![\"jp.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/temp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/jp.jpg\")
<\/p>\nHyperbolic, kitty-cute, switched-on, serene.<\/p>\n
Whether you end up taking photos of a reproduction Eiffel Tower, surfing an indoor wave, musing in a Zen temple, shacking…<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hyperbolic, kitty-cute, switched-on, serene.Whether you end up taking photos of a reproduction Eiffel Tower, surfing an indoor wave, musing in a Zen temple, shacking up in a love hotel or kipping down in a capsule, you’ll do best to come with an open mind and be prepared to be surprised.<\/p>\n
Somewhere between the elegant formality of Japanese manners and the candid, sometimes boisterous exchanges that take place over a few drinks, between the sanitised shopping malls and the unexpected rural festivals, everyone finds their own vision of Japan.<\/p>\n
Japan: When to Go
\nSpring (March to May), with its clear skies and cherry blossoms, is probably the most celebrated Japanese season, but the Golden Week period, which is 29 April to 7 May, is a holiday period for the Japanese and many of the more popular travel destinations tend to be flooded with domestic tourists. Autumn (September to November) is a great time to travel: the temperatures are pleasant, and the autumn colours in the countryside are fantastic. Mid-winter (December to February) can be very cold, while the sticky summer months (June to August) can turn even the briefest excursion out of the air conditioning into a soup bath; on the plus side, major tourist attractions will generally be quieter at these times of the year. It’s also worth considering peak holiday seasons when you plan your trip. Moving around and finding accommodation during New Year, Golden Week and the midsummer O-Bon festival can be a real headache.<\/p>\n
Weather
\nAffected by seasonal wind reversal from the southerly monsoon, Japan has a quite different climate to its Asian neighbours of the same latitude. You can expect the warmer temperatures of the south to cool as you move north so that the average July day is about 28\u00b0C (83\u00b0F) around the southern islands and only 23\u00b0C (73\u00b0F) near Hokkaido. Most of the year, the climate is moderate, but in winter it’s cold throughout most of the country, with the exception of southern Ky\u016bsh\u016b and Okinawa. Rainfall varies across the nation but is quite regular the year round and usually just a bit heavier during the June rainy season (which misses Hokkaid\u014d).<\/p>\n
Japan: Events
\nExpect a total sell-out for travel and lodging during Japan’s biggest holidays, New Year (December 29 to January 3) and Golden Week (the lumping together of Green Day, Constitution Day and Children’s Day, from April 29 to May 7). Other festivals include Coming-of-Age Day (second Monday in January), when ceremonies are held for boys and girls who have reached the age of 20. The Japanese celebrate the end of winter on February 3 or 4 by indulging in Setsubun (bean throwing) while chanting ‘in with good fortune, out with the devils’. Hanami (Blossom Viewing) usually runs from March to April; the romantic Tanabata Matsuri (Star Festival) is on July 7; and O Bon (Festival of the Dead), when lanterns are floated on rivers, lakes or the sea to signify the return of the departed to the underworld, takes place from July 13-16 and mid-August.<\/p>\n
Kyoto’s Gion Matsuri (July 17) is perhaps the most renowned of all Japanese festivals. The climax is a parade of massive man-dragged floats decked out in incredible finery, harking back to a 9th-century request to the gods to end a plague sweeping the city. In the cute and kooky department, Niramekko Obisha (January 20; Chiba) combines a staring contest with consumption of sake – the one with the straightest face wins. The Yah-Yah Matsuri (first Sunday to the following Saturday of February; Owase) is an argument contest: competitors scream Samurai chants and try to look fearsome. Afterwards, they take off all their clothes and jump in the ocean. White Day (March 14) is a bizarre follow up to Valentine’s Day where men are supposed to reciprocate to their valentine with a gift of chocolate or marshmallow. For those into music, the Fuji Rock Festival is held over three days in late July at the Naeba Ski Resort in northwest Japan. This festival boasts an awesome lineup of local and international bands playing against a mountain backdrop.<\/p>\n
Japan: Sights
\nJapan is such a kaleidoscopic jumble of ritual and history, neo-this and mega-that, full-colour countercultures, verdant islands and urban wastelands, past scars and future dreams, gardens, shrines and glittering cities that the only trouble will be fitting it all in.<\/p>\n
