Honolulu—PacRim Marketing Group, Inc. has developed and launched the first iPad application about Hawaii in Japanese—Hawaii-Arukikata.com—downloadable from iTunes at  http://itunes.apple.com/app/id373343025?mt=8. The Hawaii-Arukikata iPad application is the only one currently available about Hawaii in the Japanese language. This week it was ranked # 1 in the FREE Category of travel-related applications on iTunes Japan.

The application mimics PacRim’s popular Hawaii-Arukikata.com web portal site, the largest commercial website about Hawaii in Japanese, which gets more than 2.2 million page views each month and has over 5,000 pages of content that are updated daily. The Internet site was launched in 1999.  The iPad application offers potential travelers to Hawaii trip planning tips, news about Hawaii, and information on transportation, hotels, shopping, optional tours, culture, events, and activities.  The application also features a photo gallery and interviews with travelers, reviews, and maps indicating site locations.

“Interest in the iPad is very high in Japan,” said Dave Erdman, President and CEO of PacRim Marketing Group, who was one of the first in line at Ala Moana Center with reservations with a business associate to get an iPad when it came out in Hawaii last month.  More than 2 million iPads were sold worldwide in May.  The iPad was on sale for only a few days in Japan, during which time more than 1,200 people lined up at the Ginza Apple store according to Japanese media sources.   The iPad's sold out in two days at the Ginza Apple Store location.

To gain excitement about the launch of the Hawaii-Arukikata.com iPad application, PacRim Marketing Group coordinated the launch and its marketing with the recent Japan launch of the iPad, and has promoted it on the Hawaii-Arukikata.com website and on Twitter in Japanese.  “We are excited to learn from our Twitter accounts that a number of Hawaii-Arukikata.com readers downloaded the application immediately after the launch announcement,” said Shinichi Hiratsuka, lead web developer from PacRim’s Asia-Pacific office in Tokyo.  

Erdman says the new iPad Hawaii travel application is an excellent tool for promoting Hawaii to the Japanese market, which gives current hotel and retail clients additional exposure in Japan.  “For example, the hotel section prompts iPad viewers to learn more about the properties and even go to their websites.”

“The iPad is a useful device for visitors wanting to learn about the Hawaii destination prior to traveling, and it’s fun to use,” Erdman said. “The GPS linking system to locations for shopping, restaurants, hotels, and attractions in the Hawaii-arukikata iPad application is awesome.  On a trip, the iPad is terrific for posting and viewing photos with its brilliant screen, and remarkable screen size, and viewing options.  We think it will be a hit for Hawaii travelers from Japan.”

PacRim is offering the Hawaii travel application in Japanese as a free download for the first 30 days.