Asia PR News

OSAKA, Feb. 28/KYODO JBN-AsiaNet/–

Kansai Window, which offers visitors a chance to see the wondrous appeal of
Kansai as well as obtain various types of information on the region, has been
redesigned with expanded contents. The overview of the redesign is as follows.

1. Revamp of the "What’s Kansai?" section.
Kansai refers to an economic and cultural zone in the heart of Japan. It
consists of 9 prefectures, including Osaka and Kyoto. We have added a
subsection called "Kansai Now." In this subsection, we have provided timely
topics from which visitors can gain a better understanding of Kansai with a
large number of color photographs, tables and graphs on four basic themes.
These are "Kansai: The Region Leading the Japanese Industry and Economy,"
"Kansai: The Region Full of History and Culture,""Kansai: The Region with a
Rich Natural Environment and Proactive Environmental Efforts" and "Kansai: The
Region Open to the World." We have also updated features, summaries and data in
the subsection, "Introduction of Nine Prefectures."

2. A new movie site
It shows timely scenes of Kansai in action, using various footage of the region.

3. Expansion of ‘Culture’ page
Our ‘Culture’ page, which provides an in-depth look at the unique and bountiful
culture of Kansai, features some other new sections including "Traditional
Performing Arts" and "Japanese Food."

4. "KIPPO NEWS" section added to Chinese and Korean sites
We now have the KIPPO NEWS, which provides full coverage of the latest news and
topics on Kansai every other week, in Chinese and Korean in addition to the
Japanese and English versions to which you all have become accustomed. Plans
are also in the works to continue expanding the KIPPO NEWS.

Kansai Window is a comprehensive website that disseminates information on
Kansai.
It provides a concise summary of appealing information and data on the region’s
history/culture, tourism, nature, business, events, statistics and topics. With
approximately 7,000 pages, Kansai Window also features over 6,000 links,
providing you with contents of the highest possible quality. In fact, as
Kansai’s portal site, it is now available in 5 different languages.

Kansai Window is utilized throughout the world.
It registered 7.2 million visits in 2005. In its 5th year, it reached
approximately 4-fold the 1.75 million visits it saw in 2000. Close to half of
these visits are to the foreign language pages (English, Chinese and Korean).
Of particular note is the large growth in the number of visits to the Chinese
pages (9.4-fold and 13.4-fold for simplified and traditional Chinese,
respectively) since 2001, reflecting the increase in tourists from Asia.

Kansai Window is jointly operated by the Kansai Council (KC) and Kansai
International Public Relations Promotion Office (KIPPO), both comprised of
Kansai’s self-governing bodies and economic organizations.

the number of hits in a year
2001 2005 (times)
Japanese 1,810,300 3,919,550 (2.17)
English 1,160,691 1,510,625 (1.30)
Chinese ( Simplified ) 30,410 286,608 (9.42)
Chinese ( Traditional ) 72,194 972,812 (13.47)
Korean 193,580 517,313 (2.67)

Contact: Mr. Nakamura at the Kansai International Public Relations Promotion
Office

Kansai International Public Relations Promotion Office (KIPPO):
KIPPO was originally established in 1994 by governing bodies in Kansai (9
prefectures and 3 major cities) and economic organizations. KIPPO is engaged in
a number of information dissemination activities as it issues the KIPPO NEWS
(an English newsletter), gives press tours to foreign correspondents,
administrates the Kansai portal site on the Web called ‘Kansai Window,’ holds
forums and seminars, and circulates a number of other Kansai PR publications.

Address: Osaka International Convention Center 11F, 5-3-51, Nakanoshima,
Kita-ku, Osaka, 530-0005, JAPAN
TEL: +81-6-4803-5551
FAX: +81-6-4803-0570
URL: http://www.kippo.or.jp/index_j.asp

Source: Kansai International Public Relations Promotion Office (KIPPO)

Contact:
Norihiko Nakamura
Kansai International Public Relations Promotion Office (KIPPO)
Phone: +81-6-4803-5551
Fax: +81-6-4803-0570
E-mail: nakamura@kippo.or.jp
URL: http://www.kippo.or.jp/kippo_e/index.html