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Japanese travel marketplace ‘Trip’ deals in unexplored destinations

Junya Mori Junya Mori
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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based startup Trip, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Japanese web development company Lig, has launched an online travel marketplace, also called Trip. The service is available only in Japanese at the moment. The goal of the service is to connect tourism activity providers (individuals and companies) with consumers who are interested in unique travel experiences. Sellers need to pay a 10% commission and a 3% mandatory deposit of the sales price. Buyers pay a 5% commission and a 500 yen ($5) optional deposit when placing an order. Trip has partnered with Nagoya-based tourism consultancy KHS which has strong connections to tourism promotion departments all across the nation. By leveraging this connection and the travel portals (Entermeus, Onsen Japan) of its partent company, Trip aspires to accumulate 10,000 activities and 100,000 users by the end of FY2014. In Japan, there are likely many attractive spots that have been never been introduced in travel publications or by conventional travel agents. It will be interesting to see how the company will fit in this niche. We’ve already seen several Japanese startups operating in this space, including Asoview by Catalizm, Trippiece, Voyagin, and PlayLife.

trip_featuredimage

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based startup Trip, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Japanese web development company Lig, has launched an online travel marketplace, also called Trip. The service is available only in Japanese at the moment.

The goal of the service is to connect tourism activity providers (individuals and companies) with consumers who are interested in unique travel experiences. Sellers need to pay a 10% commission and a 3% mandatory deposit of the sales price. Buyers pay a 5% commission and a 500 yen ($5) optional deposit when placing an order.

trip-pkans

Trip has partnered with Nagoya-based tourism consultancy KHS which has strong connections to tourism promotion departments all across the nation. By leveraging this connection and the travel portals (Entermeus, Onsen Japan) of its partent company, Trip aspires to accumulate 10,000 activities and 100,000 users by the end of FY2014.

In Japan, there are likely many attractive spots that have been never been introduced in travel publications or by conventional travel agents. It will be interesting to see how the company will fit in this niche.

We’ve already seen several Japanese startups operating in this space, including Asoview by Catalizm, Trippiece, Voyagin, and PlayLife.

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Traveloco matches first-time Japanese travelers with their countrymen abroad

Yukari Mitsuhashi Yukari Mitsuhashi
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Traveloco is a travel service for Japanese people who are traveling outside the country for the first time. It aims to connect Japanese travelers with Japanese residents at their travel destinations, so as to enhance their travel experiences. The site was launched in an early alpha phase back in May of 2013. According to the site, there are over one million Japanese people who reside outside of Japan, and over 17 million Japanese people travel to foreign countries. The common and unvoidable problem for these travelers is the language barrier that often restricts them from certain discoveries. To avoid such missed opportunities, Traveloco facilitates Japanese foreign residents to assist Japanese travelers. By registering on Traveloco, travelers can ask questions to local guides about local information. You can ask for general recommendations, or ask specific questions such as what dish is the best choice at certain popular restaurants. Sending private messages is free, but further assistance (such as a guided tour or acting as a translator) will require a premium user account that can be purchased with a credit card or by PayPal. Currently, there are 60 Japanese foreign residents on the service, spanning 30 major cities like New York and…

Traveloco

Traveloco is a travel service for Japanese people who are traveling outside the country for the first time. It aims to connect Japanese travelers with Japanese residents at their travel destinations, so as to enhance their travel experiences. The site was launched in an early alpha phase back in May of 2013.

According to the site, there are over one million Japanese people who reside outside of Japan, and over 17 million Japanese people travel to foreign countries. The common and unvoidable problem for these travelers is the language barrier that often restricts them from certain discoveries. To avoid such missed opportunities, Traveloco facilitates Japanese foreign residents to assist Japanese travelers.

By registering on Traveloco, travelers can ask questions to local guides about local information. You can ask for general recommendations, or ask specific questions such as what dish is the best choice at certain popular restaurants. Sending private messages is free, but further assistance (such as a guided tour or acting as a translator) will require a premium user account that can be purchased with a credit card or by PayPal.

Currently, there are 60 Japanese foreign residents on the service, spanning 30 major cities like New York and Paris. Traveloco aims to acquire as many as 1,000 registered local guides in over 100 cities by the end of 2014.

Traveloco is aspiring to be a sort of virtual Japanese town in the future. Let’s wait and see if it can succeed.

