During his re-election campaign these past two weeks, one of the lesser-known successes touted by Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto was the Osaka Government Tourism Bureau, which he set up to promote the area to tourists and convention organizers.
The new bureau marks the latest effort by a town, city or prefecture in Kansai to distinguish itself and grab a piece of the domestic and international tourism pie. But when promoting themselves overseas and, to a lesser extent, within Japan, the first and most fundamental problem is the region's weak or nonexistent presence in the minds of would-be visitors.
Despite recent efforts to coordinate tourism efforts, politicians are still very much in competition with each other, and even well-known Kansai cities are seeking new ways to re-brand themselves.