I love walking long distances! Introduce interesting places along the walking course!

I would like to introduce the walking route that I enjoyed to various people. It’s a challenge to introduce it well so that foreigners can enjoy it! I wonder if I can continue (;^_^A

Especially when you go outside and take a walk (rather than using equipment such as a room run), the various scenery that you see from your eyes stimulates your brain, and if the weather is nice, your body will be exposed to the sunlight it needs. Also, the wind and air will give good stimulation to the skin and the nerves of the nostrils.

I feel that the act of walking is actually good for all parts of the body, including the brain.

I want people of all ages who use wheelchairs or canes to enjoy part of this course

This is the course I would like to introduce, but I want people in wheelchairs and walking with canes to enjoy it, so I am checking if it is an easy route for them. For example, large bumps, bumps, road surface conditions, etc. are introduced with photos.

However, I am no expert and have never used it in a wheelchair. I don’t know if there are manners. I only have the experience of pushing a wheelchair for a walk. In addition, the controlling conditions are different for electric wheelchairs and manual wheelchairs, and I think that the physical strength varies from person to person.

Therefore, please use this information only as a reference.

If there are people who have tried this coerce and felt that “this section was tough” walking with a wheelchair or a cane, even if it’s only part of this course, I would be happy if you could leave a comment here (via the contact form on my profile page)! We will post it on this page. Comments such as “It was fun!” are also very welcome.

Fukuoka City is a decree city with the largest population (1.63 million people) in Fukuoka Prefecture and Kyushu (Fukuoka Prefecture, Oita Prefecture, Saga Prefecture, Nagasaki Prefecture, Kumamoto Prefecture, Miyazaki Prefecture, Kagoshima Prefecture).

The number of foreign tourists visiting Fukuoka City was 2,148 in 2019 before COVID-19. In 2023, immigration restrictions for foreigners will be eased, and a V-shaped recovery is expected.

Many tourists from South Korea, China and other Asian countries are visiting. You can’t really tell if they’re foreigners by their appearance, but when you walk around town, you can hear foreign languages flying around. I feel that Fukuoka is popular with Asian people. I want such travelers to enjoy this route, so we will introduce it in an easy-to-understand manner.

Trivia about Fukuoka City

“Fukuoka City” is a city with a population that continues to grow and urban development is progressing, but I would like to briefly explain where in Japan the city is located, even for foreigners. Fukuoka City is located in Fukuoka Prefecture, which is located at the northernmost tip of the island of Kyushu in the southwestern part of Japan.

What kind of place is Fukuoka? Fukuoka’s food is good, there are many beautiful women and handsome men, and Fukuoka Hakata’s specialties such as Mentaiko and Tonkotsu (pork bone) Ramen are famous. The birthplace of Udon is actually Fukuoka (there are various theories). Recently, Fukuoka has become famous place for its environment for doing business, as it is easy for start-up companies to grow.

Fukuoka City has No. 1 things

Fukuoka City has many prides. For example, Fukuoka ranks first in the list of cities in Japan where people want to live, and Fukuoka ranks first in terms of the rate of business openings in Japan, and is ranked first in the list of “sports-prosperous cities.”

There are more….
Fukuoka ranks first in terms of the number of preserved trees (among ordinance-designated cities). Fukuoka has the highest growth rate of foreign residents. The number of sweets shops and price (cheapness) is also No. 1 in Fukuoka, and there are still many things in Fukuoka that are No.1. Check here if you are interested! (Fukuoka Facts)

Hakata Station has the most users as the land gateway of Kyushu, and the number of users is about 400,000 including the subway. Tenjin Station, located in Tenjin, the busiest city in Fukuoka, has about 102,000 people. Tenjin Station is located in the center of Tenjin Underground Shopping Center, which boasts the largest scale in western Japan, but Hakata Station has four times as many.

Exit Hakata Gate West to the station square and you will see the Fukuoka Center Building in front of you. This building was built in 1972, but it is a target building of the redevelopment project “Hakata Connected“.

There is a signboard of “Rakuten” on the building and it stands out. The Fukuoka branch office of Rakuten Group Co., Ltd. is on the 12th floor.

