EXCLUSIVE: Japan Reconstruction Agency Aims to Keep Tourism Subsidy

August 27, 2018

Tokyo- Japan's Reconstruction Agency hopes to maintain in fiscal 2019 a subsidy program aimed at inviting more tourists from abroad to the disaster-affected Tohoku northeastern region, according to informed sources.

The agency aims to include some 3.3 billion yen in funds for the program in its budget request for the fiscal year starting in April next year, about the same amount budgeted in the previous year, the sources told Jiji Press.

When the agency set up the subsidy program in fiscal 2016, it indicated a plan to reconsider in three years whether the program should be maintained.

The subsidy is designed to support municipalities in the Tohoku region that are working on inviting foreign travelers.

In principle, the agency funds up to 80 pct of the costs of projects implemented jointly by multiple municipalities for encouraging foreign tourists to visit wide areas of the Tohoku region, which was hit by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Specifically, the subsidy has been used for checking and analyzing the routes used by travelers, organizing a wider variety of events for tourists, and improving the environment for receiving visitors from abroad by setting up multilingual guideboards, for example.

The agency's aim to maintain the subsidy program reflects requests for continued funding from local government leaders.

"While Japan as a whole may be enjoying the benefits of an increase of visitors from abroad, Tohoku has only returned to the level before the disaster," said Yoshihiro Murai, governor of Miyagi, one of the hardest-hit prefectures in Tohoku. "We need special assistance in order to overcome negative rumors about our region."

Kazuko Kori, mayor of Sendai, the capital of Miyagi, said, "If the subsidy program is retained, I believe it would allow Tohoku to move on to the next stage after reconstruction."

In 2017, the total number of foreign visitors who stayed at least overnight in the six prefectures in Tohoku reached some 950,000.

As the government sets a goal to lift the annual total to 1.5 million by 2020, the agency hopes to continue supporting local efforts through the subsidy program. Jiji Press