The Italian Embassy in Tokyo together with the Italian Rugby Federation will promote the image of Italy in Japan at the 2019 Rugby World Cup. “We have decided to do our best to benefit from this sport event, also by conceiving it as a showcase that promotes the best that Italy can offer in cultural, commercial and tourist terms addressed to the Japanese public and to the tens of thousands of international visitors expected for the occasion”, said Ambassador Giorgio Starace at a joint press conference with the vice president of the Italian rugby Federation Nino Saccà and the commercial director Carlo Checchinato.
The event in Osaka, where the Italian team will be playing on Sunday, is also supported by the Italian Chamber of Commerce with ‘Piazza Italia’, an itinerant promotional project that will follow the National Team together with the Italian Rugby Federation. This is a festival dedicated to Italian products and to ‘Vivere all’Italiana’ (living according to the Italian lifestyle), scheduled from 18 to 23 September with important contributions by ICE and ENIT. The extraordinary Italian cultural offer will also be communicated through mangas, a language that is widely used in the host country. The Embassy, in collaboration with the Kadokawa Group, has in fact produced videos featuring Lucius, the famous character of Mari Yamazaki’s “Thermae Romae” manga, which is about Italy’s tourist highlights.
Furthermore, corners promoting tourism in Italy will be set up in the cities hosting the rugby matches – Osaka, Fukuoka, Shizuoka and Toyota – where the Italian team will be playing. “We are proud – said Checchinato – to cooperate with the Italian institutional bodies in these activities that will raise awareness about Italian products and strengthen the “Italrugby brand”. Also as a result of the recent free trade agreement between the Union European and Japan, Italian brands, from fashion to food, from automotive to design, have become increasingly popular in Japan, a significant development in view of the Olympic Games that Tokyo will host in 2020.