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CNet Japan Startup Award nominees: Travel startups Asoview and Trippiece

Mona Nomura Mona Nomura
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This is part four of our CNET Japan Startup Awards nominee rundown. The rest can be found here. In the past few years, there has been a surge of travel startups in the US. Trippiece and Asoview are looking to disrupt the archaic and monopolized industry in Japan. Trippiece is the most similar service to Gogobot in Japan. Gogobot, as many of you know, is the most visited travel startup in the US, beating out AirBnB and Hipmunk in uniques so far in 2013. Where Gogobot solely relies on social graphs for trip itineraries, Trippiece highlights all user-generated content and is planning to take it one step further than Gogobot by securing partnerships with major travel agencies [1]. Launched in March of 2011, the company has so far acquired more than 50,000 users. But the CEO admits they have a long way to go to meet milestones on their roadmap. They have a repeat user rate of 30% to 40%, and with over 60% of their overall users accessing their site through mobile, they are meeting the needs of Japanese travelers. Japanese internet user behavior is rapidly shifting and consumers are now more mobile than ever before with analysts predicting…

asoview-trippiece-wide

This is part four of our CNET Japan Startup Awards nominee rundown. The rest can be found here.

In the past few years, there has been a surge of travel startups in the US. Trippiece and Asoview are looking to disrupt the archaic and monopolized industry in Japan.

trippiece
Trippiece

Trippiece is the most similar service to Gogobot in Japan. Gogobot, as many of you know, is the most visited travel startup in the US, beating out AirBnB and Hipmunk in uniques so far in 2013.

Where Gogobot solely relies on social graphs for trip itineraries, Trippiece highlights all user-generated content and is planning to take it one step further than Gogobot by securing partnerships with major travel agencies [1].

Launched in March of 2011, the company has so far acquired more than 50,000 users. But the CEO admits they have a long way to go to meet milestones on their roadmap. They have a repeat user rate of 30% to 40%, and with over 60% of their overall users accessing their site through mobile, they are meeting the needs of Japanese travelers.

Japanese internet user behavior is rapidly shifting and consumers are now more mobile than ever before with analysts predicting that by 2014, 60.2% of users will switch to smartphones. That’s almost a 150% rate of change since 2011. Trippiece, whose users are mainly mobile, is ahead of the game.

Asoview resembles the early days of Zozi, an adventure experience site. Asoview has over 460 partnerships, securing its biggest one thus far in Yahoo Travel. They are looking to fill the niche of unconventional travel activities such as skydiving and ice climbing, or also more mellow experiences like swimming with dolphins. Regrettably, there is no available information on profitability or user base right now for Asoview that we can pass on, but we’ll update you if we learn more.

We wish both Trippiece and Asoview the best of luck at the Cnet Japan Startup Awards on Tuesday!

Asoview
Asoview

  1. Includes JTB and other unnamed agencies. See CNet Japan, e27 for more information.  ↩

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Tadaku: Japan’s latest travel startup comes with a tasty twist

Rick Martin Rick Martin
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A little while ago we told you about Japan-based startup Kitchhike, which matches travelers with local hosts [1] who prepare home cooked meals for them. It’s an intriguing and rare service, so I was pretty surprised when I heard about Tadaku, which is also based in Tokyo, also matching travelers with local hosts/cooks. I asked Tadaku co-founders Tao Romera Martinez and Trent McBride about how their service might be different than Kitchhike [2]. They explained that the biggest difference is that Tadaku is actually about cooking local food together, rather than just eating at someone’s home as if it were a restaurant. Trent adds: We believe the ‘cooking together’ aspect is a vital part, for a few reasons: It’s a much better way to learn about the local cuisine, as the guests actually cook it themselves. The practical aspect of cooking together creates a warmer atmosphere; doing activities ‘together’ brings people closer and ensures the travelers feel less like they are intruding into the host’s home. Cooking together, rather than just eating, allows the guest to discover many aspects of local culture, producing more opportunities for conversation between host and guest. So what kind of local menu offerings are available…

tadaku
Two of Takadu’s cofounders, Tao Romera Martinez and Trent McBride

A little while ago we told you about Japan-based startup Kitchhike, which matches travelers with local hosts [1] who prepare home cooked meals for them. It’s an intriguing and rare service, so I was pretty surprised when I heard about Tadaku, which is also based in Tokyo, also matching travelers with local hosts/cooks.

