REUTERS
April 17, 2025 at 17:19 JST
Ginzan Onsen, a popular spot for foreign tourists, in Obanazawa, Yamagata Prefecture (Masahiro Takahashi)
Japan crossed the 10 million visitor mark at the fastest-ever pace this year, reaching that level already in March, official data showed on April 16, as the weak yen propelled an unprecedented tourism boom.
Arrivals of foreign visitors for business and leisure reached 3.5 million last month, bringing the total through the first quarter to 10.54 million, data from the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) showed.
Last year, Japan reached 10 million visitors in April.
For the whole of 2025, tourist arrivals are on pace to eclipse last year’s all-time level of 36.87 million.
The nation’s famed cherry blossom season helped boost demand in March, which saw record arrivals for any single month among travelers from the United States and Canada, the JNTO said.
The boom in tourist numbers, and their spending, has been a welcome boost to Japan’s economy.
Purchases by visitors, classified as exports in national accounts, are now Japan’s second-biggest export sector after autos and ahead of electronic components.
Spending by foreign visitors in the January–March period amounted to 2.27 trillion yen ($16 billion), preliminary data from the transport ministry showed, up 28.4 percent from last year.
In 2024, visitors spent a record 8.1 trillion yen, up 53 percent from the prior year.
Japan visitors exceed 3 million for 2nd straight month, tourism agency says
May 15, 2024
Japan sees record visitors for second straight month on weak yen
August 21, 2024
Japan saw post-pandemic high of 2.3 mln visitors in July
August 16, 2023
Japan’s March visitors at post-COVID high, lured by cherry blossoms
April 19, 2023
Japan saw record 2.79 million visitors in February due to Lunar New Year boost
March 19, 2024
Foreign visitors to Japan fall 87 percent in 2020 to a 22-year low
January 20, 2021
A peek through the music industry’s curtain at the producers who harnessed social media to help their idols go global.
A series based on diplomatic documents declassified by Japan’s Foreign Ministry
Here is a collection of first-hand accounts by “hibakusha” atomic bomb survivors.
Cooking experts, chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life.
A series about Japanese-Americans and their memories of World War II
