Hawaii Tourism Japan — the firm that markets Hawai'i to visitors in Japan said today it will close its Hawai'i office at the end of this month as part of a cost-cutting measure.

Executive director Takashi Ichikura sent out an e-mail to marketing partners todaynotifying them of the change.

"As a result of the current market conditions and to maximize our marketing budget, we have decided to downsize our Hawaii office, and are currently reviewing our operations," he said.

Ichikura referred all future inquiries to the Tokyo office