Uzbekistan holds talks in Tokyo to attract Japanese tourists
2026-09-26 18:05:00 / News
The talks focused on increasing tourist flows from Japan to Uzbekistan, developing joint tourism products and projects, as well as opportunities for transferring hotels in the relevant categories to professional management.
To promote Uzbekistan’s tourism potential in the Japanese market, including through advertising on LED screens at airports and in high-traffic areas, meetings were held with Tomiyasu Uno, a representative of HIT Co., Ltd., and Nobuko Ishida, a representative of MediaKeys.
Meetings were also held with leading Japanese influencers, photographers, writers, media representatives and magazine publishers to promote Uzbekistan more widely in the Japanese-language media. In particular, photographer and writer Azusa Shiraishi, who previously published a book about Uzbekistan in Japanese, expressed her intention to update the publication. A meeting was also held with the author of the Muyokutabi YouTube channel, which produces informative Japanese-language videos about various countries and is popular among Japanese people planning their travels. Under the agreements reached, the media representatives will submit proposals for covering Uzbekistan, which will be reviewed before further decisions are made.
During talks with representatives of the Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA), the sides discussed participation in the 31st Tashkent International Tourism Fair “Tourism on the Silk Road”, which will be held in Tashkent on 25–27 November 2026.
In addition, national tourism industry representatives from Uzbekistan held B2B meetings with Japanese tourism companies and reached agreements on further cooperation.
A flash mob featuring the Japanese dance group “Nasrin” was also organised at the national pavilion. The Japanese dancers performed to well-known Uzbek traditional melodies and songs, including “Andijan Polka”, “Lazgi” and “Munojot”, showcasing Uzbekistan’s rich cultural and artistic heritage to the Japanese public. The performance attracted considerable interest from exhibitors and visitors and was warmly received with applause.
For reference: The exhibition, held from 24 to 27 September at Tokyo Big Sight in Tokyo, is being held for the 12th time this year. It brings together 1,420 companies and organisations from 74 countries and regions, as well as representatives of all 46 prefectures of Japan. A total of 1,553 exhibition booths have been set up. As part of the business programme, 6,454 pre-arranged business meetings are scheduled between 855 buyers and 1,019 sellers. Around 180,000 visitors are expected to attend the exhibition.