I asked Tadaku co-founders Tao Romera Martinez and Trent McBride about how their service might be different than Kitchhike [2]. They explained that the biggest difference is that Tadaku is actually about cooking local food together, rather than just eating at someone’s home as if it were a restaurant. Trent adds:

We believe the ‘cooking together’ aspect is a vital part, for a few reasons:

  1. It’s a much better way to learn about the local cuisine, as the guests actually cook it themselves.
  2. The practical aspect of cooking together creates a warmer atmosphere; doing activities ‘together’ brings people closer and ensures the travelers feel less like they are intruding into the host’s home.
  3. Cooking together, rather than just eating, allows the guest to discover many aspects of local culture, producing more opportunities for conversation between host and guest.

tadaku-grasshopper

So what kind of local menu offerings are available on Tadaku? The team informs me that they just added a host family in Nagano who proposes to cook up the local delicacy of grasshoppers and bee larvae. That’s certainly a dish that would be hard for you to find on your own [3]. Another interesting dish travelers to Japan might want to try cooking is Chanko Nabe, a meal famously eaten by sumo wrestlers.

As for its business model, Tadaku will take a 12% commission of the fee paid by the guest. And from there, Tadaku will pay the host.

Since Tadaku’s official launch back in October when they added their first hosts in Tokyo, Rome and Bangkok, they’ve had interest from hosts all over the world, in places like Morocco, Tunisia, Argentina, India, Portugal, Hungary and Spain. Trent further elaborates on their progress in these initial weeks:

We’re getting a lot of general excitement from those that hear about us, and are currently also spending a lot of time on website optimization and experimentation with different strategies regarding sign ups. […] We’re also in conversations with a number of food bloggers, administrators of food and recipe websites etc. for potential collaboration agreements.

The progress of specialized travel services like Kitchhike, Meetrip (which was acquired earlier in the month), and now Tadaku will be interesting to watch. I’m still not certain that I’d call this any sort of startup trend, but they are all interesting variants on traditional online travel services. And I hope they can find a sustainable niche among travel enthusiasts, especially those coming to Japan.

  1. No not that local host.  ↩

  2. In addition to Tao and Trent, the third co-counder is Benjamin Sullivan.  ↩

  3. I confess, I’m not sure I’d like to try that one.  ↩

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Smartrip app lets you create a travel diary in minutes

Yukari Mitsuhashi Yukari Mitsuhashi
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We have written about many Japanese companies offering travel-related services in the past. For example, with Trippiece users can create their own customized travel plans, and with Kitchhike, travelers can experience home-prepared meals by locals. Smartrip is another such travel service that was just recently released. It lets you create your own travel diary in a matter of minutes. Going on trips and taking photos is a lot of fun, but the required organizing that comes after can sometimes be a headache. With Smartrip, all you need to do is enter information such as title, theme, photos, and your travel companions, and you can have your own travel diary to look back on any time. Smartrip is available on the web as well as on iOS. With the iPhone app, you can upload as many as ten photos at once. Photos from Facebook or Instagram can easily be uploaded to the site as well. Smartrip is a creation by D2C, an advertisment and consumer service development company here in Japan. The brains behind the service is Shin Harada, who went on a round-the-world trip and wanted to simplify the process of logging the details. His solution for this probelem is…

web01

We have written about many Japanese companies offering travel-related services in the past. For example, with Trippiece users can create their own customized travel plans, and with Kitchhike, travelers can experience home-prepared meals by locals. Smartrip is another such travel service that was just recently released. It lets you create your own travel diary in a matter of minutes.

Smartrip-app-upload

Going on trips and taking photos is a lot of fun, but the required organizing that comes after can sometimes be a headache. With Smartrip, all you need to do is enter information such as title, theme, photos, and your travel companions, and you can have your own travel diary to look back on any time.

Smartrip is available on the web as well as on iOS. With the iPhone app, you can upload as many as ten photos at once. Photos from Facebook or Instagram can easily be uploaded to the site as well.

Smartrip is a creation by D2C, an advertisment and consumer service development company here in Japan. The brains behind the service is Shin Harada, who went on a round-the-world trip and wanted to simplify the process of logging the details. His solution for this probelem is Smartrip.

The company plans to grow the service into a place where trip experiences can be accumulated to become an inspiration for people searching for their next travel destination. We can expect to see more social features to be added to the site as well as to the Android app in the near future. To get an idea of how the site works, you can check out the video below.