About Rakuten

A simple explanation of Rakuten to foreigners is that Rakuten is a Japanese version of Amazon. Starting with an online store and mall (Rakuten Ichiba), they are now a diversified company that uses IT to develop various industries such as travel, finance, real estate, communication, and baseball team management.

Walk along Hakata Ekimae St., which runs vertically in front of Hakata Exit, and head for Canal City. The distance is about 650m and it takes about 9 minutes. The sidewalk is straight and the road surface is clean, so it is easy to walk.

There are convenience stores such as 7-Eleven and Lawson, and 2 Starbucks until you arrive at Canal City Hakata. It might be good for people who want to drink coffee and start slowly.

The building where Starbucks Coffee The Blossom Hakata Premier Store is located is a building with a characteristic triangle-like corner, and it is the hotel “THE BLOSSOM HAKATA Premier” operated by JR Kyushu Hotels Co., Ltd. A luxury hotel with 238 guest rooms, which opened in September 2019.

The exterior of the hotel is inspired by Hakata-ori textiles, and the walls are decorated with tiles such as “Hakata-bei,” and artworks that display traditional crafts related to Kyushu are also impressive.

Canal City Hakata is a multi-purpose facility with a shopping mall, movie theater, theater, amusement facility, two hotels, showrooms, offices, etc. on a site of approximately 43,500 square meters. It opened on April 20, 1996 as part of a redevelopment project in Fukuoka City.

In the center of the facility, which is lined with curved and colorful buildings, there is a canal of about 180m, and a dynamic fountain show is held. Events and live music performances by performers are held on the waterside stage, making it a bustling tourist spot where you can gather and relax.

Lt’s keep walking! If you walk about 450m from Hakata Station Square along “Hakata Ekimae St.”, you will find the “Hakata Ward Office South Exit” intersection. At this point, Canal City Hakata can be seen about 130m ahead.

In the photo of the intersection below, the red mark is part of the East Building of Canal City Hakata (covered in green). Let’s head to the entrance of the East Building!

After crossing Nakasu-Shinbashi, walk about 3 blocks and you will come to the Haruyoshibashi Higashi intersection, where you will meet Haruyoshibashi.

The current Haruyoshi Bridge was built when the National Road was constructed, and there is an old bridge called Nakasu Kakehashi on the right side of that bridge. In fact, it was the old Haruyoshi Bridge, and it was given a new name in 1948 when the new bridge (now Haruyoshi Bridge) was built.

The Nakasu Suspension Bridge (former Haruyoshi Bridge) seems to have existed in 1737, and the old and new bridges spanning the Naka River are somewhat loving.

I learned later that the new Haruyoshi Bridge has a bridge name board with calligraphy by Mr. Kazuyoshi Morita (Entertainer: Tamori). The reason is that he is from Fukuoka and the name “Harukichi” is the same name as Tamori’s father. For more details, please click here. I did not know. . . I missed it.

In fact, when the new bridge was built, the old bridge was supposed to be demolished, but the locals and people with connections who regretted the historic old bridge objected, so it was left as a pedestrian bridge.
That’s right, they’re right to leave! Click here for the history of Haruyoshi Bridge.

In the Haruyoshi area, the rows of houses from before the war still remain and you can feel the atmosphere of a downtown area full of humanity. A business district is formed around Watanabe-dori, and at night there are many restaurants with neon lights adjacent to Nakasu.

It is a town that has been showing excitement in recent years, such as holding night markets instead of morning markets and bar-hopping events around restaurants.

Tenjin is the busiest city in Kyushu. Further development under the urban redevelopment project “Tenjin Big Bang”.

“Tenjin” is Kyushu’s largest downtown and business district, with department stores, fashion buildings, banks, trading companies, news organizations, etc., and is always bustling with businessmen, travelers, and shoppers.

In addition, the 6th largest underground mall in Japan (total floor area: 53,300m²/length: 600m), Tenjin Chikagai (nickname: Tenchika), is located between the Tenjinbashiguchi intersection and the Watanabe-dori 4-chome intersection. The city hall is in Tenjin, Chuo Ward, and the prefectural office is in Hakata Ward.

