Foreign Visitors to Japan in Feb. Updated March 22, 2026.

Foreign visitors to Japan in February set monthly record of 3.47 mil.

Article source:  https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260318/p2g/00m/0na/041000c

Ideas

Japan is increasingly seeing foreign visitor numbers that rival some EU countries but still have a ways to go to catch Spain and France.

At the same time some in Japan, especially in Osaka and the Kyoto area, now think there are too many foreign tourists as over-crowding has become a major challenge or at least according to some in those areas.

Most likely 99 percent or whatever percent you want to use are polite well-behaved guests in Japan but its always the few that standout that cause problems for everyone that causes local officials to consider ways to reduce foreign tourism in their area.

There are always many stereotypes related to the relationship between Japan and South Korea and of course the WW 2 experiences that South Korea suffered will probably never completely go away but it seems, as far a traveling to Japan, many South Koreans see Japan as a safe place and and an easy place to visit and as the Japanese yen is now weak, it gives South Korean consumers more purchasing power to spend in Japan.

Having lived in South Korea for many years, I often took the Seoul Gimpo to Tokyo Haneda flight either by KAL, JAL, or ANA, as the fight was only 2 hours so it was easy to go to Tokyo for a few days a few times a year.

But before the pandemic getting a ticket was very easy but after the pandemic when Japan opened up again in 2023, getting a ticket was almost impossible and the ticket prices had almost doubled from the pre-pandemic time to the post-pandemic period.

Its interesting that US visitors to Japan is setting visitor records as the price for a round trip ticket to Japan and back from the US is easily around $2,000 dollars and with inflation still a challenge in the US who can afford to go to Japan these days from such a far away place.

If you stay a week an add in hotel, food, and buying whatever, you are easily going to spend over $4,000 dollars for your trip, which again, many people in the US really can't afford to spend that much money with inflation being such a challenge in the US these days.

China used to be Japan's largest foreign visitor population but as diplomatic relations between the two countries, again, are now challenged many Chinese are going to other places such as Vietnam and Thailand.

But as my sources in Japan have been saying there are still some Chinese going to Japan but not on group tours but as individuals or families not taking tours but doing things themselves in Japan.

Japan, doesn't seem to get it sometimes, or for this situation maybe they do, as the diplomatic strain between the two countries might, just might have been a deliberate attempt to reduce the number of foreign tourists to Japan or at least from China as a way to reduce the over-crowding situation in the Osaka and Kyoto areas. 

But who knows as the above paragraph might be completely in-correct as what happened between Japan and China is just the latest between the two countries as Japan seems to take 2 steps forward and then 3 steps back with the comments it makes that always seem to upset China.

The new Prime Minister is an ultra conservative, and as such, puts Japan first above diplomatic relations in the region, and it doesn't seem like there isn't going to be any kind of apology or back-tracking on what was said as Japanese official rarely apologize for much of anything these days.

So the strained diplomatic relationship between the two countries appears to be entrenched for now until one decides for business or economic reasons to begin to thaw out the tense situation and things will begin to get back to some kind of normalcy.

Have a nice day!