March foreign entries to Japan at 1.8 mil., 65% of pre-pandemic level

Japan saw an estimated 1,817,500 foreign visitors in March, equivalent to 65.8 percent of the level seen in March 2019 before the novel coronavirus outbreak, government data showed Wednesday.

The total was up 27.5-fold from a year before and the highest since the country lifted its pandemic-prompted ban on individual, non-prearranged trips last October, it said.

Japan’s cherry blossom season and the resumption of foreign cruise ships docking at Japanese ports for the first time in about three years helped bring more visitors to the country, the Japan National Tourism Organization said.

By coun...