Nishitetsu Fukuoka (Tenjin) Station, the largest terminal station of Nishi-Nippon Railroad (Nishitetsu)

Nishitetsu Fukuoka (Tenjin) Station is the largest terminal station of Nishi-Nippon Railroad (Nishitetsu), next to Hakata Station, the largest terminal station representing Kyushu and Fukuoka. The Nishitetsu Tenjin Highway Bus Terminal is located in the station building “Solaria Terminal Building”, and serves as a hub for highway buses that arrive and depart within the city.

There may be some people who start and finish this walking route at this station instead of “Hakata Station”. The route will be approximately 14km walking distance.

Arrive at Kego Shrine! A power spot for praying for warding off evil, winning, and passing exams!

Although it is a passing point of 18km, we have arrived at Tenjin’s power spot “Kego Shrine”! It takes about 2.3km (31 minutes) to walk from Hakata Station where we started, but let’s get the power of this Kego Shrine to complete the remaining 15.7km!

And that’s all for now! Pictures and introductions of Kego Shrine will be continued in the next report. How was the route and my guidance so far? I would love to hear from you via my contact form!

Chiba Pref. Volunteer: Denim

Hello, I’m Denim. I live in Chiba Prefecture, but I have come to Fukuoka for business. So this time, I would like to introduce Fukuoka! I also report on “Yurugi Jizoson” and “Koppa Jizo”, which are cultural properties designated by Funabashi City, Chiba Prefecture. So please check it out!

The origin of miso soup dates back to the Kamakura period, which is called “the era of samurai.” Before the era, miso was not used for making soup because it was not a form of paste and it was eaten as a kind of preserved food. During the Kamakura period, the procedure to make miso into a paste was introduced, and samurai started to eat miso soup.Their diet is called “ichiju-issai,” which includes a bowl of rice, a cup of miso soup, a main dish and pickled vegetables.

These days, some unique miso soup recipes have appeared such as using canned fish, spices, soy milk, eggs or so on. We can make miso soup according to our mood or condition.

There are a lot of health benefits of miso soup. Firstly, it is good for gut health because miso is a fermented food. Secondly, it is expected that miso can help to prevent lifestyle-related diseases such as high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes or so on. Also, miso soup can prevent some types of cancers such as stomach cancer or breast cancer.

There is another good news, especially for women. It is said that soybeans, which are the main ingredient of miso, improve skin condition and hormonal balance.

Some people are worried about the amount of sodium in miso soup, but it is not a big issue when we compare the sodium in a cup of miso soup with other commonly eaten foods. Also, we can add some potassium-rich ingredients to miso soup to help our body to excrete sodium.

Miso Soup and A Long Life

Ieyasu Tokugawa is a really famous person in Japanes history. He established a basis of the Edo period, which lasted for about 260 years. During that time, the average lifespan was about 37 years, but he lived to be 75 years old, which is twice as long as the average lifespan at that time.

It has been said that he was a health conscious person and ate miso soup which contained various ingredients. We might be able to say that miso soup was a secret to his extraordinarily long and healthy life.

Image：Shogun “Ieyasu Tokunaga” (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Saitama Local Foods Made with Miso

Saitama is the largest producer of taro, which is a kind of starchy potato. It is also the second largest producer of Japanese mustard spinach, spinach, green onion and turnip. There are various kinds of miso soup and local foods that use these products, all of which are delicious, and we can be proud of having these cuisines as part of our food culture. In addition, there are some breweries in Saitama to make soy sauce or miso, which are traditional Japanese seasonings, and traditional technology is used there even today.

Source: maffchannel

Here are some Saitam’s traditional foods made with miso. For example, in the Chichibu region, there is a local food called kozyu-han. As one of the famous local foods, we can mention miso potato, which is a tempura-style potato covered with salty-sweet miso sauce. You can make these foods following recipes or you are welcome to come to Saitama to try them. We would like you to try Saitama’s local foods. If you click the pictures of local foods below, you can learn about the history or roots of these foods.

Saitama Volunteer: Haruka

Hello. I’m Haruka. I have lived in Saitama prefecture for more than 25 years. I would like to introduce Saitama focusing on food and culture. I hope my articles help you get some information about Saitama. Also, I’m happy to tell you about interesting aspects of Japan.

Deep Cove is famous as sightseen place eastside in North Vancouver. The town steep-sided Indian Arm that glacial fjord adjacent is calm and very nice.

