一The Japan Shopping Tourism Organization (JSTO) has announced that it will hold an event titled "Japan Shopping Festival" aimed at foreign tourists in Japan from December 1, 2019 to February 29, 2020. ①Questionnaire Campaign A questionnaire will be carried out for non-Japanese travellers to win round-trip tickets to Japan. Travellers will be selected randomly from a lucky draw.   ②Instagram Photo Contest Follow Japan Shopping Festival on Instagram and post photos related to the designated themes with the hashtag #jsfphoto. The themes are: ①Memories of what you bought and experienced in Japan, ②Your favourite fruits in Japan, and ③Good things about Japan you want to boast. ③Coupons, Goods & Experiences Japan Shopping Now is one of Japan's biggest online shopping portal sites, and they are now promoting information on Japanese shopping overseas in English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, and Korean. This includes coupons, sales, and more at almost 1,000 participating stores.   ④Special Events ・Japan Shopping Festival Tohoku (December 1, 2019 - February 29, 2020) This shopping festival will take place at 6 prefectures across Tohoku. Discover Japanese confectioneries, fashion, sake, fruit and more, including a tie-up with JR EAST PASS.   Official Website:  http://tohoku.japanshopping.org/   ・Matsuyama Shopping Festival (December 1, 2019 - March 31, 2020) From Okaido Shopping Street to Matsuyama Gintengai Shopping Arcade, Matsuchika Town, and more, look forward to end-of-year lucky draws, food events, shopping, and so on.   Official Website:  http://matsuyama.japanshopping.org/   Discover the wonders of shopping in Japan and learn more about the country with the Japan Shopping Festival.

Confectionery company Nakataya has teamed up with Sanrio to release the Hello Kitty Kintsuba.   Kintsuba is a type of traditional Japanese confection of sweet beans wrapped in wheat-flour dough. Nakataya is famous for their kintsuba, which are made with large-grained beans and red bean paste. They have maintained the flavour and quality of these confections, each of which is made with the utmost precision, and all individually.   This year marks the 85th anniversary since Nakataya opened. The long-standing store hopes to bring in more foreign and younger customers by collaborating with Hello Kitty. They have crafted several flavours. Pictured above is the apple pie flavour, Hello Kitty's favourite. It's made with fuji apples from Aomori Prefecture which is known for its incredible apples. It's mixed with white bean paste and is lightly flavoured with cinnamon. The mixed berry flavour is a fruity sweet and sour mix of strawberries, raspberries and blueberries which have been mashed together with white bean paste. The confection comes in two kinds of packaging: one designed by Nakataya's founder Nakata (中田憲龍), and a Hello Kitty version where she is dressed as a dragonーa symbol of the shop. This is a completely original Hello Kitty design made specially for the collaboration. The outer packaging is made with a wrapping cloth to both pass down an aspect of traditional Japanese culture while also catering to the eco-friendly lifestyle of the modern age. It's made from amuzen fabric and can be reused. The inner packaging is a simple paper tray so can be recycled. And if you take the wrapping cloth back to the store, they can refill it with the three Hello Kitty kintsuba confections at a discounted price.

To celebrate 5 years since the grand opening of the Hello Kitty Room at Keio Plaza Hotel Tama, guests are being treated to a very special present.   Friday November 1 marked the 45th anniversary of Hello Kitty. Together with the 5th anniversary of the hotel room, all guests who stay in any of the Sanrio character-themed hotels at Keio Plaza Hotel from now until February 29 next year will receive an application paper. Once they fill it out and then post it in the box in the lobby on the second floor they will be entered for a chance to win a one-night ticket to one of the three Sanrio character rooms. Exclusive merchandise will also be sold to commemorate the 5-year milestone. The hotel poster promotional videos for the three rooms over on their homepage. This includes the revamped Hello Kitty Room, the My Melody Room which opened back in June, and the Little Twin Stars Room.