Cancellations hit hotels, tours in western Japan after rain disaster

I had reservations last week, and just called everywhere I was meant to stay at.. they all assured me there isn o problem and we could cycle the shimanami kaido with no significant issue except some logistic changes.

These areas need tourism, more so now.

Government websites don't provide enough information on what areas have been affected or not affected by the flooding. The news by media only report on the disaster with no information on other places that can accept visitors.

Yea , in fact I tried hard, both in English and Japanese to find any updated and correct information on what is damaged , unavailable or hard to reach and what is functioning fine... no such data exist in one source and even less of it in English... I dont really understand why Tourism bureau or Internal affairs buro or even the pref gov couldnt post precise map with affected areas, saying do not go there and marking of damaged roads or offline transport links...

Can't blame people for cancelling. Companies need to get information out right away to potential tours and moreso to existing ones that things are fine for the area they are going, and maybe sweeten the deal a little. If they ultimately still want to, though, nothing the companies can do except offer cheaper tours for others. I know people who cancel for less.

The images and footage of damage broadcast all over Japan is that of the specific devastated areas but the reality is that most places weren't damaged in western Japan.

Aside from Kurashiki and a couple of residential areas of Hiroshima, most of the damage occurred in pretty rural areas.

And I agree that there's a lack of comprehensive information by the prefectures/cities in both Japanese and English, especially English. Although, almost every one of these places have JET ALTs at their disposal, they are rarely or never used to help with their websites.

I don't see why people can't pick up the phone and call their destination. The government is busy dealing with a crisis. Simply call your hotel or ryoukan and ask. We did that after the Kumamoto earthquake, and found they were desperate for business. They still were a year later as well.

It really is one way of helping, as much of the suffering from disasters is from the loss of income for the following year or so until people forget about it. People who managed to survive the initial disaster often go broke within the year because nobody comes to their restaurant, ryoukan, pension.

I understand foreign visitors cancelling, but there is really no excuse for any Japanese person to cancel. Pick up the damn phone.

Earlier too much water and later too much heat, hard to tourists understand what's going on in Japan is this summer of year of 2018.

No surprise, people will cancel in a heartbeat if they feel situation is dangerous.

Forget the Rain.... I'd be cancelling just out of the Hot Weather and High Humidity forecast.

The problem is Japan's handling of disaster information is very poor especially with the current floods. I spoke to a senior nurse at a hospital and he said that they don't know much the how affected are the most affected areas because the information systems have broken down. The hotel won't know if how affected its local area is.

There is no excuse in the internet age for lack of information.

Lack of business acumen is the problem here.....

Understandable businesses and locals are more concerned with essential safety and recovery, but if tourist based they need to have some updates on availability. We are coming to Kurashiki in a couple of months and are unsure as no reply from accom. Stay safe as a priority but keep us informed!

I can only speak for myself, but I wouldn't want to travel to western Japan to visit the historic part of Kurashiki at the moment, even if it is unaffected. It would feel wrong to be having a good time while people are sleeping on school gym floors a few kilometers away. If I worked in an office, I wouldn't feel comfortable handing out typical omiage and saying "Eat this, its from Kurashiki".

People cancelling won't help the wider area of course, but it's just the way it is. If I went, it would be to volunteer.