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Use of traditional Chinese signs growing in Japan

Representatives of the tourism industry said that as more Taiwanese tourists have visited Japan in recent years, scenic spots there have increasingly been displaying traditional Chinese on their signs.

Tourism Bureau Secretary-General Wu Chao-yen (吳朝彥) said the use of traditional Chinese was welcomed by Taiwanese tourists, adding that while the bureau had communicated with tourist organizations in other countries on the matter, the bureau was in no position to make decisions for them.

Taiwanese tourists visiting Japan have discovered that an increasing number of signs that initially had only featured simplified Chinese now included traditional Chinese.

Huang Chuan-sheng (黃傳盛), a tourist guide specializing in Japan, said that the large number of Taiwanese tourists traveling to Japan in recent years has made Japanese understand that the Chinese characters used in Taiwan are different from those used in China.

Taiwan's lack of diplomatic relations, in addition to China's oppression of Taiwan's visibility in the international community, mean that most tourist signs in other countries are in simplified Chinese, even in neighboring countries such as South Korea and Japan.

Huang said that the number of Taiwanese tourists traveling to Japan was second only to the number from South Korea.

He said that since the middle of last year, signs in traditional Chinese had begun appearing at many well-known Japanese tourist destinations.
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