Japan tourist – आवारा मुसाफिर

Japan says swarms of tourists defiling sacred Mt Fuji

September 9, 2023699 Views

On a grey, rainy Saturday a steady stream of tour buses arrive at a base station of Japan's Mount Fuji depositing dozens of lightly dressed foreign tourists in front of souvenir shops and restaurants. The scene evokes a theme park image, not the veneration most Japanese would expect below the 3,776-metre (12,388 ft) mountain worshipped as sacred by the Japanese, and a source of pride for its perfectly symmetrical form. "Hey, no smoking here!" a souvenir store attendant barked, addressing a man dressed in shorts and holding a can of beer in front of the red 'torii' gate symbolising the entrance to the Shinto shrine up ahead. Visitors are seen at the fifth stage on the slopes of Mount Fuji, Japan's highest mountain 3,776 metres (12,388 ft), in Fujiyoshida, Japan, September 9, 2023....

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Sumo retirees play for laughs from tourists flooding back to Japan

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

July 8, 2023803 Views

Ohtori spent his two-decade sumo career struggling for wins so he could to move up the ranks of Japan's traditional sport, but now he is fighting to entertain a different crowd: curious tourists. He is one of six ex-wrestlers putting on sumo demonstrations catering to overseas travellers, who are returning in droves after a two-year COVID-19 blockade as the weaker yen makes such trips cheaper than they have been in decades. A tourist wearing a sumo wrestler costume, tries to spar against former sumo wrestler Towanoyama, on the sumo ring before tourists from abroad, at Yokozuna Tonkatsu Dosukoi Tanaka in Tokyo, Japan June 30. REUTERS/Issei Kato "I want foreigners and Japanese people alike to have a greater understanding of sumo," said Ohtori, 40, whose full ring name, Koto-ohtor...

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Japan reopens to tourists with shuttered souvenir shops, hotel staff shortage

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

October 10, 2022803 Views

As Japan throws open its doors to visitors this week after more than two years of pandemic isolation, hopes for a tourism boom face tough headwinds amid shuttered shops and a shortage of hospitality workers. From Tuesday, Japan will reinstate visa-free travel to dozens of countries, ending some of world's strictest border controls to slow the spread of COVID-19. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is counting on tourism to help invigorate the economy and reap some benefits from the yen's slide to a 24-year low. Arata Sawa is among those eager for the return of foreign tourists, who previously comprised up to 90% of the guests at his traditional inn. FILE PHOTO: Pedestrians wearing protective face masks, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, are seen behind artificial cherry ...