On 9 December, CLAIR Sydney participated in the Matsuri Japan Festival 2017 which was held in Tumbalong Park, Darling Harbour, Sydney. This annual event has been held since 2006 to introduce Japanese culture to locals.
This year, there were many information stalls on Japan including those run by the Consulate-General of Japan in Sydney, Japan National Tourism Organization, All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines. Visitors enjoyed Japanese cuisine and cultural workshops teaching the art of Ikebana, calligraphy and Origami. Guests also performed live performances on the main stage which included live anime songs, group dances and taiko drum displays. During this year opening ceremony, the Matsuri Japan Festival committee also handed out letters of appreciation to all parties involved in the success of the Matsuri over the years.
Prior to the event, we advertised within Japanese local government the opportunity to participate in the festival with us. As a result, Yamanashi prefecture, Nagoya City, Kansai, Wakayama prefecture and Kagawa Prefecture Tourism Association joined us in promoting their local areas. It is our aim to provide local governments in Japan with the opportunity to promote their region in Australia. We are happy to have been able to achieve this aim during the festival and will continue to support the promotional activities of Japanese local governments in Australia.
Many people visited our booth on the day, taking home brochures and other promotional materials. Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, the so-called “Golden route” cities and Hokkaido were very popular. However, many visitors also had high interest in other destinations, since many of them have been to Japan before and are planning their next visit. Many exhibitors restocked their brochures as most nearly ran out before the closing ceremony. We also had the opportunity to promote our sightseeing destinations up on the main stage thanks to the event administration, and we were able to introduce our recommended tourist spots and activities!
According to the event organizer, the event posted a peak of approximately 55,000 attendees and we were able to hand out more than 11,000 brochures to visitor who stopped by our stall.
Overall the event was a great success!
From the 3rd to the 13th of December, eight selected swimmers from the Fukuoka Swimming Association visited NSW, where they participated in joint training sessions with a local school and competed in the 2024-25 Speedo NSW Senior State Age Championships.
