Japan Aiming For 10 Million Foreign Visitors To National Parks

Above, the Mount Aso Museum lobby. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Most people who visit Japan primarily just visit the "golden route" of major cities like Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto and don't bother seeing rural areas or the national parks. Yes, folks, Japan has national parks.

During my 2007 visit to Japan, I traveled down to Kyushu to visit Mount Aso Volcano National Park. Although my visit was during a spring blizzard, I still felt the visit was worth it. It was definitely a very interesting experience!

For kaiju fans, Mount Aso Volcano National Park was featured in Rodan (1956).

The Japanese government is making plans to promote their national parks to foreign visiors.

Jiji Press reported:

Kushiro, Hokkaido, March 21 (Jiji Press)--Japan aims to more than double the annual number of foreign visitors to national parks in the nation to 10 million by 2020, Environment Minister Tamayo Marukawa said Monday.  

To achieve the goal, the Environment Ministry will develop tours tailored to foreign visitors based on model projects to be implemented in five national parks and provide an environment friendly to foreigners, such as multiple-language directories.

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