On Monday 12 August, JNTO celebrated their Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games campaign with the launch of an ongoing collaboration with British Olympic diver, Tom Daley.

Held at Japan House, High Street Kensington, JNTO hosted An audience with Tom Daley to screen some of the content created by Tom for his mini-series focusing on Japan. The Olympic diver talked through his recent experience in Japan and showcased previously unseen footage from his trip, followed by a brief Q&A.

To highlight the one year out mark, Tom travelled to Japan 1 – 8 August 2019 to film a six-part content series showcasing some of the culture and events Japan has to offer ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympics Games, of which he will be competing. The Olympian flew into to Tokyo, courtesy of JAL, where he spent a couple of days exploring the quirky culture. From Tokyo Tom travelled north around several prefectures including; Fukushima, Yamagata, Miyagi, Aomori and Iwate with help from Inside Japan Tours.

Whilst in Japan, Tom visited a number of renowned heritage sights, shrines and castles including the Hie Shrine in Tokyo and Tsurugajo Castle in Fukushima. In Fukushima a visit was made to the Butokuden Martial Arts Dojo, a Butokuden is where Martial Arts and Japanese culture are taught to the community. It is a cultural organisation whose ongoing mission is to provide an opportunity for the general public to access activities and classes rooted in Japanese culture. During the trip Tom embarked on a number of activities hiking and kayaking in Urabandai, hiking up Mount Haguri in Yamagata and visiting the Takigyo waterfall later practicing meditation in front of it.

Off the beaten track, in Miyagi, Tom explored a comprehensive list of sights hosted by the prefecture. Islands visited include Tashirojima Island, also known as Cat island, where several hundred cats live amongst the islanders and Aji Island where stunning beaches, coves and art installations cover the coastline. Before flying back to Tokyo, Tom travelled to Aomori in time for the Aomori Nebuta Matsuri closing night, viewing its incredible firework display along with exploring the Furukawa Markets. With the trip coming to an end Tom took to fully immersing himself into Japanese traditions and took part in the famous 'all-you-can-eat' Wanko Soba Noodle Challenge. Wanko Soba is a style of Japanese soba noodle originating from Iwate Prefecture, particularly Morioka.

Follow Tom's journey and view part one of the series here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwSqh0eafzY

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games

The Olympic Games will be taking over Japan from 24 July to 9 August and the Paralympics from 12 August to 12 September as the country hosts the games for a second time since 1964. An estimated 206 nations will be participating in the grand opening ceremony taking place on 24 July 2020 in Tokyo. 33 sports will be participating in the games with five new sports being added to the list this year – baseball/softball, karate, skateboarding, sports climbing and surfing.

Japan has numerous sites and experiences to entertain between fixtures, including 22 UNESCO World Heritage sites, exploring local culture and enjoying speciality cuisine. Whilst out in Japan embark on some amazing travel experiences and tick off those must-do bucket list experiences around the country. With the new direct London to Osaka flight route by British Airways having launched in March 2019 getting to and from Japan has never been easier. With several travel options Japan is easily accessible and once there it can be navigated around quickly and efficiently via trains. Japan Rail Pass provides you with unlimited travel on all JR trains giving access to the famous Shinkansen bullet trains so exploring the rest of the country has never been easier.

For more information on The Olympic Games 2020 and more visit:

www.seejapan.co.uk

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About JNTO

Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), a public organization of the Japanese government, promotes Japan as a leisure and business destination with the aims of encouraging international visitors to delve deeper into Japanese culture, and furthering exchange between Japan and the wider world. The JNTO London office works across 8 designated markets to disseminate information on Japan, conduct publicity and exhibitions around travel to Japan, develop tours to Japan, and much more. For more information, please visit seejapan.co.uk

facebook.com/visitjapanuk / instagram.com/visitjapan_uk 

For further press information on Black Diamond, contact:
- Sophie Morgan smorgan@blackdiamond.co.uk  / 020 7845 6359
- Imogen Frew imogen@blackdiamond.co.uk / 020 7845 6186