3 foreign students to study ways to attract foreign tourists

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Nessie at 04:05 PM JST - 27th October

The bottom line -- if locals don't want foreign tourists, nothing the central government does will work. And the places where locals are least eager to have foreign tourists are the places that could benefit the most.

I was at a ryokan yesterday and the staff asked if I would have trouble fitting into the yukata. I'm 177 cm and average weight. She made it sound like Lucy Lawless would be squeezing into a size 4 dress. What a moron!

And the service at this onsen is more friendly and used to foreigners than at many ryokan.
northlondon at 04:28 PM JST - 27th October

Here's another issue they can sort out. Restaurants where children are eating where people are allowed to smoke. The Hakone Open Air Art Museum has a fair number of foreign visitors and it is a very child friendly attraction. They have plenty of kids playgrounds and fun things to do. Their cafe restaurant is surrounded by wide open spaces and a a large park where people could smoke away. Yet they still allow idiots to sit down and smoke when kids are also sat in there eating their food. That would be a child passive smoking court case waiting to happen in any western country.
northlondon at 04:43 PM JST - 27th October

Also the 'no tattoos in the onsen' policy aimed towards foreigners is something else that offends visitors. Their reasoning for stating no tattoos is because of a history of Japanese yakuza frightening other customers by their appearance or causing trouble at the onsen. Quite why the Japanese aim their policy towards foreigners is a mystery because a) no foreigner can ever be a yakuza (unless you are in a fictional Quentin Tarantino movie) and b) western style tattoos do not cover the whole body. I have heard Japanese people trying to excuse it as how they don't like to see body tattoos in a scenic onsen bath. But there again, why should foreign visitors have to look at men with dioxide bleached hair and fake orange suntans ? Maybe the English onsen guidance should also say 'no entrance to ridiculously shaved eyebrows'.
NetteMarie at 07:49 PM JST - 27th October

WHY DIDN'T THEY PICK ME!? I could give them more than a little 2 cents.
NetteMarie at 07:49 PM JST - 27th October

Or 3 cents.
tokyofun1 at 08:04 PM JST - 27th October

how about asking people who have been here for more than 3 months...we actually know the poss and negs....as well as WHAT NEEDS to be fixed.....like discrimination....etc....
as_the_crow_flies at 09:49 PM JST - 27th October

They are also expected to study how Japan can make use of networks of foreign residents to promote tourism, the officials said.

Mm, sure they'll be able to do that, after all they are foreigners too. They'll find we're all falling over ourselves to promote tourism. For the love of it, of course.

.....achieve Tokyo’s target to increase the number of foreign tourists to 20 million in 2020. The interns will work four hours a day, two days a week, without financial rewards and transportation fees.

This sounds like a pretty serious challenge they're being set here. Can they rise to the challenge, and raise tourism by 3 million people apiece? Surely at least they could get a few discounts on bus tickets. Seems a bit tuff, expecting them to walk everywhere, specially considering they're unpaid. I hope a least they get a few vouchers for the local soup kitchen, or some sponsorship deal with Family Mart for free unsold bentos. Still, mustn't be greedy, Japan inc is on hard times... Just as an afterthought, how many hundreds of thousands of tourism students did they pitch this to, in order to net three suckers, I wonder?
onewrldoneppl at 09:50 PM JST - 27th October

if japan would like to attract more tourists, why not try to end their systemic elitist/jingoist attitudes towards their southeast-asian neighbours. millions of japanese can visit india, thailand and (even) vietnam while feeling at ease but, the same cannot be said for the citizens of these countries when they visit japan.
realist at 10:56 PM JST - 27th October

This bis one of the most ridiculous stories I have read here for some time. Is this for real? Why not ask the opinions of those gaijin who live in this country? The J Governments "Yokoso Japan!" campaign is a big joke. The Japanese do not want or desire foreigners, so truthfully said the now ousted Nakayama. Most hotels and ryokans are no welcoming to foreigners. Some so-called "tourist spots" like "Nikko is Nippon" (sic)are among the most unfriendly places you could have the misfortune to visit anywhere. The Japanese are a xenophobic nation, and it is bred into them from an early age. Just peruse the Yomiuri Shimbuns webpages on "Education" and you will find explanations for J kids about the necessity for fingerprinting and photographing the awful gaijin upon arrival at Japan`s borders, to protect holy Japan from foreign crime and foreign terrorism. Nothing like the truth ofb the matter, where 99% of crime in Japan is by the Japanese themselves, and that goes for "terrorism" too. Instead of wasting the time of these young people, start working on the education system, by making it less racist and xenophobic. Also, outlaw all disrimination in Japan - especially racial discrimination, which abounds here in many forms and guises. Remove all signs which read "Japanese Only" and "Only pure blooded Japanese males mey enter here" and throw the culprits in jail, then maybe we will start to believe that Japan is serious about wanting more foreign tourists. Japan has a lifetime to go in order to catch up with other, much more tourist-friendly places such as Thailand, etc.
temporaryVisa at 11:08 PM JST - 27th October

Make sure you fingerprint them and check their bags for drugs when they enter the country. They are foreigners after all.
ichinensei at 03:06 AM JST - 28th October

reduce the JR pass price and let us go on the Nozomi.. Also, we should be given a free guide to show us around... not the major touristy spots but the more quirky places that no gaijins know about. By the way, I can still not wear any Yukatas at Toyoko Inn.. Too small.. I always hear ripping sound when I try to put them on...maybe bigger ones would be nice,
DeepAir65 at 03:39 PM JST - 28th October

the biggest issue now is the strength of the yen - who can afford to come here? Personally I am looking forward to my shopping trip, sorry holiday, overseas to spend my yen elsewhere
thedeath at 01:26 PM JST - 29th October

Japan Tourism Agency "ask" three foreign students to come

"study how Japan can make use of networks of foreign residents to promote tourism"

---------But----------

"The interns will work" "without financial rewards and transportation fees."

----------Then they also----------

"expect them to advertise Japan after returning to their own countries"

----------hum...----------
kview at 10:40 PM JST - 29th October

Hopefully these 3 students acquired Japanese language to a communicable standard before coming for the research. Communications breakdown would hinder their work. If they could compile an indepth report of sort. The Agency should have source foreign guides who are not permanent residents in Japan. This way they would not only be getting feed backs from these guides but also from the visitors they come across.
nandakandamanda at 10:26 PM JST - 31st October

The authorities already know what the problems here are, but the problems must appear too deep to treat. It's easier to invite someone in from abroad to give some surface recommendations. People at the top will be seen to be doing something, and more breathing space will have been achieved in which to do nothing. Few will pay attention to the three research students, even if they are able to see below any of the layers.