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| Above, my room at the Bansuitei Ikoiso Ryokan in Sendai. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
Forbes.com has posted an interview with the executive director of the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) that potential tourists to Japan will find interesting. It is titled, "Japan Basks In Its New Position As An Affordable Travel Destination."
It starts with:
The difference a year can make: When I spoke with Yuki Tanaka, the Executive Director of the Japan National Tourism Organization in the U.S., last May, travel to Japan was just recovering from the a drastic decline following the March 11, 2011 Sendai earthquake and a close call with disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. What’s more, tourism to Japan was also facing a structural challenge due to a chronically strong yen. Fast-forward to the present, and Japan lives up to its name as the land of the rising sun: in terms of traveler numbers, the earthquake is a thing of the past. And thanks to a weaker yen (102 per USD as of this writing, down from an average of 79.97 in 2011), Japan suddenly finds itself in the unfamiliar but enviable position of being an affordable destination.
To read the interview, go here.
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