Shikoku launches month-long social media showcase to promote tourism

Capitalizing on their previous Japanese experience as “Travel Volunteers”, travel writer and photographer duo Jamie Lafferty and Katy Morrison embarked on June 24 on a new project, titled "Smiles of Shikoku." The month-long tour of the island and its four prefectures will see them sharing their historic, cultural and culinary findings on social networks on a daily basis.

Selected in 2011 ahead of over 2,000 other applicants from around the world for the successful “100+1 days in Japan - Travel Volunteer Project” to promote travel to Japan after the Great East Japan Earthquake, the couple had visited all of Japan’s 47 prefectures in 100 days, producing daily blog posts and photographs. The project generated international news coverage and consequent online following, while revealing some of Japan’s least explored regions to foreign audiences.

“Back in 2011, we’ve immensely enjoyed traveling in Japan and were proud to help revitalize tourism by sharing our experience on social media” said Katy. “We now have the chance to revisit Shikoku, one of our favorite parts of the country and look forward to increasing international interest to this undiscovered gem of an island.”

Comprising of four prefectures – Tokushima, Kochi, Ehime and Kagawa – Shikoku is the smallest of Japan’s four main islands. It is home to stunning landscapes, centuries-old traditions of handicraft but also the up-and-coming Setouchi international art festival and the Shikoku pilgrimage, a 1,400-km religious journey to 88 temples that will celebrate its 1,200-year anniversary in 2014.

Facebook: http://facebook.com/smilesofshikoku

Twitter: http://twitter.com/SmilesOfShikoku

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