Visa-issuing policies must be reviewed to attract more foreign tourists, according to newly appointed transport minister Kazuyoshi Kaneko.
The Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry wants to draw 20 million foreign tourists to Japan by 2020, far beyond the 8.4 million who visited last year. On Wednesday, the Japan Tourism Agency was launched to help attain that goal.
"Since we are hoping for this number of people to come from abroad, we certainly cannot avoid the matter of visa-issuing," said Kaneko, 65, during an interview with The Japan Times and other news organizations.