Time Out Tokyo begins full-scale video production for English-speaking visitors to Japan

Time Out Tokyo has launched a full-scale video production business for international visitors to Japan. With visitor numbers at record highs and demand for video soaring, we offer a comprehensive service – including planning, filming, editing, and delivery to our English-speaking audience, the segment now leading the market. We reach roughly 750,000 readers daily, from before they leave home through to their stay in Japan.

The background: record visitor numbers, an English-speaking market in the lead, and the power of video in influencing behaviour

Japan welcomed a record 42.68 million international visitors in 2025, with travel spending reaching ¥9.45 trillion. The English-speaking markets – the US, UK, Australia and Canada – are leading the pack in terms of both visitor growth and spend per capita (1.4 to 1.7 times the overall average) (Japan Tourism Agency / JNTO).

How travellers choose destinations is changing, too. According to Japan Tourism Agency research, ‘video sites’ are the most-used source of information for English-speaking visitors before departure: 41.1% in the US, 39.0% in the UK, 39.1% in Australia and 42.0% in Canada (Japan Tourism Agency survey of international visitor spending, 2024). These growing English-speaking audiences also spend above the overall average, so reaching them reliably offers a correspondingly higher ROI. That is why so many brands now face the same questions: how to get their value across, and how to tell their story on video.

Time Out Tokyo is already connected to this market

Time Out Tokyo reaches a combined audience of roughly 750,000 across the English-speaking world, built around an English-language Instagram following of 339,000 and extending across Facebook, X, newsletters and TikTok (roughly 1.32 million in total including Japanese-language channels). Collaborative posts with Time Out London, Time Out New York and other city editions can be added, extending that reach further.

Before departure, readers find us through Time Out’s global network of more than 350 cities and through Time Out Tokyo’s English-language site, where 60 per cent of readers come from overseas. After arrival, they find us in the magazines and newsletters handed out at Haneda and Narita airports, and on social channels such as Instagram. At every stage of the journey, we put high-quality information in front of English-speaking travellers. When do our readers come to Japan, and what holds their attention? We have listened closely to their interests and built a lasting audience relationship through our publications. That closeness to our readers is Time Out’s greatest asset.

The business: video production that runs from planning through to delivery

The new business is built on this reader network. This is not just contract video work: we read the context a brand sits in, shape its appeal into a story, and put it in front of visitors to Japan. That editorial perspective, built up through our media business, is our strength. We formed a dedicated team about two months ago and brought planning, direction, filming and editing capabilities in-house. Editors and video creators work side by side to find the treatment that fits each brand best.

Results: 5.46 million views for an English-language video on Osaka’s classic sweet ‘okoshi’

Amidaike Daikoku, an Osaka confectioner founded in 1805, is known for a sweet called ‘okoshi’. Filming in the streets of Dotonbori, we presented the snack to English-speaking visitors as a tasty gift to take home; the video has recorded 5.46 million views (as of June 2026). Okoshi also has appeal as a gluten-free rice snack. The result comes from pairing strong filmmaking with Time Out’s reader network. We have also produced video across many other sectors, for clients including Kamawanu, a specialist in tenugui hand towels, and Intersect by Lexus – Tokyo. At Time Out, we design not only the video itself, but also its delivery to the audience it will resonate with most. Watch the video here.

For Japanese-language audiences, a video presenting the hotel brand JR West Via Inn Hotels through a distinctively Time Out lens has reached 12.85 million views (as of June 2026).

Comment from our President

Hiroyuki Fushitani, President of ORIGINAL Inc. and Publisher of Time Out Tokyo:

‘Since it was founded in London in 1968, Time Out has spent more than half a century walking cities to see them for itself. Our channels have grown from magazines to the web and social media, and video is the next step on that same path. Precisely because AI can now generate text without limit, information checked in person by local experts is worth more, not less. Our aim is not to chase views, but to work out what is genuinely good and produce videos that stay with visitors.’

‘Video Works’: a portfolio of our productions

We have published ‘Video Works’, a portfolio collecting our productions to date: 29 films in both vertical and horizontal formats, spanning hotels, shops, things to do, art exhibitions, restaurants and bars, organised by objective – expressing a brand, explaining a product, and driving visits.

Enquiries:
Time Out Tokyo (operated by ORIGINAL Inc.)
Contacts: Kurita, Ando
TEL +81 (0)3-5792-5722
e-mail: info@originalinc.jp