On a recent morning, when the temperature was near zero, Rebeca Sanchez, a traveler from Spain, donned a white “samue” (work outfit) to enter a sake brewery in Saku, eastern Nagano Prefecture. 

Sanchez, 45, and eight other Japanese guests were then purified by a Shinto priest before entering Kitsukura Shuzou, which has been in business for about 300 years. 

After listening to the brewer’s explanation, Sanchez scooped the rice into a steamer about two meters in diameter. Once it had steamed, she carried the rice in a wooden bucket, and spread it out to cool. She also helped with the difficult work of mixing water, koji and steamed rice, all the while looking nervous but happy.

This was the eighth time that Sanchez, an admitted Japanophile, had visited this country. She had been to other breweries before and was familiar with the sake-making process, but this was her first time actually working with her hands.

“It’s completely different from what I’ve seen and heard. I now know how hard it is to make sake,” she said on Nov. 11.

Sanchez is among the surging number of foreign visitors to Japan, which has exceeded the pre-pandemic level for the first time in a single month.

As cities are flooded with inbound tourists, and business is booming at hotels and railroads, more than ever, it seems that “local specialties” and “hands-on experiences” hold the keys to future growth in the tourism sector.

The brewery in Saku has become a hotspot for foreign visitors who are excited to stay at the on-site inn Kurabito Stay and experience authentic sake brewing.

The inn is managed by Marika Tazawa, 37, who grew up in the neighboring city of Komoro. After working at a travel company in Tokyo, Tazawa returned to her hometown and met Taira Ide, 50, the president of the brewery.

An old building that had once been a brewer’s quarters and used as a warehouse caught Tazawa’s eye. She and Ide, who wanted to make the brewery “open to the public,” hit it off. She raised the funds to renovate the building herself and opened the inn in 2020.

The inn’s eight rooms range from two-and-a-half to five-and-a-half tatami mats, and are simple enough to sleep in.

The inn opens only on weekends, and offers a 3-day/2-night program and sake brewing experience for 88,000 yen ($580). The rooms are completely booked until next March and 40 percent of these reservations are from foreigners.

“The countryside is quiet, has beautiful nature and you get to know the people,” Sanchez said. “I find rural areas much more attractive than urban tourist destinations.”

Tazawa said, “Now that the internet is overflowing with information, authentic experiences that can only be had by going to a certain place will attract foreigners. It is important for local people to recognize the tourism resources that exist in their daily lives and polish them.”

BEYOND THE 'GOLDEN ROUTE'

While the number of foreign travelers in Japan is increasing rapidly, the tourism industry struggles to draw these visitors, who are concentrated in the three metropolitan prefectures of Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto, to other destinations.

According to a lodging statistic, the top three prefectures, Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto, accounted for 64 percent of all foreign overnight stays from January to August 2023.

This is because peak tourist destinations are concentrated along the “Golden Route,” which takes visitors from Tokyo to Hakone and Mount Fuji, and then to Kyoto and Osaka.

Only Tokyo, Tochigi, and Kochi prefectures exceeded their pre-COVID figures recorded in the same period of 2019.

While visitors to Tokyo have increased by 30 percent, most places around Japan have not yet recovered to pre-COVID levels.

Visitors to six prefectures (Shizuoka, Mie, Tottori, Saga, Miyazaki, and Kagoshima) have decreased by over 60 percent.

On the other hand, popular tourist destinations such as Kyoto and Kamakura are experiencing serious overtourism (tourism pollution), with overcrowding and bad manners creating significant problems.

As the number of visitors to Japan is expected to increase further in the future, dispersing visitors to the countryside is a pressing issue.

In March, the central government selected 11 locations, such as "Eastern Hokkaido" and “Okinawa and Amami,” as model regions and is providing intensive support for the creation of tourist destinations that visitors to Japan will find attractive.

Particular emphasis is being placed on “experiences.”

The lineup includes tours where visitors can learn about geisha culture, mountain asceticism, Zen meditation, pottery making and Japanese washi paper making.

“We hope that incorporating such experiences will encourage people to stay longer and spend more money in rural areas,” said a Japan Tourism Agency official.