As Japanese tourists put the events of Sept. 11 behind them and once again hit the package tour trail, one destination remains suspiciously absent from their itineraries: the United States.

The past few months have seen a recovery in overseas travel by Japanese tourists, according to a number of travel agencies, citing figures of around 80 percent to 90 percent of those seen in the same period a year earlier.

But the U.S. mainland has seen only 50 percent to 60 percent of the previous year's number of visitors.