In the “Land of the Plunging Yen,” David Park, an American real estate executive who divides his time between Tokyo and Washington, is delighted at what the U.S. dollar buys these days.
“Due to the steep [foreign exchange] rate, the entire country of Japan is on a 40%-off fire sale,” said Mr. Park, who has a son with his Japanese wife. “I am able to feed my family of three in a top ramen restaurant for less than $20 dollars — and as the Japanese don’t practice tipping that is cream on top!”
With the yen hitting a 37-year low against the U.S. dollar this week, Japan, long perceived as an elite, top-dollar destination, has become a trove of bargains for Americans and other “gaijin” — that is, foreigners — who may be reeling from inflation and rising living costs in their home nations. The circumstance has catapulted once-pricey Japan into an unusual tourism market segment: “High value, low price.”
Economically, the weak yen enables foreigners to buy high-quality services — including bullet train tickets and stays at boutique inns — and high-quality products — such as world-class cuisine, kimonos and Hello Kitty knickknacks.
Unsurprisingly, Japan in 2024 is being inundated with a tsunami of foreign tourists.
According to data from Tourism Japan, the number of international travelers to the country first topped 2 million in 2004. By 2016, that number had surged to 24 million. The all-time high was in 2019, with 31 million visitors.
The COVID-19 pandemic quashed international travel for the next two years, but numbers recovered in 2022, with 25 million visitors. Tourism officials say inbound numbers just for 2024’s first quarter were 11 million, indicating 2024 will be a likely record year for foreign tourist arrivals.
But a weak currency is not the only reason for the soaring numbers. Japan is also benefiting from a long-incubated tourism-promotion policy first pushed by the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. He served two terms in the role, including an eight-year stint from 2012 to 2020. Abe was assassinated in 2022.
Seeking to balance Japan’s powerful manufacturing base with its service sector, while also energizing rural economies, he prioritized tourism upgrades and promotions.
His aim: For Japan to lure 40 million foreign tourists annually.
Under Abe’s leadership, Japan in 2019 hosted the Rugby World Cup — to global acclaim — and, two years later, the Summer Olympics. The latter failed as a mass tourism event, but was hailed as an organizing success, given the extreme difficulties of managing a global sporting event in the middle of a global pandemic.
Now, with international travel reviving, the floodgates have reopened and Japan is reaping the benefits that come with a relatively cheaper currency.
Peter Gill, a British accountant who traveled to Japan for the first time in May, did a traditional circuit. He visited the metropolises of Osaka and Tokyo, the cultural capital of Kyoto, and took part in a sumo-wrestling experience.
On its website, Japan Travel is promoting more offbeat delights: “Waterfalls Recommended for Summer,” “The Sapporo Beer Museum” and the “Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum.”
“It’s: ‘If you’ve done Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo — do this,’” explained Keiko Hagihara Bang, a Japanese American documentary producer, of the current strategy. “The places that need tourism are the countryside — the hidden Japan.”
That may be overdue. As Abe’s dream of Japan as a global tourism hot sport, a backlash is being felt in some of the country’s best-known attractions. Black, fabric barriers have been installed at a popular viewing/selfie spot overlooking the iconic Mt. Fuji to dissuade tourist hordes and this week authorities doubled the entry fee and placed new limits on how many visitors can climb the mountain each day. In May, signs in Kyoto’s picturesque Gion neighborhood appeared in English, Chinese and Japanese, stating that the area was closed to tourists.
Stressed services
Japan’s famed service sector has struggled to meet the soaring demand in some areas.
Infrastructure — such as booking systems for exclusive restaurants — is “breaking apart at the seams” said Ms. Hagihara Bang. With such restaurants lacking English menus, some, to avoid embarrassment, are announcing “No Foreigner” policies, she said.
Dual-charge systems are being installed or planned for popular sites ranging from castles to restaurants, at which foreigners pay more than locals. A March survey found 60% of Japanese agreed with the idea, though respondents also thought special services — translation, point rewards or small gifts — should be included for the higher prices.
It is not just Japan that is at fault, some say.
Mr. Gill, unable to enter Kyoto’s Golden Pavilion due to long lines, was irked to see “unruly” foreign tourists forcing themselves upon geisha in the famed city to get selfies.
Some Japanese were shaken last year by the visit of Johnny Somali, a confrontational American social media streamer whose activities including “trolling” Japanese with references to the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He was jailed and deported for trespassing.
Online anger also surged after footage purportedly showing Chinese tourists filming themselves perched on the little deer that famously roam the city of Nara surfaced.
Citing reports of foreigners climbing nationally loved cherry trees, Ms. Hagihara Bang said, “It’s flagrantly disrespectful in a culture that values respect.”
Regardless of these various frictions, recent visitors are upbeat.
“Carry cash, as Japan is not entirely credit card-friendly,” advised Mr. Park. “Speak slowly and you will find most service people can understand a basic level of English.”
Calling Japan “good value,” and “incredibly friendly and polite,” Mr. Gill found translation apps helped overcome language barriers. He enjoyed Japan’s back-alley restaurants, and bought a new suitcase to accommodate purchases, including silk embroidered clothing and electronic items.
“There is so much else I want to go back to,” he said. “I’ve mentioned Japan to a few colleagues, and they all want to go.”
• Andrew Salmon can be reached at asalmon@washingtontimes.com.
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