Osaka aims high for CEI business

Osaka is also an ideal city to base an incentive group while exploring the surrounding cities of Kobe and Kyoto, each of which has its own distinct identity and merits. Recent corporate groups to visit Osaka include AXA Insurance from Hong Kong, Lexus from Singapore and ING Insurance from Taiwan. Osaka has continued to re-invent itself over the past decade as it searches for new sources of business growth, including attracting the CEI markets from across Asia Pacific. Hotel update The marquee property in Osaka, and arguably Japan, is the Ritz-Carlton, which is located in the heart of the city. It offers 292 rooms and suites, including two Japanese suites. The high-quality guestrooms are located on the 24th through to the 37th floors and offer superb views across the city. The property's list of awards runs for several pages and includes being awarded 'No1 Hotel in Japan'2006 by Travel + Leisure and one of three Japanese hotels to make the 'Gold List' for Condé Nast Traveler in 2005. Its five restaurants also regularly feature in 'top five' lists for their category in Japan. French restaurant 'La Baie' is the hotel's signature restaurant while the Japanese restaurant 'Hanagatami'offers an exquisite range of tempura and world-famous Kobe beef. The Ritz-Carlton has ten banquet rooms with the largest being the grand ballroom, with 1,175 sqm of space. The Hyatt Regency Osaka is located across the road from Intex Exhibition Centre. Its 500 rooms and suites are ideally suited for the CEI market and the hotel has recently been refurbished. It has a 1,790 sqm ballroom that can seat 1,090 banquet style, 1,310 classroom style and 2,500 theatre style. The ballroom can also be divided up into five separate rooms. The Westin Osaka is another handy business property, conveniently located near Umeda, one of the major business quarters in Osaka. It features 304 rooms and and a full range of meeting and banquet facilities. Conference location The Osaka International Convention Centre has become the focal point of CEI business in the city in recent years and has a total floor space of 67,000 sqm. "Our main hall has a capacity of 2,750 people and the main stage is movable so it can allow for numerous different configurations," says Junichiro Matsumuro, service section chief of the sales department the OICC. The OICC's event hall offers 2,600 sqm of pillarless space that can also be divided up into six different configurations. Meanwhile the conference hall can seat up to 500 people for high-end meetings. One of the OICC's highlights is its 25 conference rooms spread throughout the 13-storey building. The largest single conference space is for 600 people theatre style. JAPAN'S FESTIVALS Japanese culture celebrates many 'matsuri' throughout the year. Matsuri means both festival and worship in Japanese and hints at the country's Shinto origins. These festivals often mark a stage in the rice-growing cycle or historical events. The aim of the matsuri is to maintain cordial relations with the deities (kami). For incentive groups, witnessing a Japanese celebration will be a memorable event. Here are some of the most popular ones. Omizu-tori: has been celebrated since the eighth century to signal the start of spring. Water is drawn from a sacred well and purified with fire from huge torches. Takayama Matsuri: held in spring and autumn, spectacular floats are escorted through the town by people dressed in Edo-period costumes. The festival is to calm the kami of plague. Aoi Matsuri: also known as the Hollyhock Festival, it has been held in Kyoto for 1,400 years. Participants dressed in costumes parade from the Imperial Palace to Shimogamo and Kamigamo shrines, recreating the journey of imperial messengers who were sent to placate the gods. Nebuta Matsuri: one of Japan's most spectacular festivals. It features huge paper lanterns that are carried out to sea as a symbol of casting away anything that might interfere with the harvest. Kanda Matsuri, Tokyo: held in May in alternate years, this is one of Tokyo's largest with floats and portable shrines.