Following the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, and the subsequent nuclear crisis in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan's manufacturing sector suffered greatly due to the damage caused to the nation's supply chains.
Attention should be paid to other sectors that are still reeling from the 3/11 disasters such as tourism and agricultural exports. The government should take rational measures to bolster these sectors.
According to an estimate by the Japan National Tourism Organization, 6,219,000 tourists visited Japan in 2011 — a 27.8 percent plunge from the previous year. The biggest number of tourists came from South Korea (1,658,000, down 32 percent), followed by China (1,044,000, down 26.1 percent), Taiwan (994,000, down 21.6 percent), the United States (566,600, down 22.2 percent) and Hong Kong (365,000, down 28.3 percent).