Tourism in Japan

Himeji Castle in Himeji (WHS)

The origins of early traditions of visits to picturesque sites are unclear, but an early sight-seeing excursion was Matsuo Bashō's 1689 trip to the then "far north" of Japan, which occurred not long after Hayashi Razan categorized the Three Views of Japan in 1643. During the Edo era of Japan, from around 1600 to the Meiji Restoration in 1867, travel was regulated within the country through the use of shukuba or post stations, towns where travelers had to present appropriate documentation. Despite these restrictions, porter stations and horse stables, as well as places for lodging and food were available on well-traveled routes. During this time, Japan was a closed country to foreigners, so no foreign tourism existed in Japan.

Following the Meiji Restoration and the building of a national railroad network, tourism became more of an affordable prospect for domestic citizens and visitors from foreign countries could enter Japan legally. As early as 1887, government officials recognized the need for an organized system of attracting foreign tourists; the Kihinkai (貴賓会), which aimed to coordinate the players in tourism, was established that year with Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi's blessing. Its early leaders included Shibusawa Eiichi and Ekida Takashi. Another major milestone in the development of the tourism industry in Japan was the 1907 passage of the Hotel Development Law, as a result of which the Railways Ministry began to construct publicly owned hotels throughout Japan.[3]

For much of post-World War II history, Japan has been an exceptionally unattractive tourist destination for its population and GDP size; from 1995 to 2014, it was by far the least visited country in the G7 despite being the second largest country in the group,[4] and as of 2013 was one of the least visited countries in the OECD on a per capita basis.[5]

Foreign tourists to Japan

In 2018, 31,191,856 foreign tourists visited Japan.[6]

Rank	Country	Number (people) in 2020	Percentage change 2019 to 2020	Number (people) in 2019	Percentage change 2018 to 2019	Number (people) in 2018	Percentage change 2017 to 2018	Number (people) in 2017	Percentage change 2016 to 2017	Number (people) in 2016	Percentage change 2015 to 2016
1	China	1,069,256	-88.9%	9,594,394	14.5%	8,380,034	13.9%	7,355,800	15.4%	6,373,000	27.6%
2	South Korea	694,476	-85.5%	5,584,597	-25.9%	7,538,952	5.5%	7,140,200	40.3%	5,090,300	27.2%
3	Taiwan	487,939	-91.3%	4,890,602	2.8%	4,757,258	4.2%	4,564,100	9.5%	4,167,400	13.3%
4	Hong Kong	346,020	-84.9%	2,290,792	3.8%	2,207,804	-1.1%	2,231,500	21.3%	1,839,200	20.7%
6	Thailand	219,830	-83.3%	1,318,977	16.5%	1,132,160	14.7%	987,100	9.5%	901,400	13.1%
5	United States	219,307	-87.3%	1,723,861	12.9%	1,526,407	11.0%	1,375,000	10.6%	1,242,700	20.3%
12	Vietnam	152,559	-69.2%	495,051	27.3%	389,004	26.2%	308,900	32.1%	233,763	26.1%
7	Australia	143,508	-76.9%	621,771	12.5%	552,440	11.3%	496,100	11.2%	445,200	18.4%
8	Philippines	109,110	-82.2%	613,114	21.7%	503,976	18.6%	424,200	21.9%	347,800	29.6%
11	Indonesia	77,724	-81.2%	412,779	4.0%	396,852	12.7%	352,200	30.0%	271,014	32.1%
9	Malaysia	76,573	-84.7%	501,592	7.1%	468,360	6.6%	439,500	11.5%	394,200	29.1%
10	Singapore	55,273	-88.8%	492,252	12.6%	437,280	8.1%	404,100	11.7%	361,800	17.2%
14	Canada	53,365	-85.5%	375,262	13.5%	330,600	8.2%	305,591	11.9%	273,213	18.1%
13	United Kingdom	51,024	-88.0%	424,279	27.0%	333,979	7.6%	310,499	6.2%	292,458	13.1%
15	France	43,102	-87.2%	336,333	10.3%	304,896	13.5%	268,605	6.0%	253,449	18.3%
16	Germany	29,785	-87.4%	236,544	9.8%	215,336	10.1%	195,606	6.7%	183,288	12.7%
17	India	26,931	-84.7%	175,896	14.2%	154,029	14.6%	134,371	9.3%	122,939	19.3%
18	Italy	13,691	-91.6%	162,769	8.5%	150,060	19.2%	125,864	5.5%	119,251	15.6%
20	Macau	12,234	-89.9%	121,197	11.5%	108,694	-5.7%	115,304	16.0%	99,425	18.0%
19	Spain	11,741	-91.0%	130,243	9.5%	118,901	19.1%	99,814	8.7%	91,849	19.0%
Total (all countries)		4,115,828	-87.1%	31,882,049	2.2%	31,191,856	8.7%	28,690,900	19.3%	24,039,053	21.8%

Domestic tourism remains a vital part of the Japanese economy and Japanese culture. Children in many middle schools see the highlight of their years as a visit to Tokyo Disneyland or perhaps Tokyo Tower, and many high school students often visit Okinawa or Hokkaido. The extensive rail network together with domestic flights sometimes in planes with modifications to favor the relatively short distances involved in intra-Japan travel allows efficient and speedy transport. International tourism plays a smaller role in the Japanese economy compared to other developed countries; in 2013, international tourist receipts was 0.3% of Japan's GDP, while the corresponding figure was 1.3% for the United States and 2.3% for France.[7][8]

In inbound tourism, Japan was ranked 28th in the world in 2007 when the country had the 2nd largest GDP. In 2009, the Yomiuri Shimbun published a modern list of famous sights under the name Heisei Hyakkei (the Hundred Views of the Heisei period).

Tourists from South Korea have made up the largest number of inbound tourists several times in the past. In 2010, their 2.4 million arrivals made up 27% of the tourists visiting Japan.[9]

Travelers from China have been the highest spenders in Japan by country, spending an estimated 196.4 billion yen (US$2.4 billion) in 2011, or almost a quarter of total expenditure by foreign visitors, according to data from the Japan Tourism Agency.[10]

According to the Japan National Tourism Organization in 2017, 3 out of 4 foreign tourists came from other parts of East Asia, namely South Korea, Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.[11]

Japanese video games, manga and anime play a role in driving tourism to Japan. In surveys held by Statista between 2019 and 2020, 24.2% of tourists from the United States, 7.7% of tourists from China and 6.1% of tourists from South Korea said they were motivated to visit Japan because of Japanese popular culture.[12]

The Japanese government hoped to receive 40 million foreign tourists every year by 2020,[13] however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the country received only 4.12 million foreign tourists in 2020.[14]

In September 2022, the Japanese government announced that visa requirements from some countries will be waived from October 2022, in a move to reopen travel after the COVID-19 pandemic border restrictions.[15][16] Prior to the pandemic, Japan did not require tourist visas for 68 countries and regions.

• Visa policy of Japan
• World Heritage Sites in Japan
• National Treasures of Japan
• List of museums in Japan
• List of National Geoparks in Japan
• List of Special Places of Scenic Beauty, Special Historic Sites and Special Natural Monuments
• Groups of Traditional Buildings
• Japanese museums
• Ryokan (Japanese inn)

• Travel with Smile. Best Places to Travel in Japan

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Japan.

• Japan National Tourist Organization
• Japan: Travel and Tourism at Curlie
• JapanTourist Travel Articles Database
• 2018 Foreign Visitors & Japanese Departures