April foreign entries to Japan at 1.9 mil., 66% of pre-pandemic level

Japan saw an estimated 1,949,100 foreign visitors in April, equivalent to 66.6% of the number recorded in April 2019 before the coronavirus outbreak, government data showed Wednesday.

The total was up nearly 14-fold from a year before and marks the highest number of foreign visitors since February 2020, when the pandemic caused a sharp decline in arrivals.

Japan’s cherry blossom season, an increase and resumption of flights in East Asia, and the start of the holiday season in various parts of the world bolstered the number of visitors to the country, the Japan National Tourism Organization sai...