Taiwanese were the biggest spenders among foreign visitors to Japan last year, edging out visitors from China for the top spot, Japan Tourism Agency figures showed.
Taiwanese spent about ￥783.5 billion (US$5.16 billion) in Japan over the year, up 42 percent from 2019, the last full year before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Spending soared despite the total number of visitors from Taiwan falling 10.4 percent from 2019, Japan Tourism Agency figures showed.
Photo: Yang Yao-ju, Taipei Times
The increase in spending might have been because of the devaluation of the Japanese yen, which last year was worth 20 to 25 percent less against the New Taiwan dollar than in 2019.
China ranked just behind Taiwan in total spending last year, with 2.36 million visitors spending ￥760.4 billion, followed by South Korea with 6.94 million visitors spending ￥739.2 billion.
Overall, total spending by foreign visitors in Japan hit a record ￥5.31 trillion, up 10.2 percent from 2019, with spending by Taiwanese visitors accounting for 14.8 percent of the total, the data showed.
Taiwanese spent ￥274.2 billion on shopping, ￥220.3 billion on accommodation, ￥167.1 billion on dining, ￥79.8 billion on transportation and ￥41.4 billion on entertainment and other services.
Japan has long been a favored destination of Taiwanese, and that was especially the case after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted in late 2022.
Last year, 4.23 million Taiwanese visited Japan, compared with the 1.76 million who visited China, the second most popular destination, outbound traveler statistics for Taiwan showed.
While Taiwanese spent the most in Japan overall last year, visitors from Australia took the top spot with regards to average spending at ￥341,000 per person, followed by Spain at ￥336,000 and Italy at ￥334,000, the Japan Tourism Agency said.
In related news, Taiwan-Japan Relations Association Deputy Secretary-General Fan Chen-kuo (范振國) yesterday warned people traveling to Japan not to consume or buy products containing red yeast rice.
The reminder came ahead of the Tomb Sweeping Day long weekend, which starts tomorrow, as many Taiwanese are expected to travel to Japan, he said.
The Food and Drug Administration has asked Japan to provide export information on the red yeast rice used by Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co, Fan said.
The drugmaker on March 22 said that its nutritional supplements containing red yeast rice might cause kidney problems.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has asked the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan to monitor the issue and pass on related information to government agencies, Fan said.
The Japanese government is taking the issue seriously: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has pledged a thorough investigation, and Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said that the WHO would be kept informed, while Japan’s embassies abroad would share information related to the case, Fan said.
Additional reporting by Liu Tzu-hsuan
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
RSS