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Japanese social network helps you find great souvenirs

Yukari Mitsuhashi Yukari Mitsuhashi
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Besides giant social networks like Facebook, Twitter, or Mixi, there are smaller social networks for niche markets, like dieting, pets, or traveling. I recently came across one such social network here in Japan called ‘Omiyagate’. ‘Omiyage’ means ‘souvenirs’ in Japanese, and this is a community that was built to allow people to talk about souvenirs they like. This idea may sound strange to many people outside of Japan, but here in this country, there is a very strong Omiyage culture. Wherether your trip is for business or pleasure, there is an underlying expectation that you bring back souvenirs. And if you’re giving out omiyage, it’s always better to be original. The Omiyagate social network gives you new ideas for souvenirs in the form of photos. Users on the site can upload photos of souvernirs that they have bought or received, and add a short text description. If you like what you see, you can show your interest by pushing the ‘suteki’ button (which means ‘nice’ or ‘lovely’ in Japanese) or bookmark souvenirs for reference. Souvenirs can be shared on Twitter, Facebook, and Mixi. The site could be even more useful if it let you find souvenirs from specific locations, so…

omiyagate-wide

Besides giant social networks like Facebook, Twitter, or Mixi, there are smaller social networks for niche markets, like dieting, pets, or traveling. I recently came across one such social network here in Japan called ‘Omiyagate’. ‘Omiyage’ means ‘souvenirs’ in Japanese, and this is a community that was built to allow people to talk about souvenirs they like.

This idea may sound strange to many people outside of Japan, but here in this country, there is a very strong Omiyage culture. Wherether your trip is for business or pleasure, there is an underlying expectation that you bring back souvenirs. And if you’re giving out omiyage, it’s always better to be original. The Omiyagate social network gives you new ideas for souvenirs in the form of photos.

Users on the site can upload photos of souvernirs that they have bought or received, and add a short text description. If you like what you see, you can show your interest by pushing the ‘suteki’ button (which means ‘nice’ or ‘lovely’ in Japanese) or bookmark souvenirs for reference. Souvenirs can be shared on Twitter, Facebook, and Mixi.

The site could be even more useful if it let you find souvenirs from specific locations, so that you’ll know what to look for before you go on your trip.

Currently Omiyagate is available on the web, as well as on iOS and Android. To see what kind of souvenirs people are giving and receiving, check out the standout submissions on the Omiyagate popular list.

Omiyagate-souvenir omiyagate-souvernir2

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User-generated travel plan startup Trippiece raises $2M

Takeshi Hirano Takeshi Hirano
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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based travel startup Trippiece announced today that it has raised 200 million yen (approximately $2 million) from Draper Nexus Venture Partners and other investors [1]. With the funds, the startup plans to start developing smartphone apps. The company also invited Fumiaki Koizumi to the board of directors. He previously worked with Mixi and DeNA where he helped them IPO. At Trippiece, his main role will be to strengthen the management. We expected social media could help get the word out about the website, but this wasn’t the case. It has been more than a year since Trippiece formally launched back in January of 2012. Currently there are nearly 1,400 travel plans available on the site, and 100 to 200 users take trips using those plans every week. Management operations behind the scenes have become stable, and the startup plans to further improve that with the funds. CEO Ian Ishida explained that it hasn’t been a smooth ride for the company so far. The power of social media didn’t quite live up to their expectations. Trippiece is comprised of many small travel plans. We expected social media could help get the word out about the…

be1e58d1ca5cdfdb76fe7d8542ce8633

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based travel startup Trippiece announced today that it has raised 200 million yen (approximately $2 million) from Draper Nexus Venture Partners and other investors [1]. With the funds, the startup plans to start developing smartphone apps.

The company also invited Fumiaki Koizumi to the board of directors. He previously worked with Mixi and DeNA where he helped them IPO. At Trippiece, his main role will be to strengthen the management.

We expected social media could help get the word out about the website, but this wasn’t the case.

It has been more than a year since Trippiece formally launched back in January of 2012. Currently there are nearly 1,400 travel plans available on the site, and 100 to 200 users take trips using those plans every week. Management operations behind the scenes have become stable, and the startup plans to further improve that with the funds.

CEO Ian Ishida explained that it hasn’t been a smooth ride for the company so far. The power of social media didn’t quite live up to their expectations.

Trippiece is comprised of many small travel plans. We expected social media could help get the word out about the website, but this wasn’t the case. The community only became active when we acquired 20,000 users.

