U.S. Embassy & Consulates
in Japan

Team USA Support of Japanese Tourism Industry
October 1, 2019, Osaka, Japan

The American Chamber of Commerce in Japan and the US Foreign Commercial Service are organizing hospitality management summits with collaboration (後援) from the Japan Tourism Agency (JTA) and METI, MEXT and MOFA (後援予定) in both Osaka and Tokyo Oct. 28th and 30th. Summit goals are to assist Japan to sustain long-term growth of inbound tourism by developing a supply of globally competitive human resources at the managerial level. The Summits will take place at Kansai Gaidai University in Hirakata City on Oct 28, 2019 and on October 30th at the House of Representatives International Conference Room in Tokyo.

Japan’s hospitality industry, specifically its inbound business, is growing dramatically year over year. In order to support this growth, Japanese universities must begin to prepare Japanese talent to fill the thousands of management positions that are needed. These students must master English, ideally live abroad to develop a global mindset, and work in the industry through structured credit-earning internship. Currently few schools in Japan have such management programs. The goal of these Summits is to jump start this process by inviting cutting edge research-oriented top-ranked hospitality programs in the USA and discuss how they develop their students to become managerial candidates for the industry.

Summit participants in Osaka and Tokyo will include US and Japanese universities, hospitality industry leaders from hotels and theme parks, and Japanese officials promoting tourism. The goal is to share US expertise in developing business-centric hospitality programs that will develop thousands of managerial candidates needed to sustain growth of inbound visitors across a wide array of hospitality sectors including hotels, theme-parks, amusement and entertainment sectors, destination marketing organizations (DMOs), meeting-incentive-conference-exhibitions (MICE), sports and mega events, cultural heritage facilities and museums. In addition to discussions by industry leaders regarding Japan’s hospitality management needs, participating U.S. and Japanese universities will have the opportunity to hold one-on-one meetings to discuss partnership opportunities.

For registration, please visit this online site, and for more details please refer to accj.or.jp/accj-events or contact Office.Osaka-Kobe@trade.gov.

Participating Entities

1. 1. ACCJ
      The American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) was established in 1948 by representatives of 40 American companies and has grown into one of the most influential business organizations in Japan. Consisting mainly of executives from American companies, currently the ACCJ has approximately 3,400 members with offices in Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka. Working closely with the governments of the United States and Japan, business organizations, and others, the ACCJ promotes activities that help achieve its mission of further developing commerce between the United States and Japan, promoting the interests of U.S. companies and members, and improving the international business environment in Japan. The ACCJ’s more than 60 committees represent a variety of industries and make policy recommendations through advocacy tools such as viewpoints, public comments and white papers. The ACCJ holds approximately 500 events and seminars a year, many of which focus on government policy and economic trends. The ACCJ is also committed to its responsibilities in the community, promoting charitable events and CSR activities.
      Press Contact: ACCJ Communications comms@accj.or.jp

1. 1. Japan Tourism Agency
      • • The Japan Tourism Agency was inaugurated on October 1, 2008. The Japanese government is currently working to enhance tourism-related measures, towards the goal of creating a tourism nation. JTA was established as an organization to serve as the hub for these efforts and drive their deployment.
      • In addition to carrying out measures to expand international tourism exchange such as the Visit Japan Campaign, the JTA works to prepare a national environment friendly to tourist travel. This includes creating appealing tourist destinations in Japan, upgrading tourism industries to fit traveler needs, promoting training and utilization of talent in the tourism field, encouraging the Japanese people to take vacations, and preparing safety measures for Japanese travelers abroad.

1. US Foreign Commercial Service Japan 米国大使館・総領事館商務部
   The U.S. Foreign Commercial Service (FCS) is the trade promotion arm of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration.
   FCS provides U.S. companies export promotion assistance through a variety of products and services, including introducing potential new partners. FCS has offices in the U.S. Consulate Osaka Kobe and the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo.