All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan’s leading airline, has launched “Let’s Do Japan” www.letsdojapan.com, a site that lets visitors create their own Japanese manga personality and learn helpful tips about Japanese culture and trends.

In this first-ever campaign by ANA targeting U.S. consumers, visitors to the site create their own characters through Manganizer, which uses the popular Japanese manga style of comics and features five distinct Japanophile travelers that embody the characteristics of ANA and Japan. Visitors choose to be either Executive, Fashionista, Gourmand, Designer or Aficionado to create their original manga hero and manga stories with their own pictures.

Manganizer uses face recognition technology to render manga images of the user, based on information shared with the app through Facebook Connect or by uploading their image. The rendered manga can then be tweaked using the editor, and downloaded or shared via Facebook and Twitter. By using the Facebook Connect function, users can also generate entire manga stories that incorporate themselves as well as their Facebook friends into the plot.

Another feature of the site is 360° Japan, where visitors explore three scenes: a restaurant, design architecture lounge and Akiba café. Embedded within the scenes are interactive connections, allowing users to click onto images to learn more about Japanese cultures, traditions and trends. Visitors can learn more about sensu hand-held fans or what omelet rice drawing involves.

“Visitors to our innovative site can immerse themselves in their own story through Manganizer or discover helpful tips and interesting facts about Japan and Japanese culture through 360° Japan,” explains ANA spokesperson, Nao Gunji . “We believe our site offers its visitors a fun, high-tech glimpse into what to expect when they visit Japan for the first time or the tenth. And, who wouldn’t want to be the hero of their own manga-style story?”