Tsushima City Launches Website for Ghost of Tsushima Collaboration

Source: Cog Connected

The real-life island of Tsushima has declared two of Ghost of Tsushima’s developers as official tourism ambassadors for the city. The city will also be collaborating with Sony Interactive Entertainment on a new tourism initiative for the Tsushima City, and have already launched a new website for the collaboration.

The site, lovingly called “Ghost of Real Tsushima” proudly displays the game’s logo and the “Tsushima City x Ghost of Tsushima” tagline.

Included on the website so far is an about section with the following description for the city, with a bit of an explanation on how the island has been affected by the release of the game.

“Tsushima is an actual island located at the northwestern tip of Japan. It is a place rich in nature and culture, with beautiful seas, forests that have been untouched by humanity since ancient times, mysterious mountains, venerable shrines and delicious foods.

It is also close to mainland Japan and was the first stage in the “Gen-ko” period which was the first Mongol invasion of Japan, a major event in early Japanese history. The details are not too well known to most people in Japan, but there was a history of people who tried to protect the island at the costs of many lives. More than 700 years after its history on July 17th 2020, “Ghost of Tsushima” attracted more attention to Tsushima from all over the world than any other time in history. On this website, you can become a real-world “Ghost Samurai” and explore Tsushima freely.”

It also features an interactive map marked with key locations from the game such as Komoda Beach and Kaneda Castle.

There are also three videos on the site featuring the Mayor of Tsushima City – Hiroki Hitakatsu, Creative Director – Jason Connell, and the Japanese voice actor behind Jin Sakai – Daisuke Tsuji. It also includes a Q&A section detailing the award presented to the game’s developers.

While you may not be able to visit Tsushima in person due to current travel restrictions, you can definitely take a tour of the island and experience the inspirations behind the game by checking out the website right here.

Ghost of Tsushima Developers to Be Made Ambassadors of the Island

Source: Cog Connected

According to a report by VGC, the game’s senior developers will be presented the award and a letter of appreciation in a digital ceremony.

“[Fox and Connell] spread the name and history of Tsushima to the whole world in such a wonderful way,” explained Tsushima mayor Hiroki Hitakatsu. “Even a lot of Japanese people do not know the history of the Gen-ko period. When it comes to the world, the name and location of Tsushima is literally unknown, so I cannot thank them enough for telling our story with such phenomenal graphics and profound stories.”

According to Hitakatsu, the tourism ambassador is theirs as long as they wanted. The idea of presenting them with this honour also isn’t a new one as he has considered it “ever since I discovered they were using Tsushima’s name as the name of their work”

Connell expressed his gratitude for the award on his Twitter page earlier today:

The city will also be collaborating with Sony Interactive Entertainment to create a new tourism campaign based on the game. The new campaign will be used to encourage fans of the game to not only visit the island, but to learn more about its rich history and landmarks.

This isn’t the first time we’ll see the game have a positive effect on the local community of Tsushima, as fans of the game previously helped fund the restoration of a damaged Torii Gate on the island by making donations to a fundraising campaign organized by Yuichi Hariyama, a priest of Watatsumi Shrine.

It turns out that a Ghost of Tsushima sequel or spin-off may also be in the works, or at least if this job ad is any indication.

Ghost of Tsushima Game Director, Nate Fox and Creative Director, Jason Connell are set to be honored as permanent tourism ambassadors of the real-life Tsushima Island in Japan.