A taste of Singapore to whet Japanese appetites Satay and kaya toast in Tokyo and the talent of Singapore composer and singer, Dick Lee – Japanese consumers were given a taste of Uniquely Singapore offerings last month with the kick-off of the 2006 Japan-Singapore Tourism Exchange Year. The Exchange Year was launched at the opening of the Singapore Food & Culture Festival in Tokyo and Singapore celebrity Dick Lee was named the Ambassador for the event. Between April 8 and 14, Japanese consumers at the Shiodome City Centre and Caretta Shiodome got a taste of Singapore’s local cuisine as well as Uniquely Singapore offerings at the Singapore Food & Culture Festival, which was jointly organized by the STB and IE Singapore, with support from the Singapore Embassy in Japan. To reinforce the Singapore brand name in Japan, IE Singapore brought a delegation of ten companies to participate in the Festival, namely Khong Guan Biscuit Factory, Kwong Cheong Thye, Prima Food (Prima Taste brand) and Sin Hwa Dee; food services company – Kriston Food & Beverage, Tung Lok Group and Ya Kun; and spa companies – Essence Vale, SpaCare International (Aspara brand) and St Gregory Spa. Visitors got to enjoy Singaporean “must-try” local delights like satay, curry puffs, kaya toast, chicken rice, laksa, popiah, garlic roasted chicken, mee siam and more. Currently, Khong Guan Biscuit Factory, Kwong Cheong Thye, Prima Food and Sin Hwa Dee already have food products in Japan, Tung Lok Group has a restaurant operating in Tokyo, while Essence Vale, SpaCare International and St Gregory Spa also have spa outlets in the country. Ya Kun will be opening its first outlet opening in Japan in October this year, while Kriston will be setting up its presence in Japan by the end of the year. The Japan-Singapore Tourism Exchange Year is also significant as this year also marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Singapore and Japan. Mr Dayne Lim, Coordinating Regional Director for International Group, Singapore Tourism Board (STB), said, “Singapore and Japan enjoy a close relationship fostered through bilateral and economic exchanges. It is therefore apt that we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between both countries this year with the Japan-Singapore Tourism Exchange Year. This will further promote tourism exchanges between both countries, and allow us the opportunity to learn more about each other’s cultures and heritage.” Added Mr Ted Tan, Acting Chief Executive Officer, International Enterprise (IE) Singapore, “We seek to continue and improve this close relationship. Indeed, we have been encouraging more Singapore-based companies to expand into the Japanese market to offer Japanese consumers more choices in the area of lifestyle products and services especially in the food services, food manufacturing and spa sectors. Given our multi-cultural and contemporary food and spa concepts, our companies would be able to broaden and complement the lifestyle choices available to the increasingly cosmopolitan Japanese consumer.” Japan is a significant investor in Singapore. In 2005, it was Singapore’s sixth largest trading partner, with bilateral trade at S$52.9 billion, up from 2004’s S$51.8 billion. Singapore is also Japan’s top investor from Asia in 2004, with a total of 56.7 billion yen (S$777 million). In areas of tourism, Japan is currently Singapore’s fourth largest source market. Last year, close to 600,000 Japanese visitors came to Singapore for business, leisure and education purposes, while some 94,000  Singaporeans visited Japan for similar purposes. Singapore is also the host of the second largest Japanese school in the Asian region.