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Kishida pinning hopes on big-spending tourists to revive economy

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Dreeeeeeeam dream dream dreeeeeeeeam.

-6 ( +28 / -34 )

Kishida said his government plans to encourage wage increases.

Phew, I'm so relieved.

That always works, doesn't it? I'm looking forward to spending all my extra Dosh on the Premium Fridays we all enjoy so much.

-3 ( +22 / -25 )

How the mighty have fallen.

It used to be loaded,free-spending Japanese tourists buying up everything.

Nowadays,the seniors with the money don't want to go overseas and the younger ones don't have the cash to do so.

Japan is clinging on to foreigners to save their economy.

Such a change from 30 years ago.

I wonder if the irony of the situation even registers over here.

The Japan of Ishihara Shintaro,Abe and all of the other rightists are screaming out for foreigners to come back to Japan after being demonised for causing Covid,to save its economy.

-1 ( +37 / -38 )

The really rich tourists either have already visited Japan and made their excessive shopping sprees before the pandemic or they are now also a bit poorer than before and buy less or have their few wishes delivered by internet orders or so. A little short time boom and some repeaters, yes maybe, but I wouldn’t even rely on that. They surely first pay their extreme energy bills before they board an airplane for a 12 hours flight. In addition it’s very costly to have all the needed infrastructure , transportation , accommodation, the needed staff, many cultural events etc. held ready and prepared in advance and not knowing if it is really used by the targeted number of tourists and then also brings the needed profits that they all dream of. That can quickly end in the red numbers even if a few more tourists find their way to here.

-3 ( +13 / -16 )

How embarrassing for Mr Kishida. Having to rely on something you quite clearly don't like and consider dirty.

I for one will be taking my cash elsewhere.

-9 ( +30 / -39 )

It’s hard not to fall into cynicism where the guys that nearly killed the entire inbound tourism industry now want to put up a banner saying that tourism is gunna save and reinvigorate the economy. 5 trillion yen ay? Would love to see the plan.

1 ( +25 / -24 )

Kishida said his government plans to encourage wage increases by investing 1 trillion yen over five years in human resource development in promising fields.

Following the LDP rule taxpayer funds go to Japan Inc first, funneling money to LDP cronies like Takenaka Heizo at Pasona and other HR firms. New Capitalism

And who will benefit from floods of strong currency holding foreign tourists?

Hotell, restaurant and inn owners?

Workers picking up a few more shifts at a conbini or cheap hotel?

-2 ( +9 / -11 )

even without Coronarona, the travel boomu would not have lasted for ever.... just another Bubble. and now there's been a major shift, I believe, in the thinking of masses of people everywhere, and even opening the J-borders completely, will not wind back the clock.... my view....

-3 ( +10 / -13 )

Good to see some positive comments on the weaker yen. I live in Kumamoto, a tourist hotspot, and we're looking forward to an influx. As for higher prices on imports - buy domestic. (Except for cheese. Oh - cheese! Why cannot Japan make good cheese?!)

20 ( +23 / -3 )

Japan is clinging on to foreigners to save their economy.

LOL, I guess you dont PR when you hear it. Do you really think the $35 billion is that important to $5 trillion economy? That is less than 0.01% GDP.

Japan's Q2 GDP revised up to 3.5% annualised expansion

https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/japans-q2-gdp-revised-up-35-annualised-expansion-2022-09-08/

-7 ( +4 / -11 )

This article is nothing more than an LDP press release repacked as "news".

19 ( +27 / -8 )

5 trillion yen? Good freakin' luck. Tourists have been busy going to places where they don't have to mask up l, join a tour group, or be discriminated against for being a foreigner. Kishida is dreaming if he thinks he call pull in that kind of money from international tourism alone.

-6 ( +17 / -23 )

Japan will need to get more staff on board at many shops, services and travel locations if that's the plan. Just in my local area (East Osaka) this past weekend a dude was working alone for seven hours on Sunday in the busy station convenience store and the local beef bowl closed overnight on Friday due to no staff being available (This has happened several times this summer). My supermarket is constantly struggling for checkout workers too resulting in long lines at any time of day. How about you guys?