You get to see the beautiful view, play a kayak, picnic, doughnuts, and hiking of seeing great view in there. It takes about an hour to Deep Cove from Downtown. I highly recommend going!

There are several large parks, and you can enjoy beautiful beaches and picnics!

As soon as after get off the bus, you get to see a beautiful view of town and cove. There are some big park. It is nice to stay in park like picnic and get to swim the beach. You would feel comfortable even if you just spending time by the beach.

Honey Doughnuts & Goodies

There is a famous Doughnuts shop so that tourists who go to Deep cove first time are definitely go.

Their doughnuts is outside is crispy and inside is moist and deep fry. They are always crowded, so I think most customers order it for to go. I recommend that you can eat some doughnuts in the park while relaxing and some people have these in Quarry Rock which I will introduce next topic.

Honey Doughnuts & Goodies
4373 GALLANT AVE., NORTH VANCOUVER, BC, V7G 1L1
OPEN DAILY 6:00AM – 5:00PM
Official Website

Quarry Rock is spot of seeing beautiful view that is on the trail called “Baden Powell Trail”. It has another name Gray rock.

The enter of trail exists in midtown quietly. It takes about 45 minutes to get the Quarry Rock. The website (vancouvertrails.com) from trail of Vancouver said it is easy course, but It was hard for me.

I climbed mountain path does not organize much and sometimes took a break, finally I got there about an hour. You should bring some water and wear shoes that you are used to walk. In Spring or Summer season, do not forget remineralizing!

By the way, I do not have idea but there was kindness message on the stairs which was near the Quarry Rock. It made me try to climb a little harder, I want to tell someone who write this message “Thank you”.

You’re almost there!! on steps

Reward yourself with ice cream in summer!

After I went down the mountain, I really wanted to eat ice cream for the healing. Because it was so hot in Summer, and my body was so tired. I recommend that you can eat ice cream too, even just not doughnuts.

That’s it this time. I will be glad if you want to go the Quarry Rock. Thank you for reading.

Vancouver Volunteer: Y

Hi, I’m Y and student in Vancouver now. I like to spend time visiting cafés and bakery, I’m going to introduce appeal of Vancouver and nice shops!

Since the period of high economic growth, the custom of mass production and mass consumption has taken root in Japan, and a large amount of waste has been generated. As you know, garbage itself places a heavy burden on the environment, so the government has been implementing activities to reduce waste emissions, known as the 3R. (Regional 3R Forum in Asia and the Pacific) The 3R is the “3 R”, Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.

Reduce

Using eco-bags contributes to the reduction of plastic bags

Reuse

Sell or donate clothes you no longer wear at reuse shops

Recycle

Collected PET bottles are recycled as reusable resources

It comes back to us humans. Environmental problems are the accumulation of small actions of each of us and affect us for better or worse. It is unfortunate that each and every one of us in Japan is still not interested in environmental issues. I strongly want to think more about what we can do. To that end, I would like to look back on my daily life and work on the 3R.

Chiba Pref. Volunteer: Suu

Hello. I am in charge of Chiba Prefecture.I will tell you the charm of Chiba Prefecture that I don’t know yet. Also if there is any interesting information about Japan and the world, I would like to share it with you. Thank you.
Profile page here.

I would like to introduce to the Vancouver Convention Centre as SDGs in Vancouver. There is a few minutes’ walk from near the Waterfront Station that is major train station in Vancouver. This Centre is made by taking into consideration with environmentally sustainable as possible from the design of our double LEED® Platinum certified facility.

I would like to introduce about this Centre including sentence from Website below.

The West building’s six-acre living roof – the largest in Canada and the largest non-industrial living roof in North America – features more than 400,000 indigenous plant and grasses. Our unique roof is designed to act as an insulator, reducing heat gains in the summer and heat losses in the winter.

You can see the various plants on the roof from the window. There are some parks of all size in Vancouver but this is the largest in Canada and the largest non-industrial living roof in North America.

Made from wood from British Columbia

The wood used for the Centre is a local BC product. The second floor has large windows of natural light and open corridor with wood. An introductory plate displayed related to a local BC wood product.

Moreover Website introduce about water of using in the Centre. As that is located right on the ocean, the facility is equipped with facilities that utilize seawater and consider marine life.

