All Nippon Airways Lets Travelers "Do" Japan with Interactive Website

TOKYO, March 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan's leading airline, has launched "Let's Do Japan" www.letsdojapan.com, a site that lets visitors create their own Japanese manga personality and learn helpful tips about Japanese culture and trends.

In this first-ever campaign by ANA targeting U.S. consumers, visitors to the site create their own characters through Manganizer, which uses the popular Japanese manga style of comics and features five distinct Japanophile travelers that embody the characteristics of ANA and Japan. Visitors choose to be either Executive, Fashionista, Gourmand, Designer or Aficionado to create their original manga hero and manga stories with their own pictures.

Manganizer uses face recognition technology to render manga images of the user, based on information shared with the app through Facebook Connect or by uploading their image. The rendered manga can then be tweaked using the editor, and downloaded or shared via Facebook and Twitter. By using the Facebook Connect function, users can also generate entire manga stories that incorporate themselves as well as their Facebook friends into the plot.

Another feature of the site is 360° Japan, where visitors explore three scenes: a restaurant, design architecture lounge and Akiba café. Embedded within the scenes are interactive connections, allowing users to click onto images to learn more about Japanese cultures, traditions and trends. Visitors can learn more about sensu hand-held fans or what omelet rice drawing involves.

"Visitors to our innovative site can immerse themselves in their own story through Manganizer or discover helpful tips and interesting facts about Japan and Japanese culture through 360° Japan," explains ANA spokesperson, Nao Gunji. "We believe our site offers its visitors a fun, high-tech glimpse into what to expect when they visit Japan for the first time or the tenth. And, who wouldn't want to be the hero of their own manga-style story?"

About ANA Group
All Nippon Airways (ANA) is the eighth largest airline in the world by revenues (2011) and the largest in Japan by passenger numbers (2011). Founded in 1952, it flies today to 32 international cities and 49 domestic cites with a fleet of 233 aircraft serving a network of 171 routes. ANA has 33,000 employees and operates about 1,000 flights a day. In 2011, it carried 43 million passengers and generated revenues of $17.1 bn. ANA has been a core member of Star Alliance since 1999 and launched a joint-venture with United Airlines on trans-Pacific and Asia routes in April 2011; ANA also launched a joint-venture with Lufthansa, Swiss International Airlines and Austrian Airlines on Japan-Europe routes in October 2011. More than 24 million members belong to its Frequent Flyer Program, ANA Mileage Club. ANA was voted Airline of the Year for 2013 by Air Transport World Magazines.

About the Let's Do Japan campaign
Let's Do Japan is a global branding campaign for All Nippon Airways (ANA), one of Japan's leading airlines. The campaign features five distinct Japanophile travelers with unique styles representing their favorite aspect of Japan to convey the many assets that both ANA and Japan have to offer. Manganizer is the first activity in the Let's Do Japan campaign. 360° Japan has various unique, fun features and interactive aspects. Thanks to the latest technology, visitors will find every aspect of unique Japanese culture and trends by exploring three online scenes such as a restaurant, design architecture lounge or Akiba café.

URL: http://www.letsdojapan.com/#en

SOURCE All Nippon Airways