Daisetsuzan National Park
\nPhone tel: (0166) 924 378 (info) Transport bus: to the park interior from Asahikawa, Furano, Biei, Kamikawa, Kitami & Obihiro Keyword mountain, national park, lake Sometimes spelled ‘Taisetsuzan’, this is Japan’s largest national park, consisting of several mountain groups, volcanoes, hot springs, lakes and forests. It also includes Asahi-dake, at 2290m (7557ft) Hokkaid\u014d’s highest peak. The park is spectacular hiking and skiing territory, but bear in mind that a few days are needed to get away from tourist areas.<\/p>\n
If you have limited time, Asahidake Onsen is a good spot for a quick look at the park. Tokachidake Onsen is more remote and may be good for those wanting to escape the crowds (a key consideration in summer and early autumn). There are a couple of hikes on the more well-trodden trails here, but there are also many more routes leading to more remote regions if you have several days, or even a week, to spare.<\/p>\n
Hiking and other information with some English-language text is available at tourist information offices in the larger towns and destinations.<\/p>\n
Iriomote-jima
\nAddress Okinawa region Transport boat: from Ishigaki-jima Keyword island Dense jungle blankets much of Iriomote-jima, an island that could well qualify as Japan’s last frontier. Trekking through the interior, you may find leeches, which in Japan is probably good enough to merit the ‘wilderness’ tag. The island’s major attractions are beaches, rivers and waterfalls, and the rarely seen Iriomote yamaneko (wildcat).<\/p>\n
Much easier to find are the curious sakishimasuo trees, with their twisting, ribbon-like root buttresses. You’ll find them all over the island, but particularly along the coast north of \u014chara.<\/p>\n
Iriomote-jima has several small towns and a perimeter road that runs about halfway around the coast. No roads run into the interior, which is virtually untouched.<\/p>\n
The island’s number-one attraction is a trip up the Urauchi-gawa, a winding brown river a lot like a tiny stretch of the Amazon. From where the boats stop, it’s a half-hour walk to the spectacular waterfalls, Mariyud\u014d-no-taki, and long, rapids-like Kampir\u0113-no-taki. There are some good swimming holes around the falls.<\/p>\n
There are some great walks in Iriomote-jima’s jungle-clad interior. To get to the falls you wade across the shallow lagoon from the causeway, plod through the mangroves behind the lagoon and then follow the river up to the base of the falls. At high tide, you can rent a kayak and paddle across. A path branches off from the river and climbs to the top of the falls, from where there are superb views down to the coast.<\/p>\n
Kamakura Daibutsu
\nAddress Kamakura Phone tel: (0467) 22 3350 (info) Transport rail: Yokosuka line Hours 09:00 – 17:00 Keyword religious\/spiritual, monument, religious\/spiritual The Kamakura Daibutsu (Great Buddha) was completed in 1252 and is Kamakura’s most famous sight. Once housed in a huge hall, the statue now sits in the open, its home having been washed away by a tsunami (tidal wave) in 1495. Cast in bronze, the statue is 11.4m (37.4ft) tall.<\/p>\n
Its construction is said to have been inspired by Yoritomo’s visit to Nara (where there is another, even bigger, daibutsu) after the Minamoto clan’s victory over the rival Taira clan. Even though Kamakura’s Daibutsu doesn’t quite match Nara’s in stature, it is commonly agreed that it is artistically superior. The Buddha itself is the Amida Buddha ( amit\u0101bha in Sanskrit), worshipped by the followers of the J\u014ddo (Pure Land) school as a figure of salvation.<\/p>\n
To get to the Daibutsu, take a bus from the No 2, 7 or 10 bus stop in front of Kamakura station and get off at the Daibutsu-mae stop. Alternatively, take the Enoden Enoshima line to Hase station and walk north for 10 minutes.<\/p>\n
Kinkasan
\nTransport small boat: Apr-Nov catamarans from Onagawa
\nferry: Apr-Nov from Ayukawa Keyword island Kinkasan (Golden Mountain) is one of the three holiest places in T\u014dhoku. Women were banned until the late 19th century. An overnight stay is ideal for those seeking tranquillity from frenetic Japanese life. The island features a pyramid-shaped mountain (445m\/1460ft), an impressive shrine, a handful of houses around the boat dock and mostly untended trails.<\/p>\n
There is no tourist information, no Internet and no convenience store on the island – so come prepared. Most visitors seem to be day-trippers, which means the island is delightfully deserted in the early morning and late afternoon.<\/p>\n
Kyoto Imperial Palace Park
