Photo/Illutration International tourists pose for a photo while holding snow in their hands in Takayama, Gifu Prefecture, in central Japan on Dec. 24. (Shuhei Yamashita)

Visitors to Japan soared to 1.37 million in December, topping the 1-million mark for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic took hold in February 2020, the Japan National Tourism Organization announced on Jan. 18.

December’s figure was 1.5 times that of November, yet the milestone was still nowhere near what it was before the pandemic hit.

Inbound travelers have steadily increased since Japanese authorities relaxed the country’s strict travel restrictions on Oct. 11, lifting the requirement for short-stay visas and the ban on personal travel arranged by individuals.

South Korea topped the list of countries and territories from which travelers arrived, at 456,100. It was followed by Taiwan, at 170,200, and Hong Kong, at 141,300.

The number of Chinese visitors remained flat at 33,500 because the data was recorded before China ended its zero-COVID policy.

The overall total of foreign travelers in December was still only 54.2 percent for the same month in 2019, just before the pandemic struck.

The number of Japanese traveling overseas totaled 432,100 in December, showing lackluster demand, according to the JNTO.

The grand total of international visitors to Japan for all of 2022 hit 3.8 million, according to preliminary figures.

The number reached 15 times what it was in 2021, when only 245,862 were reported--the lowest since JNTO began recording the data.

Yet the 2022 total is still only 10 percent of the figure for 2019.

The same day, the Japan Tourism Agency said overseas visitors spent 595.2 billion yen ($4.54 billion) between October and December, about half the amount for the same period in 2019.

But spending per traveler was higher than normal. It averaged 200,000 yen, up 20 percent from the same period in 2019.

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