Just four months after a devastating earthquake in Japan, a new survey has found tourists are willing to consider the country as a travel destination. The Hotels.com survey found Japan ranked in the top three favourite global destinations, with 86% of respondents saying they would consider going there within the next year. On March 11, a powerful earthquake hit off the coast of Japan, triggering tsunami waves. The disaster destroyed towns and villages, and led to meltdowns at three reactors at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. http://www.torontosun.com/2011/07/26/tourists-open-to-going-to-japan-survey
They plan to visit Japan, it is a consideration and hopefully they do it, because Japan is a beautiful country and Tokyo is a mighty fine capital to visit!
Once tourists see the airfares to Japan and consider the abysmal exchange rate between the dollar and yen they will "consider" otherwise. I love Japan and usually fly there several times a year, but I've been watching the fares between HNL-NRT and have seen nothing that would even remotely tempt me. There are lots of strategies for coping with a poor exchange rate, but when I add everything up the bottom line says "wait!" When it comes time for shelling out cash, I suspect the respondents to this survey would reach the same conclusion, regardless of whether they believe it is safe to travel to Japan.
Safe and happy to do so. Already stopped in Japan once since the earthquake, and have tickets booked for a stop in November. All leisure travel.
Agree, fares are expensive from Europe as well. The panic seems to have subsided though, people understand now that places like Kyoto are safe from radiation. Mind you, earthquakes can and do happen in Japan at any time, past, present, future.
Went with the familyin early April...on a long-planned trip to Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima. Absolutely loved it and we had no hesitation. Surprisngly we had a lot of family and "friends" ask "are you crazy (or stupid)?" and a couple that seriously asked "do you want to die?" before we left. No souvenirs were brought back for those folks! Exchance rate has worsened since then, and it wasn't great at the time but we had factored that in. As we were on award tix the airfare wasn't a factor luckily.