While areas of the south were hammered by torrential rains from a violent typhoon in September, the northeastern regions of Hokkaido experienced severe snowstorms in December, a news channel reported.

A recovery in private consumption, which makes up more than half of Japan’s economy, is key to driving growth in the economy, which unexpectedly shrank in the third quarter.

At Zenkoji Temple, senior monk Yamamoto is looking forward to welcoming foreign visitors once more, now that the worst of the coronavirus pandemic has passed and the nation’s borders have reopened.

Airlines have added flights to respond to the full re-opening of borders. Visa-free travel is back for short-term business and tourism from more than 60 nations.

Almost 73% of hotels nationwide said they were short of regular workers in August, up from about 27% a year earlier, according to market research firm Teikoku Databank.

Japan is evaluating its border control strategy of keeping day-to-day entries under 50,000 and will remove it in the near future. The Japan government will relax other restrictions at the same time including requirement of a visa and the obligation …

Japan last week raised the daily ceiling of inbound travellers to 50,000 from 20,000 and eliminated a requirement for pre-departure COVID tests, easing what have been among the most restrictive border measures among major economies.

Tourism is a big industry in Tokyo, as well as in all Japan, so this is the time to greet more foreign tourists by using this advantage of the depreciation of the yen.

In this (post) pandemic world, Japan is the only G7 nation that has yet to reopen fully for tourism.

Japan opens the borders for more than 100 international tourists for the first time after 2020. However, the country requires tourists to travel in groups.