Editing Tourism in Japan (section)

=== Postwar period ===
During the postwar Allied occupation period, most foreign tourists in Japan were GHQ personnel or visitors from the United States. In 1954, Konosuke Matsushita, the founder of Panasonic, contributed an article titled ''The Case for a Tourism-Oriented Nation'' to the ''Bungei Shunju''. Matsushita argued that tourism could be considered a form of trade, and he pointed out that while exporting goods involves depleting Japan's resources, scenic attractions such as Mount Fuji and the Seto Inland Sea remain unchanged no matter how often they are viewed. He proposed that revenue earned through inbound tourism could be reinvested in other industries, and help rebuild the country's economy beyond its pre-war stature.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Antoku |first=Masanori |date=1 April 2020 |title=松下幸之助「観光立国の辨」～わが国インバウンド観光論の先駆け～ |url=https://niu.repo.nii.ac.jp/records/1544 |journal=紀要論文}}</ref>
[[File:JAL B747-400(JA8916) (4184195679).jpg|thumb|The Visit Japan campaign, launched by the [[Junichiro Koizumi#Prime minister|Koizumi administration]] in 2003 with the catchphrase '''Yokoso! Japan!''<nowiki/>', was the country's first government-backed initiative to promote inbound tourism.]]
For much of post-war period, Japan has been an exceptionally unattractive tourist destination for its population and GDP size. According to the [[International Monetary Fund|IMF]], [[World Trade Organization|WTO]], and [[OECD]], from 1995 to 2014, it was by far the least visited country.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/ST.INT.ARVL?end=2014&locations=US-JP-DE-GB-FR-IT-CA&most_recent_value_desc=true&start=1995|title=International tourism, number of arrivals - United States, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Canada {{!}} Data|website=data.worldbank.org|access-date=2020-03-16}}</ref> As of 2013, Japan was one of the least visited countries in the [[OECD]] on a per capita basis.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-countries-where-youre-surrounded-by-tourists/|title=The Countries Where You're Surrounded By Tourists|last=Silver|first=Nate|date=2014-08-18|website=FiveThirtyEight|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-16}}</ref> Japan avoided campaigns to attract inbound tourists, especially because its large current account surplus had caused international friction with some countries. There were also factors such as Japan being the world's most expensive countries at the time (for example, Tokyo was rated by the [[Economist Intelligence Unit]] as the most expensive city in the world for 14 years in a row ending in 2006), as well as the language barrier.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-01-26 |title=日本人は｢失われた30年｣の本質をわかってない |url=https://toyokeizai.net/articles/-/325346?page=4 |access-date=2024-12-29 |website=東洋経済オンライン |language=ja}}</ref>

==== Active promotion of inbound tourism (21st century) ====
From 2013, under the [[Shinzo Abe#Second term as prime minister (2012–2014)|Abe administration]], policies to attract international tourists were implemented to offset the shrinking domestic demand caused by population decline and ageing. As a result, by 2014, for the first time in 55 years, income from foreign tourists exceeded the amount spent by Japanese tourists abroad, which means Japan finally ran a tourism surplus. Within six years, the number of international visitors has more than tripled, reaching 31.9 million visitors in 2019.<ref name="Jan2024PR">{{cite web | title=2023 Visitor Arrivals & Japanese Overseas Travelers(Compared to 2019) |website=Japan National Tourism Organization |date=17 January 2024| url=https://www.jnto.go.jp/news/20240117_monthly.pdf | access-date=19 January 2024}}</ref> Japan received a record 36.87 million tourist arrivals in 2024, an increase of over 47% from the year prior.