CBC Television Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Naka-ku, Nagoya; President: Keizo Matsunami) has launched and commenced operations for 'Explore Nagoya,' a multilingual regional media platform designed for foreign residents and overseas visitors living in the Tokai region.
By making regional information from TV programs, previously provided only in Japanese, available in English, Korean, Traditional Chinese, and Portuguese, the company aims to utilize this as a means of information dissemination for foreign nationals residing in the area.
CBC Television has previously turned topics introduced in its programs, such as 'Naruhodo Presenter! Hanasaka Times,' 'Ota x Ishii no Dela-Lava,' and 'Chant!,' into articles published on the official CBC Television website and various news sites. With the newly developed CMS, these articles are now translated by generative AI, enabling automatic multi-language expansion across four languages.
In Aichi Prefecture, there are 345,900 foreign residents (as of the end of June 2025, according to Aichi Prefecture announcements), the third-largest population in Japan after Tokyo and Osaka. The Tokai region as a whole is one of the country's leading areas for foreign residents, and the need for accurate regional information for tourism, daily life, and other purposes in multiple languages is rising rapidly.
Recognizing that delivering 'live, community-based information' from TV programs directly to foreign residents and visitors beyond the language barrier is an important role for future media, the company established this medium as a platform.
Through 'Explore Nagoya,' CBC Television will expand the provision of a wide range of regional information, including tourism, daily life, administration, medical care, and disaster prevention. Furthermore, the company will leverage its reporting capabilities and content distribution power cultivated as a regional media outlet to promote the value of the Tokai area both domestically and internationally.
Website Overview
- Name: Explore Nagoya - URL: https://explore-nagoya.jp/ - Supported Languages: English, Traditional Chinese, Korean, Portuguese (for Brazil) - Content: - Regional information originating from CBC Television programs (tourism, excursions, events, gourmet, etc.) - Weather forecasts - Disaster prevention information - Multilingual Web Hazard Map by Zenrin
Furthermore, as the first phase of initiatives on 'Explore Nagoya,' CBC Television will collaborate with Zenrin Co., Ltd. (hereinafter 'Zenrin') to release and begin demonstration operations of a multilingual Web hazard map.
In this demonstration, Zenrin’s precise map information is combined with 'Explore Nagoya's' generative AI translation technology to provide hazard information for floods, tsunamis, storm surges, and landslides, as well as shelter information and multilingual medical institution information, all in the user's native language.
By seamlessly linking an environment where foreign residents can access daily regional information during normal times with the high-precision map information necessary during disaster events, the company aims to provide more effective 'Bosai (Disaster Prevention)' information. Additionally, through this demonstration, it will verify the needs and usage patterns of multilingual disaster information and the effectiveness of information provision using generative AI.
Moving forward, CBC Television and Zenrin intend to use this initiative not just for testing multilingual disaster information services, but to build a new information distribution foundation in the region. By utilizing the assets held by both companies, they aim to develop 'Explore Nagoya' into a new information platform through:
- Expansion of multilingual information services using generative AI - Creation of regional problem-solving services utilizing map information - Provision of new value through multilingual expansion of regional content
FACT BOX
- Source: PR TIMES
- Category: New Product
- Products / services: Explore Nagoya