Travel Café Philippines a big hit in Tokyo

The newly-opened Travel Café Philippines in Iidabashi, Tokyo is getting to be a big hit, attracting hordes of customers right on its first day.

The chefs had to rush preparations for another batch of pork adobo and kesong puti sa pandesal to cope with the surge of orders from customers, who kept coming in from morning till night.

Team Japan of the Philippine Department of Tourism (DoT) and Travel Café Co. Ltd. inaugurated the 70-seat café last July 24 and opened it to the public the following day.

Travel Café Philippines is the first themed coffee shop to be dedicated to a single country destination, according to Travel Café Co., the leader in the café business in Japan. The company runs a number of especially themed coffee shops all over the country.

At the inaugural rites, Travel Café Co. executive vice president Kazuyuki Goto and Japan’s Model of the Year and fashion icon Anne Watanabe joined the Philippine officials led by Ambassador Domingo L. Siazon Jr., DoT Team Japan Head Rosvi C. Gaetos, and DoT Undersecretary Eduardo Jarque Jr. representing Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace H. Durano.

As Philippine tourism endorser and friendship ambassador, Watanabe graced the press launch and had her own serving of the mouthwatering halo-halo.

The menu for Travel Café Philippines was developed by multi-awarded restaurateur Glenda Rosales-Barretto of Via Mare in close collaboration with Travel Café Co.’s chef Ryo Hayasaka and operations manager Shinnosuke Shimizu.

Philippine coffee varieties Barako (Philippine Liberica) and Alamid (Philippine Civet) are featured in the menu, along with such Filipino favorites as halo-halo, pork adobo, ube ice cream, and kesong puti sa pandesal. The café operates as a café-style restaurant at daytime and a bar at night.

Japanese space planner Shien Co. used the best furniture and indigenous Filipino materials developed by the Philippines’ elite Movement 8 designers Budji Layug and Al Caronan as well as by furniture manufacturers/exporters Locsin International. Shien Co’s Yasushi Hara has likewise been inspired by the works of noted Filipino architect Francisco Mañosa. The tables are made of coconut shells, the chairs of woven abaca fiber, and the walls inlaid with capiz shell frames – all crafted in the Philippines.

The icon for Travel Café Philippines is a masterpiece sculpture of stone and metal created by Filipino sculptor Impy Pilapil.

Also serving as information hub, the café has a vast collection of travel references — from books to videos shown on plasma screens, with Filipino compositions as background music — providing an optimum environment for making travel plans to the Philippines. A travel concierge is always available to personally assist guests, answer queries on the Philippines, and recommend travel itineraries.

Plans are also under way for Friday get-togethers wherein visitors can talk with travel experts or enjoy live music performances, among others.

“Visitors, mostly Japanese women, at the Travel Café Philippines enjoy the feeling of being on a trip in a relaxing atmosphere,” Durano explained.

The café is consistent with the thrust of the ongoing Philippine tourism marketing campaign in Japan. The campaign dubbed “The Philippines: Wellness from the Inside Out” is primarily targeted at the 7.2 million Japanese ladies in their 20’s to 50’s who are leading the way in outbound travel to Asian destinations.

This market segment has comparatively more time and money to spare for travel and spend for themselves. “Attracting them to travel to the Philippines will generate our one million target Japanese arrivals by 2010,” Durano said.

Source: http://www.mb.com.ph/TOUR2006080971282.html