Photo/Illutration A Japanese tour attendant welcomes foreign tourists at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Oct. 11 after Japan lifted its border control restrictions. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The number of foreign nationals entering Japan in 2022 surged nearly 12-fold over the previous year to 4.2 million, buoyed by the lifting in October of most novel coronavirus border control measures, according to the Immigration Services Agency.

Still, last year’s overall total, a 11.9-fold increase, was a far cry from the record 31.19 million visitors recorded in 2019, before the pandemic struck.

October saw a sharp upswing in foreign arrivals, which continued to gain momentum for the remainder of the year, after entry for those not on group tours was greenlighted, the agency said in a Jan. 27 report.

It noted that the number of visitors increased in tandem with step-by-step loosening of travel curbs.

In January and February, the total of foreign visitors was fewer than 10,000 each month.

Between March and September, the figures rose and fluctuated to between about 50,000 and around 150,000.

But in December, the monthly total soared to around 1.33 million.

The agency said that around 2.86 million people arrived on short-stay visas, primarily for tourism, accounting for 80 percent of the overall total.

As an indication of the impact the pandemic has had on the tourism industry, the 2.86 million figure represented only 10 percent of such visa holders for 2019.

The report also noted that the number of those who came to Japan for business-related reasons, those categorized as highly skilled foreign professionals or relocating to Japan for business reasons, was more than or on par with the pre-pandemic level.

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