Japan Visitors Topped 20 Million Already

Above, Osaka's Dotonbori restaurant area. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

For the third year in a row, the total number of foreign visitors to Japan exceeded 20 million.

According to Nippon.com:

According to the Japan National Tourism Organization, the number of foreign visitors arriving in Japan in 2018 reached some 21,308,900 as of the end of August, surpassing the 20 million mark earlier than any other year in history. The JNTO cites the addition of new aircraft and expansion of flight routes, together with the continuous development and promotion of tourism, as the drivers behind this record-breaking number. 

The greatest number of arrivals from the August 2018 totals were from China, with 5,795,600 (up 18.7% from 2017); South Korea, with 5,218,300 (up 12.0%); and Taiwan, with 3,360,800 (up 8.0%). The countries with the biggest percentage hikes since last year were Russia, which increased by 27.2% to 60,900; Vietnam, up 26.9% to 262,000; and Spain, up 21.5% to 79,500.

Unfortunately, the article doesn't indicate the number of arrivals from the U.S. Apparently, we're not making that much of a dent.

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