"OSUKYO" provides distinctive experiences for Kyoto visitors.

http://taiken.onozomi.com/murataphoto/
Have you ever been to Kyoto? For tourists, Kyoto has been one of the most popular cities in Japan. Actually, more than fifty million tourists visit there every year, to experience its own culture which has been inherited since the Heian era in 8th century.

Although Kyoto is the famous town, they are in trouble with their bad economic conditions. Takahiro Fujita, founder of Nozomi, realized that the number of tourists is not equally related to the benefit to the people working in Kyoto.
nozomi_fujitasan
Fujita launched a website “Osukyo”. The name is an abbreviation of Osusume Kyoto Taiken, meaning the recommended things to do in Kyoto. Osukyo is a community marketplace for people who wants to enjoy the whole region of Kyoto. Through this website, you can find numerous tours and learning programs that tourists can experience peculiar culture of Kyoto.

For example, there is a program offers making Japanese sweets in a famous long-established store. Osukyo recommends and introduces the programs with pictures, so the tourists can easily understand what they can do and choose the one they like.

http://taiken.onozomi.com/kanshundo/
Also, one of the programs which is popular among girls is to wear ‘oiran’ (*) costumes. The photographer takes pictures of girls totally changing to oiran with the costume, hair and makeup, and the picture can be the special memory for them.
osuky_12hitoe

http://taiken.onozomi.com/oiran/

Originally, Fujita planned to improve Kyoto in economic problems, however, now he works hard on preserving distinctive culture of Kyoto. He and Nozomi plan to turn their eyes to other provinces. Osukyo may be the platform for Kyoto, and it can be arranged for your own town as well.

[via Greenz.jp written by Kyoko Sugimoto]
[English Text by Momi Sako]