Photo/Illutration Yoshihisa Takeshi, president of the Anko no Yado Marumitsu ryokan inn in Kita-Ibaraki, displays a small banner saying "Ibaraki, the least attractive prefecture" upside down. (Kazumichi Kubota)

Ibaraki Prefecture relinquished its “least attractive” title among Japan’s 47 prefectures following a local promotional effort that was tongue in cheek at times.

The prefecture northeast of Tokyo moved up one place to 46th this year, ahead of Saga Prefecture in Kyushu, in an online survey on prefectures’ allure and appeal compiled by the Brand Research Institute.

The consulting agency received responses from more than 34,000 people for the survey.

In the latest rankings, released on Oct. 8, Hokkaido retained its title as the “most attractive” prefecture for the 14th consecutive year, followed by Kyoto and Okinawa prefectures.

Yoshihisa Takeshi, president of Anko no Yado Marumitsu, a ryokan inn in Kita-Ibaraki, was pleased to see the prefecture move out of last place.

“The efforts by producers and tourism operators to spread the attractions of the prefecture could have yielded this result,” he said.

In June, managers at the inn started selling a lunch box containing monkfish liver and Ibaraki brand meat.

It featured wrapping with the words, “Ibaraki, the least attractive prefecture,” but the letters were upside down.

“I took the ranking with a grain of salt, and made good use of our bottom position,” Takeshi said.

He said he banked on the lunch box, using the prefecture’s all-star ingredients, for the comeback.

“Conveying our charm little by little is the only way we have,” he said.

For seven straight years until 2019, Ibaraki had ranked last in the attractiveness rankings.

It moved up to 42nd place in 2020, but the prefecture fell to the basement again in 2021.

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