AUN, who has more than 1.3 million registered users, also made a collaborative appearance,” said Kuroda.

Amagasaki City Commerce and Tourism Division cooperated in the video production.

In the Amagasaki version, NinjArigato and his team sneak into local landmarks such as Amagasaki Castle, Amagasaki City Museum of History, and Sanwa Market. They show off their charms while performing a sword fight and playing action games.

NinjArigato also makes a guest appearance in the music video for Mizusaki’s new song “Matcha Sense” as a “return collaboration. AUN Sakuraun also posted a video of the Amagasaki event on his YouTube channel.

Mr. Mizusaki, who participated in this challenging project by ARIGATO, said, “I am still not satisfied with this project,

Mr. Mizusaki, who participated in this challenging project by ARIGATO, said, “I realized once again that there are still “unknown and unacknowledged” regions and sightseeing spots in the world. I believe that if we, the SNS generation, can communicate in our own ways about the regions where we grew up, we can make a positive difference. Since my main focus is to communicate through music, I hope that by collaborating with NinjArigato on the music video, I can promote the wonderful charms of the region. I created the music after “Matcha Sense” in the hope that it would contribute to regional PR as much as possible.

He also said, “I hope the music after ‘Matcha Sense’ will also contribute to regional PR.

The Amagasaki City Commercial Tourism Section, which cooperated in the production of the video, said, “We hope that the Amagasaki Castle will be the center of this project.

The Amagasaki City Commercial & Tourism Division, which cooperated in the production of the video, stated, “We would like to express our sincere appreciation for the filming that took place in our city with Amagasaki Castle as the centerpiece. As we are struggling to promote our city to foreigners, we are very grateful that you, who have the ability to send out information to foreign countries, were able to take this initiative. We hope that the number of foreign tourists will increase in the future.

We hope that NinjArigato’s ability to communicate with foreign tourists will increase in the future,” he said.

In addition to local governments, NinjArigato also cooperates with local businesses to introduce local specialties and industries. For example, GS Food Corporation, which promoted its mixed juice “Fruit Memory” in the Fukuoka edition, said, “This time, we are introducing ‘products and tourist attractions,

For example, GS Food Corporation, which promoted its mixed juice “Fruit Memory” in the Fukuoka version, said, “The video produced and distributed in the form of ‘products and tourist attractions’ was a new challenge for our company, and we felt a great sense of accomplishment. We believe that viewers were able to experience the charm of the tourist attractions and at the same time feel the commitment and passion of Japan by incorporating the manufacturing, technology and services of Japanese companies into the video. I believe that this new PR method of “products and tourist attractions” is an excellent opportunity to increase the interest of inbound visitors in Japan’s “tourist attractions x manufacturing culture, technology, and services.

We are aiming for an inbound effect.

We believe that we can support those who are struggling to attract tourists and revitalize local communities by contributing to society and local communities in our own small way. We hope to grow little by little with the cooperation of everyone who agrees with this philosophy, including the city of Amagasaki, various companies, Mizusaki Kyun, and the YouTube star Sakuraun. We believe that this will lead to a good society, a good community, and a good economy. As our company name implies, we will continue to move forward with a thankful heart.

President Kuroda said with a smile. For the next 25 years, NinjArigato will continue to introduce to the world the charms of Japan that remain unknown.