Japan Tourism: Goals and Making Things Tourist-Friendly

Above, a tourist information office at JR Niigata Station.  Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The Japan Times is in a tourism mood today as they have an article on reaching Japan's tourism goals and an editorial about the need of putting more effort into making Japan more tourist-friendly.

Starting off with the article, the Times said:

The rapid drop in the yen helped lure a record 3.17 million tourists to Japan from January to April, but achieving the government’s goal of 10 million this year will require more work, Japan Tourism Agency Commissioner Norifumi Ide said. 

The first quarter was a good sign, but “if the momentum remains at this level, we will miss the 10 million goal by an inch, so we have to take some more measures,” Ide said in an interview with The Japan Times last week.

The Times editorialized:

It is clear that both the public and private sectors must make Japan a more convenient and attractive place for foreign tourists to visit. But there are signs that the government isn’t serious about attracting visitors. For example, the Japan Tourism Agency used computer translations to create English text for its online campaign to attract foreign tourists to the Tohoku region in 2012. The translations were embarrassingly poor and had to be dropped. Japan still suffers from a shortage of English-language signage and bilingual workers in tourist-related industries. Even simple tasks such as buying train ticket or renting cars can be daunting experiences for foreign visitors. 

Japan’s tourist resources include beautiful scenery with four seasons, a variety of cuisine, historical sites, pop culture and safe cities. But both the government and the tourist industry must make greater efforts to make these attractions easier to access and more interesting for foreigners. They must drop their do-nothing attitude.

It is interesting that both the article and the editorial brought up the topic of signage and workers who can communicate with foreign visitors.

The article said:

For instance, even though there may be enough hotel rooms, more of them need to be more foreigner-friendly in terms of signage and staff communication ability.

For me, personally, I have not had any problem with a supposed lack of English (or Romanji) signs in Japan.  And I have not had any problem with workers at hotels, ryokans, attractions, restaurants, train stations or anywhere else who couldn't speak English.  One way or another, we've managed to communicate good enough. (It may be a different story for visitors from other countries.)

Perhaps I am just used to "the Japanese way" of doing things.