Let's fly to Sunshine Land

Japan hopes to bring in 40 million tourists in 2020, which is almost a third of its population. Why is the country so eager to attract so many foreigners? Perhaps, as a common thread among multiple news stories, Japan is trying to aleve its aging population crisis. Young tourists are a great way to stimulate the restaurant, hotel, and omiyage industries, which might otherwise be dying due to Japan’s shrinking working-age population. In addition, foreigners might be inspired to live and/or work in Japan after experiencing it firsthand, so tourism can also lead to immigration.

However, Japan’s choice of which countries’ citizens it wants visiting seems to change a lot depending on the current political climate. Nearby neighbor South Korea used to be the largest source of tourists. However, ties between South Korea and Japan have worsened, perhaps due to stories like the Rising Sun flag controversy from 2012, but more likely due to South Korean courts asking Japan for WWII reparation payments again.

So, Japan is limiting flights between it and Korea, and trying to “replace” them with more Chinese tourists. As a result, the Chinese tourist count has increased by 25% in just one year, up to 819,000, and weekly flights from Narita airport to China will quadruple from 99 to 410 by March 2021.

Is this rapid increase of Chinese tourism good for Japan? Perhaps, if it can be maintained. However, the relations between Japan, China, and Korea seem very precarious, and could change at any moment. If Japan wants a steady source of tourism, this might not be the perfect solution they’re looking for. I also wonder how well the airports (such as Narita) cope with sudden changes in country destinations, from many South Korean flights one year, to many Chinese flights the next year.

Given the current rivalry between China and United States at the moment, perhaps Japan’s easing of restrictions on Chinese flights is Japan’s way of becoming more amicable with China (while still being friends with USA). In the past, Japan has wanted to integrate with the Western world, with organizations like the G7, while perhaps distancing themselves from China (back then a developing country). In the 1990s, Japan’s GDP was seven times China’s, and my father recalls that consumer goods were labeled with “Made in Japan” instead of “Made in China”.

As such, China is a relatively new player in this worldwide arena. So, maybe Japan wants to make sure they’re on China’s good side as China grows more powerful. Frequent tourism between the two countries is a good way to make two populations feel closer! Since the Meiji period, Japan’s strategy seems to have been to ally with (or imitate) whichever countries were the most economically powerful, and this might not be an exception!