Foreign Guest Nights Top Prepandemic Levels in 39 Japan Prefectures
Tokyo, Aug. 14 (Jiji Press)--Overnight stays by foreign visitors in Japan reached an estimated 179.92 million in 2025, up 55.6 pct from the prepandemic level in 2019, with 39 of the country's 47 prefectures recording levels above those seen before the COVID-19 crisis, a Japan Tourism Agency survey has found. The study covered hotels and "ryokan" Japanese-style inns across the country, collec...
In 2025, foreign visitor overnight stays in Japan surged to an estimated 179.92 million, a 55.6% increase from the pre-pandemic figure in 2019, according to a survey by the Japan Tourism Agency. This growth was observed across 39 out of the 47 Japanese prefectures, with guest numbers and room occupancy rates surpassing pre-COVID-19 levels.
Ehime Prefecture in western Japan led the pack, with foreign guest nights reaching 580,000 in 2025, a staggering 2.7-fold increase compared to 2019. Ishikawa Prefecture in central Japan and Tokyo followed with 2.14 million and 60.12 million overnight stays respectively, both up 2.2 and 2.0 times from the previous year.
However, Saga Prefecture in southwestern Japan experienced the steepest decline, with foreign guest nights dropping by 30.0% from 2019. Shiga Prefecture in the west and Miyazaki Prefecture in the southwest also saw reductions of 27.3% and 19.4% respectively.
Written by urgent.news from Nippon.com News's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