\nAddress Kamigy\u014d-ku, Kyoto Phone : (075) 211 1215 Keyword park The Kyoto Gosho is surrounded by the spacious Imperial Palace Park, which is planted with a huge variety of flowering trees and open fields. It’s perfect for picnics, strolls and just about any sport you can think of. The park is most beautiful in the plum- and cherry-blossom seasons (March and April respectively).<\/p>\n
Take some time to visit the pond at the park’s southern end, which contains gorgeous carp.<\/p>\n
Matsuyama-j\u014d
\nAddress Matsuyama Phone tel: (089) 921 4873 (info) Hours 08:30 – 18:00
\nLast entry 17:30 Keyword castle Picturesquely sited atop a hill that virtually erupts in the middle of the town, Matsuyama-j\u014d is one of Japan’s finest original surviving castles. It only squeaks in with the ‘original’ label, as it was restored just before the end of the Edo period. In the early years of the Meiji Restoration, rebuilding feudal symbols was definitely not high priority.<\/p>\n
The castle was built in 1602-03 with five storeys; it burnt down and was rebuilt in 1642 with only three storeys. In 1784 it was struck by lightning and burnt down once again and, in those peaceful and torpid Edo years, it took until 1820 for a decision to be made to rebuild it and until 1854 for the reconstruction to be completed! It was completely restored between 1968-86.<\/p>\n
You don’t have to climb the steep hill up to the castle; a cable car and\/or chairlift will whisk you up there. Consider walking down the back slopes of the castle hill to see Ninomaru Shiseki Tei-en.<\/p>\n
Mt Fuji
\nPhone tel: (0555) 22 7000 (info)
\ntel: (0555) 3201 3331 (info)
\ntel: (0555) 72 6700 (info) Keyword mountain Japan’s highest mountain stands 3776m (12,388ft) high. When it’s capped with snow, it’s a picture-postcard perfect volcanic cone. Fuji-san last blew in 1707, covering the streets of Tokyo with volcanic ash. On an exceptionally clear day, you can see Mt Fuji from Tokyo, 100km (62mi) away, but on many days it’s wreathed with clouds.<\/p>\n
Your best chance of seeing the notoriously shy mountain is in the late autumn, winter and early spring when the air is fairly clear. Even during these times, the mountain may only be visible in the morning before it retreats behind a curtain of haze or clouds.<\/p>\n
You can get a classic view of Mt Fuji from the shinkansen (bullet train) as it passes the city of Fuji (sit on the northern side of the train). But the best and closest views are from the Fuji Go-ko region where, on a clear day, the hulking presence of the mountain seems to fill the sky.<\/p>\n
Officially, the climbing season on Mt Fuji is from 1 July to 31 August. Actually, you can climb Mt Fuji at any time of year, and it may be preferable to do so just outside the official season to avoid the crowds, but keep in mind that transport services may be less frequent and some of the huts may be closed. Of course, any time there’s snow on the mountain you’ll need the proper equipment and experience to climb Mt Fuji, and a midwinter ascent is strictly for expert mountaineers.<\/p>\n
You want to reach the top at dawn – both to see goraiko (sunrise) and because early morning is the time when the mountain is least likely to be shrouded in cloud. Sometimes it takes an hour or two to burn the morning mist off, however. You do not want to arrive on the top too long before dawn, as it’s likely to be very cold and windy, and if you’ve worked up a sweat during the climb, you’ll be very uncomfortable.<\/p>\n
Tokyo National Museum
\nAddress 13-9 Ueno-k\u014den, Taito-ku, Tokyo Phone tel: (03) 3822 1111 (info) Hours Tue-Thu & Sun 09:30 – 18:00
\nApr-Dec during special exhibitions , Fri open til 20:00 Web www.tnm.jp Keyword museum The Tokyo National Museum is the one museum in Tokyo that is worth going out of your way to visit. Not only is it Japan’s largest museum, housing some 87,000 items, it also has the world’s largest collection of Japanese art. Only a portion of the museum’s huge collection is displayed at any one time.<\/p>\n
The museum has four galleries, the most important of which is the Main Hall (Hon-kan). It houses a very impressive collection of Japanese art, from sculpture and swords to lacquerware and calligraphy. The Gallery of Eastern Antiquities has a collection of art and archaeological finds from all of Asia east of Egypt. The Hy\u014dkei-kan has a collection of Japanese archaeological finds.<\/p>\n
There is a room devoted to artefacts once used by the Ainu, the indigenous people of Hokkaid\u016b. And perhaps best of all, there is the Gallery of H\u014dry\u016bji Treasures, which houses some of Japan’s most important Buddhist artworks, all from H\u014dry\u016b-ji in Nara.<\/p>\n
Japan: Money & Costs