4 ( +12 / -8 )

Good freakin' luck. Tourists have been busy going to places where they don't have to mask up l, join a tour group,

Yeah right, then why have the foreigners screaming to get into Japan?

-15 ( +4 / -19 )

I don't think that many tourists decide where to holiday based based on exchange rates. Also given that plane flights to Japan are approximately twice what they were before the pandemic, I don't imagine a vast clamouring to go to Japan.

-1 ( +13 / -14 )

Keep dreaming Kishida!!

-6 ( +10 / -16 )

This was Abe’s failed plan as well. Japans economy needs to be fixed domestically not by tourists. Cut some of the taxes and excises and put more money in peoples pockets so they can spend more. Nearly 25% of Japanese kids are living in poverty. Young people are living on cup noodles so they can afford rent. The elderly are broke despite paying the pension for forty plus years. Tourists are not going to fix these problems. Only a solid economic plan that will put more money into peoples pockets will change it. The middle class is disappearing in Japan. It’s going back to what it was 150 years ago. The ruling class and the rest. This appalling economic failure is why I left Japan. I was becoming a financial prisoner with taxes, pension, health insurance, rent and the ever-present ‘gift money’ for services you don’t get.

0 ( +18 / -18 )

I would be surprised if foreign tourism rebounds next year higher than a third of its 2019 level. Die-hard Japan fans will come running for sure but many in Europe and the US will be careful about their expenses and/or will prefer to go to a closer destination or one where they don't have to wear a mask. Plus of course, Chinese will stay home.

Anyhow, as rightly mentioned by others here, foreign tourism accounts for peanuts in the country's GDP.

1 ( +11 / -10 )

Cherry picking rich tourists doesn't work. Mass tourism, like it or not (and Japan doesn't) is what brings in the cash, directly into the pockets of ordinary citizens and businesses.

Most people plan holidays in advance, so after a mini surge from those who have been waiting to go, it will take time for people to arrive. That is if they feel that they can trust Japan with its record of border closures and unique policy of locking asymptomatic people in hotels. And if the tourist infrastructure has survived. Post pandemic, a lot of people are avoiding hotels and Japan has shuttered most of its minpakus. The trust has gone, the YouTube evangelists have moved on, Russia has closed its airspace and everyone is a lot poorer. It's not just the Japanese currency that has tanked. The momentum has gone and other destinations re-opened much earlier.

-3 ( +12 / -15 )

With the weak yen Kishida should take an opportunity to urge key businesses overseas to "come home" or move out of politically risky countries namely China and Russia.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

With the exception of the dollar almost all currencies are in the gutter, and people are being squeezed by inflation. I cant imagine the tourist numbers will pick up any time soon.

8 ( +13 / -5 )

Kishida has been forced to implement policies that could help offset the pain of rising energy and food prices.

You see that’s the problem right there. The word “forced”! He is supposed to be doing this stuff without being forced which means if there was no looming crisis and his government currently in tatters he would be sitting on his hands awaiting the next mask-free Ginza slap dinner with his cronies at the expense of the people. Politicians are positively the most spoon fed useless bunch on the planet and us mugs let them rule over us.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

sounds like a bunch of hot air. when politicians in Japan "vow to be tough on...." or "express readiness to tackle ...." it means nothing will change.

-3 ( +4 / -7 )

They lock the border for three years and then expect people to return.

-1 ( +10 / -11 )

The latest report in the US is that savings rates have halved since 2019 and have fallen by a third since the pandemic, with inflation being the main issue. Considering the inflation and upcoming recession, it is unlikely that there will be big spending tourists.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Great! Better start with finally giving the A-OK for everyone to take off the stupid masks, and remove the icky and dirty plastic shower curtains and screens. Until then, visiting Japan will like touring the local tuberculous ward. The sooner, the better!

