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Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 29, 2022

'Darkness before dawn’: Tourism sector in China eyes slow but sure recovery

Travel agents across China don't expect demand to immediately surge following the lifting of pandemic-related travel restrictions, due to various factors.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 30, 2021

Singapore’s long-awaited reopening fell flat even before omicron

It's not just the expense of travel during a pandemic but the uncertainty that's putting people off.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 2, 2012

Japan's great outdoors becomes Oregonian's office-cum-playground

Gliding through powder across Mount Hakkoda in Aomori Prefecture or scanning the surfers at Shonan Beach in Kanagawa Prefecture, Gardner Robinson's life and work merge so completely that on the clock and on the slopes are one and the same.
Travellers walk through Beijing Daxing International Airport on April 24.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 11, 2023

China reopened its doors, but tourists are staying away

A rebound in domestic tourism hasn't been mirrored by inbound tourists, with several barriers harming the country's appeal.
Booking a flight with a layover in the city that’s the real destination for the traveler can net big bargains, but airlines prohibit the practice.
LIFE
Aug 19, 2023

'Skiplagging' flights could land you big deals or a lifetime ban

Known as "skiplagging," this travel hack sees consumers buy a ticket for a connecting flight with a layover in the city that’s the real destination.
Tourists at a water fountain at the Acropolis archaeological site during extreme hot weather conditions in Athens in July 2023.
BUSINESS
Aug 16, 2024

Extreme weather drives travelers to cooler destinations this summer

Cruise operators, hotel companies and airlines are adding trips and accommodations to meet rising demand for temperate destinations.
Chinese bookings for overseas flights and hotels have spiked from last year’s holiday week.
BUSINESS
Sep 30, 2024

Chinese headed to Europe and far-flung hot spots for Golden Week

Vacation bookings are closer than ever to returning to pre-pandemic levels.
Visitors at Shibuya Station, one of the busiest railway stations in the world. Tokyo ranks second only to London and above Paris, which landed third on online travel booking site Kayak’s list of most popular destinations this summer.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 27, 2025

U.S. trips to Japan surpass Paris for hot summer vacation destinations

A multiday stay in Japan has become much more affordable for those in the U.S. thanks to lower airfares and a favorable foreign exchange market.
Aoi Suzuki and her two sons head back down to a barbecue after watching the sun set.
PODCAST / deep dive
Sep 28, 2023

Traveling Okinawa with a broken heart

Writer and photographer Lance Henderstein reads us his article on traveling Okinawa during the rainy season.
Aoi Suzuki’s son runs past a home in Taketomi on Iriomote Island (not to be confused with Taketomi Island, which lies to the east of Iriomote). The Suzukis run the Takemori Inn, one of the few hotels on Iriomote.
PODCAST / deep dive
Feb 29, 2024

[Rebroadcast] Traveling Okinawa with a broken heart

This week on Deep Dive we get contributing writer and photographer Lance Henderstein to read us his article on traveling Okinawa during the rainy season.
Although air travel in Asia has picked up since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is still below 2019 levels, with many passengers preferring to travel shorter distances.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 5, 2024

Asian airlines face a cold summer

Despite seemingly positive results, air travel in Asia hasn't returned to pre-pandemic levels, with many of the continent's travelers preferring to stay closer to home.
China's 15-day visa-free policy is giving tourism a huge boost, with bookings from eligible countries surging 150% and attracting millions of visitors post-pandemic.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 17, 2024

China strives to lure foreign tourists, but it's a hard sell for some

The recent surge in tourism comes after China closed its borders in early 2020 to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, and kept them shut until the start of 2023.
A protester wears a mask depicting South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol during a rally calling for his impeachment, in Seoul, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society / ANALYSIS
Dec 12, 2024

South Korea's soft power gains at risk from extended political crisis

How the country — a top global destination for medical and plastic surgery tourism — gets through the period of uncertainty will impact foreign visitor numbers.
Tonoike Sake Brewery has been gearing their brewery toward tourism since the late 1980s, attempting to lure tourists to the town of Mashiko.
LIFE / Travel
Jan 3, 2025

Traveling for sake's sake: The emergence of brewery tourism in Japan

While sake consumption has declined in Japan, breweries across the nation are taking advantage of a rise in overseas interest to promote themselves as tourist destinations.
India has abruptly canceled visa applications amid an escalating row with Canada. The latest move means most Canadians won’t be able to travel to India if they don’t already have a visa.
WORLD / Society
Sep 22, 2023

Travelers in limbo after India halts visas in Canada in growing row

The visa issuance suspension means most Canadians won’t be able to travel to India if they don’t already have a visa.
Yayoi Kusama’s “Pumpkin,” once the victim of high waves that dragged it into the sea, sits at the end of a pier on the south side of Naoshima.
PODCAST / deep dive
Jun 6, 2024

