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JCCCNC Forms Partnership with ANA To Encourage Travel To JapanMarch 31, 2004SAN FRANCISCO (March 31, 2004) - The Japanese Cultural & Community Center of Northern California (JCCCNC) has formed a partnership with All Nippon Airways (ANA) to encourage more Japanese Americans to travel to Japan. Since 1994 the JCCCNC has organized and assisted with several goodwill and cultural tours to Japan bringing over 700 participants and tourists to experience their ancestral and cultural heritage.” Previous tours include the Kristi Yamaguchi Goodwill Tour, the San Francisco – Osaka Citizens Ambassadors Tour, the bi-annual Shinzen USA Nikkei Youth Goodwill Basketball Program Tour, the San Francisco 49ers Sister City Tour, the Japanese American Leadership Program (an annual cultural tour to various regions of Japan and other U.S./Japan related, non-profit tours). “We feel that as part of our mission as a Japanese/Japanese American cultural center, that it is important to introduce travel to Japan, particularly to the Japanese American community to improve and promote a better understanding and relationship between our two countries.” “Our goal in creating these specialized tours is to be able to introduce Japan, its culture, its history and most of all, its people. This is an important part of all our programs at the JCCCNC and we wish to extend this concept of people to people exchanges in all our tours as well. We are proud to have this partnership with ANA to assist in our goal, “ says Paul Osaki, Executive Director, JCCCNC. Over the past ten years the JCCCNC has brought elected officials, businesses professionals, sports celebrities, individuals engaged in non-profit/non-governmental sectors, educators, volunteer workers and youth and citizen goodwill ambassadors to Japan. JCCCNC has also had the unique and special opportunity in creating tours in which several generations of Japanese Americans have collectively traveled to Japan to visit their ancestral prefectures. “It has been an extremely rewarding experience in bringing people to Japan and having them experience the country firsthand. For most of the Japanese Americans we bring to Japan, it is their first time, if it weren’t for JCCCNC organizing these specialized tours to Japan, many would never have thought of making the journey. It is also great to learn that many participants who traveled to Japan with us on their first visit to Japan are now repeat visitors to the country with a deeper appreciation for the people, culture and traditions of the country,” further states Paul Osaki. “We are extremely excited to partner with JCCCNC in this effort to help promote greater understanding between our two countries by encouraging more individuals of Japanese Ancestry to travel and experience the beauty of Japan and its people. I look forward to this exciting year, during which the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the opening of Japan by Commodore Perry continues,“ stated Naomichi Terazaki, Vice President and General Manager of ANA, Northwestern Region U.S.A. Upcoming tours being planned by the JCCCNC include 2004 Fall Cultural Tour to Japan (Featuring the Arts and Culture of Japan), 2005 Spring Japanese American Ancestral Prefecture Tour to Japan - Hiroshima/Yamaguchi/Wakayama/Fukuoka/Kumamoto), including a visit to the Aichi World Expo, and 2005 Summer Shinzen USA Nikkei Youth Goodwill Basketball Program Tour. For more information regarding JCCCNC tours to Japan or membership, please call the JCCCNC at (415) 567-5505 or visit our website. About the JCCCNCEnvisioned by the Japanese American community, JCCCNC will be an everlasting foundation of our Japanese American ancestry, cultural heritage, histories and traditions. The JCCCNC strives to meet the evolving needs of the Japanese American community through programs, affordable services and facility usage. The JCCCNC is a non-profit community center based in San Francisco. For more information, please contact:Sandy Kajiyama, Marketing and PR Manager |
