The Marianas Visitors Authority hosted familiarization tours by four Japanese media outlets.

• La Scuba, a diving magazine for young females, visited April 14 to 20. The magazine was set to feature six full-color pages on the Northern Marianas in its June issue. The magazine has a circulation of 80,000 copies and also features shopping, food and cosmetics.
• Asahi Broadcasting Co. visited April 19 to 23 to shoot for the television show “Tabi Salad,” a Saturday morning program for viewers interested in learning English. The show featured Saipan in an 18-minute segment on May 9.
• Sankei Express, a daily newspaper targeting young businesspeople, was on Saipan through April 27 providing coverage of the Saipan Marathon through the participation of its editor. The newspaper circulates 80,500 daily copies to subscribers and newsstands in Japan.
• A runners’ magazine, Courier, sent a two-person editorial team to cover the 10th Saipan Marathon. The magazine covers jogging and marathons in Japan and overseas and will feature the Saipan Marathon on four paged in its June issue. Courier circulates 120,000 copies.

The NMI was also visited by several Japanese media outlets in May for television, magazine and other media coverage.

• “RBC The News!”, a daily news program of Ryukyu Broadcasting Corp. in Okinawa, featured 79-year-old Mitsuko Miyazato, an Okinawan resident of Saipan in her childhood, in its coverage of the 46th memorial tour to the Northern Marianas from Okinawa. The program was aired in late June.
• Nenpou Shinkyou, a Buddhist group that visits Saipan annually to conduct World War II memorial services in the NMI and has built several memorials on Saipan, was filmed for a 30-minute documentary to be aired in August.
• Sesame, a bimonthly magazine focusing on children trends and lifestyle released an eight-page feature on Saipan on June 7, featuring a popular child model.
• Japanese model and actor Tetsuya Sugaya shot his 80-page photo book with interview magazine JUNON for a July 24 feature.
• Nagasaki International Broadcasting Inc. filmed an eight-minute special on food and shopping, to be aired in September to an estimated 1.4 million households. Saipan’s beaches and tourist sites were highlighted for a promotional DVD and magazine feature about the NMI by “First Impression.”
• The Micronesian Repatriation Association’s memorial tour will be featured by “OTV Super News” on Okinawa Television.