Virtual Japan at your hand! Website of Japan Creative Centre is open!
	22 July, 2008 Embassy of Japan in Singapore During the meeting between HE Mr Masahiko Koumura, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, and his counterpart, HE Mr George Yeo, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Singapore, which was held on 22 July 2008 at the sidelines of the ASEAN related Ministerial Meetings in Singapore, Mr Koumura announced the opening of the website of the Japan Creative Centre and Mr Yeo welcomed its opening and presented a congratulatory message on the website. It was a result of the Japan-Singapore summit meetings held in March and November 2007 that an agreement was reached to set up the Japan Creative Centre (JCC or Centre) in Singapore as a base for disseminating information on Japan and its culture. The Centre is the first of its kind outside Japan and a new type of culture and information centre that showcases Japan's "now," and could serve as a model for the future. Both Japan and Singapore are currently working together to launch the Centre. Ahead of the physical opening of the Centre which is aimed by the end of 2009, the Japanese Government launched the Centre's website - a virtual showcase of Japan's "soft power" on the Internet. Like its physical counterpart, "Innovation and tradition" is the main theme of the virtual Centre. The virtual highlights of "Cool Japan" include J-food, Japanimation and manga, J-tour, J-movie, J-fashion, J-art, J-design, Architecture, J-tradition and Japanese Government Internet TV. You can roam around the "Creative Town" on the website and have access to various latest information about Japan's "now". For example, in the J-food corner, you can get a variety of information about the local food of many prefectures in Japan, including popular Hokkaido. In the Japanimation and manga corner, you can get yourself updated on the latest information about anime and manga of Japan. Information about the latest Akiba and Cosplay is also available. The J-tour corner will take you to a wonderful site for tourism in Japan. You can also learn about the trends in fashion, art and design in each corner other than the tradition of Japan in the J-tradition corner. Besides this website, you can also expect the roll-out of some Centre-organised events beginning with the Japan Film Festival in August, followed by a lecture-cum-demonstration on Noh, Japanese masks, in September and Japan "Matsuri" Festival in November this year. You can find detailed information about these events on the website. To experience the wonderful world of Creative Japan, please log on to http://www.sg.emb-japan.go.jp/JCC/ Mr. Hirohisa Chiba, Japan Creative Centre c/o Embassy of Japan in Singapore Address: 16 Nassim Road, Singapore 258390 Tel: (+65) 6235-8855 Fax: (+65) 6733-2957 E-mail: eojsingfv@vsystem.com.sg