\nCash is still king in Japan, although the use of credit cards is pretty widespread in major cities for purchases in department stores and hotels. The Japanese are used to a very low crime rate and often carry wads of cash for the almost sacred ritual of cash payment. Foreign travellers can safely copy the cash habit, but should still take the usual precautions.<\/p>\n
Currency
\nName Japanese yen
\nSymbol \u00a5 Banknotes come in denominations of 1000, 2000, 5000 and 10,000 yen (the 2000 yen notes are very rarely seen).<\/p>\n
Coins come in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 50, 100 and 500 yen. The \u00a51 coin is an aluminium lightweight coin, the \u00a55 and \u00a550 coins have a punched hole in the middle (the former is coloured bronze and the latter silver). Note that some vending machines do not accept older \u00a5500 coins (a South Korean coin of much less value was often used in its place to rip off vending machines).<\/p>\n
Changing Your Money
\nYou can change cash or travellers cheques at an ‘Authorised Foreign Exchange Bank’ or at major post offices and some of the large hotels and stores but few other places. US dollars are preferred; trying to exchange Taiwanese or Korean currency is a fruitless task. The majority of ATMs do not accept foreign-issued bank cards, although post office ATMs are an exception. Look out for the Cirrus or Plus logos or check with your bank before departure.<\/p>\n
Money Tips
\nJapan is one the most expensive countries in Asia, if not the world for travel, but there are ways of keeping the outlays to a just-about bearable level. A skeleton daily budget, assuming you stay in the cheapest hostels, eat modestly and travel short distances, would work out to US$60.00 . Add about US$10.00 for extras like snacks, drinks, admission fees and entertainment. Staying in business or deluxe hotels and eating in pricey restaurants can easily have the ticker tipping US$200.00 . Long-distance travel is a real budget buster in Japan – if you intend to travel around to different places, it’s well worth investing in a Japan Rail Pass. At the other end of the spectrum, high rollers will have no problems off-loading their cash. Japan specialises in establishments catering to the ostentatious flattery of business accounts – the higher the bill, the greater the prestige of the guests.<\/p>\n
Sample Price Guide
\nlitre of milk 190 12 eggs 300 cheap bowl of noodles 400 average temple\/museum admission 500 simple restaurant meal 1000 youth hostel accommodation 2800 internet per hour 500 developing a roll of 36 exposure film 600 Average Room Prices
\nLow Mid High Deluxe
\n\u00a52800-3850 \u00a53850-7700 \u00a57700-20000 \u00a520000+
\nAverage Meal Prices
\nLow Mid High Deluxe
\n\u00a5550-880 \u00a5880-2700 \u00a52700-5000 \u00a55000+<\/p>\n
Tipping
\nThere is little tipping or bargaining in Japan. If you want to show your gratitude to someone, give them a gift rather than a tip.<\/p>\n
Japan: Getting there & around
\nGetting There
\nWhile most people fly via Tokyo, there are several other ways of getting to and from Japan. For a start, there are many other airports in Japan, some of which make better entry points than Tokyo’s somewhat inconvenient new Tokyo international airport (commonly known as Narita international airport). It’s also possible to arrive in Japan by sea from a number of nearby countries, particularly South Korea.<\/p>\n
Getting Around
\nFlying is an efficient way to travel from the main islands to any of the small islands, and is often not much more expensive than going by rail. Check whether you qualify for discounts – there are some weird and wonderful ones (for example JAL offers discounts for three or more women travelling together, or for a husband and wife if their combined age totals 88 or more). Train is the way to travel in Japan. The trains are fast, frequent, clean, comfortable and often very expensive. Services range from small local lines to the shinkansen super-expresses, or ‘bullet trains’, which have become a symbol of modern Japan. Shinkansen reach speeds of up to 300km\/h (186mi\/h), are spookily efficient and can be travelled on with one of Japan’s few travel bargains, the Japan Rail Pass. Japan Rail Passes must be pre-purchased overseas and are valid for almost all Japan Rail services. Intercity buses are generally slower than trains, but they are markedly cheaper. Also, unless you’ve got a sleeper, travelling overnight in a reclining bus seat can be preferable to sitting upright on the train. Check out the Japan Rail Pass if you are going to be a frequent rail user.<\/p>\n