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Kishida..nothing more than a talking suit..wearing a mask.

2 ( +8 / -6 )

What a joke, if that was the case you should have opened up when the rest of the world did. All this "guided tour" crap was a complete waste of time and effort.

0 ( +9 / -9 )

Airlines haven't dropped prices; they've gone up and for more than one reason. Pilots that were laid off have to re-qualify, and that takes time. Airports everywhere are still bereft of staff. It's not an instant fix.

8 ( +10 / -2 )

I thought the BIG spending on the funeral was already on the way to revive the economy.

He doesn’t have to keep pinning hopes. It might blow bad.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Wait for it... next suggestion to address the rising cost of living, maybe to introduce a new currency just for Tourists, so every item has 2 prices - Tourist Dollar price and Local JPY Price..

-7 ( +2 / -9 )

Yeah wont work as usual foreigners are broke and the rich ones are going somewhere else.

-7 ( +1 / -8 )

Tourism is just the cherry on the crumble of Japan's financial pie. Little comfort for the overworked and underpaid workers worried for their family's future.

Regarding criticism of Abe's costly state funeral and the Unification Church, Kishida said he will "sincerely, humbly and respectfully face the most critical opinions of the public."

Translation: the public will just have to suck it up.

He added the government is considering reviewing laws and rules on consumer contracts to protect victims of the Unification Church's malicious practices such as "spiritual sales," in which people are persuaded to buy jars and other items for exorbitant prices.

Again, this is just another distraction from the systemic malicious practices of LDP gerrymandering, vote discrepancies between town and country, and votes for sale.

-1 ( +6 / -7 )

If Kishida expects an tsunami of tourists to mend the economy he is a dream weaver.

3 ( +9 / -6 )

Quick, go to Kyoto while you still can!

Yes, I visited Nara during the height of the border closures for the same reason. Double edged sword though, they stopped many of us from being able to visit relatives at home with their xenophobic behaviour.

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

Interesting here, is Kishida seems to be suggesting that the weak yen is out of his hands, and so rather than adopt a strong yen policy (like Robert Rubin did for the US dollar back in the 1990’s), he is telling people to get used to it and hope they can get a wage rise to deal with the inflation.

It suggests that Kishida wants the inflation to help alleviate the debt his party has racked up. Of course, inflation is just a tax.

On the other hand, his Finance Minister continues to rabbit on about the stability of the yen, which he himself injected volatility into the other day with his 3 billion dollar binge on buying up depreciating yen.

What is the plan here… I am not seeing it, Kishida…

Hayashi for PM next?

5 ( +8 / -3 )

Like panning for gold in a bathtub...

2 ( +6 / -4 )

Japan is a much nicer place with a variety of tourists and foreign people going about their business.

They add colour, sound, vibrancy. I feel foreign people also bring out the best in the decent Japanese people-people who have an interest in life and learning and culture.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Students are back in school. Global summer tourist season is over. People with jobs aren't travelling anywhere right now. Who are these mythical travelers from China, South Korea, Thailand, Australia, the US and Europe that are going to rescue Japan?

2 ( +6 / -4 )

Japan is becoming a Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia in relying on tourism.

-7 ( +7 / -14 )

I think they waited too long and should have started this campaign in the spring. Tourism will come back to Japan, but it might be slow to start again since winter is coming. What are Japan's covid regulations going to be in the winter? That will be the main reason that will halt foreigners traveling.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

The problem is that Japanese , except the ones working in the tourism sector, do not like mass tourism especially when it comes to Chinese. They actually quite liked the recent period with no tourists at all.

-11 ( +6 / -17 )

Seems that Kishida went to the same school of economics as Truss and Kwarteng.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

Why do I get the feeling that is the very last throw of the dice?

