Tag - tourism

 
 

TOURISM

A crowd of tourists walk on the street near Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto. There has been growing pushback from residents in the tradition-steeped city as visitor numbers continue to rise.
JAPAN / Society
May 21, 2025
Japan's tourist arrivals soared 28.5% in April to hit record 3.9 million
For the first four months of the year, foreign visitor arrivals totaled 14.4 million, a 24.5% increase.
An electric bus that will be made available at the site of the 2025 Osaka Expo for visitors to rest in, on Monday in the city of Osaka
JAPAN
May 20, 2025
Osaka Expo to offer visitors cool rest area in electric bus from June
The Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition hopes visitors will use the bus to avoid heatstroke in the summer heat.
Visitors at the 2025 Osaka Expo in the city of Osaka earlier this month
JAPAN
May 19, 2025
BIE head suggests later Osaka Expo close time
The expo's current opening hours are 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Mount Fuji fills the skyline above a bridge connecting stores at a popular outlet shopping center in the city of Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture, in November 2024.
JAPAN / Society
May 15, 2025
Irresponsible climbing prompts debate over who should pay for Mount Fuji rescues
Rescue teams put themselves in grave danger, and the cost of flying a helicopter for a rescue can be up to between ¥600,000 and ¥800,000.
People smoking in Yuxi, in China's southwest Yunnan province. China is home to a third of the world's smokers and tobacco-related diseases are a major cause of death in the country — a trend likely to worsen as its population rapidly ages.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
May 13, 2025
Tobacco town thrives as China struggles to kick the habit
China is home to a third of the world's smokers and tobacco-related diseases are a major cause of death in the country.
Apartments in the district of Miyazato in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, where many students live
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Okinawa
May 12, 2025
Rents soar in northern Okinawa ahead of Junglia theme park opening
While large-scale hiring may help to revitalize the area, it is also creating a housing supply shortage, affecting students and others who are moving in.
The entrance to discount retailer Don Quijote's store in Tokyo's Shibuya district, known as Don Don Donki outside the country
BUSINESS / Companies
May 11, 2025
'Treasure hunt': Tourists boost sales at Japan's Don Quijote stores
Revenues at Don Quijote in Japan are "around 1.7 times higher than before the pandemic," said Motoki Hara, a manager at the retailer.
Bolstered by a strong turnout last year, Raw Wine Tokyo, a natural wine festival, is returning to quench the thirst of natural wine lovers.
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 9, 2025
The world’s biggest natural wine festival returns to Tokyo
After impressing the city’s wine buffs last year, Raw Wine is back with more than 80 natural wine producers from around the world.
Students from a junior high school in Tokyo's Meguro Ward experience rice planting on Thursday in Noto, Ishikawa Prefecture.
JAPAN
May 9, 2025
Noto region welcomes first school trip since massive quake
Officials said they hoped the students can learn by closely observing the reconstruction process.
Officials from the 15 hotel companies had met once a month to exchange information about room occupancy rates, average room prices and room reservations, according to the FTC.
JAPAN
May 8, 2025
15 hotel operators in Tokyo warned over possible price-fixing
Officials from the 15 companies had met once a month to exchange information about room occupancy rates, average room prices and room reservations, according to the FTC.
SusHi Tech Tokyo 2025 was bustling with participants of various nationalities Thursday, and multiple languages could be heard around the room as many engaged in conversations throughout the day.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 8, 2025
SusHi Tech Tokyo 2025 expands to become one of Asia's largest startup events
This year, the conference — focused on sustainable cities and high technology — feels bigger and more global.
The number of passengers on shinkansen and other express trains during Golden Week increased 3% from a year earlier to over 13 million, data from six Japan Railways group companies showed Wednesday.
BUSINESS
May 8, 2025
JR express train passengers during Golden Week up 3%
The result is believed to reflect the impact of the 2025 World Exposition in the city of Osaka, as well as demand from foreign visitors.
Tatsumi Onose (right), who plays the part of Commodore Matthew Perry in Shimoda's Black Ship Festival, says the historical episode the event is based on should be remembered for its positives more than its negatives.
LIFE / Travel
May 8, 2025
Celebrating Japan’s defeat at Shimoda’s Black Ship Festival
Held this year from May 16 to 18, an event to the south of Tokyo turns a historical episode of national humiliation into a plain old good time.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a FIFA Task Force meeting in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
SOCCER / World cup
May 7, 2025
Trump vows 'seamless' experience for 2026 World Cup fans
The World Tourism Forum Institute has said a mix of stringent U.S. immigration policies and global political tensions could "significantly affect" international arrivals.
Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
May 5, 2025
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan
How one artist is using history, culture and community spirit to revive a fading samurai legacy — and possibly reshape rural Japan’s future.
A manhole card and a manhole cover featuring characters from "Sailor Moon," on Feb. 10. The cards were handed out by Tokyo's Minato Ward, where the series is set.
JAPAN
May 4, 2025
Manhole cover designs recognized as tourism assets in Japan
The initiative to create specially designed manhole covers began as a public relations campaign to improve the image of the sewage industry.
Travelers in front of a flight information panel in a departure hall at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on April 26
BUSINESS
May 3, 2025
Inflation and high hotel prices curtail Golden Week travels
This year consumers in the world's fourth-largest economy are feeling the pain of rising prices for everything from cabbage and rice to electricity bills.
“‘Future of life,’ by Ishiguro,” the World Expo pavilion by roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro, displays humanlike androids.
LIFE / Travel
May 2, 2025
Want to see the future at the Osaka Expo? Get in line.
Androids and lab-grown heart cells: A dispatch from the world fair.
Indian paramilitary troopers stand guard in Srinagar, in India-administered Jammu and Kahsmir, on Wednesday following a terrorist attack near the Kashmiri mountain resort of Pahalgam. According to Pakistani officials, New Delhi is preparing a military response.
COMMENTARY / World
May 1, 2025
India-Pakistan ties on the brink after Kashmir attack
New Delhi has downgraded ties with Pakistan in response to the Kashmir terror attack. But what could really bite is the suspension of a water treaty and possible military action.
A street in Kyoto in March 2023. An Israeli tourist was asked to sign a document stating that he had not committed war crimes when he checked in at a Kyoto guesthouse in April, prompting a response from Israel's ambassador.
JAPAN / Society
May 1, 2025
Israel protests after Kyoto inn seeks war crime declaration from tourist
The guesthouse said the purpose of the document was to ensure a safe stay for other guests and not due to discrimination.

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic