By Clarissa Anne
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 26: Some Malaysian travellers to Japan may have visited many of its popular cities and tourist destinations like Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto but chances are they may have heard little about the relatively lesser known but historically rich Iwate.
Iwate, currently being promoted by Japan as one of its unique travel destinations, is a large prefecture in the northeastern part of the country, historically known for its rich mineral resources including gold and hence its description as the “Golden Land.”
Touted for its authentic cuisines, varities of rice wine and beverages, nature based tourist spots, ancient temples and monuments, Iwate was introduced to guests, including the media at the “Discover the Golden Land: Iwate” at a reception held at the Japanese Embassy here recently.
In his welcome address at the event, Japan’s Ambassador to Malaysia, Takahashi Katsuhiko, proudly announced that Iwate was also his hometown and welcomed the Governor of Iwate, Tasso Takuya, who was present at the event to personally present the charms of the Iwate Prefecture to guests.
Takahashi also spoke of the growing popularity of Japanese cuisine globally and In Malaysia. He noted that the export of Japanese food products to Malaysia had tripled over the past five years, while the export of sake or rice wine had gone up 5.4 times over the past decade.
The number of Japanese restaurants in Malaysia have shown a significant increase, with approximately 1,900 establishments in the country. In view of this growing trend for Japanese cuisine and beverages, Iwate is also expected to gain in the number of Malaysian tourists with its rich sight-seeing and other offerings.
Meanwhile, guests to the event were welcomed not only with a generous spread of Iwate based cuisines and beverages, but were also introduced to some of the rich handcrafted products and artefacts from the prefecture.
Apart from its capital city, Morioka, which was selected by the New York Times this year as the second top city to visit out of 52 cities worldwide, after London, Iwate is also well known among seasoned travellers as having some of the best off beaten travel paths and beautiful sceneries.
Iwate is also home to three UNESCO World Heritage Sites such as the ancient temples and historical monuments in Hiraizumi.
–WE
Clarissa Anne is a young graduate in psychology whose major passion is in the care of autistic children. Exuberant and open to new ideas and experiences, she was also responsible for the set up Weekly Echo’s Tik Tok social media platform. She also writes when she finds the time !