Our sophisticated black water treatment plant recycles grey and black water that goes back into our washrooms for toilet flushing and is used for rooftop irrigation during warmer weather.
Our seawater heating and cooling system takes advantage of the adjacent seawater to produce cooling for the building during warmer months and heating in cooler months.

In recognition of the above environmental considerations, the Vancouver Convention Centre has received several environmental awards. Click here for details on the centre’s sustainability efforts.

Another SDGs resource in Vancouver that I would like to share is UBC (The University of British Columbia), this is known university with a large campus in the city of Vancouver.

UBC has been working on the SDGs for years and it is difficult to describe the full scope and depth of their research. UBC was also ranked high in the 2020 Times Higher Education Impact Ranking, ranking UBC at the top of the list for its efforts to address climate change under SDG 13.

※ What is the Times Higher Education Impact Ranking?
The Times Higher Education Impact Ranking is a ranking of universities’ social contribution initiatives visualized within the framework of the United Nations SDGs.

Please visit their website to view the Sustainability Report.

Vancouver Volunteer: Y

Hi, I’m Y and student in Vancouver now. I like to spend time visiting cafés and bakery, I’m going to introduce appeal of Vancouver and nice shops!

This time, I will introduce “Yurugi Jizoson” in Iiyamamanmachi, Funabashi City, Chiba Prefecture and “Koppa Jizo” in Yakuendai, the same city.

“Yurugi” means to sway. “Koppa” means a trivial thing. Jizo is an object of Buddhism that is said to embrace people’s sufferings with great compassion and save them.

These two Jizo are two of Funabashi City’s 48 designated cultural properties (as of February 2022).

Appearance and Creator of Yurugi Jizo (Wooden Jizo Bodhisattva Seated Statue)

The Yurugi Jizo has 172cm tall in a sitting position, which is quite large, and the head seems to be two or three times larger than that of a human. Perhaps you can feel that from the warm and gentle expression of Jizo’s face. It is said to be made from a single pine tree, and was made by Kanshin, one of the wood-eating monks of the Edo period. It is said that this monk is a monk who has undergone training to eat only nuts and grass, avoiding fired foods and meat.

There are few materials about the creator Kanshin, and in the Katsushika Chronicle written in 1749, it is written about the Koutouan (place: Yakuendai, Funabashi City, Chiba Prefecture) that Kanshin opened.  It seems that there is a record in the book that he made the statue of Jizo Bodhisattva.  However, it seems that there are various theories, and there is a possibility that it was made by another professional Buddhist sculptor.

The origin of the name and the birth of Jizo

This wooden statue of Jizo Bodhisattva is called “Yurugi Jizoson” and its origin dates back to the Edo period. At that time, there was an old pine tree called “Yurugi no Matsu” in this place, and it is said that the branches of the pine tree were so big that they covered the valley. The base of the giant tree seems to float above the ground, and when people pass through the base, the trunk and branch tips sway, hence the name. “Yurugi” means to sway.

And unfortunately, the “Yurugino Matsu” withers and dies. The villagers who regretted it asked Kanshin, a wood-eating monk, to carve two large and small Jizo Bodhisattvas from dead pine trees, and one of them became this large “Yurugi Jizo”. It is said to have been built in 1723 (Kyoho 8).

The other smaller one is called ‘Koppa Jizo’ and is located in Kodoan (1-4-26 Yakuendai, Funabashi City, Chiba Prefecture), which was opened by Kanshin in Yakuendai, Funabashi City, Chiba Prefecture. There is also the tomb of Kanshin, a designated historic site.

After visit the local Yurugi Jizoson

The area around Yurugi Jizoson’s temple is under construction, and the grove of trees behind the temple has disappeared, and the atmosphere seems to have changed a little compared to before. Also, the day I went this time was unfortunately cloudy and the photos weren’t good quality….so I haven’t posted a picture of the temple of Koppa Jizo.

I’ll go to take pictures again on a sunny day! Also, it will continue to update the information on this page. If you know the information about the stone monument next to the temple, please let me know from here!

In addition, in front of the temple of Yurugi Jizo, there was a “Benzaiten no Hokora” surrounded by trees. It’s so quiet that you might miss it if you don’t know its existence beforehand. If you know the details about this “Benzaiten no Hokora”, please let me know too.