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

Japan has never been value for money, no matter what the exchange rate is. It is also blatantly obvious that many Japanese like foreign tourists money, but not foreign tourists. But, there is one thing that Japanese dislike the most - ,a successful foreigner who resides in Japan. All, in all, this does not make Japan a very happy destination for foreigners to visit. The old "Japan is "unique" is dying fast, and Kishida needs to understand that the world is no longer Japan's cash cow.

-5 ( +11 / -16 )

Covid19 did not cause this economic turmoil. It was caused by the political response to Covid19. In the end, those few countries that did little or nothing fared no worse that those who crippled and restricted. The United States dollar is strong because the mentality of Americans allowed a fight against misguided government policies hence less controls and now a stronger faster recovery. If your leaders make decisions anyway the wind blows instead of using vision and common sense, and if the public is too shy or captured, or afraid to walk against the herd and do it for you, then you end up with Japan. 2% inflation is just the start and tourist aren't going to come to a country where everyone is walking around wearing a mask while outside even though they don't know why.

-9 ( +6 / -15 )

Japan decimated the tourist industry and alienated foreigners with their xenophobic covid rules. Now they expect people to come back? Of course there will be a pent up demand, but with a global recession looming and airfares being high it won’t be the bounce back of tourism Japan needs.

-2 ( +8 / -10 )

Having had these pointless, xenophobic border restrictions separate me from my family for the last almost three years, I read this article with a smile on my face knowing full well that tourists won't be flocking back to Japan in huge numbers any time soon. The Chinese won't be coming and plenty of others will have been put off by the restrictions. Also, many more won't want to come on vacation only to be told to wear a mask everywhere, provide proof of triple vaccination/negative test before departure, disinfect their hands, check their temperature every five minutes and sit behind plastic screens effectively taking them back to 2020 - a time most will want to forget.

-3 ( +9 / -12 )

LDP elites want rich Chinese and other Asians to create their concession cities across Japan. The weak Yen enabled rich Asians to buy assets across Japan easily.

This hurts the ultranationalists of Japan who still believe that LDP stands for Japan!!! It just shocked them as much as finding out Shinzo Abe living on the paychecks of Korean cultists.

-8 ( +6 / -14 )

That will never happen.

lame duck prime minister.

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

I am not big on over tourism in an already grossly over -populated country like Japan. Still, at least they won't be wearing restrictive face masks.

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

Let's be real, Europeans cannot afford their energy bills and Chinese cannot exit their country. So don't count them in. a few Americans will come and that's it.

Until 2023 hits and the world will be in for the show of our life. Buckle up!

2 ( +4 / -2 )

factcheckerOct. 3  08:01 pm JST

Quick, go to Kyoto while you still can!

Yes, I visited Nara during the height of the border closures for the same reason. Double edged sword though, they stopped many of us from being able to visit relatives at home with their xenophobic behaviour.

I live in Nara and have been here the entire time during the pandemic. Nobody stopped anyone from going anywhere or visiting anyone with the exception of one month during 2020 when gyms, panchinco parlours and the like were asked to close by local government under an emergency decree. If I remember correctly it was Kyoto first. I felt zero xenophobia from anyone or any place or establishment that we went to. Family relatives, with a few exceptions preferred to keep to themselves with minimal face to face contact as per the governments warnings or diaper wearing husbands for the prevention of the virus and in a few cases an abject fear of the virus whipped up by the media which is perfectly understandable as not everyone has the gift of being able to think for themselves. Looking back on the entire sage this has to be the worlds single biggest knee jerk of this century and probably the previous century aswell!

Sincerely,

Unvaccinated

Uninfected

Unaffected

0 ( +4 / -4 )

While masks, temperature checks, plastic screens and vaccination entry requirements abound this guy is in la la land! Just not going to happen until the cronies wake up to themselves and fully open

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

LDP elites want rich Chinese and other Asians to create their concession cities across Japan. The weak Yen enabled rich Asians to buy assets across Japan easily.

This hurts the ultranationalists of Japan who still believe that LDP stands for Japan!!! It just shocked them as much as finding out Shinzo Abe living on the paychecks of Korean cultists.

