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© 2013 AFPForeign visitors to Japan surge 34.6% in 2012
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© 2013 AFP
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Elbuda Mexicano
Good for Japan!!
KnowBetter
I've been doing my part to get more friends to visit Japan. For 2012 I managed to get four trips of friends to visit Japan. Three trips having two friends and one trip having one friend. Overall I figure they must have spent over 1,330,000 Yen combined in Japan on hotels, transportation, food, sightseeing and shopping for things to bring home. All of them left with big smiles and wanting to come back as soon as possible! They loved those JR Rail Passes!
spudman
Yep, good news.
marcels
I wonder what the percentage is visiting from Asia, probably around 80 %..
Eduardo Gonzalez
Even more to come when this september, Tokyo can get to enjoy the games of the XXXII olympiad
moomoochoo
Frankyly, I'm surprised by these figures.
tokyo-star
Go to Niseko or Hakuba today, and tell me if you think it's Japan or Canada.
Daijoboots
Yeah it's somewhere around there.
Numbers can be seen at the following link from the JNTO. Data there is only up to September but from January to then about 77 percent of visitors were from Asia. http://www.jnto.go.jp/jpn/reference/tourism_data/visitor_trends/pdf/2012_september_zantei.pdf
Daijoboots
Sorry above link should have underbars or whatever you call them, between tourism and data; visitor and trends; 2012 and september; and september and zantei.
Yubaru
Does it really matter? A tourist is a tourist and with the way things have been between China, SK, and Japan recently I believe that if more tourists come from Asia it will help with dispelling the myths that Japanese dont get along or don't like their Asian neighbors.
JeffLee
This year should be even better, thanks to the cheaper yen.
Daijoboots
Funny how interpretation of comments/questions can lead to different reactions.
Fact: Asia is closer to Japan than Europe, the U.S., Australia etc.
Fact: There are more similarities within non-Japanese Asian culture to Japanese culture than say European, American, Australian culture etc.
humanrights
The number of visitors from mainland China slipped by more than a third Fighting your neighbors is very expensive!
Yubaru
Ergo the percentage of tourist from Asia would of course be overwhelmingly higher hence the question what difference does it make.
noriyosan73
Whatever happened to the tourist department giving free or reduced air tickets to Japan? Now that the tourism has increased, it must have been forgotten by the government. The only positive point is the increase of $ to Yen for the tourist.
SamuraiBlue
Interesting since tourists from PRC had dropped after the Senkaku isles incident flared up last year.
Open Minded
Low-cost carriers are a huge opportunity to boost tourism in Japan. But the offer need to be adapted, i.e. low cost hotels. This has been done long time ago in other part of the world.
tokyo-star
Umm, what?
bruinfan
Give us the comparison with 2010 please..2011 was a bad year because of the man-made Fukushima "incident".
Tessa
I go out of my way to be kind and smiley to tourists now. I don't care particularly where they come from, just as long as they spend money here. Let's face it, we need all the help we can get!
badman
The tone of the article is positive, but despite the fact that the number of visitors is rising, the total is absurdly low. Japan makes NO effort to encourage tourism. The wasn't even a national foreign tourism board until a few years ago and their efforts have been almost non-existent? Have you ever been to another country and seen an ad encouraging a visit to Japan?
If you live in the US you are inundated with commercials inviting you to every Caribbean nation, central/south America, Malaysia, Korea and to a lesser extent India and some countries in Europe. Maybe if Japan put more of an effort towards encouraging "outsiders" to come and enjoy this beutiful place and culture, then they could help pull themselves out of a 25 year economic tailspin.
30% more foreign visitors visit NYC than the entire country of Japan! I don't believe these numbers are to be cheered, but rather should be seen as an indication on how sad the tourism industry is here and a wake-up call to invigorate the industry in order to save a sinking ship.
Steve Fabricant
Agreed that some serious advertising in the US and Europe would probably bring more tourists, but I am not surprised by the "30% NYC margin". There are hundreds of attractive things for tourists to do in NYC, not all of them expensive. Flights from Latin America and Europe are dirt-cheap, and the language barrier is much lower than for tourists to Japan. Most everyone in the world is familiar with American culture, whereas most non-Asians usually need some impetus to find out firsthand about Japan. Having said this, I was in NYC over New Years and had a great time, but was very glad to get home to where people are polite, the food in restaurants isn't so "iffy", and most everything works.
BertieWooster
Daijoboots-san,
I thought Japan was in Asia.
Have we moved?
Viviana Guadagno
Japan is Japan !
ReformedBasher
I tell my friends to visit Kansai. First off there's Kyoto, which is what most if them want to see. With a JR rail pass, they can easily go to Osaka/Kobe, Shikoku and Kyushu, etc. Western Japanese people are nicer too.
If they insist on seeing Tokyo, there's tour buses that take in all the sights. They a pretty good deal for a quick trip.
LostinNagoya
I have a positive feedback about this. All Brazilians we know that applied for a visa to watch the soccer clubs finals in december got one. We told some friends that it would be very difficult to get a visa do Japan, as its visa policy is very strict. To my surprise, TV news reported that Japan issued more than 20 thousand visas last November and December. Apparently, Japanese gov't is opening Japan to visitors. The good point is that everyone who visited Japan returned in awe and promised to return again.
Tessa
This is great information, and I'm pleased to hear it! I think it's a good sign that Japan is opening up to the world - albeit by forced necessity - and giving the world a chance to open up to Japan.
Daijoboots
INCORRECT. The Japan National Tourism Organization, consulates and embassies around the world, and any other number of institutions would disagree with you, DESPITE YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Hmm yes, yes it is. But an earlier comment referred to visitors from Asia.
nath
Irashai!
ChibaChick
@Bruinfan:
Um, it does. 2012 8.3mill. 2010 8.6mill. But to be fair 2010 was a "record year" so slightly less but still v close to the record. (dont have calculator on me right now to calculate exact % difference.) Tourism is looking up and things will get even better if the yen continues its slide.
Oh, and Go Bruins! ;)
Snjezana
Me and my partner just came back from Japan a week ago and I just want to go back! We're hoping to come back same time next year and make it our one and only holiday destination. I am in awe of your country and despite usual troubles people have (based on reading comments) I must tell you there is no country like Japan. I've been to most of Europe and some Asian countries, currently live in Australia and all I want is to live in your beautiful country. Nicest people, delicious food, great infrastructure, modern everything, cleanliness everywhere...what more can you ask for?
bruinfan
OK I got the number for 2010 as well - 8,611,175 (source Japan National Tourism Organization). So the number rebounded which is good, but it isn't surging to record levels.
I guess I annoyed the "nuclear industry can do no wrong" crowd with my comment above..he..he.
taj
ReformedBasher, what are your recommendations of things for foreign tourists to see and do in Osaka. Other than catch a Hanshin game at Koshien, I've got no ideas, and some repeat visitors coming...