Consumer news
| Sightseeing at movie sets in Japan and Korea |
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Where does a tourist go after losing interest in beach resorts, cultural spots, and shopping Meccas? For a growing number of Japanese, the answer is the exotic locations where famous movies have been shot.
In Japan, the best-known recent example of a movie location serving as a tourist sightseeing spot is the 2003 movie "Lost in Translation." Starring Bill Murray, the award-winning film was shot on location in Tokyo, with many scenes taking place at the Park Hyatt Tokyo Hotel.
When the movie came out, the hotel noticed a surge of bookings from tourists from outside of Japan, who evidently wanted to experience some of the atmosphere portrayed in the movie. This was picked up by Japan's travel industry as a prime marketing opportunity. Japan Travel Bureau drew up a package tour aimed at travelers from the United States, which led them around to some of the spots where the famous film was shot. The itinerary included a few nights' stay at the famous Park Hyatt, dinner at the hotel's restaurant and drinks in the New York Bar, the site of some classic Bill Murray laconic exchanges in the movie. Offering spectacular nighttime views of Tokyo, the bar was the movie's central setting.
More recently, Jaltour, the travel section of Japan Airlines, has tried to repeat this success with its current offering, the
"Explore Japan" campaign being marketed in Britain. The company's literature calls this "a tour inspired by the film 'Memoirs of a Geisha.'"
The academy-award winning movie was a lush production that followed the life of a geisha. Jaltour's 7-day package includes spending three nights in Kyoto, where many of the locations in the film were featured.
Kintetsu International is playing up the same movie by incorporating a 2-day "Memoirs of a Geisha Add on Program" to its "Experience Kyoto" tour package. The travel operator promises the tour will let tourists
"experience some of the daily rituals of geishas living and working in Kyoto." Those include having the women dress up in traditional kimono and their hair made up into a geisha style, while the men the get chance to strut around in the clothes and weapons of a samurai.
This approach of using movie backdrops to market travel packages is working on both sides of the water. With the recent phenomenal success of South Korean dramas among female audiences in Japan, travel operators in Japan are offering Japanese ladies the chance to travel to Korea and see in person some romantic Korean locations they've been watching on TV.
