Japan sees the light

A broken stone statue lies ruined at the backyard of the Hotta House in Sakura city, Chiba prefecture. The pieces have been left unmoved since the March 11 earthquake, a testament to the disaster that wreaked havoc upon Japan.

But, the rest of the wooden house belonging to the last lord of the Sakura feudal clan, Masamoto Hotta, still stands. The building has survived for over 120 years, during which time it has witnessed many disasters — from wars to earthquakes — strike Japan.

For those who have visited the heritage site after the March catastrophe, the message is crystal clear: The broken statue was the only physical damage to the site.

Going up to Narita-san Shinsoji temple, signs of the earthquake are barely visible, unlike other places in Japan like the three prefectures located near the epicenter of the quake and, hence, hardest hit by the ensuing tsunami.

It is business as usual at the temple, which is one of the largest Buddhist shrines of worship in Japan, with people, albeit lesser in number, coming to ask for divine blessings. 

Monks conduct their routine fire-burning rituals five times a day to pray for well-wishing visitors who seek protection from the Angry Buddha.

The Sensoji Buddhist temple and nearby Asakusa Shinto shrine in Tokyo have a similar mood. Hundreds of visitors brave the summer heat to pray at the two famed places of worship. Some try their luck by paying ¥100 (US$1.30) to obtain a piece of paper containing a forecast of their fortune written in Japanese and Chinese characters.

A few hours strolling around Tokyo’s Disneyland, which is actually situated in neighboring Chiba prefecture, gives a similar impression — everything is as normal as it was before the disasters struck. 

Under the scorching sun, thousands of visitors, many of them families, go on rides or wander around that famous Asian playground, even if the summer holiday has not yet arrived.

A big parade featuring Disney characters ranging from the legendary Mickey and Minnie Mouse to Captain Jack Sparrow enlivens the day; the parade to celebrate the theme park’s 28th anniversary. 

Everything looks okay, but why have tourist numbers yet to return to pre-disaster levels?

The answer is that it is only the Japanese people themselves, or those who have lived for a long time in the country, who see that life is back to normal. They are accustomed to earthquakes and are therefore ready for similar natural disasters, except perhaps for the unprecedented nuclear debacle.

For non-Japanese, however, fear and apprehension remains unabated more than four months after the quake, tsunami and nuclear disaster devastated several areas but paralyzed the entire nation. 

It comes as no surprise then that the calamities have resulted in a reduction of almost a third in the number of foreign tourists visiting Japan in June of this year compared to the 4.2 million arrivals in the same period last year. Data from Japan’s National Tourism Organization reveals that tourist arrivals dropped to 352,000 in March this year from 679,000 in the previous month. But, the year-on-year decline is far bigger, as tourist arrivals in March last year totaled 710,000. 

Peerapong Tanvittayanont, who runs travel agencies in Tokyo and Bangkok catering primarily to Thai travelers, said it was difficult to sell Japan as a tourist destination due to the nuclear scare that went viral throughout Asia and beyond.

“Government officials claim to have addressed the nuclear crisis, but people understand that the impact of the radioactive contamination will still have an effect after 30 years,” he said.

For Japan’s tourism industry, Thailand is the second largest Southeast Asian market after Singapore. 

Peerapong, better known as Ken, recalled he couldn’t entice tourists to visit Japan even when the cherry trees were blossoming, usually a favorite time for tourists to visit the country.

Japan has gone to great lengths to convince the world that it has the radiation fallout resulting from the explosion at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant under control. 

The local newspapers even printed front page photos of Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his guests, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and Korean President Lee Myung-bak, eating strawberries produced from Fukushima in May to stave off global fears about Japan’s food safety.

But only recently, Aeon Co., Japan’s biggest supermarket chain, announced that 1,614 kilograms of beef from cattle fed contaminated feed had been unintentionally sold at its stores in Tokyo and nine other prefectures. 

The tourism industry, which has been directly affected by the disasters, has spared no time and effort to promote Japan as a safe place to visit.

Wang Yat Nien, chairman of Japan’s Asia Inbound Sightseeing Organization (AISO), maintains that the public has misunderstood the impact of the three disasters, which he says have not affected most of Japan’s 47 prefectures.

“The fear is just a psychological effect following the disasters, which actually are not as severe as many have thought. Indeed, electricity ran out and affected the industry after the nuclear power plant exploded, but [the effects] were temporary,” he said.

He said the nuclear jitters are a result of the spread of information through conventional or contemporary media. “People are scared and reluctant to visit Japan although everything has returned to normal now,” he said.

The AISO, which includes a number of operators within the tourism industry such as travel agents, hoteliers and restaurants, has over the last few months arranged visits for delegates from countries known as Japan’s traditional markets such as China, South Korea and Taiwan.

“There are people who developed a sense of anxiety; therefore, the best way to prove that Japan is safe is for them to visit and see for themselves the current conditions here,” he said.

It will take Japan’s tourism industry a long time to gain the foothold it needs to fully recover. But, as Wang puts it, the industry’s players are on the right track.

Source - thejakartapost