Japan Airlines (JAL) and the Japanese advertising agency Hakuhodo have joined forces to launch a second edition of digital collectibles to enhance tourism experiences within the country. Through the Kokyo NFTs, the duo teams will bring visitors closer to the Japanese culture and locations using tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) and local experiences.
In February 2023, both companies came together to deploy the first edition of the Kokyo NFTs, giving holders the ability to access tokenized local experiences. The collection also helped to deepen the relationship between holders and between holders and local companies. The latest collection goes further, incorporating tokenized RWAs, as tourists are shown experiences not found in guidebooks and websites. The companies classify Japanese experiences and crafts as RWAs.
Stressing how this will benefit the country, the announcement stated:
“The companies view these as RWAs and, by tokenizing such experiences and crafts in six regions of Japan, aim to increase relationship populations and undertake new regional development by appropriately spreading the value of the experiences to more people around the world.”
Holders of the Kokyo NFTs will enjoy exclusive hometown experiences across six out of the eight regions in Japan. The digital collection is grouped into six categories, namely Fireworks Cruise, Premium Sake, Japanese Knife, Samurai Family, Space Art, and Kokuto Shochu. Each group unlocks access to local events within the regions in the country.
Users can purchase the Kokyo NFT through direct fiat deposit or crypto payment using the Ethereum layer-2 solution Astar zkEVM. After purchasing the collectible, the user will be invited to a private Discord channel where they can connect with other holders and receive exclusive information about the region they’ve invested in.
Japan Airlines’ deepened foray into non-fungibility is not uncommon among airline companies. In past reports, other air carriers have incorporated NFTs into their services to perform several tasks, such as rewarding customers and easing the ticketing process. Time will tell if other airline companies take a similar step to adopt NFTs.
