The Asahi Shimbun recently ran a feature on an aspect of Saga Prefecture’s latest efforts to boost it’s profile:

In Saga Prefecture, an area noted for its porcelain ceramics and bordered by the Sea of Japan and the Ariake Sea, it’s really not so bad there.

That’s why it’s difficult to explain a survey conducted by a private company that ranked Saga Prefecture the second-most unattractive prefecture among Japan’s 47 prefectures.

Determined to raise the prefecture’s national profile, prefectural officials allocated a budget of 180 million yen ($1.77 million) last July for a new promotional project.

Factory Saga is the result.

Located in Tokyo’s hip Minami-Aoyama area, Factory Saga looks like a private advertising firm or design company. But its mission is to promote the charms of the prefecture, and it has joined hands with a popular video game and a women’s magazine in the effort.

Factory Saga is working to attract women in their 30s living in the Tokyo metropolitan area, with prefectural officials pinning their hopes on the online community to spread the word.

You can read the full article here.