Chiba Volunteer: Denim

Actually, I’m a Chiba beginner who doesn’t know anything about Chiba. Therefore, various things and places are very fresh, and I would like to introduce Chiba from an amateur’s point of view. Having said that, the scope of my activity is not so wide and I cannot go from corner to corner, but I would like to be able to distribute information with awareness of neighboring prefectures, other prefectures, and foreigners. My nickname is denim because I love denim X-). Thank you very much!

What are the top 5 cup ramen collaborations with famous restaurants?

The top 5 cup ramen collaborations with famous stores are conducted by ROI Co., Ltd., one of the largest customer satisfaction improvement platforms in Japan, “Fankuru”. Conducted from August 15th to August 18th.

They conducted a popular vote from 11 cup ramen collaborations with famous stores selected by Fankuru, and introduced the top 5 products. In addition to the comments of Fankuru members, it also links to a list of YouTuber’s food reports. Please refer to various opinions and impressions.

60% of respondents buy cup ramen made in collaboration with famous restaurants

As a result of an awareness survey on cup ramen, it was reported that more than 90% of people liked cup ramen, and more than 60% purchased it at least once a month. In addition, while many collaboration cup ramen with famous stores are on sale, 58% of those who purchase collaboration cup ramen with famous stores are a high percentage of about 60%.

Out of the many cup ramen collaborations with famous restaurants, Fankuru selected 11 cup ramen and asked them, “Which cup ramen do you like most in collaboration with famous restaurants?”

Summary: Cup ramen in collaboration with famous restaurants

Seven Premium Gold’s “Sumire Sapporo Rich Miso” is the number one favorite cup ramen from a well-known restaurants. The fact that you can easily buy it at convenience stores and enjoy its highly reproducible taste has made it popular. The 2nd place Seven Premium “Moko Tanmen Nakamoto” is overwhelmingly popular, especially among people in their 20s, and has strong support from people who like spicy food.

What’s your favorite cup ramen collaboration with famous restaurants?

Many of the people who prefer to buy cup ramen from top-ranked famous restaurants are originally fans of the restaurant, and it seems that the high reproducibility of the taste of the restaurant leads to purchasing behavior.

Many people feel grateful that they can fully enjoy the taste of the restaurants with the cup ramen of the collaboration of the famous restaurants, even in the environment where it is difficult to go to the store due to the corona sickness, and it is difficult to enter the ramen shop. Ramen will continue to be loved for a long time.

This data is extracted from the National Accounts (GDP statistics) data released by the Economic and Social Research Institute of the Cabinet Office on August 10, 2021, and real data for the fiscal years 2017 and 2018 are shown in the ranking. The unit of the amount is one million yen, and in the case of Tokyo’s 105,846,421, please think of it as 105,846,421 million yen.

In the table below, the order in which the prefectures are displayed changes when you click on each title or number of years, which are colored in black. Please sort the table in order of highest to lowest numbers to compare the rankings and growth rates.

Aichi Prefecture overtook Osaka Prefecture to take 2nd place in GDP for the first time in 10 years

After negative growth in the January-March quarter of 2018 due to a decrease in consumption due to soaring vegetable prices due to unseasonable winter weather, etc., the April-June quarter saw growth of 0.7 year-on-year mainly due to increases in personal consumption and capital investment. % increase, resulting in high growth.

In the July-September quarter, a series of natural disasters caused delays in production and distribution, as well as a decrease in the number of customers. Excluding the impact, moderate growth continued, centered on domestic demand such as consumption and capital investment.

As for exports, demand for smartphones and data centers, which had continued to grow at a high rate, has slowed down, leading to a slowdown in exports of information-related goods. As a result, the underlying trend was flat.
From the Cabinet Office “Japan Economy 2018-2019“.

This site also provides other ranking pages (number of tourist visitors and GDP by prefecture) based on the latest data as of August 2021.

Using the Latest Census Results and Population Estimates as of August 2021

The data used in this Population Ranking by Prefecture is based on the latest data (as of August 2021) and is ranked based on the 2010 (2010) and 2015 (2015) Population Census results and 2019 (2019) Population Estimates.

In the table below, the order in which the prefectures are displayed changes when you click on each title or number of years, which are colored in black. You can sort the table in order of increasing or decreasing numbers to see which prefectures are growing or decreasing.

