JAPAN: Thousands Stranded And Dissapointed After Airbnb Japan Cancellations

Thousands of travellers to the Land of the Rising Sun found their itineraries affected when Airbnb Japan was forced to cancel countless reservations scheduled between June 15 and 19 at the behest of a sudden announcement from the Japan Tourism Agency.

The push came as hosts were racing to license their properties ahead of changing legislation, which came into place on June 15.

All those without the permit – totalling 80 per cent of Airbnb Japan’s listings, were required to delist their properties and cancel bookings, even if the licence had already been applied for.

We are incredibly sorry about this, we know it stinks, said the home-sharing company, in a statement, which offered a full refund and a US$100 coupon to all those affected.

It also set up a US$10 million support fund to cover additional expenses incurred.

Needless to say, social-media users took to their preferred platforms to air their grievances.


Tourism Observer

JAPAN: Japan Designates 88 Animation Travel Spots

Eighty-eight places in Japan are going to be designated "animation spots" to encourage tourism using train stations, school campuses, rural shrines and other fairly everyday places where popular "manga" characters are depicted.

Such landmarks number in the tens of thousands, given the popularity and volume of "manga" comics In Japan. But this is being billed as the official list for any fan's animation "pilgrimage," as the places are known as "seichi," or "sacred spots."

People around the world can vote on the landmarks through a website set up in several languages, including English and Chinese.

"Japanese pop culture has grown to rival American Hollywood," Tsugihiko Kadokawa, chairman of Kadokawa Corp. publisher and film studio, one of the officials behind the effort, said Friday at a Tokyo news conference. "Animation can change the times."

The project highlights Japan's recent push to make tourism a valuable boon for a stagnant economy, as dynamic as the export of the long-hailed Toyota cars and Sony video-game machines.

Tourists from abroad have grown, under a "Cool Japan" initiative, reaching 20 million people last year -- five years ahead of a goal set by the government, prompting officials to raise its 2020 target to 40 million tourists.

Kadokawa and other officials behind the newly formed Japan Anime Tourism Association said they would compile a travel route of 88 animation spots by December, including where manga and animation works took place, as well as the homes of manga artists and museums dedicated to their works.

Votes from fans will be taken into consideration in compiling the list. "Vote for the special spot you want to share with everyone," the site says.

One shoo-in for the list, according to organizers, is Washinomiya Jinja, a picturesque shrine in Saitama prefecture on the outskirts of Tokyo, a familiar scene in comics by Kagami Yoshimizu, which later became a TV animation series, "Lucky Star" or "Raki Suta."

The shrine is not as grand or famous as others in the country, such as Meiji Shrine in central Tokyo, but it's still the one to visit for those who love the manga series, which depicts friendship among schoolgirls, all illustrated with the huge eyes and colorful hair characteristic of manga.

The shrine shows up in the opening sequence to the TV show, whose typical episode will feature a heated discussion in cute, cooing voices on the correct way to eat a pastry.

Other possible spots include the "Gundam" giant robot statue on Odaiba, an artificial island in Tokyo Bay, and the Ghibli Studio of Hayao Miyazaki, the Oscar-winning animator who made "Spirited Away."

Louis Lee, an editor from Hong Kong, who was at the Tokyo launch of the Japan Anime Tourism Association, said he was an avid manga fan, especially of "Slam Dunk," a story about a high school basketball team.

"It teaches you not to give up until the end," he said.

Manga fans like Lee say manga has proven useful for studying the Japanese language and culture. They say animation spots should have manga character costumes that visitors can wear in photos, as well as manga-related products for sale.

The government's Japan Tourism Agency has recently begun to study not only the numbers of tourists coming to Japan, but what was the emotional driver behind their visits. The agency's survey of French and Thai people found that, although the two groups varied on what they hoped to do Japan, they both said they became interested in Japan through movies and other entertainment content.

"But we are still not taking full advantage of such resources," said agency Commissioner Akihiko Tamura. "A lot of work still needs to be done."

