Americans Heading to Japan in Record Numbers

PHOTO: The U.S. is Kyoto’s second top market after Taiwan. (All photos by James Ruggia)

Over the last few years U.S. tourism to Japan has gone from the lowest of the low  in the aftermath of the March, 2011 tsunami to where it is now at its highest point ever. In the first six months of 2014, from January through June, 446,000 Americans visited Japan, a record for any other six month period. In fact, the 87,900 U.S. visitors in June set a record for any month since records began being taken.

“We are very excited about this,” said Yuki Tanaka, the executive director of the Japan National Tourism Organization’s (JNTO) New York office, “because as American outbound travel came out of the recession of 2008, the rebound for Japan outstripped other countries in Asia and indeed for the world in general according to figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC).”

Those DOC figures show that between January, 2013 and February, 2014, U.S. travel overseas has grown at a 2 percent per month rate, while travel to Japan has increased at a 10 percent clip. The growth of U.S. travel to Asia overall has followed a relatively flat line. “Travel to Japan is booming,” said Tanaka, “thanks to a solid dollar exchange rate with the Yen, increased air capacity and the combined promotional efforts of local tourism boards and the JNTO.”

As recently as the autumn of 2012, the Dollar only purchased 77 Yen. In 2011, the exchange rate was 110 Yen to the Dollar, but U.S. traffic wasn’t nearly as strong as it is now, when the Dollar purchased 102 Yen.

“The American market has responded really well to our promotional activities,” said Tanaka. “We’ve received many awards. Travel & Leisure named Kyoto the world’s top city. The Conde Nast Traveler Readers Choice award made Kyoto number one in Asia and Kyoto made the New York Times top 52 places to travel to in 2014.”

Japan’s numbers figure to increase incrementally as the 2020 Olympics approach. According to Tanaka, the planning for those Olympics is still in preliminary stages. Even so, she said, the organizers have learned a lot from the success of the London Olympics and the way VisitBritain leveraged the exposure. “Tokyo will be at the center of a promotion that will expose the whole of Japan.

“Tokyo and Kyoto stay at the top of the list for Americans because so many of our American visitors are first-time travelers to Japan,” said Tanaka, “but we are trying to get visitors to go beyond those areas and explore more widely. Local tourism organizations have become more active. For example, the new rail line that’s coming to Kanasawa, in the Hokuriku region, has stimulated the development of a strategy for the whole region. They’re creating itineraries and laying new groundwork for tourism because of the opportunity provided by the train.”

Kyoto ranks very high with American travelers. The U.S. market for Kyoto is second only to Taiwan in terms of overnight visitors. “More than 45 percent of Kyoto’s overseas visitors are from Europe and North America,” said Noriko Kasuya, Kyoto’s director general for tourism. “The U.S. is especially important because theses tourists spend on average, a full five nights, much more than short-haul Taiwanese visitors do.”

Only Tokyo does more than Kyoto to promote itself overseas. As the city that most embodies the aesthetic spirit of traditional Japanese culture for Americans, it has a natural advantage, but it’s more than just a capital of Edo culture.

“Kyoto is a city of 1.4 million people,” said Kasuya. “We revere our traditions but we are not living in a museum. Kyoto is a living city with many aspects. It’s true we are an ancient city, but we are also a modern city with a thriving high-tech industry as well as many small traditional craft shops. We are also a young city; we have 40 different universities and many students.”

While the temples in Kyoto are the first attraction, for younger travelers there is also that youth aspect best epitomized by the Kyoto International Manga Museum. The Manga is the visual novel form that evolved out of Japan’s Anime arts.

“And we are incorporating a more experiential approach to our traditional attractions by offering a meditation session,” said Kasuya. That session is held at the Myoshinji Shunkoin Temple where travelers sit with a monk who gives them a basic introduction to meditation. The experience is really positive for Americans because the Reverend Takafumi Kawakami lived a few years in Houston and has a fine touch in relating to Americans.

According to Kasuya, “Our strategy has three elements: 1) media support to attract coverage; 2) representative office in 10 cities around the world including New York; and 3) online outreach with our website and a Facebook page with 210,000 friends. Our Website gets 4 million hits annually.”

On the rail front, the JNTO is very excited about the potential of the new $17.5 billion bullet train connecting Tokyo to Kanazawa. Next spring,  when it’s fully operational, the rail journey between Tokyo and Kanazawa will be shortened to two hours and 30 minutes from its current length of three hours and 47 minutes.

Both JR East and JR West will operate Tokyo to Kanazawa services. Kanazawa, a UNESCO-rated castle town, preserves the feel of 16th-century feudal Japan, when the samurai Maeda clan ruled the area.

A sea change is underway in Japan due to the success of the Seven Stars of Kyushu train, which went into service last October, and is already sold out well into the future. The idea of leisure rail cruising is coming in a big way to Japan.

“The immediate success of the Seven Stars train caught us by surprise,” said Tanaka. “We have had many tour operators contacting us about including it in their programs, but it’s very difficult because so many domestic travelers are using it. Both Japan Rail West and Japan Rail East are looking at creating rail cruise products. Both JR East and JR West are targeting 2017 to launch a cruise train.”

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