Sakura Miku stars in new campaign to attract tourists to northern Japan
Two cities in Japan’s northern regions have launched a joint tourism campaign featuring Sakura Miku.
Hirosaki and Hakodate have announced the “Hirohako Spring Tourism Campaign”, which is named after the first syllables of both city names (“Hiro” from Hirosaki and “Hako” from Hakodate) and aims to attract a greater number of visitors to both locales and stimulate their respective tourism sectors.
Hirosaki City is located in Aomori Prefecture while Hakodate City is on the southern coast of Hokkaido, the northern most of Japan’s main islands.
The two cities regularly work together promoting tourism, although they are not located particularly close to each other.
It currently takes around 3 hours to travel between the two by train using a combination of rapid express trains, local trains and the Hokkaido Shinkansen.
The two city tourism campaign will run from Saturday, April 12th to Saturday, May 31st, 2025, capitalizing on the spring travel season in Japan, which is often associated with cherry blossom viewing and pleasant weather.
Building on the success of last year’s campaign, the “Hirohako” initiative will once again feature a prominent collaboration with Sakura Miku, a popular character derived from the virtual pop idol Hatsune Miku.
Sakura Miku serves as the official support character for the Hirosaki Sakura Festival, a renowned annual event celebrating the city’s stunning cherry blossoms.
This marks the third iteration of the “Hirohako” campaign, organized by the Hirohako Collaboration Promotion Executive Committee, which includes the Hirosaki Tourism and Convention Association and Hirosaki City.
This year’s campaign will see Sakura Miku joined by other popular Piapro characters, including Kagamine Rin, Kagamine Len, Megurine Luka, MEIKO, and KAITO to try and broaden its appeal to more fans of the virtual vocaloid singers.
Throughout the duration of the campaign, visitors to tourist facilities in both Hirosaki and Hakodate will be greeted by a special welcome announcement, approximately one minute in length, voiced by Sakura Miku.
This aims to create an engaging welcome for tourists arriving in the two cities.
Collaborative posters, featuring the theme of “cherry blossoms at night”, will be displayed at various locations across both cities.
These posters depict Sakura Miku in a nostalgic Japanese-Western style outfit, set against the picturesque backdrops of Hirosaki Park’s Nishibori and Goryokaku Park in Hakodate, both famous for their cherry blossom displays.
The posters will be placed in related facilities, tourist information centers, accommodation establishments, and shopping streets to maximize visibility and create a unified campaign aesthetic.
For interactive photo opportunities, Sakura Miku photo spot panels will be installed at key transportation hubs and tourist landmarks.
These panels will be located at JR Hirosaki Station and the Kanamori Red Brick Warehouse in Hakodate, providing fans with designated areas to take commemorative photos with the virtual character.
An augmented reality (AR) project titled “Take photos with Sakura Miku and friends on your smartphone” will also be a central feature of the campaign.
By launching the AR application ‘COCOAR’ and scanning designated marker images located at specific points of interest in both cities, users will be able to overlay virtual images of Sakura Miku and her Vocaloid friends onto their smartphone screens, allowing them to capture unique photos and videos with the characters in real-world locations.
A social media (SNS) post giveaway campaign will further encourage participation, rewarding users for sharing their AR-enhanced photos.
For those keen on exploring the featured locations in both cities, a “Digital Check-in Rally” utilizing the “Hatsune Miku Official Navi Mikunavi” app will be held.
Participants who successfully check in at all five designated locations within each city will receive a digital completion prize.
Those who achieve complete the check-in rally in both Hirosaki and Hakodate will also be entered into a lottery for a chance to win original Sakura Miku-themed prizes, incentivizing travel between the two regions.
The music video for the collaboration’s theme song, “Hana no Tsumari”, with lyrics and composition by the popular Vocaloid music producer doriko, will be broadcast on YouTube and at various tourist facilities in both cities.
The song is inspired by the spring scenery of both Hirosaki and Hakodate, aiming to evoke the shared seasonal beauty of the two cities.
The music video will also receive airplay on local television and radio stations, further promoting the “Hirohako” campaign.
Official collaboration goods for the “Hirohako Spring Tourism Campaign” will be available for advance purchase on-site in both Hirosaki and Hakodate starting from Friday, April 18th.
The merchandise will be available to buy at tourist information centers and Animate stores in each city as well as via chara-ani.com.
These exclusive merchandise items will offer fans tangible souvenirs of the unique collaboration between the two cities and the popular virtual characters.
The “Hirohako Spring Tourism Campaign” is the latest joint tourism campaign held by both cities and represents a creative approach to regional tourism promotion linking two similar, but far apart, cities.
Previous “Hirohako” tourism campaigns using Vocaloid characters have taken place every winter and spring since 2022 and have featured Sakura Miku or Snow Miku, depending on the time of year.
Source: Official Website
Images: © Hirosaki Tourism and Convention Association, Crypton Media Future, Inc.
