Prime Minister Kishida's Speech at the U.S.-Japan Tourism Event

Distinguished guests, ladies, and gentlemen, thank you for joining us today. I am Kishida Fumio, Prime Minister of Japan. As this year is coined the U.S-Japan Tourism Year, I am very honored to hold this event in New York, a city that attracts travelers from all around the world.

In Japan, we have a wide range of tourist attractions, including cultural heritage sites such as the Sado Island Gold Mines, which were recently registered as a World Heritage Site. We also boast natural heritage and food culture. Now that we enter the season of autumn leaves, and toward the end of the year, we will welcome the season of winter sports.

Japan is blessed with seasonal food ingredients. Today, as representative food ingredients of Japan, we have prepared scallops, Wagyu beef, and “BURI”, or yellowtail, and soy sauce from the Hokuriku region.

Including these Japanese food ingredients, a wide range of dishes pairs beautifully with traditional Japanese alcoholic beverages. Today, I have prepared the sake, Kamotsuru, from my hometown and a variety of alcoholic beverages that are made with Japanese koji molds, such as sake, shochu, and awamori.

Also, from Noto in the Hokuriku region, which experienced the earthquake in January and heavy rains just recently, we have brought sake called “HAKUTO” and Wajima-nuri lacquerware sake cups. I would like to take this opportunity to express deepest condolences to those who lost their lives and my sincere sympathies to those who have suffered. We will do our utmost to ensure that those who are affected will return to their normal lives as soon as possible.

In the U.S.-Japan Tourism Year of 2024, we have deepened exchanges, the number of tourists from the United States to Japan from January to the end of August has reached a record high of 1.77 million, and it is likely to exceed 2.5 million by the end of this year.

From April 13 to October next year, Japan will host the Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan. It will be full of wonderous attractions, such as the Grand Ring, one of the world's largest wooden structures showcasing the best of Japanese architectural heritage. July 19th is designated as U.S. National Day.

You can purchase tickets online now, and reservations to select your visiting day as well as reservations for respective pavilions, will be available starting next month. We very much look forward to your visit.

Lastly, this month, two great news came to my attention.

The first news is that the drama series "Shogun", which features Samurai history, won the prestigious Emmy Award in the United States. Japan has a full array attractive contents including the samurai culture, and tourism resources that embody those contents around the country.

Also, the other day, Shohei Ohtani became the first MLB player to achieve the milestone record of 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in the same season. The outstanding performance of Mr. Ohtani is also inspiring Japanese tourists to visit the United States.

With these great achievements as momentum, I hope that the tourism between Japan and the United States in both directions will continue to grow. Thank you very much.