Visitors to Japan Top 10 Million at Fastest Pace

Tokyo, June 15 (Jiji Press)--The number of visitors to Japan this year exceeded 10 million on June 5, reaching the threshold at the fastest pace ever, Japan Tourism Agency Commissioner Akihiko Tamura said Wednesday. In 2015, the 10-million line was reached on July 15. At a press conference, however, Tamura stopped short pf giving a forecast for the number of foreign visitors to Japan for the whole of 2016, citing growing uncertainties over the world economy, the yen's continuing strength and the impacts of a series of strong earthquakes in Kumamoto Prefecture and other parts of the Kyushu southwestern Japan region in April. The Japan National Tourism Organization announced Wednesday that the estimated number of visitors to Japan in May stood at 1,893,600, up 15.3 pct from a year earlier and the highest on record for the month. The rise reflected increases in visitors from China, Southeast Asian and European nations, the United States and Australia, on the back of expanding international flight services and a rise in the number of cruise ships visiting Japan, the JNTO said. Meanwhile, the pace of the year-on-year rise was the slowest since the beginning of this year, in the wake of the earthquakes in Kumamoto. The number of visitors from South Korea dropped 4.2 pct to 302,100, down for the first time since June 2014, although the visitor number was the third largest by country or region. Many South Koreans like to visit Kyushu because the region is close to the country. Tamura said that the number of South Korean visitors would have been about 100,000 more than the reported figure had it not been for the earthquakes. The number of visitors from mainland China was the highest, at 507,200, up 31.0 pct, followed by those from Taiwan, at 375,500, up 10.5 pct. The number of visitors from the United States, the Philippines, Malaysia and Australia each rose sharply. END