Business in Japan

If I could open a business in Japan, it would be a unique kind of travel agency. My business, in particular, would be focused on showing customers not only the main, most popular spots in a city or country, but also the lesser-known areas. Tourist spots are often overcrowded, overpriced, and exhausting to navigate. However, there is always a lot to see that most visitors do not have the chance to experience. Take Tokyo, for example. Nearly every tourist that has ever set foot in Tokyo has seen sights such as Hachiko, Golden Gai, Tokyo Tower and Tokyo Sky Tree. While these places might be fun for a short visit, many people prefer to travel at a more relaxing pace. My new company would be a perfect fit for those of us who enjoy going off the beaten path.

I would probably name this company something like “Traveling Like a Local.” Our main target would be to give customers the opportunity to experience a place as if they were a local. We would write stories on more niche neighborhoods, discussing topics such as small summer festivals or local bookshops. For nightlife, rather than busy places like Shibuya or Shinjuku, our customers would enjoy trips to small neighborhood bars where they could chat with the owners, or perhaps walk through parks with some taiyaki from food stands nearby. Our travelers would be able to interact with actual Tokyo locals, learn more about everyday culture, and gain important and rare experiences along the way.

At first, my goal would be to set up a website, posting articles and stories for travelers at least once a day. From there, I would want to establish media presence. For that, we would need an employee who could post travel facts, photographs, and constant updates to media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. This would be an essential step for gaining popularity and increasing our audience. Along with staff writers and a PR manager, having a diverse team would be essential. I would like to hire a team of people from all over the world, who are able to post and translate information between Japanese, English, and hopefully even more languages. This would also get us more readers. After that, hiring celebrities and influential people to write social media posts or be in videos for our website would probably be a useful idea. Eventually, hosting our own tours and “local experiences” would be a very exciting step. We could offer one-of-a-kind experiences such as ‘Make Your Own Mochi’ or ‘Kimono Photoshoot (On Film!)’

One of my passions, aside from traveling, is old-fashioned film photography. If possible in any way, I would love to include my hobby within my business. I would personally like to give film photography tours of different Tokyo neighborhoods, during which we could provide customers with a film camera and one roll of film to use throughout the tour. Afterwards, we would develop the photos and even choose a best picture from each participant to show off on our website and social media. Of course, that’s just a dream of mine though.

Audrey

Vocabulary

to go off the beaten path (expression) ? to do something that most people don’t do
niche (adjective or noun) ? something that is only interesting to a small or specialized group of people
establish media presence (expression) ? become a topic or popular figure on social media
one-of-a-kind (idiom) ? the only one; unique