Soothe Your Soul With These Beautiful Japanese Landscapes! Announcing the Results of the 68th Japan Tourism Poster Contest
Nobody is doing a lot of foreign traveling right now but a lot of people are anxiously dreaming about it. If that’s you, then you will want to check out the winners of the Japan Tourism Poster Contest. First launched in 1947 to boost domestic tourism, the 68th edition of the contest was announced in March 2020, and concluded with 34 winners chosen from 139 works submitted from all over Japan. The winning posters captured breathtaking nature landscapes like scenic trains traversing mountain trails overflowing with natural beauty, a lakeside overlooking mountains painted with autumn colors, or coastline scenery with ice sparkling like crystals. In this article, we’ll be introducing winning posters from six categories that will take you on a photographic tour of the most beautiful places in Japan.
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1. The Minister of Land, Infrastructure,Transport and Tourism's Award: To Undiscovered Kyushu (Kyushu Railway Company)
The Kyushu Railway Company’s D&S (Design & Story) Train is a scenic service operating on the island of Kyushu in Western Japan. The trains, each with a unique design, run through majestic natural settings such as forests and rivers and are a sight to behold.
2. Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications' Award: The Resort, Nikko. (Tobu Railway)
Nikko in Tochigi Prefecture is rich in World Heritage shrines and temples, hot springs, and delicious local dishes. These winning posters depict seasonal landscapes in the Okunikko area, including summer views of the deep blue sky with lush and verdant nature reflected on a lake surface, colorful autumn foliage spreading as far as the eye can see, and a winter scene of pure white snow.
3. Winner: Mt. Daisen Tourism Posters 2019 (Daisen Town Tourist Association, Tottori Prefecture)
The famous Mt. Daisen is located in Tottori, a prefecture known for its sand dunes. This winning series of posters features the tagline “The mountains are alive,” and fittingly features Mt. Daisen in the morning, afternoon, evening, and night, from a sunrise viewed from its summit at dawn to the starry night sky above it after nightfall.
4. First Place, Online Voting Group: Yakushima Tourism PR Poster (Yakushima Island, Kagoshima Prefecture)
Yakushima Island is a World Heritage Site located in Kagoshima Prefecture. Both its natural beauty and the warmth of the locals are what make this place special. The winning poster series captured the essence of Yakushima Island's values of “Water,” “Children,” “History and Tradition,” and “Global Exchange.”
5. Third Place, Online Voting Group: Jewelry Ice – A Trip in Search of Ice Jewels (Toyokoro Tourist Association, Hokkaido)
Some of the most gorgeous winners of the poster contest can be found in this series from Toyokoro, Hokkaido. They depict “jewelry ice,” large pieces of ice that form in the Tokachigawa river during harsh winters and flow out into the ocean where they are formed into various shapes by the sea before washing ashore on the sandy beaches. This mystical spectacle of nature cannot be found anywhere else in the world and is a sight to remember.
6. Winner: Bizen’s Satoumi and Satoyama Posters (Bizen Satoumi & Satoyama Brand Promotion Council with ICM, Okayama Prefecture)
These posters focus on the many natural resources in the city of Bizen (Okayama Prefecture), presented with the tagline “Nurtured here.” The series’ main visuals are food and ingredients from Bizen as well as the area’s beautiful landscapes. It’s impossible to look at them and not feel at peace.
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The information in this article is accurate at the time of publication.
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