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SISTER TREES: The giant Jomon Sugi cedar and Waipoua's kauri icon Tane Mahuta have connected Northland with Japan's Yakushima Island.

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Tourism, conservation and iwi leaders are meeting with Japanese tourism authorities in Kaipara for a world-first environmental partnership between the district and Japan’s Yakushima Island.

The meeting at Waipoua this week, of invited guests only, comprising the New Zealand conservation ministry, Tourism New Zealand, MPs, Far North and Kaipara mayors, Japanese tourism and governmental officials and invited media, is to launch the Family of Ancient Trees relationship.

A Destination Northland spokeswoman says Waipoua Forest’s icon Tane Mahuta and Yakushima’s big cedar tree the Jomon Sugi are the subjects of the international relationship and the idea came about through TourismNZ-Japan promoting Northland and the forest to tourists for its history, culture and unique flora and fauna for more than five years.

After TourismNZ-Japan found that about 400,000 Japanese visited Yakushima per year and of those, about 50,000 visited the Jomon Sugi, contact was made with tourism authorities there and a Japanese businessman, a Mr Shiba was successful in getting the tree world heritage status.

Tourism officials, who visited Yakushima, found many similarities between the two great trees, as well as similarities with the historic, cultural and economic natures of the areas.

It also realised the type of people visiting Yakushima were likely to be similar to TourismNZ’s target audience and it also found that if only five percent of the visitors to Yakushima came to see Tane Mahuta, it would have a significant impact on tourism to New Zealand and the Waipoua and Hokianga districts in particular.

It also found this relationship could encourage people to New Zealand and more specifically to Northland.

Destination Northland says through the promotion of the kauri forest, TourismNZ-Japan met with Northland tour operators, Footprints Waipoua owners Koro Carman and Shane Lloyd.

Footprints takes visitors on tours through the forest, telling legendary stories, entertaining tourists using forest themes and bringing the unique environment of the forest to life for them.

The two were then invited to Japan in March 2007, to a tourism trade show to do their story-telling and meet officials in the Japanese tourism industry and introduce a different side of Maori culture.

They also visited Yakushima Island which was the start of the relationship being set up between the two areas.

TourismNZ then met with Waipoua’s iwi, Te Roroa in regard to the relationship with the Japanese iconic tree.

Toursm and iwi leaders took a trip to Japan in March to confirm the intent to formalise the relationship.

The signing of the agreement is scheduled to take place at Waipoua this week, between Te Roroa and the peoples of Yakushima, in front of the contingent of invited guests.

- © Fairfax NZ News