No.of foreign visitors to Japan falls for 4th straight month in January

No problem. Japan should focus on European travelers since Japan is an de facto Eurooean nation. As Fukuzawa Yukichi said 100 years ago, it was never a good idea to focus on Asian countries to begin with.

Japan should focus on European travelers since Japan is an de facto Eurooean nation.

Maybe if there were more LCCs or less of a fuel surcharge.

Focusing on a market literally half a world away is not going to make up or replace the one's that have stopped coming from proverbially speaking, "across the street".

Travel costs to Japan from Europe or North America are prohibitive, and only those with the time and money, can come here, while those from Taiwan, China, and Korea, many times are repeaters.

The tourist industry is a fickle one, and only those that are willing to stick it out for the long term will have any success!

The time is soon coming when a quarantine will be in place meaning nobody will be coming here for an extended period...

The numbers are down.... but wait until this month's numbers come in. My guess is YoY they'll be down by 50%... obviously due to the coronavirus. That is very significant and overall will affect the economy.... especially in the Kyoto area.

The time is soon coming when a quarantine will be in place meaning nobody will be coming here for an extended period...

No. We shall know better what this virus do so people can travel freely with proper information given by authorities. Thank you.

Japan should focus on European travelers since Japan is an de facto Eurooean nation. 

No its not. Its core values and beliefs, even writing system, are from China. Do Euro types read and write

Kanji? Have Buddhist funerals? Have emperors? Dress in Kimonos for ceremonies? Have neo Confucius

influenced laws? One of the most ignorant post here in a long time.

"Dress in Kimonos for ceremonies?"

Do the Chinese and Koreans (and other Asians, while you're at it), dress Kimonos?

That's news to me (and many more, I'm sure).

Now, be very careful with what you say.

The number of mainland Chinese visitors to Japan rose 23%, helped by a favorable comparison with 2019 when the Chinese New Year - a peak travel period - took place in February.

wait. am I understanding this correctly? The number of Chinese that came here rose by 23% this February? In the middle of the outbreak and Japan is increasing its arrivals from China? Am I hearing this right??

Japan should focus on European travelers since Japan is an de facto Eurooean nation.

De facto European? Sure - apart from history, culture, customs, food, geography, DNA and written language.

Asians make up 80% or more of inward foreign tourists, and Japan is right to focus on them.

I'm expecting that global travel for the next few weeks and months would lessen amid the coronavirus outbreak. But I'm willing to bet that IF the epidemic dies down enough prior to the Olympics, Japan's tourism can bounce back even higher. The government should instead encourage domestic tourism instead.

The topic of the story is a fall in tourism. I'm surprised so many of you who pontificate on the subject know so little about it. It's an industry that envelops millions of businesses, big and small. Because of the coronavirus, all (and I mean ALL) of my friends and those I consider my Japanese family have either emailed to me, or actually sent REAL letters in the mail saying 'stay away'. No hanami, this year. Come in October. I will heed their advice, and so much for the government's tourism hopes. The Olympics are already tainted, and in more ways than a simple communicable disease.

But, that's just my opinion. I don't live in Japan, I just spend six weeks a year there.

No hanami, this year.

Trev- I completely forgot about that. You're right. I will not go. Which is a real shame as sitting under the trees and getting drunk is one of my favorite pastimes.

Do we really need a running update on the number of foreign tourists visiting Japan ?

Well this is a shame, especially with the whole coronavirus and all. But I’m proud to say that this dip and tourism was no thanks to me, who was touring the country for like a week and a half in December. But because a lot of this has to do with the coronavirus, it’ll definitely go up, even if there’s a continued boycott by South Korea. Maybe not back to exactly how it was before, but significantly more up it’s been as of late.