Japan hopes for tourists' return

Japan hopes for tourists' return

FOREIGN tourists remain a rare sight more than a month after Japan suffered the most powerful earthquake in its history.

April should be peak tourist season for Tokyo, famous for the brief but spectacular blossoming of its cherry trees, which signals the start of spring.

But in Asakusa, one of the capital's oldest districts and a major tourist draw, there are no foreign faces to be seen.

"Before the earthquake, Asakusa was quite touristy and very well-known to foreigners," rickshaw driver Yoshiaki Suzuki told AFP.

Japan suffered its largest decline in foreign visitors last month in the wake of the devastating earthquake and tsunami, which left around 28,000 people dead or missing and tens of thousands homeless.

Around 560,000 hotel reservations have been cancelled nationwide, according to government figures, which do not include the worst-hit Iwate and Chiba prefectures.

But as travel warnings issued in the chaotic days that followed the March 11 disaster are eased, many people in Japan say that they hope the tourists will return soon as a show of support for the disaster-stricken country.

"Foreigners think it is dangerous here, with the earthquake and the nuclear accident. Japan is safe. Tokyo is safe," said Mr Uko Komatsuzaki, head of public relations for Tokyo's renowned Imperial Hotel.

~News courtesy of The Star~