The Thai government has turned to a home-shopping channel to sell traditional handicrafts to TV viewers in Japan, industry officials said.
The handicrafts, such as celadon porcelain items and silk textiles, were marketed live on the Shop Channel on Saturday, enabling consumers to call up and buy items as they appeared on screen, they said.
Shop Channel, a 24-hour satellite station that hawks products to consumers in their living rooms, broadcast three hours of satellite TV programs in which some 40 Thai handicrafts were introduced to Japanese consumers, they said.
The handicrafts were manufactured under the One Village, One Product Movement, a regional industrial promotion organized by the Thai government, the officials said. The movement is modeled on a similar campaign launched in Oita Prefecture.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra also appeared on the Shop Channel to tell viewers that Bangkok hopes to promote the nation's handicrafts.