The unit of population in the displayed data is in thousands, so in the case of 13921, please consider it as 13,921,000 people. Percentage change is % compared to the previous year. The data for the gender ratio is the number of males for every 100 females. 96.8 means that there are 96.8 males for every 100 females. The regional blocs are Tohoku for Hokkaido and Kyushu for Okinawa.

Of the 47 Prefectures, Only Capital City and 5 Prefectures are Experiencing Population Growth

For more information, please see “Ranking of 47 Prefectures by Japanese and Foreign Visitors to Japan 2019: Comparing Domestic Travel Destinations” in “Japanese Domestic Travel Destinations: Ranking of Prefectures”.

Trends in the two major cities are divergent – Osaka is declining, while Aichi is rising

While Okinawa is followed by Saitama (+2.7%) in third place and Kanagawa (+2.4%) in fourth place, the nearby prefecture of Chiba is in the top seven, with a slight increase of +0.8%. One rank higher than Chiba is Shiga Prefecture (+1.1%), which was ranked 26th in population but is now 6th, actually closer to Okinawa Prefecture (25th) in population. One would like to know what efforts Shiga Prefecture is making. It is disappointing that the prefecture with the top population, Osaka Prefecture, had a slight decrease of -0.3% between 2010 and 2015, and a slight decrease of -0.4% even in 2019. Even large cities differ from Tokyo. Hyogo and Kyoto prefectures in the same Kansai region also saw declines in the -3% range.

Aichi Prefecture in the top 5 is up +2.1%, but Shizuoka Prefecture in the same Chubu region is down -4.3% in 14th place. Elsewhere, we hear that Fukuoka’s population is increasing, but that is only in the cities, and Fukuoka Prefecture as a whole was ranked 9th with a -0.7% decrease. The largest decrease among the top 10 in population ranking was in Hokkaido, -6.8%, and this data shows a wider decrease.

Among the Seven Regional Blocs, Only the Kanto Region is Experiencing Population Growth

Looking at the data for 2010, 2015, and 2019, only the Kanto region shows an increasing trend. Within the Kanto region, Tokyo (2.7%), Saitama (1.0%), Kanagawa (0.9%), and Chiba (0.1%) prefectures show population increases. The Chubu region, while showing a declining trend in population, shows a decreasing range of decline in this data. On the other hand, the Shikoku and Tohoku regions continue to show declining rates in the 3% range.

Akita Prefecture (38th in population) has the highest rate of decrease at -14.8%. Next is Aomori Prefecture with -13.1%, ranking 31st in population, followed by Yamagata Prefecture with -11.5%, ranking 35th in population. Yamagata Prefecture is next with -11.5%, ranking 35th in terms of population, followed by three prefectures in the Tohoku region. Kochi Prefecture in the Shikoku region is also at -11.5% and ranks 45th in population. Next are Iwate at -11.2%, Tokushima at -10.9%, Nagasaki at -10.5%, Wakayama at -10.5%, and Niigata at -10%, all in double-digit declines. Five of the six prefectures in the Tohoku region are in the top 10 prefectures with double-digit declines… That’s tough.

Miyagi Prefecture, also in the Tohoku region, is in the top 12 in terms of rate of increase/decrease, with a not so large -4% decrease. Miyagi Prefecture is also in the top rank in terms of population, at 14th (2,306,000). The difference between Miyagi Prefecture and other prefectures in the Tohoku region is one of the reasons why the population of Sendai City continues to grow.

Population Size Affects Economic Growth – How did the Economy do in 2019?

Before the Corona Virus Pandemic, the global economy in 2019 is reported to have slowed down with repeated downward revisions to GDP growth forecasts. As for the Japanese economy, while external demand (net exports) was weak, domestic demand (personal consumption, capital investment, public demand, etc.) was the driving force behind four consecutive quarters of positive growth since the fourth quarter of 2018. It is said that this may be due to the robustness of the non-manufacturing sector, which is less susceptible to the impact of external demand, supporting corporate and household incomes, and the functioning of a self-sustaining economic virtuous circle around production, income, and spending.

