Foreign visitors to Japan at record high for May
The estimated number of foreign visitors to Japan in May jumped 21.5% from a year before to 3,693,300, a record high for the month, the Japan National Tourism Organization said Wednesday.
The cumulative number of visitors from abroad in the first five months of 2025 came to a record 18,140,100, beating the previous record of 14,641,780 marked in the same period last year.
The increase in visitors during May was driven by travelers from China, Taiwan and the United States, who visited Japan for holidays and on cruise ship port calls.
The number of visitors from Hong Kong dropped 11.2% to 193,100 after rumors spread on social media that an earthquake might strike Japan.
By country or region, the number of visitors from South Korea was the largest, at 825,800, up 11.8%; followed by 789,900 from mainland China, up 44.8%; 538,400 from Taiwan, up 15.5%; and 311,900 from the United States, up 26.3%.
The number "fell only in Hong Kong," Naoya Haraikawa, commissioner of the Japan Tourism Agency, said at a news conference.
Haraikawa said that JNTO's Hong Kong office is already calling on people via social media to make travel decisions based on scientific information from public institutions. He said that JNTO will strengthen information-sharing efforts if necessary.
The estimated number of Japanese nationals traveling overseas rose 14.3% to 1,076,800 in May, reflecting a spike in travelers during a holiday period from late April to early May.
But Japanese visitors to Thailand continued to decrease following a major earthquake in Myanmar in late March.
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Japan Times
5 hours ago
- Japan Times
The Hitobito's Megan and Ben uncover the real Japan, one video at a time
Before she ever set foot in Japan, Megan spent countless hours there — virtually. Growing up in Kansas in the early 2010s, she devoured YouTube videos by a wave of early J-vloggers such as Sharla in Japan, Kim Dao and Taylor R. 'If I saw 'Japan' in the title, I'm pretty sure I watched it,' she recalls. 'The shopping at the grocery store, doing taxes — if it was about Japan, I was in.' Now 27, Megan has become one of those creators herself — part of a new generation of content makers capturing everyday life in Japan for a global audience via her YouTube channel, The Hitobito. Alongside her partner, Ben, 25, the couple began posting videos from Awaji Island while working as English teachers through the JET Programme. What started as casual updates for friends and family quickly went viral on TikTok. Their everyday adventures snowballing into something bigger, with short-form uploads attracting thousands — and eventually millions — of views. 'We had set this goal of getting 100,000 subscribers by the end of 2024 and getting our YouTube Silver Play Button plaque ... but by September of that year we had boomed to 1.5 million or something ridiculous,' says Megan, who along with Ben asked that their full names not be published due to privacy concerns. 'We got our plaque and it was like, now what?' From fans to creators 'J-vlogging' took off in the 2010s, drawing in tourists and overseas fans like Megan who wanted a window into everyday life in Japan. It offered a first-person alternative to traditional news — grocery runs, paying bills, attending festivals — the moments that rarely make headlines. The format surged again during the COVID-19 pandemic, when homebound viewers turned to YouTube to satisfy their wanderlust. While the duo post longer YouTube videos ranging from the personal to the newsy, it's their short-form content that drives views. Their most-viewed YouTube Short centers on umbrellas being stolen and has 76 million views. 'We want Japan to be a thought-provoking place,' Megan says. 'We want people to think about the things that Japan is doing that they like — or maybe they prefer the way another country does it — and why.' Ben agrees, 'It's good to not present a country as a monolith. It's important to show that it's complex, multitiered, with a lot going on.' The challenge, he adds, is being able to do that in a minute. Known for their humor and honest storytelling, Megan and Ben offer a view of life in Japan that appeals to tourists and other foreign residents living here. | JOHAN BROOKS The Hitobito recently signed with Tokyo-based influencer agency GeeXPlus (our conversation takes place at their office in Shibuya), signaling the next step in the couple's evolution as creators shaping the bite-size future of Japan-related content. Megan's interest in Japan predates YouTube. It began with a 'Sesame Street' special in which Big Bird travels to Japan. That fascination deepened through Studio Ghibli films and the Toonami programming Meanwhile, Ben watched 'Naruto.' The two met in college in Kansas City and reconnected through social media, eventually becoming a couple. 'As an international relations major, the job market in the U.S. didn't seem so hot, so JET looked like a good way to dip my toes into diplomacy, which I was interested in,' she says. 'We were together for about a year and a half, and you were really serious about JET,' Ben says to Megan. 'I was up for an adventure.' 'You did take some convincing,' she replies with a laugh. 'That's true,' he says. 