Tag - tourism

 
 

TOURISM

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 27, 2016
Does Tohoku's disaster tourism exploit or educate?
Disaster tourism can be an unsettling descent into voyeurism as visitors ghoulishly gawk at, and photograph, those caught up in catastrophe as if they're at a petting zoo. The concept has prompted widespread condemnation of insensitive tourists and travel companies exploiting disasters as marketing opportunities....
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Feb 24, 2016
Nara targets gay tourists with new focus on LGBT economy
The city of Nara, Japan's ancient capital, will target LGBT tourists from Japan and abroad from April 1.
WORLD
Feb 23, 2016
Vienna again ranked world's nicest city while Baghdad takes worst once more
Vienna, Austria's grand capital on the Danube river, offers the highest quality of life of all cities in the world, while the Iraqi capital Baghdad, once more, took its place at the bottom of the list compiled by consulting firm Mercer.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2016
Biometric data carts to cut waiting times at Japanese airports
A unique system to collect visitors' data while they're still standing in line at passport control.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2016
Tokyo sightseeing boats offer unique views, but missing foreign tourist tide
A trip to Tokyo does not necessarily mean elbowing your way through crowds. You can get fine views of the capital from a boat on the bay.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 22, 2016
Tsukiji workers demand answers over toxic soil at new site
Amid ongoing preparations to relocate Tokyo's world-famous Tsukiji fish market, wholesalers and consumers voice fury over the plan to move the market to a new site that has significant soil pollution problems.
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Feb 22, 2016
Just take a snap and let Aichi smartphone app explain what's seen, and where
An Aichi-based electronic parts manufacturer has developed a free smartphone app that allows people to obtain information on tourist spots simply by taking photos of them.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 19, 2016
Fastest-growing Airbnb market at risk as lodging-scarce Japan cracks down
Aileen Jeffery arrived in Tokyo two years ago and spotted what she thought was the best opportunity of her career: Hotel rooms in the capital were scarce and a boom in tourism was exacerbating the shortage.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 12, 2016
Happiness is a warm farm: How home cooking is reviving rural Yamagata
It's late January in Tokyo, and a rare 6-centimeter snowfall plunges the city's famously efficient transport network into chaos. Train lines report delays of up to four hours, leaving snaking lines of frustrated commuters steaming, despite the freezing temperatures.
JAPAN
Feb 12, 2016
Tokyo's Ota Ward approves first short-term, Airbnb-style home rentals
An online travel service provider gets government accreditation to start renting out private homes on the model popularized by Airbnb.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Feb 10, 2016
Educate the people and keep the 'manji' (卍) on Japan's maps
Why the ancient symbol should be left where it is, despite its dark connotations from the 20th century.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2016
Just what you need: Japanese shop staff compete in the art of the sales pitch
Sell it to me. Sweet-talking sales clerks recently pitted their patter against fellow professionals who know what selling is all about.
LIFE / Language / COMMUNICATION CUES
Feb 8, 2016
Japan tourism record broken in 2015
A record 19.73 million foreigners visited Japan in 2015, a 47.3 percent increase over the total for 2014.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan