The Japanese government approved in March the fifth basic plan for promoting Japan as a tourism-oriented country, setting a 2030 target of 60 million inbound visitors -- roughly 40 percent more than in 2025 -- a goal seen as unattainable without drawing more travelers to regional areas.

Sixty million visitors translates to about 160,000 arrivals per day. Assuming an average stay of around 10 days based on recent trends, roughly 1.6 million foreign travelers would be in Japan on any given day.

That figure is close to 40 percent of the 4.13 million foreign residents recorded at the end of 2025 and about 1.3 percent of the population of roughly 120 million Japanese.

Blaming "overtourism" on inbound travelers goes too far. As with crowd control at fireworks festivals, tourism-related disruption can be managed with calm, practical measures.

Sixty million visitors also implies about 320,000 people entering and leaving the country........

© Japan Today