Koichi Yoshida isn’t an actor — he’s a tourism promoter with a big personality
Nikkei Asian Review
Date: December 3, 2017
By: Kosuke Shimizu, Nikkei staff writer
TOKYO — He is known as the most famous Japanese in Taiwan.
Tourists from Taiwan and Hong Kong gather at a Tokyo sushi restaurant to dine with Koichi Yoshida, whose Japan tourism information site attracts over 1 million users a month.
Koichi Yoshida is the president of Tokyo-based Geelee Media Group, which operates a tourist information website for Taiwanese planning to visit his country. He has repeatedly appeared on TV in Taiwan, and followers of his Facebook account total more than 600,000.
To find out more about the man, I joined a visit to a Tokyo izakaya bar-restaurant he organized for tourists in late November. I arrived a little ahead of the 8 p.m. start, giving us time to chat.
The venue was Sushi Darihan, a minute’s walk from Yoyogi Station. Yoshida said that when he is staying in Tokyo, he comes to this sushi restaurant every three days.
Although he called it a tour, it was in fact more like a dinner during which fans could spend time with the star drinking, eating and talking. [FULL STORY]
