Economy | ANALYSIS
Households to take hit from tax hike
by Tomoko Otake
The consumption tax increase will hit every household in Japan hard, with many people’s financial future hanging on whether their wages rise enough to offset the hike's impact.
World Aug 31, 2013
Venice gondola death spurs Grand Canal revamp
Venice has teemed with boats for centuries, but a tragic gondola death has stirred anger on the canals and could change the face of the floating city’s most famous waterway. The tourist’s funeral was held Friday in Germany accompanied by a delegation of gondoliers, ...
National | Focus Aug 22, 2013
Japan on path to achieve foreign visitor target
The government’s goal of drawing 10 million foreign travelers a year is in sight following a report Wednesday that the monthly visitor count in July hit a record high of just over 1 million. While a variety of efforts are being made both in ...
National Aug 21, 2013
Visitors to Japan top 1 million for record-high month in July
More than 1 million foreign visitors came to Japan in July, a record high for any month ever, due partly to the effect of eased visa requirements for Southeast Asian nations, a government tourism body said Wednesday. The arrivals, numbering 1,003,100, eclipsed the previous ...
Asia Pacific Aug 20, 2013
Piste off: Switzerland blocks deal to sell ski lifts to North Korean regime
Switzerland said Monday that it had blocked a deal to sell top-notch ski lifts to North Korea, in a move that could delay what is seen as leader Kim Jong Un’s pet ski resort project. Swiss company Bartholet Maschinenbau (BMF) had reportedly all but ...
National Aug 13, 2013
'Dark tourism' targets Tohoku zones
by Kyoko Hasegawa
Before the huge tsunami of 2011 virtually wiped it off the map, Rikuzentakata’s pristine beach and luxuriant pine forests were a well-worn stop on Japan’s tourist trail. Now the visitors are returning, but this time they want to see the devastation and the monuments ...
World Aug 10, 2013
U.K. girls treated after acid attack in Zanzibar
Two British teenage girls were being treated for burns at a London hospital Saturday after acid was hurled in their faces on the Indian Ocean island of Zanzibar. Doctors said Kirstie Trup and Katie Gee, both 18, were doing “well” after Wednesday’s attack, and ...
Science & Health Aug 3, 2013
Tourists to Mexico still drawn by peyote trips
Gisele Beker, a 26-year-old Argentine, trudged for hours in scorching sun to the sprawling Wirikuta desert craving peyote, the hallucinogenic cactus that Mexicans deem sacred. Joined by three Mexican friends, Beker was living her dream as part of a new wave of tourists taking ...
National Jul 30, 2013
Fukushima tourism on the upswing: survey
Fukushima Prefecture hosted 44.46 million tourists in 2012, up 26.3 percent from the previous year and 77.8 percent of the total in 2010, the year before the triple disaster — an earthquake, tsunami and reactor meltdowns — struck, the prefectural government said Monday. Tourism ...
National Jul 18, 2013
China sees 26% fewer Japanese visitors in first half but North Korean arrivals up by 12%
The number of Japanese who visited China in the first six months of 2013 fell 25.5 percent from a year before to 1,399,200, China’s National Tourism Administration has said. The plunge was apparently due to worsening Sino-Japanese relations over the Japanese-administered Senkaku islands in ...
National Jul 17, 2013
Canyoning makes a splash in Gunma
Foreign tourists are making their way to Minakami, a town in Gunma Prefecture where a New Zealander, charmed by the nature there, promotes canyoning expeditions in English. “Tone River’s torrents are world-class,” said Mike Harris, an outdoor adventure guide from New Zealand who provides ...
National Jul 10, 2013
Tokyo Skytree proves boon for Hato Bus tours
by Masaaki Kameda
Thanks mainly to the opening of Tokyo Skytree in May last year, the number of people who took Hato Bus Co. sightseeing tours of Tokyo in fiscal 2012 rose to 914,004, the company announced. It’s the first time the number has exceeded 900,000 in ...
National Jun 26, 2013
Relaxed visa program for Southeast Asian visitors starts
by Mizuho Aoki
The government will relax visa requirements for visitors from Southeast Asian countries starting Monday, hoping to lure more travelers from fast-growing economies to spur economic growth. Japan will waive visa requirements for tourists from Thailand and Malaysia, and offer a multiple-entry visa to Filipino ...