Driving in Japan is much more feasible than it’s normally made out to be. You wouldn’t want to get behind the wheel in Tokyo, but in other urban centres the roads are fairly well signposted in English, other drivers are mostly considerate and cautious, petrol, while expensive, is not prohibitively so, and parking is not as difficult to find as popular mythology suggests. Motorcycling can be a great way of getting around Japan; 50cc ‘step-thrus’ are often available for local sightseeing, and you don’t need a motorbike licence to drive one. Traffic in Japan moves on the left.<\/p>\n
Exploring Japan by bicycle is perfectly feasible. The secret of enjoyable touring is to get off the busy main highways and onto the minor routes. Ferries are an excellent way of seeing parts of Japan you might otherwise miss. The most dense network of ferry routes connects Ky\u016bsh\u016b, Shikoku and the southern coast of western Honsh\u016b, across the waters of the Inland Sea. Ferries also connect the mainland islands with the many smaller islands off the coast and those dotted down to Okinawa and beyond to Taiwan.<\/p>\n
Local transport is generally efficient. The largest cities have subway systems, which are the fastest and most convenient way to get around. Almost every Japanese city will have a bus service, but many foreigners find buses difficult to use. Trams, which operate in a number of cities, are easier to negotiate. Taxis are convenient but (what a surprise!) expensive.<\/p>\n
Japan: History
\nPre-20th-Century History
\nJapan’s earliest settlers were fishers, hunters and gatherers who slogged over the land bridges from Korea to the west and Siberia to the north. It’s also thought that seafaring migrants from Polynesia were part of the ethnic blend. By AD 300, the fierce Yamato kingdom had loosely unified the nation through conquest and alliance. Buddhism was introduced from China in the mid-6th century and soon became the state religion. Rivalry between Buddhism and Shint\u014d, the traditional religion of Japan, was diffused by presenting Shint\u014d deities as manifestations of Buddha.<\/p>\n
With the empire more or less stable, particularly after the conquest of the indigenous Ainu in the 9th century, Japan’s emperors began to devote more time to leisure and scholarly pursuits and less time to government. Important court posts were dominated by the influential Fujiwara family. Out in the provinces, a new power was on the rise: the samurai, or warrior class, readily turned to arms to defend its autonomy, and began to muscle in on the capital, Heian (modern-day Kyoto). The Taira clan briefly eclipsed the Fujiwara, and were ousted in turn by the Minamoto family in 1185. After assuming the rank of sh\u014dgun (military leader), Minamoto Yoritomo set up his HQ in Kamakura, while the emperor remained the nominal ruler in Kyoto. This was the beginning of a long period of feudal rule by successive military rulers which lingered until imperial power was restored in 1868.<\/p>\n
The feudal centuries can be clunkily split into five main periods. The Kamakura Period (1185-1333) saw several invasion attempts by Kublai Khan’s Mongol armies. Japan managed to stave them off, but a weakened leadership lost the support of the samurai. Emperor Go-Daigo presided over the beginning of the Muromachi Period (1333-1576), until a revolt masterminded by the disgruntled warrior Ashikaga Takauji saw him flee to the hills. Ashikaga and his descendants ruled with gradually diminishing efficiency and Japan slipped into civil war and chaos. The various factions were pacified and unified during the Momoyama Period (1576-1600) by Oda Nobunaga and his successor Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The quick spread of Christianity during the Christian Century (1543-1640) was tolerated at first, then ferociously quashed as the interloping religion came to be seen as a threat. During the Tokugawa Period (1600-1867), Tokugawa Ieyasu defeated Hideyoshi’s young heir and set up his headquarters at Edo (now Tokyo). The emperor continued to exercise purely nominal authority in Kyoto while the Tokugawa family led Japan into a period of national seclusion. Japanese were forbidden to travel overseas or to trade abroad and foreigners were placed under strict supervision. The rigid emphasis of these times on submitting unquestioningly to rules of obedience and loyalty has lasted, some would say, to the present day.<\/p>\n
Modern History
