Over 250 Japanese tourists, investors to visit Sri Lanka under ‘Little Japan’ project
COLOMBO – More than 250 Japanese tourists, investors and businesspeople are expected to visit Sri Lanka at the end of August under the ‘Little Japan’ project, in what is described as the largest Japanese delegation to visit the country under the initiative.
Dr Ruwan Perera, Chairman of the Colombo International Airport Hotel and founder of the Little Japan project, said the initiative was aimed at building sustained links between Japanese investors, businesses and tourists and Sri Lanka.
Speaking at a recent media briefing at the Colombo International Airport Hotel, Perera said the project had evolved over more than a decade and was intended to serve as a long-term bridge between the two countries rather than as a one-off event.
The upcoming visit, themed ‘Japan Returns to Sri Lanka’, will include tours of Colombo and several other parts of the country and is expected to further strengthen tourism, business and investment ties between the two nations.
Perera said the initiative had previously organized Japan Expo events in 2018 and 2019 and a Japan Festival in 2020. It also facilitated the visit of a 100-member group of Japanese mothers in 2024 and a 45-member Japanese business delegation in 2025.
The latest delegation of more than 250 visitors represents a significant expansion of the program, he said.
Perera, who has spent more than half his life in Japan and held several information technology patents, said his efforts to strengthen relations between Japan and Sri Lanka extended beyond business and tourism to social initiatives.
He said the project had contributed to the development of more than 50 schools across Sri Lanka.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, a 40-member Japanese medical team also provided financial assistance worth more than Rs 10 million and donated more than 800 kilograms of medicines to the National Hospital in Colombo, he said.
–ENCL
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