A: Hey there! Guess what? Japan's been really popular this year!
B: Really? What do you mean?

A: Well, the number of foreign visitors hit a new record! They reached 21.5 million in just six months!
B: Wow, that's incredible! Where are most of these travelers coming from?

A: Mostly Asia actually - China and South Korea saw the biggest increases. But even Russia doubled their visitors!
B: Incredible indeed! And how much did they spend here?

A: They dropped a pretty penny, about 4.8 trillion yen or around 32 billion dollars!
B: That's a lot of money! So, what's next? Any plans to attract even more visitors?

A: Yup! The goal is to bring in 60 million foreigners by 2030. They want to promote rural Japan and hopefully lure more travelers there.
B: Sounds like a great plan! But I heard some people were hesitant due to rumors about natural disasters here...

A: Yeah, that's unfortunate. The government said the rumors were unfounded but it still affected some tourism from Hong Kong. They're keeping an eye on things now though.
B: I see, well let's hope things improve soon and Japan stays a top destination! 😄
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The number of foreign visitors to Japan in the first six months of this year reached 21.51 million, a 21 percent increase compared with the same period last year.



The figure topped 20 million at the fastest pace on record.



The Japan National Tourism Organization says an estimated 3.37 million foreigners visited Japan in June, up 7.6 percent from a year earlier and the highest figure ever for the month.



Visitors from South Korea rose by 7.7 percent during the period, followed by those from China, up 53.5 percent.



Travelers from Russia roughly doubled from the same period last year, increasing by 103.7 percent.



Regions and countries whose numbers rose significantly included the Middle East, at 53.8 percent, and Spain, at 49.1 percent.



Meanwhile, visitors from Hong Kong edged down 0.4 percent. The JNTO attributes the drop to unfounded rumors that Japan would suffer a major calamity in early July.



The Japan Tourism Agency says foreign visitors spent a record 4.8 trillion yen, or 32.27 billion dollars in the country in the half-year. That's up 22.9 percent from the same period last year.



JTA Commissioner Murata Shigeki said Japan is a popular destination for travelers from Asia, which accounts for about 80 percent of foreigners traveling to the country.



He noted that it remains on a strong growth trajectory as air travel has recovered.



He plans to come up with new promotional strategies and hopes to lure more travelers to visit rural Japan to hit the Japanese government's target of bringing 60 million foreign travelers by 2030.



Murata also said the government had denied as groundless rumors of an impending natural disaster, but some travelers in Hong Kong refrained from visiting Japan nonetheless. He said the agency will continue to reflect on what it can do in the face of such a situation.



He said he's monitoring travel trends from Hong Kong, after hearing that interest in tours to Japan is growing.