'I had to watch a lot of Japan videos. A lot of Chris Broad.' Like Broad, whose Abroad In Japan channel is arguably the most influential example of J-vlogging to date, the pair's work started as a way to document the realities of life in the countryside to those back home. There was more foresight to it, however, with Megan realizing she'd eventually need a job after JET. 'To be totally honest, I could see the AI boom starting while I was sitting at my desk, just using the internet,' she says. That realization prompted her to think about what skills might still be valuable in five years. 'Social media. It's my human story, and it can't be easily replaced.' The couple began filming from their 'dingy, little, echoey' apartment, hoping the neighbors wouldn't mind hearing them through the thin walls. After leaving Awaji for Tokyo — a journey marked by housing mishaps and soul-crushing jobs, detailed in a lengthy upload titled 'Life After Quitting My Dream Job in Japan' — they took a leap of faith into full-time content creation. 'At my old job, people would ask if I'd go full time because they saw the channel taking off. I'd adamantly say, 'No, I would never,'' Megan says, laughing. But the growth they saw in 2024 — and the fact that YouTube pays in U.S. dollars — gave them the confidence and financial security to make the jump. 'I think the experiences we had those first two years made us more confident we could put out content that people could relate to,' Ben adds. Their process hasn't changed. 'I have a big ol' Notes app of things I notice — birds chirping in the subway exits, hot-and-cold vending machines,' Megan says. 'Stuff we take for granted living here, but that is interesting to those who don't.' Sometimes, inspiration is unplanned. 'I missed the last train,' she continues. 'Instead of being mad about it, I thought, I can turn this pain into entertainment.' The resulting clip, which goes into what you can do if you too miss the last train, now has more than 30 million views. 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Asahi Shimbun
7 hours ago
- Asahi Shimbun
Foreign tourists set May record in Japan, but Hong Kong figure falls
Matsuyama Castle in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, was a popular tourist destination in May. (Asahi Shimbun file photo) A record number of tourists visited Japan in May despite a decrease from Hong Kong, the source of spreading predictions that a major earthquake will hit the country, the Japan National Tourism Organization said. The inbound tourist figure was 3,693,300, up 21.5 percent year on year and the most ever for the month of May, the JNTO said on June 18. It was also the eighth consecutive month for Japan to receive more than 3 million visitors from abroad. From January to May, 18,140,100 tourists made trips to Japan, up 23.9 percent from the same period last year. In May, South Koreans accounted for the most inbound tourists, with 825,800, up 11.8 percent from the same month last year, followed by China with 789,900, up 44.8 percent, and Taiwan with 538,400, up 15.5 percent. The number of visitors from Hong Kong was 193,100, down 11.2 percent year on year. Hong Kong was the only region with a decrease in tourists to Japan. The rumor sweeping Hong Kong through social media is that a huge earthquake will strike Japan in July. It stems from separate prophecies by a famed local feng shui master and a Japanese manga artist. The JNTO said it did not know if the rumor led to the drop in visitor numbers from Hong Kong in May. But demand for flights from Hong Kong to Japan have remained uncharacteristically low since the earthquake prediction started to circulate. The Japanese government has tried to put the rumor to rest by saying it is impossible to accurately forecast an earthquake.
Japan Times
8 hours ago
- Japan Times
Foreign visitors to Japan at record high for May
The estimated number of foreign visitors to Japan in May jumped 21.5% from a year before to 3,693,300, a record high for the month, the Japan National Tourism Organization said Wednesday. The cumulative number of visitors from abroad in the first five months of 2025 came to a record 18,140,100, beating the previous record of 14,641,780 marked in the same period last year. The increase in visitors during May was driven by travelers from China, Taiwan and the United States, who visited Japan for holidays and on cruise ship port calls. The number of visitors from Hong Kong dropped 11.2% to 193,100 after rumors spread on social media that an earthquake might strike Japan. By country or region, the number of visitors from South Korea was the largest, at 825,800, up 11.8%; followed by 789,900 from mainland China, up 44.8%; 538,400 from Taiwan, up 15.5%; and 311,900 from the United States, up 26.3%. The number "fell only in Hong Kong," Naoya Haraikawa, commissioner of the Japan Tourism Agency, said at a news conference. Haraikawa said that JNTO's Hong Kong office is already calling on people via social media to make travel decisions based on scientific information from public institutions. He said that JNTO will strengthen information-sharing efforts if necessary. The estimated number of Japanese nationals traveling overseas rose 14.3% to 1,076,800 in May, reflecting a spike in travelers during a holiday period from late April to early May. But Japanese visitors to Thailand continued to decrease following a major earthquake in Myanmar in late March.
