Foreign Visitors To Japan Spending 40% More This Year

Above, Nakamise Street in Asakusa. Foreign visitor spending are making Japanese cash registers happy. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

It looks like foreign tourism is on the rise in Japan (an understatement, by the way). With the drop by the Japanese yen against foreign currencies, including the U.S. dollar, visitors are finding travel to Japan a lot more affordable and Japanese goods are more of a bargain.

According to the Nikkei Asian Review:

TOKYO -- International visitors to Japan spent 1.46 trillion yen ($13.2 billion) in the first nine months of 2014, up 40% on the year and surpassing the 2013 figure of 1.41 trillion yen.

The article goes on to state that Chinese visitors to Japan are the biggest spenders. Where do Americans fit spending-wise in Japan? Americans spend an average of 181,896 yen ($1,619.44).

The U.S. dollar spurted to a 7-year high against the yen in yesterday's trading.

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