THE JAPAN NEWS


 

 

A variety of attractions are drawing visitors to Koka, Shiga Prefecture, including ninja experiences, shrines, Shigaraki ware pottery studios and a shukubamachi post station along the Tokaido road.

An English-language travel brochure has recently been published, featuring popular tourist spots like these as well as restaurants in the city.

Aiming to promote use of the JR Kusatsu Line by introducing the charms of the city to foreign visitors, a group comprising the Shiga prefectural government and municipal governments along the Kusatsu Line put out 10,000 copies of the brochure in cooperation with Shobunsha

Publications, Inc., which issues Mapple tourist guidebooks. Subsidies for accelerating regional vitalization were used for the publication.

Last year, about 36,800 foreigners visited the city on day trips and about 4,100 stayed overnight, according to the city government and other entities.

A group of tourism organizations created the English-language tourist brochure by translating the Japanese version of Mapple’s Koka guidebook, which was published in March last year.

The 16-page brochure is all in color. It is available for free at places such as the city government’s tourist promotion section, the Koka tourist association and the Shigaraki tourist association.