President Ma Ying-jeou announced on Friday that an additional representative office in Japan will open in early December.

The president said,"We will open a new representative office in the Hokkaido capital of Sapporo. [The move] is to boost cultural links between the two countries, and to serve the 280,000 Taiwanese tourists to Sapporo."

The Legislative President will lead a delegation to attend the opening ceremony in December.

With the new office, Taiwan will have six representative offices in Japan. These include offices in Tokyo, Yokohama, Naha, Osaka, Fukuoka and Sapporo. Taiwan will also set up a new cultural center in Tokyo. President Ma had designated 2009 as the year to promote Taiwan-Japan relations.

Over 1 million Taiwan tourists visit Japan annually.