Asian Tourism in Japan
The New York Times recently reported on a new trend in Japanese tourism, both those visiting Japan and Japanese going abroad. While fewer Japanese are traveling outside the country, more foreigners are visiting; most of whom are coming from Asian countries.
Once prohibitively expensive, Japan is suddenly drawing soaring numbers of Asian tourists who splurge at the nation’s department stores, lounge in its hot spring resorts or explore remote corners, like this stretch of pristine mountains and forests on Japan’s northernmost tip.
Japan itself was once known for its free-spending tourists, who flocked to boutiques from Hong Kong to Fifth Avenue. But as Japan’s economy stalled for the last dozen or so years, rapid development in countries like China and South Korea raised living standards there.
At the same time, there has been a decline in the number of people going abroad from Japan. The number of Japanese traveling abroad has fallen 3 percent from the peak in 2000 of 17.8 million, the government-run Japan National Tourist Organization said.
By contrast, the number of visitors to Japan from South Korea, Taiwan, China and Hong Kong almost doubled last year from five years earlier, to 5.36 million, according to the tourist group. Those four regions alone accounted for nearly two-thirds of all foreign visitors to Japan last year, the organization said.
Many Asian tourists interviewed said they liked to shop here because Japan has the latest fashions first, and at prices way below those in many other Asian countries, where tariffs are steep. They also said they liked visiting Japan because it was close, safe and cleaner than much of the rest of Asia.
During the 1980s, Americans were the largest group of overseas visitors to Japan, but have now fallen to fourth behind South Korea, Taiwan and China. Surveys also showed Asian tourists came to Japan for different reasons than Westerners. While Americans said they came to see cultural attractions like temples, Asians cited shopping, followed by hot springs and nature. Visits to factories are also popular, he said.
It is very much ture. Japanese tourists visiting overseas have been declining steadily over the years and in 2008 , it is further down by average 30% compared to last year. Many local tour operators catering Japanese overseas tourists have downsized or closed its doors for good.
The appreciation of foreign currencies,falling Yen, inflation, domestic political instability, poor economic performance and raising oil prices are all contributing factors to the decline.
Will Japan be able to recover from the decline? I doubt it.
July 29th, 2008 at 1:25 amWhat the article doesn’t say is how uneasy many Japanese feel about all the Asian tourists. Cultural norms are different, especially when it comes to polite behavior (lining up, eating, bargaining, spitting) and it is causing some concern among Japanese and not just among the black bus folks.
July 29th, 2008 at 3:13 amdoes anybody happen to know the number of Chinese who were refused a tourist visa by Japanese authorities last year?
remora
July 29th, 2008 at 5:54 amWait, wait, wait…Japan has lower prices than other Asian countries? Then why does my wife go shopping CRAZY every time we go abroad? There must be some kind of very specific item that is cheaper here than in China, because every price I see around here is dramatically higher than I would have expected.
July 29th, 2008 at 6:48 amas for the cultural standards being different, i’m not sure if that would be much of an issue in the large shopping districts where they were shopping. i’m sure that if akihabara, roppongi, shibuya, shinjuku, tenjinbashi, etc. are anything like the major international shopping centers of london, paris, new york, l.a., chicago, (stifling laughter) san francisco, toronto, sydney, and beijing i think the tourists will fit in just fine and cultural differences will be worked around. besides, most tourists wealthy enough to travel abroad and go shopping in luxury boutiques are also usually sophisticated enough to understand that in shopping malls prices are generally non-negotiable without some coupon or discount.
as for the other types of behavior, the tourist will most likely conform to the nation’s standards or the locals will put up with it in exchange for the retail sales boost.
but onsen and nature though? that would be a pretty hard sale for me especially considering that the chinese and koreans are buying that load. i mean they have mountains and forests. hell, china has taller mountains and more extensive forests. hokkaido must have some good marketing.
the factory tours are a cool take on travel though. imagine going to china and looking over the factory floor. not that japan doesn’t have its perks as well. you could go to mitsubishi and watch robots building other robots which will repair other robots. its not just awesome, its fractally awesome.
as for the declining tourism from the japanese abroad, i think rudy’s got a handle on the basic financial reasons, but its not all necessarily bad. after all most people haven’t yet had the opportunity to explore their own country. i’ve met so many people who say that their is nowhere interesting to in their home country whether it be the us, uk, germany, japan, or vietnam. the only exception to this rule is people from china. they promote the country like a travel brochure almost to a person.
there seems to be a bias in some countries that if you’re not actually leaving the place its not really traveling or exciting or exotic enough. no one actually seems to take the time to notice that there are usually some pretty cool places/experiences to see/be had in your own country.
perhaps the japanese taking some time to look at their own backyard would be good for them.
July 29th, 2008 at 8:58 amI konw how the Japanese feel. They feel invaded. The gentleman is correct about one thing and one thing only. The Japanese are more polite, but it is not necessary a good thing or bad thing. It is, like you said, cultural.
I have been seeing Japanese tourists come and go since 1970,both in Asia and in North America, and believe me their behaviour are, at times, laughing stocks among local people.
Mr. Feitclub, your wife is buying brand name or counterfeit products overseas. As for daily necessities, prices have remained unchanged for a long time and in many cases, are much lower than before.
Esotericlarity, Do you have any facts to backup your analysis? I have got mine from inside, and they are the number one and two tour operators in Japan.
So much for now.
July 29th, 2008 at 9:35 amwhat source do i need? it was just my perspective thats all. and please use correct punctuation when writing my name. hate to be a grammar nazi and all, its just that sometimes my eyes need de-capitalization to break up the monotony. or else it becomes hard to read.
July 29th, 2008 at 9:53 amYou’re claiming rights to demands on presentation? Eso… esotericlarity FOR THE WIN!
July 29th, 2008 at 11:48 amThe people I’ve talked to are in and around the big shopping and tourist areas in Tokyo. They’re happy to make the money, they’re not so happy about the behavior of the tourists. Of course, some of it is just old fashioned xenophobia and racism. The fact that the rest of Asia is catching up and now has the money to come to Japan, while great for stores and in the abstract, is unsettling to some Japanese.
July 29th, 2008 at 10:55 pmRTN,you know what? Wherever there are tourists, the people who make a living off them will also complain about them. It’s the nature of the game.
Nothing too deep about it.
July 29th, 2008 at 11:25 pmI don’t think Japanese feel invaded. In general it is accepted positively in Japan. You can’t ignore Asian tourists spending power at all. Also each Asian tourist spends on shopping much more than average Japanese.
Even in some areas like Tsushima island by South Korean tourists, who are famous for very bad manners there, Japanese are happy about making money of it. (Of course local Japanese people will complain about their bad manners.)
It is interesting that Asians cited hot springs and nature, and visits to factories : is the same behaviors as what ordinary domestic Japanese tourists are doing.
July 30th, 2008 at 7:35 amI’ll have to tell the people I talked to that they don’t really mean what they’re saying.
July 30th, 2008 at 2:27 pmMany of the students I teach here in Taiwan either have visited, or would like to visit, Japan. Considering that Taiwan is a semi-tropical island where snow rarely falls below the 3000-meter level in the mountains, it should come as no surprise that Hokkaido seems to be the most popular sightseeing spot for Taiwanese (which is noted in the article).
July 31st, 2008 at 1:34 am