Japan Bound

Condé Nast Japan, a publisher of VOGUE JAPAN or GQ JAPAN, and Deloitte Tohmatsu (Deloitte Japan) have launched a new consultation service for businesses or PR activities for luxury international travelers to Japan.

Osaka Kansai Expo 2025 opened with a theme of ‘Designing Future Society for Our Lives’ on April 13 2025. Before the official opening, the pavilions were opened to media. The organizer expects 28.2 million visitors in total.

Trip.com is focusing on sending its global users to local regions in Japan. Sunny Sun, Trip.com Group Vice President, said at an interview with Travel Voice, "“We are introducing unknown charms in Japan."

The number of tourists visiting the world-famous winter resort Hakuba Village, Nagano, Japan was up 14% year on year to record-high 1.3 million during the winter season.

Travel Voicer re-examined the problem of over-tourism. It defines the situation in the world, explains Japan's current situation, and has published a report to solve and curb over-tourism.

Bookings by international travelers to Japan on the booking site ‘WILLER TRAVEL’ increased by 25% in this spring break period from March 20 to April 10 2025.

The Setouchi Triennale 2025 will open on April 18, 2025, running for 107 days in total in spring, summer and fall separately.

The number of international visitors to Japan in February 2025 was up 16.9% year on year to 3,258,100, marking the first over 3 million in February for the first time.

The Future City Pavilion of EXPO 2025 Osaka, Kansai was completed. 12 Japanese leading manufacturers and organizations showcases their innovations for the future society.

Tourism EXPO Japan 2025 Aichi/Central Japan will be held with a theme of ‘‘Travel for Discovery and New Encounters.’ at Aichi Sky Expo from September 25 to 28, expected 100,000 visitors.

Tokyo Metro will start a new service to enable a passenger to get on subway with touch payment of credit card or QR code for 24-hours digital ticket, using e-ticket booking platform Linktivity’s scheme.

Hokkaido District Transport Bureau launched a website to inform foreign backcountry skiers or snowboarders of three tips for safer experiences.

The number of international guests in December 2024 was up 22.9% year on year to 15.4 million. The ratio of those staying in local regions expanded from 28.2% in December 2022 to 33.6% in December 2024.

Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) hosted ‘Japan Luxury Showcase 2025,’ a BtoB event for global travel companies that have luxury travel customers. 40 buyers from 16 countries and 45 domestic sellers met for business discussions.

Osaka Prefecture will raise the lowest targeting accommodation price from 7,000 currently to 5,000 yen and the tax rates on September 1 2025, expected to increase tax revenue from 2.5 billion yen a year in 2023 to 8 billion yen a year.

The number of international visitors to Japan in January 2025 was up 40.6% year on year to 3,781,200, breaking the single-month record for two months in a row, boosted by Chinese New Year holidays.

Hankyu Travel International, a Japanese travel agent, will charter ‘Le Jacques Cartier,’ a cruise ship of France-based Ponant, in March and April 2027 to offer Setonaikai cruise tours to luxury international travelers to Japan.

The occupancy rate of hotels in Kyoto City was 78.5% in 2024, 5.1 higher points than 2023. The average daily rate (ADR) was record-high 20,195 yen, higher than 17,403 yen in 2023 or 15,610 yen in 2019.

Highway bus WILLER's Chinese passengers increased to 2,473 as of January 28 2025 during the Chinese New Year holiday period (January 13 to February 23 2025), which were about 11 times more than a year ago.

Japan ticket, an e-ticket management system provider for international travelers to Japan, has started connecting with Klook to allow users to book tourism experiences provided by Japan ticket on the Klook platform.