\nBy the turn of the 19th century, the Tokugawa government was stagnant and corrupt. Foreign ships started to probe Japan’s isolation with increasing insistence, and famine and poverty weakened support for the government. In 1868 the ruling sh\u014dgun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, resigned and Emperor Meiji resumed control of state affairs, seeing Japan through a crash course in Westernisation and industrialisation. In 1889 Japan created a Western-style constitution, the tenets of which seeped into national consciousness along with a swing back to traditional values. Japan’s growing confidence was demonstrated by the ease with which it trounced China in the Sino-Japanese War (1894-5) and Russia in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-5). Under Meiji’s son, Yoshihito, Japan sided with the Allies in WWI. Rather than become heavily involved in the conflict, however, Japan took the opportunity, through shipping and trade, to expand its economy at top speed. Emperor Hirohito ascended to the throne in 1926. A rising tide of nationalism was quickened by the world economic depression that began in 1930. Popular unrest led to a strong increase in the power of the militarists: Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 and entered into full-scale hostilities against China in 1937.<\/p>\n
Japan signed a tripartite pact with Germany and Italy in 1940 and, when diplomatic attempts to gain US neutrality failed, the Japanese launched themselves into WWII with a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. At first Japan scored rapid successes, pushing its battle fronts across to India, down to the fringes of Australia and out into the mid-Pacific. The Battle of Midway opened the US counterattack, puncturing Japanese naval superiority and turning the tide of war against Japan. By August 1945, with Japan driven back on all fronts, a declaration of war by the Soviet Union and the release of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it was all over. Emperor Hirohito announced unconditional surrender. Japan was occupied until 1952 by US forces who aimed to demilitarise the country and dismantle the power of the emperor. A recovery programme enabled the economy to expand rapidly, and Japan became the world’s most successful export economy, generating massive trade surpluses and dominating such fields as electronics, robotics, computing, car production and banking.<\/p>\n
With the arrival of the 1990s, the old certainties seemed to vanish: Japan’s legendary economic growth slowed to a virtual standstill; the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was swept out of power and then back in again the next year; a massive earthquake in 1995 brought Kobe to its knees (a disaster made worse by a government that was slow to react); and to top it off, a millennial cult with doomsday ambitions engineered a poison gas attack on the Tokyo subway system.<\/p>\n
Recent History
\nThings began to look up with the appointment of Keizo Obuchi, who took over after Prime Minister Hashimoto was ousted by a voter backlash over the shrinking economy. Obuchi ushered in a few brief years of economic vitality, but the job took its toll and he died while still in office from a massive stroke. His successor, LDP stalwart Yoshiro Mori, held the dubious honour of possessing the lowest approval rating of any leader in recent Japanese history, until he announced his resignation in early April 2001. Mori’s successor was the telegenic Junichiro Koizumi, who brought a beguiling mix of conservatism and reform to Japan’s top job. Promising to end the culture of high-level nepotism that had in part led to the deflation, he distinguishes himself with his charisma and dashing haircut. His energies seem to be paying off: Japan’s economy is ever-so-slowly climbing out of its deflationary hole in the ground.<\/p>\n
Sports-mad eyes turned to Japan in 2002, when the country co-hosted the football World Cup with sometime rival Korea. Though perhaps labelling it a football-led recovery might be a little offside, the Japanese economy settled into a pattern of annual growth: Chinese demand rather than the beautiful game being the key driver.<\/p>\n
The transition to a growing economy has not been stress-free however, as the country abandons many of its old ways of doing things – cradle-to-grave employment, age-based promotion, a strong social safety net, a preference for manufacturing over service industry – in favour of an economy based more closely on the American model. Now, rather than priding itself on being a country where everyone is a member of the middle class, there is talk of a nation composed of two distinct classes: the kachi-gumi (winners) and make-gumi (losers).<\/p>\n
However strong the Japanese economy may be, the trade-weighted value of the yen is hovering at a 21-year low. While this means hard times for Japanese travellers abroad, it’s a boon for foreign travellers to Japan. In 2006, the number of foreign visitors to Japan topped seven million for the first time, with the greatest growth seen in visitors from other Asian countries: visitors from South Korea, China and Singapore were all up by over 20% compared with 2005. Increasing numbers of Western travellers are also coming to Japan.<\/p>\n