Business Standard: "To Japan or not?"

Above, sushi's not that expensive in Japan.

Business Standard.com has an interesting article on Japan travel: "To Japan or not?"

It starts out with:

Tourists are still weighing the risks of travelling to the country hit by the earthquake and a nuclear-radiation crisis.

The earthquake and tsunami that hit northeastern Japan on March 11, and the nuclear crisis that followed, have had an impact on nearly every corner of the economy, perhaps none more directly than the tourist industry. The number of foreign visitors has plunged 50 per cent since the triple disasters, according to the Japan National Tourism Organisation. But four months on, travellers are trickling back. Most are business travellers, adventure seekers and bargain hunters, a type of visitor not often associated with Japan where a sushi dinner can wipe out a week’s savings.

It is true (as regular readers here know) that the March 11 disaster and aftermath hit the Japanese tourism industry hard. A good portion of the problem was in the hysterical reporting by the western media. But anyone who has any sense and could read a geographic map of Japan would know that the disaster was confined to a small region of Honshu (Japan's main island).

I don't know where the author of the article got his information on the cost of sushi dinners in Japan. The cost of sushi dinners are no more expensive in Japan than they are on Ventura Blvd. in the San Fernando Valley (where it seems that every other block has a sushi restaurant).

Back in 2006, I treated a friend from Toho Co., Ltd. to a sushi lunch in the Hibiya section of Tokyo. We both "pigged out" at a revolving sushi restaurant. The total tab for the both of us was under $30.00 US.

Anyway, the article goes on:

The view of Japan as a high-priced playground is what kept Erin Conroy and Jenny McMeans, friends from New York City, from visiting. But this spring, they found round-trip tickets to Tokyo for just $600, about half what they normally cost, and booked a room in a hostel for 2,600 yen (about $33 at 79 yen to the dollar) a night. Suddenly, Japan was affordable, even with the yen near record highs against the dollar. “We felt like, in many ways, Tokyo was on our too-good-to-be-true list,” says Conroy.

And what about the danger of radiation? Conroy and McMeans says they perused travel advisories and were convinced that they would not be exposed to high levels of radiation.

Travellers seem to be gauging the safety of visiting Japan in different ways. Some rely on blogs posts written by foreigners living in Japan or frequent travellers to the country. Many, like Conroy and McMeans, turn to government advisories.

The main issue of Japan travel for Americans is not really the fears associated with the earthquake and tsunami (although there's quite a bit of that), but rather the poor exchange rate between the yen and the dollar.

I find it interesting that people rely on blogs (such as this one) for advice from veteran Japan travelers.

To read the full article, go here.