EXACTLY!!!

-6 ( +3 / -9 )

First, the (former) Unification Church is a cult. Second, despite the weak yen, tourism will not revive the economy. Third, the LDP is still in bed with the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren). More of the same - what a shame.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Regarding criticism of Abe's costly state funeral and the Unification Church, Kishida said he will "sincerely, humbly and respectfully face the most critical opinions of the public."

Translation: he will just ignore the people. After all, what does he care? The LDP will keep being the one party dictatorship they are.

He added the government is considering reviewing laws and rules on consumer contracts to protect victims of the Unification Church's malicious practices

considering reviewing laws and rules? Yeah. Don't hold your breath.

-5 ( +4 / -9 )

"We will make every effort to combat price hikes and will definitely restore the economy"

It's just all talk. We already know.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

"They lock the border for three years and then expect people to return."

The best comment that sums up everything. People who were serious about going to Japan like my dentist in 2020 have zero interest in ever going to Japan after the travel ban was imposed. There is a big denial within Japan about the consequences of this travel ban fallout - it was a very bad decision to allow it to go on this long.

-7 ( +2 / -9 )

The best comment that sums up everything. People who were serious about going to Japan like my dentist in 2020 have zero interest in ever going to Japan after the travel ban was imposed. There is a big denial within Japan about the consequences of this travel ban fallout - it was a very bad decision to allow it to go on this long.

People overseas are also aware that this was done for xenophobic reasons as Japan had no problems with its people travelling overseas.

-3 ( +4 / -7 )

Notice a lot of people are downvoting a lot of fairly reasonable comments, but not really offering up any reason to believe that the above comments aren’t accurate.

Japan has never been pro-tourists.

Chinese tourists provided the bulk of spending if any.

Americans are the only ones with the real cash to spend and they don’t buy that much and they certainly don’t care for masks.

The government has been asking for wages to be hiked since Abenomics was started and so far there’s been little change there.

So, a lot of what Kishida is offering is meaningless actions.

Feel free to downvote, but at least offer up something in the process cause at the moment it just seems like people dislike having reality presented to them.

1 ( +8 / -7 )

Japan has never been pro-tourists.Chinese tourists provided the bulk of spending if any.Americans are the only ones with the real cash to spend and they don’t buy that much and they certainly don’t care for masks. The government has been asking for wages to be hiked since Abenomics was started and so far there’s been little change there.So, a lot of what Kishida is offering is meaningless actions."

Pretty accurate observations there.

I'll second that

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

Japanese tourism industry could live on Taobao without the Chinese physically coming to Japan

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

I will be travelling in Japan for the month of February, for my Air B&B for 28 days = 90,000 yen, car rental for the month 70,000 yen. I have a budget of 10,000 yen a day for fuel, tolls, entertainment and meals. That a total of 440,000 yen I will spend in Japan plus I fly JAL 100,000 Yen. So I will contribute over 1/2 million Yen to Japan's GDP. That is doing it on the cheap.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

NamoradaToday  02:05 pm JST

Notice a lot of people are downvoting a lot of fairly reasonable comments, but not really offering up any reason to believe that the above comments aren’t accurate.

Japan has never been pro-tourists.

Chinese tourists provided the bulk of spending if any.

Americans are the only ones with the real cash to spend and they don’t buy that much and they certainly don’t care for masks.

The government has been asking for wages to be hiked since Abenomics was started and so far there’s been little change there.

So, a lot of what Kishida is offering is meaningless actions.

Feel free to downvote, but at least offer up something in the process cause at the moment it just seems like people dislike having reality presented to them.

Which countries are pro-tourists if any? And what makes you think Japan is different?

Please don't mention border control as it does not exist just for tourists.

Thanks in advance.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

The problem is that Japanese , except the ones working in the tourism sector, do not like mass tourism especially when it comes to Chinese. They actually quite liked the recent period with no tourists at all.

But they LOVE going abroad themselves.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

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