A couple of years ago a major Japanese city was developing a long-term strategy aimed to reposition the city from an industrial 20th century town to a knowledge and experience economy hub. One of the core strategies was to turn the city into a future tourist magnet. In order to explore the long-term potential in the European market, we were assigned to identify success factors and proposals for further action. We took on a combined approach where one part was interviewing travel brokers in several parts of Europe. The other part was a consumer study, exploring the image of and knowledge about Japan in various parts of Europe, as well as the relative interest in traveling to and learning more about Japan in general and the specific city in particular. Using an innovative methodology, we were able to identify a set of key strategies to approach the European market, both in terms of communication, product development and distribution system.