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Japan has 100 billion reasons to welcome more visitors
Residents are grumbling about the inconveniences of too many tourists, but the boost to the economy should more than make up for it.
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While Japan is far from dependent on tourism, it is a significant driver of much-needed growth in an economy that probably contracted last year.
PHOTO: AFP
Gearoid Reidy
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A recent trip to the ski slopes of Niigata brought home the consequences of the 40 million visitors expected in Japan in 2025: the gigantic suitcases blocking my way on the Shinkansen; the overworked staff in Japanese hotels; the buses held up interminably by tourists unaware of how to pay, and unable to ask.
Small inconveniences like these are stacking up in a country that has rapidly become one of the world’s premier tourism destinations.
