Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) launches a new Insider Guide to Japan, celebrating the country’s many traditions, innovations, natural wonders, and adventures.

2021 is a landmark year for Japan, as Tokyo gears-up to host the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and the country is set to be one of the top travel destinations.

The Japanese word for clean also means beautiful: a notion deeply ingrained in the national psyche that permeates every aspect of everyday life. Japan is a land of temples and shrines, inspiring landscapes, healthy food and the time-honored tradition of onsen.

For those desperate to travel, Japan offers the perfect balance of adventure, freedom, solitude, and intrigue: an opportunity to finally tick off that bucket-list destination, comfortable in the knowledge that Japan has gone above and beyond in terms of due diligence for visitor safety.

JNTO will launch a series of newsletters from this April to serve as an insider’s guide to Japan’s many traditions and innovations. Given the volume of attractions across the country, JNTO categorizes Japan’s travel offerings into seven passions: Cuisine, Outdoors, Relaxation, Nature, Tradition, Art, and Cities. JNTO has launched “Experiences in Japan,” a website that showcases activities based on these Seven Passions. 

While preparing for the resumption of inbound travel, JNTO is also taking a number of COVID-19 measures to ensure peace of mind for visitors. These initiatives include multilingual infographics on the country’s precautions against COVID-19 as well as emergency information. See here for more information: https://www.japan.travel/en/2020-TYO-covid-19

Seino Satoshi, president of the Japan National Tourism Organization, said:

Tokyo 2020 will begin from July 23 this year. Taking place ten years after the Great East Japan Earthquake, the torch relay will demonstrate the nation’s recovery to the world.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made travel to Japan impossible, and unfortunately it has been decided to hold the games without overseas spectators. However, I firmly believe that humankind will overcome this crisis and tourism will resume.

Japan is often associated with big cities, Mt. Fuji, cherry blossoms, ninjas, and anime. However, Japan has a varied topography, with forests occupying about 70% of its land.

Over the last five years Japan has become one of the world's leading travel destinations, with annual visitors growing to over 30 million before the pandemic. Throughout this campaign we will showcase the many undiscovered charms of Japan that are not yet known to the world.

While we will miss you this summer, we promise that our time apart will make travel experiences all the more exciting when cross-border travel is resumed. We look forward to seeing you in Japan.