Japan Tourism Woes Continue For No Reason

Above, the Golden Pavilion of Kinkaku-ji in Kyoto. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The Daily Yomiuri posted a new article on the continuing woes of Japan's tourism industry.

Cancellations to normally busy tourist spots from Hokkaido to Okinawa are up due to the March 11 Tohoku Earthquake.

The Daily Yomiuri reports:

From Hokkaido to Okinawa, the domestic tourism industry has taken a battering in the wake of the March 11 earthquake-tsunami disaster, with foreign visitor numbers in March plunging 50 percent compared with the same period last year.

According to a Yomiuri Shimbun survey, at least 80,000 foreigners have called off visiting Japan and canceled hotel bookings and tours since the Great East Japan Earthquake. Some foreign airlines have also canceled flights to this country.

Many business operators in domestic tourist spots have blamed their plight on damage caused by rumors about the ongoing crisis at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.

"I've never experienced this before," said a 59-year-old employee at Suzuya, a souvenir shop in Asakusa, Tokyo, that opened during the early Showa era (1926-1989). She glanced down the normally packed Nakamise shopping street leading to Sensoji temple, but the street was almost deserted.

"The whole nation is being affected by rumors exaggerating the danger of visiting because of the nuclear plant accident," an official of the Noboribetsu Tourist Association said.

Okinawa Prefecture is nowhere near the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, but it saw more than 10,000 cancellations by overseas tourists in the weeks up until April 8.

Above, the Torii Gate at Miyajima near Hiroshima. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima nuclear power plant problems occurred in the northeastern section of the main island of Honshu. Yet, people are cancelling reservations for places far away from the affected area. It is as if people were cancelling vacation reservations for San Diego, California due to a disaster at Mount Shasta in Northern California (Japan is roughly the size of California). It is silly to do so and is hurting businesses outside of the affected area for no reason.

Some people need to learn some Japan geography! Below is a map of Japan showing its regions and prefectures. The Tohoku Earthquake (now being called the Great East Japan Earthquake) was centered in-between Sendai and Fukushima in the Pacific Ocean. The damage from the earthquake and tsunami affected those areas. The problems with the nuclear plant is in the Fukushima area. Outside of those areas, things are normal in Japan, except people have the wrong idea that the whole country had been hit. It wasn't!




It is time people show their support for Japan by traveling there!

To read the full article, go here.