NEWSWORTHY
Rakuten, Booking.com and Expedia raided by Japan's antitrust watchdog over lodging price policy
Japan's antitrust watchdog on Wednesday raided the offices of Rakuten Inc. and two other online booking operators, alleging they hurt fair trade by requiring accommodation providers to offer their lowest prices on their platforms, according to a source close to the matter. The Fair Trade ...
Japan's travel agencies and hotels look to milk imminent era shift to Reiwa with tours and souvenirs
Travel agencies and hotels are selling commemorative packages to take advantage of the forthcoming change of Imperial era, an opportunity that typically comes only once every several decades. Leading travel agency JTB Corp. is selling a three-day tour that starts on April 30, the final ...
Bumpy ride feared in Japan as new visa types issued to ease labor crunch
Japan will open its doors wider to workers from abroad when the revised Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act takes effect. However, with it comes a host of other issues.
Foreign workers are on the way, but are Japanese businesses ready?
A new visa program designed to lure more workers to Japan takes effect Monday, and government officials and industry leaders hope two new types will help alleviate the national labor shortage. But whether businesses are prepared to accept them is an entirely different matter. Companies and ...
The smooth way to go skiing with kids
Perhaps one of Japan's most child-friendly hotels, Risonare Yatsugatake is a mecca for young families. The guestrooms are spacious, staff are ever-patient and there are kids' menus in the restaurants.
Hotel groups hail new offensive on Airbnb in Paris over alleged illegal rentals
Hotel groups in Paris on Monday hailed a new legal offensive by city authorities against home-sharing group Airbnb, which is being taken to court over illegal rentals. The French government has gradually tightened controls over the San Francisco-based firm, which critics blame for reducing the ...
University in Osaka aims to hone hotel staff with omotenashi to serve Japan's foreign guests
One of the key factors driving Japan's unprecedented tourism boom is its culture of hospitality — epitomized by the concept of omotenashi, which can be roughly translated as "wholeheartedly looking after guests." Yet perhaps because omotenashi has a long history and can be taken for ...
Smoking rate in Japan has declined by half since beginning of Heisei Era in 1989
The proportion of smokers is dropping in Japan, with the figure in 2018 down by half from the rate of 36 percent when the Heisei Era began in 1989. Japan Tobacco Inc. attributes the decline to increasing health awareness, an aging population, tougher smoking regulations ...
Japan hopes to use the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics as an opportunity to become a more inclusive and accessible society, and in 2018 games organizers made some strides towards making it a reality. When hosting a major sporting event, people usually talk about what kind of ...
Hackers behind a massive breach at the Marriott International hotel group left clues suggesting they were working for a Chinese government intelligence gathering operation, according to sources familiar with the matter. Marriott said last week that a hack that began four years ago had exposed ...
Marriott security breach exposed data of up to 500 million guests
Hackers stole information on as many as 500 million guests of the Marriott hotel empire over four years, obtaining credit card and passport numbers and other personal data, the company said Friday as it acknowledged one of the largest security breaches in history. The full ...
The hotel industry will be listed as lying within the scope of the type two trainee status under the government's technical intern training program for foreign nationals, officials have said. The program has three statuses — type one for first-year trainees, type two for those ...