If a user-generated travel plan has more than five users apply to join, the startup will arrange a tour using its partnerships with travel agencies. Right now the service has more than 50,000 users, but they need to acquire more to keep going along their planned roadmap.

IanIshida_snapshot
Trippieace CEO Ian Ishida

The startup is about to launch a corporate membership system, with intended account holders being talent agencies or other businesses that have many fans. Trippiece is also planning to arrange tours accompanying entertainers or performers. We don’t know too much about this, but we understand they are in talks with several agencies right now.

Their user base is not large enough for a social media network. But they have improved their business model enough to step forward to the next stage.

Whenever I meet up with Ishida, he usually talks about his love for the service, and it’s good to have someone like that at the helm. It will be fascinating to watch him evolve this unique travel experience moving forward.

Trippiece started out back in March of 2011, receiving seed funding worth 3.5 million yen from Samurai Incubate Fund. Subsequently, the company also received 5 million yen from Movida Japan.

  1. Technically, the service name and company name (trippieace) are different in spelling for some reason. ↩

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Japan’s ANA enlists Tokyo Otaku Mode to help revive tourism

Rick Martin Rick Martin
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When Japanese startup Tokyo Otaku Mode passed 10 million Facebook fans, I jokingly noted that their efforts in promoting Japan and its culture have yielded far better results than those of the Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry. Well, now it looks like another organization has taken notice of TOM‘s efforts, and is enlisting its help in trying to boost the amount of incoming tourists to Japan. TOM recently announced a partnership with All Nippon Airways to help promote its ‘Is Japan Cool?’ campaign. That effort is similar to Tokyo Otaku Mode in that it emphases things like cosplay and ‘kawaii’, with the goal of bringing international travelers to Japan. But it will now get a boost from TOM’s huge fan base, as the startup has set up a special landing page to feature ‘Is Japan Cool?’ Content. The startup declined to disclose any financial details of the partnership, but it is good to see the company serving a need, and ostensibly generating some revenue as a result. TOM previously also partnered with one of Japan’s most famous convenient stores, Lawson, in helping to build awareness of that brand as it expands to regions around Asia.

japan-ana-otaku-mode
Artwork from ‘Is Japan Cool? – Dreams‘

When Japanese startup Tokyo Otaku Mode passed 10 million Facebook fans, I jokingly noted that their efforts in promoting Japan and its culture have yielded far better results than those of the Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry. Well, now it looks like another organization has taken notice of TOM‘s efforts, and is enlisting its help in trying to boost the amount of incoming tourists to Japan.

TOM recently announced a partnership with All Nippon Airways to help promote its ‘Is Japan Cool?’ campaign. That effort is similar to Tokyo Otaku Mode in that it emphases things like cosplay and ‘kawaii’, with the goal of bringing international travelers to Japan. But it will now get a boost from TOM’s huge fan base, as the startup has set up a special landing page to feature ‘Is Japan Cool?’ Content.

The startup declined to disclose any financial details of the partnership, but it is good to see the company serving a need, and ostensibly generating some revenue as a result.

TOM previously also partnered with one of Japan’s most famous convenient stores, Lawson, in helping to build awareness of that brand as it expands to regions around Asia.

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Japan’s Kitchhike gives you alternative dining choices when you travel

SCORE 2,090 Junya Mori Junya Mori
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See the original story in Japanese. Kitchhike is a website that lets you experience meals prepared by locals (usually) in their home while you travel abroad. In a way, it is a sort of AirBnB for home-cooked meals. The service, which launches officially today, is a matching platform connects cooks and travelers in kitchens around the world. If you are interested in having local dishes when you travel, this site gives you a chance to dine on homemade dishes with local people instead of just visiting local restaurants. Currently it has 32 menus from six countries: Japan, Korea, mainland China, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines. In online travel space, AirBnB focuses on finding accommodations, and Meetrip gives you a way to find a tour given by local people. Kitchhike’s proposed value is that it connects you with both local meals and local people, adding “delicious experiences” to your travel itinerary. This startup was founded by two entrepreneurs: Masaya Yamamoto, who previously worked at one of Japanese ad giant Hakuhodo DY Media Partners; and Syoken Fujisaki, who worked at Japanese thinktank Nomura Research Institute. Local people, local experiences In their announcement, they elaborate on what makes the service unique: Food culture is…

KitchHike_logo_betaSee the original story in Japanese.

