Japan's Travel Balance Turns Positive First Time In 55 Years

Above, the Tokyo Skytree. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Japan's Ministry of Finance provided some good news on the Japanese economy.

According to the Nikkei Asian Review:

TOKYO -- Investment and services are playing an increasingly large role in fueling Japan's growth, a shift from the model that long relied on exports of cars, appliances and other goods to drive the economy.

According to the Ministry of Finance's balance of payments statistics for fiscal 2014, released Wednesday, Japan's travel balance moved into the black for the first time since fiscal 1959 thanks to robust spending by foreign visitors.

The travel balance, calculated by subtracting how much Japanese spend overseas from the amount foreign visitors shell out in Japan, achieved a surplus of 209.9 billion yen ($1.75 billion) in fiscal 2014, a sharp reversal from the deficit of 530.4 billion yen the previous year.

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