世論 What Japan Thinks

If you have been following the Japanese blogs or news wires this week, you surely must have seen headlines like – well, I thought I saw headlines, but they now seem to have disappeared! Anyway, there was quite a bit of fuss about 53% of Japanese seeing public safety problems due to an increase in tourism, but what is the truth behind that headline? Read the full details from the survey by the Cabinet Office Japan into Tourism Nation Japan and the Japan Tourism Agency.

Demographics

3,000 adults from all over the country were randomly selected from resident registers, and they were visited for face-to-face interviews between the 16th and 26th of October 2008. 1,853 people, or 61.8%, were available and completed the questionnaire. A breakdown by age and sex was not presented, however.

Note that the questions below were part of a bigger survey on other unreported topics.

Q3 is the question that has sparked the controversy, with the negative answers being singled out. My personal opinion is that since the increase in tourism is mostly from Korea and China, countries with none-too-friendly a view of Japan, and the Chinese especially have a reputation for being ill-mannered, and they are the biggest foreign criminal element in Japan, I can see one reason why the figure is high. Of course, one has to contrast that with the equally large percentage who expect the increase in tourists to decrease such prejudice through mutual understanding.

Research results

First, the respondents were shown a card setting out the government position. To summarise, in order to develop the economy in the 21st century they aim to make tourism one of the pillars of the country’s economy with their “Realising a Tourism Nation” (my translation, but bad enough to be official) scheme. In 2010 they want to welcome 10 million foreign tourists (8.35 million in 2007) and have a domestic tourism spend of 30 trillion yen. (That is around 1 million yen, or 10,000 dollars per tourist including domestic travelers, which seems rather improbable to me!) In order to coordinate matters at the government level, the Japan Tourism Agency was established on the first of October 2008.

Now, on to the questions.

Q1: Do you know about the Japan Tourism Agency that was established on the 1st of October 2008? (Sample size=1,853)

Know the name and the details	10.8%
Just heard the name	25.0%
Don’t know about it	64.1%

Q2: Compared to several years ago, how do you feel the number of foreign tourists has changed? (Sample size=1,853)

Increased	50.6%
Perhaps increased	29.4%
Perhaps decreased	4.2%
Decreased	1.8%
Don’t know	14.0%

Q3: How do you think regarding the increase in foreign tourists? Choose all of the following that apply. (Sample size=1,853, multiple answer)

Worries on public safety, and some counter-measures will be needed	51.8%
International exchange deepens mutual understanding	50.7%
Streets will become lively, local economy invigorated	40.8%
Much trouble will occur in local society	27.3%
Will increase desire for people to travel overseas themselves	16.0%
Each citizen’s spirit of hospitality will improve	14.7%
Due to setting up of signboards, etc, the built environment will become more liveable	13.2%
Not just English but other language signage will increase, making things difficult to see	9.8%
Hotels’ atmosphere, service will change making it harder for domestic travel	6.9%
Other	0.7%
Don’t know	5.7%

Q4: On account of the increase in foreign tourists what sorts of facilities is it important that the government promote? (Sample size=1,853, multiple answer)

Overseas public relations efforts on the appeal of Japan	51.3%
Sufficient foreign laguage signage at airports, stations, tourist areas, hotels, etc	47.0%
Upgrading lodgings to meet foreigners’ needs	33.9%
Forming tourist areas that are attractive to foreigners	32.0%
Sufficient public trasport between airports and tourist areas	28.4%
Sufficient overseas air services	21.9%
Fostering the spirit of hospitality in each citizen	19.5%
Easing of visa regulations, speeding up of immigration procedures	16.5%
Promote cashless cards, ATM support for foreign cards	16.4%
Other	1.5%
Nothing in particular	7.4%
Don’t know	4.9%

Q5: If there were what kind of things would you think about going on a domestic holiday? (Sample size=1,853, multiple answer)

If hotel costs or entry fees were cheaper	59.6%
If travel were cheaper	47.7%
If there were attractive hotels, onsens	40.4%
If could take holidays together with family	39.7%
If could take longer holidays	38.4%
If there were attractive tourist areas (including food, souvenirs)	37.1%
If there were attractive travel items	19.9%
If there were barrier-free facilities	16.7%
Other	1.3%
Nothing in particular	6.1%
Don’t know	1.0%

Q6: In order to realise Tourism Country Japan, which of the following facilities is it particularly important that the Japan Tourism Agency tackle? (Sample size=1,853, multiple answer)

Build attractive tourist areas	58.6%
Create an environment where it is easy to go on holiday (promote holiday taking, etc)	46.5%
Tourism-related human resource development	34.4%
Strengthen international competitiveness of tourism (foreign tourist-facing lodging upgrades, etc)	27.0%
Promote foreigner travel to Japan	23.7%
Promote Japanese travel overseas	16.6%
Hold, invite international conferences	15.1%
Nothing in particular	6.2%
Don’t know	4.9%