Kitchhike is a website that lets you experience meals prepared by locals (usually) in their home while you travel abroad. In a way, it is a sort of AirBnB for home-cooked meals.

The service, which launches officially today, is a matching platform connects cooks and travelers in kitchens around the world. If you are interested in having local dishes when you travel, this site gives you a chance to dine on homemade dishes with local people instead of just visiting local restaurants. Currently it has 32 menus from six countries: Japan, Korea, mainland China, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

In online travel space, AirBnB focuses on finding accommodations, and Meetrip gives you a way to find a tour given by local people. Kitchhike’s proposed value is that it connects you with both local meals and local people, adding “delicious experiences” to your travel itinerary.

This startup was founded by two entrepreneurs: Masaya Yamamoto, who previously worked at one of Japanese ad giant Hakuhodo DY Media Partners; and Syoken Fujisaki, who worked at Japanese thinktank Nomura Research Institute.

KitchHike_toppage

Local people, local experiences

In their announcement, they elaborate on what makes the service unique:

Food culture is not really created intentionally, but rather it is an accumulation, [intertwined with the] history of neighborhoods. Every single household has different meals, and these are the places that give you a real local feeling. For visitors, a meal served by local people might be one of the most exciting parts of encountering a new culture.

In addition to the usual sightseeing destinations, we believe that a table filled with homemade meals by local people is also a destination most people have never experienced.

Homemade meals becomes profitable

KitchHike_chatpage

Your homemade meals can take on a new value when you make them available to people outside your social circle. It’s not only globe trotters, but even your neighbors might be interested in experiencing your homemade meals.

For users who want to cook for someone (they are referred to as ‘cooks’ on the platform), you simply log on to the service and register what dishes you can prepare.

For users who want to eat dishes cooked by other users, you can choose a place (a cook’s residence) and contact them via the messaging feature. Subsequently they will schedule what time you can visit. To avoid any possible risk that might go along with meeting up with strangers, the service is linked up with Facebook for identification purposes.

The service is starting out in Asian regions, with some coverage in Europe and North America. But they are hoping for global expansion in the future.

KitchHike_co-founders

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JapanTourist.jp partners with AllAbout.co.jp for multilingual travel content

Masaru Ikeda Masaru Ikeda
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Japan Partnership, the company behind the user-generated content site JapanTourist.jp, and Japanese online resource site AllAbout.co.jp have announced they’ve agreed to jointly operate the JapanTourist site. As we have mentioned previously, JapanTourist.jp was launched last year by Tokyo-based Australian entrepreneurs Neil Butler and Terrie Lloyd, with aspirations to establish a useful information resource for foreign residents and travelers. They have about 1,000 article writers and 33 editors across the nation, most of whom are native English speakers. AllAbout.co.jp was originally launched in 2011 as a joint venture of US-based About.com and Japanese information service company Recruit. Subsequently the company was fully acquired by Yahoo Japan in 2004. It has previously partnered with Chinese travel portal sites such as Abang.com or Ctrip.com, encouraging Chinese travelers to visit Japanese travel destinations. With this partnership, JapanTourist.jp has started publishing articles in Chinese (both simplified and traditional) in addition to its regular English articles. It will add a Korean version this coming June, with more versions coming later for readers from Thailand, some Islamic countries, as well as South East Asian regions.

japantourist.jp_screenshot

Japan Partnership, the company behind the user-generated content site JapanTourist.jp, and Japanese online resource site AllAbout.co.jp have announced they’ve agreed to jointly operate the JapanTourist site.

As we have mentioned previously, JapanTourist.jp was launched last year by Tokyo-based Australian entrepreneurs Neil Butler and Terrie Lloyd, with aspirations to establish a useful information resource for foreign residents and travelers. They have about 1,000 article writers and 33 editors across the nation, most of whom are native English speakers.

AllAbout.co.jp was originally launched in 2011 as a joint venture of US-based About.com and Japanese information service company Recruit. Subsequently the company was fully acquired by Yahoo Japan in 2004. It has previously partnered with Chinese travel portal sites such as Abang.com or Ctrip.com, encouraging Chinese travelers to visit Japanese travel destinations.

With this partnership, JapanTourist.jp has started publishing articles in Chinese (both simplified and traditional) in addition to its regular English articles. It will add a Korean version this coming June, with more versions coming later for readers from Thailand, some Islamic countries, as well as South East Asian regions.

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