Japanese domestic travel consumption in 2019 was 21,931.2 billion yen (up 7.1% from the previous year). The breakdown is 17,156.0 billion yen for overnight trips (up 8.6% year-on-year) and 4.7752 trillion yen for day trips (up 2.0% year-on-year).

The per capita travel expenditure for Japanese domestic travel in 2019 was 37,355 yen (up 2.4% from the previous year). For overnight trips, the expenditure per person was 55,054 yen (up 1.4% year-on-year), and for day trips it was 17,334 yen (up 0.3% year-on-year).

Number of foreign visitors to Japan and spending in 2019

Regarding the number of foreign visitors to Japan, we refer to the number of foreign visitors to Japan from the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO). The number of foreign visitors to Japan in 2019 was 31,880,000, which is about one tenth of the number of Japanese overnight travelers.

However, looking at the amount of consumption, the total amount of consumption by foreigners visiting Japan in 2019 is estimated to be 4,813.5 billion yen, which is close to the amount consumed by Japanese people on day trips.

Travel expenditure per foreign visitor (general visitor) to Japan is estimated at 159,000 yen. This means that the travel expenditure of a foreigner visiting Japan is about three times that of a Japanese overnight stay. By consumption amount, accommodation expenses accounted for 29.4%, eating and drinking expenses accounted for 21.6%, and shopping expenses accounted for 34.7%.

The top 3 visited destinations are the same for both Japanese and foreigners

Tokyo, Osaka, and Chiba, which are ranked top 3, are chosen as travel destinations by both Japanese and foreigners. In terms of unit consumption, in Tokyo, Japanese spend 20,000 yen, while foreigners spend 100,000 yen, five times as much. In Osaka Prefecture, foreigners (73,000 yen) also spend four to five times more than Japanese tourists (19,000 yen). Conversely, in Chiba Prefecture, the unit consumption of Japanese (24,000 yen) is higher than that of foreigners (16,000 yen). This may be the consumption effect of Japanese people enjoying themselves at amusement parks. It can be seen that these top three prefectures have strong tourism resources.

Foreigners visiting Japan who seek more healing of nature and culture

Kyoto ranks 10th among Japanese travel destinations, while it ranks 4th among foreigners after Chiba. Nara prefecture ranks 34th among Japanese tourists, while it ranks 5th among foreigners, showing a huge difference in rank. The fact that Kyoto and Nara are ranked high indicates that foreigners are looking for Japanese historical and atmospheric townscapes. However, in Nara Prefecture, the unit consumption of foreigners is 8,000 yen, which is the lowest among the 47 prefectures, so there are few targets for consumption. Similarly, Chiba Prefecture also has the lowest unit consumption of foreigners visiting Japan at 16,000 yen, second only to Nara. It’s a pity that the consumption unit price is low even though it is the 3rd place in terms of the number of visitors (10.485 million people).

Japanese spend the most on Okinawa trips, while foreigners visiting Japan spend most in Hokkaido

In terms of unit consumption, the destination visited by Japanese travelers the most was Okinawa Prefecture with 69,000 yen. The number of visitors to Okinawa Prefecture is not as high as 30th, and it is only one-tenth of Tokyo. Hokkaido, which has the next largest consumption unit price, is 33,000 yen. The ranking of the number of visitors is also 5th place and the top 5. Tokyo, which has the most visitors, has a surprisingly low unit consumption of 20,000 yen, and similarly, Osaka is also not high at 19,000 yen.

On the other hand, the unit consumption ranking of foreigners is 121,000 yen in Hokkaido (8th place in terms of number of visits), 109,000 yen in Tokyo (ranking number of visits: 1st), 97,000 yen in Okinawa (ranking number of visits: 1st). 73,000 yen in Osaka Prefecture (ranking number of visits: 2nd), and 71,000 yen in Fukuoka Prefecture (ranking number of visits: 7th).

Creating attractive tourism resources

Tourists flock to places with such tourism resources, such as historical buildings, rich natural environments, amusement parks, international MICE facilities, and unique cultural culture. On the other hand, even in regions where tourism resources are scarce, there are places that are working hard to revitalize the tourism industry by creating tourism resources and various initiatives. At Local Guide Biz, we will disseminate information on these regions that are working hard to both domestically and internationally.

If you want to see a related video list, click or tap the playlist icon displayed at the top of the video screen to display the video list and search for your favorite video.