{"id":7446,"date":"2026-07-08T18:00:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T01:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=7446"},"modified":"2026-07-08T18:00:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T01:00:36","slug":"japanese-airport-rebrands-itself-as-sushi-airport-to-attract-foreign-tourists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=7446","title":{"rendered":"Japanese airport rebrands itself as \u201cSushi Airport\u201d to attract foreign tourists"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Soon you\u2019ll be able to book a flight to Toyama-Takayama Sushi Airport in Japan.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Overseas tourists have reached record numbers in Japan, but regional areas still find themselves struggling to lure international visitors away from big cities on the well-worn Tokyo-to-Kyoto tourist trail<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Toyama Prefecture<\/strong>, on the Sea of Japan coast, is one of those regions that remains sadly overlooked, but now it\u2019s throwing the old rulebook out the window in an effort to attract tourists, by giving its airport an unforgettable new nickname to help put it firmly on the map<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Up until now, the local flight terminal has been known as \u201cToyama Airport<\/strong>\u201d, with the nickname \u201cToyama Kitokito Airport<\/strong>\u201d. \u201cKitokito\u201d, a word from the Toyama dialect that means \u201cfresh<\/strong>\u201d or \u201cfull of vitality<\/strong>\u201d, was chosen for the nickname in a 2012 public contest to mark the prefecture\u2019s 130th anniversary in 2013.<\/p>\n

However, on 8 July, Toyama Governor Hachiro Nitta announced that the airport would receive a new nickname: \u201cToyama-Takayama Sushi Airport<\/strong>\u201d. Though a name this outrageous might sound like a joke, it really is happening, with the governor saying the new branding aims to raise the prefecture\u2019s profile amongst overseas visitors by highlighting two words that they believe have instant global recognition: \u201cSushi\u201d and \u201cTakayama\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u25bc Governor Nitta unveiled the new nickname at a press conference earlier today.<\/p>\n\n

Using \u201csushi\u201d in the airport\u2019s official new nickname will certainly help to capture the attention of travellers unfamiliar with the area, and officials hope the branding will strengthen the message that Toyama is a leading destination for sushi<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The second part of the nickname refers to Takayama<\/strong>, the historic city in neighbouring Gifu Prefecture, which is a more popular destination for overseas tourists. Officials say the inclusion of \u201cTakayama\u201d in the name reflects Toyama Airport\u2019s role as a gateway to the wider Hida Takayama area, helping visitors to explore destinations across prefectural borders.<\/p>\n

While details remain unclear on when and how the airport\u2019s sushi moniker will be used, it\u2019s likely to feature in tourism promotions, overseas marketing, and other promotional materials as part of the prefecture\u2019s branding strategy to attract inbound tourists.<\/p>\n

Given that the current \u201c\u5bcc\u5c71\u304d\u3068\u304d\u3068\u7a7a\u6e2f\u201d (\u201cToyama Kitokito Airport\u201d) nickname appears on the terminal building, a new \u201c\u5bcc\u5c71\u9ad8\u5c71\u3059\u3057\u7a7a\u6e2f\u201d (\u201cToyama-Takayama Sushi Airport\u201d) sign is likely to replace it soon, either in Japanese, English, or perhaps both.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

The rebranding comes as Toyama Airport seeks to revive passenger numbers following a decline last fiscal year, its first annual decrease in five years. The airport has faced growing competition from the Hokuriku Shinkansen, which opened direct rail links to Tokyo in 2015, and although it once operated flights to international destinations like Seoul, Shanghai and Dalian, many scheduled overseas routes have been suspended. Flights to Taipei, however, are expected to resume in August after an absence of around six and a half years, so there may be an uptick in passengers in time for the new rebranding.<\/p>\n

Hopefully the new name will help to reverse the declining numbers, particularly amongst international visitors who can hop on a direct flight from Tokyo\u2019s Haneda Airport, so more people from overseas can enjoy the hidden charms of the region, including vending machine sushi<\/a> and a Starbucks branch deemed to be the world\u2019s most beautiful<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Source: Yahoo! Japan News\/Kyodo<\/a>, Yomiuri Shimbun<\/a>, YouTube\/\u6771\u6d77\u30c6\u30ec\u30d3 \u30cb\u30e5\u30fc\u30b9ONE<\/a><\/em>
\nTop image: Wikipedia\/Respite<\/a><\/em>
\n\u25cf Want to hear about SoraNews24\u2019s latest articles as soon as they\u2019re published? Follow us on Facebook<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>!<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Soon you\u2019ll be able to book a flight to Toyama-Takayama Sushi Airport in Japan. Overseas tourists have reached record numbers in Japan, but regional areas still find themselves struggling to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7446\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}