Benefits for Foreign Tourists Spark Debate in Japan

Tokyo, June 7 (Jiji Press)--Local governments in Japan are facing criticism over measures to attract foreign visitors, including subsidizing Shinkansen bullet train fares and waiving admission fees, which critics call "unfair."

This fiscal year, the prefectural government of Kagoshima in the Kyushu southwestern Japan region launched an initiative to attract foreign visitors as their numbers remained below levels before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The initiative includes fully subsidizing Shinkansen fares worth around 10,000 yen for one-way trips from Hakata Station in Fukuoka Prefecture, also in Kyushu.

The goal is to inform potential visitors from countries without direct flights to Kagoshima that they can reach the prefecture via Shinkansen trains.

However, about a month after the initiative was announced in February, it drew around 600 complaints, including "Is it preferential treatment for foreigners?" and "I don't want foreigners to come if our taxes are used."

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]