Kyodo News launched today a one-stop trilingual website, that allows users outside Japan, including media organizations and tourists, to get quick access to the latest information on attention-grabbing topics in Japan, such as tourist spots, pop culture and reconstruction from the March earthquake and tsunami.

The website, entitled Japan Portal (http://www.japanportal.jp), shows press releases from various organizations in Japan, including corporations and governments, in English, Chinese and Korean to
promote their new products and specialty crops, as well as to attract more overseas tourists.

Overseas visitors to Japan Portal can access information with one click as the contents are sorted by provider, topic and language. The website has three major category links: Industry, Government and Local Government. A search feature is also available in all three languages to help users find relevant information quickly.

Kyodo launched the website as a tool for a project to help various organizations based in Japan, both in the private and public sectors,enhance their public relations overseas.

Under the project, overseas media organizations that have partnerships with Kyodo and their subscribers can receive advisories through Kyodo's wire service showing a list of contents immediately after they are posted on Japan Portal.

More precisely, the website carries information on the government projects ''Cool Japan'' and ''Visit Japan'' aimed to promote pop culture and tourist spots. It also has information about the twin disasters, the ensuing nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, Japan's immigration system and event schedules.

Visitors to Japan Portal can first find the headlines of the contents they are interested in from the links or the search box. Then, they can read the full text on the original websites of the information providers.

Kyodo is a Japanese leading news agency, dispatching articles and photos to major newspapers and broadcasters, as well as nonmedia subscribers, in the country and overseas in Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean. ( Thursday, DEC 1 2011 )

Contact information:
Global Strategy Headquarters
Kyodo News
Tel: 81-3-6252-8325
Fax: 81-3-6252-8846