Tourists figures OK again

November 10, 2012

No. of U.S. tourists to Japan recovers prequake level

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20121110p2g00m0dm021000c.html

NEW YORK (Kyodo) -- The number of tourists from the United States to Japan has largely recovered to the level before the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami and the subsequent Fukushima nuclear accident, according to a survey by the Japan National Tourism Organization.

"Considering the effects of the yen's appreciation and the U.S. economic slowdown, we can say that the blows from the quake and the nuclear accident have almost all gone," said Yuki Tanaka, the head of the JNTO's New York office.

According to the survey based on data from the Japanese immigration authority, the number of tourists from the United States to Japan fell nearly one-third to 15,886 in April 2011, immediately after the natural calamities and the nuclear accident, from 45,739 in April 2010. But the figure rose back to 42,099 in April this year.

The number of tourists has since been fluctuating in a range of several percentage points of changes from the 2010 levels, marking a rise of 3.1 percent in June and a fall of 6.6 percent in July.