I lived there 8 years and created the first Fodor guide to Japan. I got the impression they wanted foreign tourists as part of their diplomatic policy more than for economic resons. They have a very healthy domestic tourism market in any case, starting from huge trips for childen in school groups. Moreover, the government doesn't plan more than a year ahead for fiscal policy, at least when I lived there, so it was impossibe to make really long range plans for encouraging foreign tourism to Japan. Also, there is the expense factor, though it is no more than that in France, Germany, Scandinavia or UK. Also, Americans look to Europe, where there are several "homelands" of their ancestors, much more than to Asia, simply because of the larger numbers of European-Americans than Asian Americans. Another thing: Japan tends to send too many of its soon-to-retire executives from the railway and transportation sectors to head up its foreign tourism offices instead of really motivated younger tourism people, at least until a few years back, when I stopped paying attention.
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