Japan Came Up With Odd Tourism Schemes

Above, the Godzilla statue at Toho Studios.  Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Since the Great East Japan Earthquake, the Japanese government and tourism industry came up with different "schemes" to boost tourism.

Unfortunately, they mostly fell flat and did nothing to boost tourism.

CNN Go has an article that takes a look at 6 "oddest tourism schemes."

They start it with:

Given the hardships Japan has faced in the 16 months since the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown, winning back tourists hardly seems all that important.

Nevertheless, life moves on, bills need paying and the travel promos keep on rolling.

Here are six of the best, sometimes head-shakingly misguided, tourism promotions we’ve seen over the last year.

Above, Ginza's Wako Department Store.  Photo by Armand Vaquer.

I have long advocated that the Japanese tourism industry target tour packages to fans of Japanese science-fiction and fantasy movies. After all, there's plenty of locations and landmarks that were featured in the movies tourists would love to see first-hand. Tour companies can even use my travel guide, The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan to set up such tour packages.

Tours have been tailored towards fans of manga and anime. Why not set up tours for kaiju fans? Doing so makes a lot more sense than the goofy schemes that they did come up with.

To see the six oddest tourist schemes, go here.