JAPAN: Deadly Ski Resort Crash,Now Japan Inspects Small Bus Tour Companies

Japan inspecting small bus tour companies after deadly ski resort crash

Japan's transport ministry plans to conduct audits at small bus companies nationwide after record keeping violations were discovered at an operator involved in a deadly crash last week.

A chartered ski tour bus operated by ESP veered off a mountain road in Nagano Prefecture, killing 15.

Inspections are expected to start later this month and the ministry will take action against companies if they find violations of the Road Transportation Law.

The Japan Tourism Agency also said it would inspect tour agencies suspected of organising bus tours at 'bargain prices.'

It was discovered after the crash that ESP operated the service on behalf of a tour company at an illegally discounted rate.

The transport ministry had laid out minimum rates for bus tours in order to maintain safety standards across the industry.

CHINA: Japan most popular for Chinese tourists

Japan is proving to be the most popular overseas destination for Chinese mainland tourists during the ongoing seven-day National Day holiday (from Oct. 1 to 7), according to a report from Ctrip, China's largest online travel agency.

Based on the company's booking information, Japan will top the overseas holiday destination list ahead of the traditional hot spots South Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong and Macao, Taiwan and the United States.

Based on the company's booking information, Japan will top the overseas holiday destination list ahead of the traditional hot spots South Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong and Macao, Taiwan and the United States.

Compared to the holiday period last year, the number of mainland visitors to Japan will double, according to a statement released by the China National Tourism Administration on Sunday.

The influx of mainland Chinese visitors has been a welcome shot in the arm for Japan's economy, with hotels in Tokyo seeing their occupancy rate increase to 93.5 percent, bouncing back to the level before the economic depression, according to a report from the Tourism Industry Association of Japan cited by the website China.org.cn on Monday.

In July, the Japan Tourism Agency estimated that there were 9.14 million foreign visitors to Japan in the first half of the year, up 46 percent from the same period last year and raising expectations for a record number of visitors in 2015.

It added the number of visitors from the Chinese mainland was around 2.18 million in the first six months, double the same period last year.

Hong Kong was the big loser during this year's holiday, according to the statement from China's tourism authority. There were 1.27 million visitor arrivals to the special administrative region during the first three days of the holiday, down 5.18 percent year-on-year, of which 430,000 were from the mainland.

On the other hand, South Korea has recovered from the heavy hit its tourism industry took because of the outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome thanks to the introduction of preferential visa policies and tourist discounts.

The report from Ctrip suggests the United States is also attracting growing attention from Chinese tourists thanks to the introduction of more convenient visa policies for visitors from the mainland.

In 2014, there were over 2.18 million visitors from the mainland to the U.S., a year-on-year increase of 20 percent. The upward momentum continued in the first half of this year with a 16 percent increase year-on-year, according to a report from Tuniu, a Chinese online tourism service provider.

The three cities that mainland Chinese leader Xi Jinping visited during his state visit to the U.S. — New York, Washington and Seattle — were the top choices for mainland tourists, said Tuniu based on its tourism services searching and booking information.

"The improved tourism environment including the smoother visa process and more experiences in outbound tourism have encouraged more Chinese tourists to go overseas by presenting them with more choices instead of just the traditional nearby hot spots such as Hong Kong, Thailand, and South Korea," said Xu Xiaolei, the spokesman for China Youth Travel Service.

The domestic tourism market is also expected to witness a holiday boom, with the number of holiday visits predicted to reach 750 million, according to a Xinhua News Agency report on Monday that cited data released by the Transport Ministry.

"Trips are concentrated on popular tourism places such as Beijing, and Guangdong, Sichuan and Anhui provinces," said Liu Pengfei, the ministry spokesman.

Over 640 million trips are expected to be made by rail, up 1.6 percent on the same period of last year.

The number of travelers using the railways on the peak days — the first and last two days of the holiday — are expected to exceed the peaks during this year's Spring Festival holiday, the China Railway Corporation said.

During the 40-days of the Spring Festival holiday rush, around 7.3 million people traveled by train each day. However, the daily figure transportation so far during the National Day holiday has been 13 million.

Top destinations:

1. Tokyo

2. South Korea

3. Thailand

4. Hong Kong

5. Macao

6. Taiwan

7. United States