Tag - tourism

 
 

TOURISM

Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 12, 2019
Visitors to Sapporo Snow Festival hit record 2.74 million thanks to weather and Chinese New Year tourists
The annual Sapporo Snow Festival, one of the nation's largest winter events, attracted a record-high 2.74 million visitors thanks to good weather and an influx of Chinese vacationers during the Lunar New Year period, organizers said Tuesday.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Feb 8, 2019
Startup's 'water from air' project aims to turn back Thailand's tide of plastic
Staying at a hotel on the Thai island of Koh Samui in 2015, Meghan Kerrigan noticed the four bottles of water she was given every day were clogging her trash can with plastic. Outside her door, Chaweng Beach was smothered in rubbish.
Japan Times
JAPAN / View from Osaka
Feb 7, 2019
University in Osaka aims to hone hotel staff with omotenashi to serve Japan's foreign guests
One of the key factors driving Japan's unprecedented tourism boom is its culture of hospitality — epitomized by the concept of omotenashi, which can be roughly translated as "wholeheartedly looking after guests."
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 2, 2019
Japan to require casino resorts to have some of the largest hotels in the country
The government announces standards it hopes to set for casino resorts, requiring them to have hotels and conference rooms that will be among the biggest in the country.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2019
Aeon rolls out real-time video interpreting service for non-Japanese customers in 10 languages
In light of an increasing number of foreign customers, supermarket giant Aeon Co. on Friday launched a real-time video interpreting service.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2019
Japan and U.S. agree on new flight routes near Tokyo's Haneda airport
The central government said Wednesday it has reached a basic agreement with the United States on the use of new routes for commercial flights in the U.S. military-controlled airspace over part of Tokyo and its surrounding areas.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2019
Ahead of 2020 Olympics, government to strengthen steps to help foreign visitors in event of massive quake
Ahead of the 2020 Summer Games, the transport ministry said Tuesday it plans to strengthen measures to help foreign visitors in the event of a massive earthquake in the Tokyo area.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 30, 2019
Craft distilleries making their mark amid Japanese whisky boom
A sweet aroma wafted through the air as unblended malt whisky gushed from a storage cask at Hokkaido's Akkeshi Distillery in the freezing rural north of Japan in December.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2019
Japan's Narita airport to extend runway hours for first time ever from October
It took a long time, but all surrounding cities finally sign off on the plan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jan 27, 2019
From new visas to a tourism backlash, the Top 10 issues that affected us in 2018 may forecast our future treatment
Every January, Just Be Cause takes a look at how things went for the non-Japanese residents of Japan (NJ) in the previous year.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2019
Japan aims to woo more U.S. tourists at New York travel show
Travel agencies and organizations from Japan pitched the country as a perfect destination for American tourists at the annual New York Times Travel Show, which opened on Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2019
First-time, short-term visitors to Japan hit record 27 million in 2018, making up 98% of arrivals
The number of new, short-term visitors to Japan hit a record high of 27.05 million last year, according to data showing arrivals from overseas by their visa status released by the Justice Ministry for the first time.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Jan 21, 2019
Factory night views of Yokkaichi a tourist draw and a bitter legacy of pollution
Factory night view cruises in Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, are recently attracting visitors from across the nation. While the city's tourism association hopes the tour will help make the city become a major tourist destination, people who suffered from industrial pollution in the 1960s say they don't want...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 18, 2019
Cruise ship passengers dip for first time since '13
The number of visitors to Japan by cruise ships in 2018 dropped 3.3 percent from the previous year to 2,446,000, the first fall since statistics began in 2013, the transport ministry said Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 18, 2019
Dozens of North Korean boats, some carrying human remains, continue to wash ashore in northern Japan
Numerous wooden boats believed to have drifted from North Korea to Tohoku's Sea of Japan coast have been left where they washed up as local residents lack the financial resources to dispose of them.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2019
Foreign tourists spent record ¥4.5 trillion in Japan in 2018
Spending by foreign visitors increases for the seventh consecutive year, with the average person spending ¥153,000, the Japan Tourism Agency says in a preliminary report.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2019
Ibaraki to adopt smartphone-based cashless payment system in tie-up with Tokyo startup
Ibaraki Prefecture is adopting cashless payments made using smartphones as a means to tap into data-driven marketing, and allow small and medium-sized businesses to benefit from a central government plan to offset a scheduled consumption tax hike by rewarding consumers for noncash purchases.
EDITORIALS
Jan 12, 2019
Keep close eye on departure tax
The government must make sure the money from the new tax is going toward serving the needs of inbound tourists.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 11, 2019
Tourists to Japan hit record 31 million in 2018, helped by easier visas for visitors from India, Russia and others
The estimated number of overseas visitors to Japan reached a record high 31.19 million in 2018, up 8.7 percent from the previous year and rising for the seventh straight year, the tourism minister said Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 9, 2019
Pioneering travel reporter Kaoru Kanetaka, whose Japan TV journeys took her 7.2 million km, dies at 90
Kaoru Kanetaka, a reporter who starred in a popular TV travel show that aired for 30 years, has died of heart failure, her office said Wednesday. She was 90.

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals