Causing yet another made-in-Japan sensation on the other side of the Pacific, New York Yankees slugger Hideki Matsui is providing a bit of much-needed relief for the nation's travel industry.
And the circus surrounding the former Yomiuri Giants hero could not have come at a better time for an industry facing otherwise bleak prospects for the coming Golden Week holidays following the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome and the war in Iraq.
While more than 21.48 million are expected to travel to their hometowns during the holiday period -- down 2.5 percent from a year before -- the number of people going abroad is forecast to plummet a staggering 35.9 percent to a mere 314,000.