TOKYO >> For generations, Hawaii has been a dream vacation spot for Japanese vacationers. Tour teams catering to Japanese vacationers have drawn hundreds to the islands with guarantees of sightseeing, purchasing and eating in Waikiki and stress-free at resorts.
But youthful Japanese vacationers are sometimes searching for one thing very completely different from what their dad and mom search after they journey. In addition to the depreciation of the Japanese yen prompting them to search for cheaper locations, youthful vacationers additionally say they search authenticity and journey over resort experiences which have lengthy been the keystone to tourism advertising and marketing in Japan.
Hawaii has ranked the highest desired location for Japanese vacationers for 16 consecutive years. Takashi Watanabe, director of worldwide affairs for the Japanese authorities workplace overseeing tourism, stated that older Japanese — particularly males over 60 — had been each the most certainly vacationers to go to Hawaii in addition to the most certainly to return.
The COVID-19 pandemic gutted journey numbers. International journey by Japanese residents started rebounding in 2023 however continues to be a mere fraction of pre-pandemic numbers, when 2019 noticed the biggest variety of Japanese vacationers touring overseas in historical past. While Hawaii’s reputation has thus far remained regular amongst seniors, youthful Japanese of their 20s and 30s are extra ambivalent in regards to the islands.
“Hawaii, personally, it’s not on my top list to go,” stated Shion Hirano, a 23-year-old Japanese scholar learning graphic design in Canada. “Yeah, it might be great, but I’ll have to pay a lot.”
Hirano, who has traveled to Vietnam and Finland, stated she seems to be for decrease costs and cultural experiences.
“I’m not a big hotel person,” she stated, including she’s smitten by meals and assembly individuals, noting that in Vietnam “everyone was friendly, and they were curious about us, so I liked talking to people in that country.”
Yuuki Hirake, a 21-year previous learning data know-how, stated he lived overseas in Seattle for a 12 months as a scholar and has been to Taiwan as a vacationer. He stated that when he travels, he needs “to experience the culture, experience something unpredictable.”
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But when Hirake and his friends consider Hawaii, “we see it as a place for the rich.”
Yoko Hayano, chief guide with Tokyo-based JTB Tourism Research & Consulting, stated the highest three issues Japanese individuals say they wish to see after they journey are nature, good meals and historical past.
“Japanese travelers are not really looking for food that is just enjoyed by travelers or tourists, they’re looking for food that locals enjoy at local places,” she stated.
In explicit, youthful vacationers wish to really feel immersed within the locations they go. Hayano stated that knowledge exhibits younger Japanese vacationers “want to mingle with local people and then beyond just being travelers, they want to be contributors, they want to offer to local communities … , they really want to protect the environment and are interested in sustainability.”
Economic shifts have moved many Japanese vacationers — who’ve lengthy loved journeys to Europe, America and Australia — nearer to residence. The proliferation of low-cost air carriers serving locations throughout Asia has been enthusiastically embraced by Japanese vacationers. Hayano stated that in recent times journey to Southeast Asia has doubled, whereas journey from Japan to Europe and Oceania have steadily declined.
Korea has additionally change into an more and more standard vacation spot, particularly for younger Japanese ladies drawn by a mix of Korean popular culture and Korean magnificence merchandise. For different youthful vacationers, using scooters and consuming avenue meals in Southeast Asia holds extra enchantment than the posh resorts and malls of Waikiki they’ve seen marketed to them about Hawaii.
“Asian destinations are closer and cheaper than other destinations, such as Western countries, including to Hawaii,” Watanabe stated. “In particular, the number of travelers to East Asia and Southeast Asia, especially Vietnam, has been increasing due to less susceptibility to the weak Japanese yen and price fluctuations, and due to recovery in the number of airline flights as well.”
Hayano stated that social media additionally has influenced what individuals need from their travels, specifically pictures and movies of their adventures to point out off and share on a wider platform. And in the case of purchasing, extra fascinating are mementos and items which are distinctive to the realm and carry perceived cultural significance.
But Hayano stated that whereas youthful vacationers crave authenticity, many are anxious about journey. They usually go to journey companies for assist searching for the place to remain and what to do in a approach that Hayano stated some older Japanese, who might have traveled for work and have extra follow talking English, really feel extra assured doing for themselves.
For occasion, Hirake admitted that though his English improved after learning in Seattle, he feels self-conscious about his capacity to speak whereas touring overseas.
“For young people, like our sons, they may not know the attraction of Hawaii,” Watanabe stated. “We often watch Hawaii on TV programs because Japanese celebrities unchangeably like Hawaii … but the problem is the younger people don’t often watch TV. My son doesn’t watch TV anyway, he watches YouTube. How to reach younger people is a challenge.”
However, Hawaii continues to be discovering its approach into Japanese standard tradition in new methods.
In the newest installment of the favored Japanese online game franchise “Like A Dragon,” the sequence took one among its protagonists — a Yakuza gangster — to Honolulu to reconnect together with his mom, who immigrated to Hawaii and is battling most cancers. The recreation has been properly obtained by followers, and final month writer Sega introduced a brand new spinoff referred to as “Like A Dragon: Yakuza Pirate in Hawaii,” which focuses on one other character persevering with their adventures within the islands.
Hiroyuki Furukawa, supervisor of the Hawaii part for Japanese journey company HIS Co. Ltd., prompt increasing tourism promotion to emphasise Native Hawaiian tradition and actions, the state’s broader cultural variety and the historic connections between Hawaii and Japan, together with the waves of immigration that introduced staff from Japan throughout the plantation period.
“We haven’t really promoted enough about that aspect, but there is a connection. Still, (many Japanese) people perceive Hawaii as just a resort that they admire,” Furukawa stated. “So maybe we should look at the ways that we market and project the image about Hawaii together with different operators in the industry … so that we can focus more on the cultural aspects and cultural experiences.”
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Kevin Knodell reported on this story as a part of a fellowship with the Foreign Press Center Japan.