New Zealand having a ball in Tokyo
TOKYO – Ahead of this weekend’s rugby clash between the Wallabies and the All Blacks, New Zealand’s giant inflatable Rugby Ball opened to the public under the high profile Tokyo Tower yesterday.
Tourism New Zealand took the opportunity of the clash between New Zealand and Australia to showcase the country and its hosting of the Rugby World Cup in 2011.
The event was watched by more than 100 journalists from Japan’s 11 national television stations, 11 national newspapers and more than 40 websites.


The television coverage has been viewed by an audience estimated to be well over 34 million, while the newspapers have a total readership of 30 million.
The opening was the lead story on Yahoo’s Japanese site, which is the most viewed website in Japan with hundreds of millions of hits every day.
The coverage caused a spike in Tourism New Zealand’s website for Japan, doubling the number of users from 1500 to 3000 today.
Hundreds of locals queued to see the audiovisual display inside the Ball to learn more about New Zealand.
National Television channel, Nippon TV, also broadcast the weather live from the Giant Rugby Ball yesterday evening. 


Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton said the interest in the Ball has been “phenomenal”.
“The purpose of this seven day project is to promote New Zealand now and for the Rugby World Cup.
“Within one day that promotion has been more than we could have expected and we still have a week to go.”


During the seven days the Ball is open, it will play host to a series of public and private events aimed at promoting New Zealand as a place to visit, work and do business with.
It will also host functions which will showcase New Zealand cuisine.
Footnote: In the four weeks to October 18, total international visitor arrivals to New Zealand were up 5.2 percent over the same period last year.
* Ups: Australia 15%, US 4%, China 24%, Singapore 0.2%
* Downs: UK -8%, Japan -13%, South Korea -43%, Germany -3%, Canada -13%, Netherlands -4%
Ian Jarrett
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