The State of Foreign Tourism in Japan

Land Of Rising Tourism Hopes
A hip reputation offers a chance to boost lagging traffic—if Japan will seize it
By Ian Rowley
Business Week
SEPTEMBER 3, 2007

Tourism accounts for just 2% of gross domestic product in Japan, compared with 11% in Spain. While the number of visitors from other Asian countries has been rising, Americans and Europeans are getting scarcer. That's perhaps in part due to a problem that Doyel faced: The language barrier is close to impenetrable, and many streets in Tokyo don't have signs—even in Japanese, let alone English.

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Photography courtesy of Johnia!'s photostream on Flickr.

Okayama, Japan's pedal-powered roller coaster

TreeHugger-Style Roller Coaster in Japan: It's Pedal Powered
by Lloyd Alter
TreeHugger
03.14.07










Here is the future of the green amusement park: The Skycycle at Washuzan Highland Park in Okayama, a pedal-powered roller coaster. They clearly have some dramatic topography to take advantage of here, and it looks truly frightening.

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Guide to design and pop culture in Tokyo

Thanks to a tip from a good friend, I learned about this great blog by Jean Snow, who "lives and breathes design and pop culture in Tokyo -- sustained by an unhealthy addiction to magazines and frequent visits to his favorites cafes." Among Jean's impressive list of doings is his recently started new podcast series called Tokyo Boy, "which are recordings done while out and about in the city, recorded on my iPod with the iTalk recorder."

jeansnow.net