Are you an influential blogger or a famous internet personality who dreams of visiting Japan? This may be your chance to see the amazing cherry blossoms and the futuristic city of Tokyo for free! According to Yahoo News, the Japan Tourism Agency (JTA) has proposed a 10,000 FREE round trip tickets campaign to encourage more tourists to travel to Japan.
After the disastrous events that took place in their country – earthquake, tsunami, and radiation fears – the number of foreign visitors was cut in half and the strong currency of Japanese Yen did not help the situation. Now, in a desperate attempt to attract tourists back to a land threatened by a nuclear disaster, JTA plans to create a website where interested bloggers can send their application for free plane tickets.
Applicants will have to write the details of their travel plan and explain what they expect to get from the trip. Chosen candidates will be given free airplane tickets but they will have to pay for their meals, hotel accommodation, and they must have their own pocket money for the journey.
What’s the catch?
Successful applicants will be required to write a review about their adventures and pleasant experiences in Japan and post it on their blogs and other social media sites. Of course, the review must be written in a positive tone and should give an impression that Japan is a great place to visit. It was not mentioned in the report but I supposed they will also require bloggers to upload pictures of the wonderful tourist spots in the Land of the Rising Sun.
As of this writing, a request for one billion yen to fund the campaign has been submitted to law makers and once approved, would-be visitors may start signing up on April, 2012. Well, if you are a blogger and you want to participate in this campaign, consider to work on your traffic and online visibility as early as now. The agency is looking for highly-influential bloggers who can help them spread the word that Japan is still a safe country to visit.
So the bottom line is you have to be an I.N.F.L.U.E.N.T.I.AL. blogger to be chosen. There would be 10,000 slots available. How many influential bloggers are there in the internet? I think they are targeting for American and European bloggers who have the money. You have to pay for everything else, remember? But who knows? You might just get lucky 
But it’s really amazing how a lot of women still manage to look awesome even if the sun is unfriendly. I have this former schoolmate in college. She’s like a star. She’s got hundreds of friends and thousands of pictures in Facebook. In her latest FB profile picture, she is wearing a white cashmere sweater, black leggings and a pair of black boots. So chick.
They think it’s sexy.
