NAHA, Okinawa Pref. (Kyodo) The global economic downturn is creeping into Okinawa, one of Japan's tourism hot spots, although some industry analysts are cautiously optimistic there will be no major decline in visitors.
On little Sesoko Island, population around 900, the Sesoko Beach Resort hotel remains unfinished, its reinforced steel rusting, scaffolding going unattended and no glass windows.
The 360-room hotel, originally scheduled to open this spring targeting rich Asians, saw its construction suspended at the end of August after its developer, Urban Design System Co. of Tokyo, collapsed due to severe loan conditions for real estate companies amid the subprime meltdown in the United States.