Multilingual Tourist Information Office to Open in Akihabara

A tourist information office serving visitors in English, Mandarin Chinese and Japanese will open July 21 in the heart of Akihabara, Tokyo's most exciting district, with a focus on anime, organizers announced Monday. The Akibanana team will run the office and Akibanana's team members will work at the office.

The new Akihabara Reception Desk will operate from July 21 to August 20 in the Tokyo Anime Center, a portal to Japan's world-famous animation industry that is located steps away from JR Akihabara Station. Staff speaking English, Mandarin Chinese and Japanese will help visitors with directions and information about Akihabara's cutting edge culture of animation, manga, robots, otaku culture and high-tech products.

Known as Japan's electronics mecca and a hotspot for Japanese otaku, or passionate fans of anime, manga and other hobbies, Akihabara has been drawing more and more foreign tourists every year. The number of overseas visitors increases dramatically during Japan's peak summer holiday period of late July and August.

A total of 52,441 people visited the Tokyo Anime Center between July 21 and August 20, 2007, of which 5,240 were from overseas. From April 1 to May 27, 2008, 3,728 overseas visitors came to the Tokyo Anime Center, up 252% from the same period in 2007.

The new Akihabara Reception Desk tourist information office is sponsored by the Akihabara Tourism Promotion Association (ATPA) (www.npo-akiba.com) and the Tokyo Anime Center (www.animecenter.jp). Akibanana proposed and planned the details of the desk in order to help foriegn visitors get the most out of Akihabara. We hope to see you there!

Details:
1 Location Tokyo Anime Center
4th floor, Akihabara UDX Bldg
4-14-1 Sotokanda Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
tel:03-5298-1188
A 3-minute walk from JR Akihabara Station from the Akihabara Electric Town Exit
2 Dates and Operating Hours Open Monday, July 21 to Wednesday, August 20, 2008
・Open 11 am – 6 pm daily
・Closed July 30th, August 6th, and August 13th
3 Staff 1 or 2 staffers on weekdays and 2 or 3 staffers on weekends and public holidays. Languages spoken: Japanese, English and Mandarin Chinese.

About Akihabara Tourism Promotion Association (ATPA)
The Akihabara Tourism Promotion Association is a nonprofit organization (NPO) that aims to offer the best hospitality to both domestic and foreign visitors to Akihabara by delivering the latest, most exciting information about our famous community. The association groups both new and old industries in various sectors to support community growth and to contribute to the prosperity of Akihabara.

About Tokyo Anime Center
The Tokyo Anime Center opened in March 2006 as Japan's first comprehensive anime information portal. Its facilities include a 36-panel monitor at the center of an event gallery, a recording studio where anime fans can try their hand at voice acting, a radio broadcast facility producing “Tokyo Anime Center Radio” (a radio program uploaded to the Internet every Wednesday), an official merchandise shop and a theatre that can Screen Anime (capacity: 172 seats). About 320,000 people visited the Tokyo Anime Center in 2007, and many are from overseas.

For further information, please contact:
For English:
Producer
GI Jane, inc.
Glenpark Akihabara East 504
3-3-13 Iwamotocho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0032
Email: [email protected] TEL: 03-4570-6630 FAX 03-5820-2012
http://www.gijane.jp / http://www.akibanana.com

For Japanese:
Press desk / Co-organizer
Mr. Koji Senda (千田)
E-mail: [email protected] TEL:03-5298-1146(direct) FAX:03-5298-1215
Tokyo Anime Center
4F Akihabara UDX Bldg
4-14-1 Sotokanda Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0021

Co-organizer
Akihabara Tourism Promotion Association (ATPA)
Headquartered at Takarada Musen, Inc.
1-14-7 Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0021
E-mail: [email protected] TEL:03-3251-5347 FAX:03-3251-5347