The sweaty pleasure of Japan’s inconvenient art

This week, writer Thu-Huong Ha is our tour guide into the world of Japan’s inconvenient art movement.
A city street in Kyoto crowded with tourists in April. American tourists headed for Japan have surged this year, according to data from the International Trade Administration.
BUSINESS
Jul 2, 2024

More American tourists head to Japan as battered yen beckons

Airlines are also moving in tandem with this trend, adding 9% more seats between the United States and Japan in the three months through August.
Shuji Ogawa of PD Aerospace (left) shows the PDAS-X06 unmanned aircraft at Shimojishima Airport in Okinawa Prefecture in March 2023, before it crashed into the sea during a test flight later that year.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Jul 22, 2024

Okinawa space ambitions still strong a year after test-flight crash

The aircraft's developer aims to realize space travel by manned spacecraft from an airport in the prefecture.
Travel advisories, declining visitor numbers from key countries and stricter border enforcement by the Trump administration have cast doubt on tourism gains for Los Angeles, which is hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup and also the 2028 Olympics.
COMMENTARY / World
May 28, 2025

Is LA throwing a world cup party no one will attend?

At a time when the U.S. should be preparing to roll out the welcome mat to the world, President Trump’s erratic immigration policies and rhetoric are scaring tourists away.
Visitors at the Todaiji temple in Nara in June
JAPAN / Society
Aug 10, 2023

China lifts pandemic-era ban on group tours to Japan

The decision marks the first time since January 2020 that groups of Chinese tourists will be allowed to visit Japan.
Abortion rights activists and counterprotesters demonstrate outside the U.S. Supreme Court in June on the first anniversary of the court ruling in the Dobbs vs. Women’s Health Organization case, overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion decision. 
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 8, 2023

U.S. abortions haven’t dropped since Dobbs ruling

The #WeCount project says the number of U.S. abortions increased by about 2,000 between June 2022 and June 2023 compared with the prior 12-month period.
A colorful coral reef made out of wool to raise awareness about climate change, at a museum in Baden-Baden, Germany, in January 2022
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
Dec 31, 2023

The art world's big planetary problem

Over the last five years, it’s become increasingly clear to major art institutions in Japan and around the world that the sector has a sustainability issue.
Instead of hoping seats are free and scrambling to find luggage space on the shinkansen, what if you could fly charter across Japan on your next trip instead?
LIFE / Travel
Jan 13, 2024

Can charter flights connect rich tourists with rural Japan?

The tours, which fly to cities in western, central and northern Japan, will be priced from around ¥1.5 million per person for a group of four people staying two nights.
While policies differ from country to country, a common goal is to clean up an aviation industry that for a century has relied on fossil fuels to function.
BUSINESS
Mar 22, 2024

Expensive flights become new normal on $5 trillion green transition

Sustainable aviation fuel is the industry’s primary means of reaching a 2050 net zero target.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during the Japan-Ukraine Conference for Promotion of Economic Growth and Reconstruction in Tokyo on Feb. 19.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Apr 4, 2024

Japan committed to long-term public-private aid to Ukraine

By bolstering assistance to Ukraine, Japan also aims to send a message to China, cautioning against unilateral attempts to change the status quo.
Mitsuko Tottori became Japan Airlines’ first female CEO on April 1, having risen through the ranks as a flight attendant and heading the flight attendant and customer experience divisions.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 25, 2024

New JAL chief concerned about yen’s ‘excessive’ weakness

While a weaker currency helps spur inbound tourism, it is curbing demand for overseas travel for people in Japan, Mitsuko Tottori says.
An estimated 835,200 people were due to travel through Narita Airport in Chiba Prefecture during the 11-day Golden Week period — about 77% of the number during the same period in 2019, before the eruption of the COVID-19 pandemic.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 27, 2024

Travelers flock to train stations and airports as Golden Week begins

Japan kicked off its Golden Week holidays, which run through May 6, on Saturday, with many people heading to resorts or their home towns.
Tadanobu Kanno, the vice principal of Shoin Gakuen Fukushima High School in the city of Fukushima, goes through the itinerary of the school's trip to the Kansai region this year.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Aug 5, 2024

Fukushima schools hesitate to resume overseas trips

The yen's weakness and inflation have resulted in the cost of such excursions to surge — in some cases, more than double what it was prepandemic.
Foreign airlines are pulling services or opting not to restart flights to China after the pandemic, whereas Chinese airlines are expanding overseas operations.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 10, 2024

Foreign airlines lose interest in China as domestic carriers expand abroad

Foreign rivals are struggling with weak China travel demand, rising costs and extended flight times because of the need to avoid Russian airspace.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji