'Kiko No Ikioi' – Japanese saying for 'no choice but to carry on' – and travel companies in North Asia have certainly carried on even though cross-border travel remains at a standstill, two years into the pandemic.

Global to local OTAs have carried on investing in tech, team and product; startups have emerged, addressing Covid-induced opportunities; and new players have risen, promising to shake things up in what will be an exciting 2022.

Here are the key takeaways from WiT Japan & North Asia 2022.

The night before WiT Japan & North Asia, I had recurring nightmares and wondered if we had reached a bridge too far – to run a hybrid, bilingual event in an untested venue with an untested production team, us in Singapore and them in Tokyo, and a language barrier between our teams as wide as the Japan Sea.

My nightmare did come true the first 10-15 minutes (although it felt longer) when nothing worked as planned – we should do a Bloopers video – but the Samurai performance by Katsumi Sakakura (featured image), conceptualised during Covid as an act to “dispel the plague”, inspired us to dispel all fears and power on and after a bumpy start, we managed to power through our two-day ninth edition which marked our “Homecoming” to Tokyo.

When travel comes home, it will be massive but for now...

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