Persia Touted in Iran Tourism Seminar for Japanese

October 26, 2018

Tokyo- A tourism seminar has been held at the Iranian embassy in Tokyo for travel agencies following the recent launch of the issuance of electronic visas for Japanese citizens to visit Iran.

"Iran is mistakenly viewed in Japan as a dangerous country when something bad happens in Iraq," Mahmoud Bonakdarnia, marketing executive of Iranian travel agency Pasargad Tours Co., said in Japanese at the seminar on Wednesday, noting the resemblance of the names of the two Middle Eastern countries.

"So we want to call ourselves Persia," he said, referring to the former name of Iran.

Setsuko Sugimoto, adviser to AITO Iran Tours, another Iranian travel agency, said, "It's said that the (social) position of women is low in Iran, but women's participation in society is growing, with mothers having strong voice at home."

She called for people to see the country in person.

The native of Kochi Prefecture, western Japan, who has the Iranian name of Sara Chavoshi, has lived in Iran for 40 years and experienced the Iranian Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War.

Iranian Ambassador to Japan Morteza Rahmani Movahed stressed his eagerness to spread information about the actual situation in Iran and dispel misunderstandings about the country.

In 2016, the U.S. government announced that its visa waiver program would not be applicable to tourists who have visited Iran. The number of Japanese visitors to Iran has fallen since the announcement.

However, the introduction for Japanese visitors to Iran of an electronic visa, which leaves no entry or exit records on passports, is expected to push up the number of tourists to the country, tourism industry people said. Jiji Press