raffy
Apr 11, 02, 6:21 pm
Source: SF Chronicle
Tokyo -- Summer kimonos are going for $22 at Oriental Bazaar, a souvenir store on one of this city's most elegant shopping streets. Near the central fish market, Tsukiji Tamazushi restaurant offers all-you-can-eat sushi for $26 for men, $24.50 for women. On an expressway north of town, the Hatagoya Motel offers lodging and breakfast for a family of four for $92.
Japan, the land of the fabled $100 melon, has not suddenly become cheap. It is, however, approaching reasonable.
The big shift for American visitors has been a welcome 10 percent devaluation of the yen against the dollar over the last six months. Given the shape of the Japanese economy, many economists predict the yen may well lose another 10 percent this year.
In addition, visitors benefit from Japan's deflation. Over the last three years, consumer prices have gradually dropped, at first because of increased competition from imports, now because of collapsing demand from Japanese who worry about their economic future.
Tokyo, which is tied with Osaka as the most expensive city in the world, according to a survey done by The Economist magazine, is still largely seen by Americans as a city to visit only on a business trip, shielded from the pain of a $10 cup of coffee by a generous expense account. But now Starbucks is seemingly on every street corner of Tokyo, selling a latte for about $2.25 a cup.
Despite the yen devaluation, an informal survey of hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions in Tokyo and Kyoto found that very few prices had been raised over the last year. This is partly because foreign tourists are often seen as afterthoughts.
Some prices may briefly spike this summer, when Japan will be co-host, with South Korea, of the World Cup soccer championship. Spread over more than a dozen cities in both countries, the tournament starts May 31 and ends at the end of June.
For a visitor to Tokyo, the stay could start at the Imperial, a luxury downtown hotel ($302 for a double), with a daylong city tour with Sunrise Tour for $73, and a tempura dinner at Daimasu, on the Ginza, for $26. For about $6, an elevator will take a visitor 495 feet up Tokyo Tower to a glassed-in panoramic viewing platform.
A weekend at the hot-spring resort town of Hakone, which offers views of Mount Fuji 60 miles southwest of Tokyo, costs $30 round trip on the express train, then $195 double occupancy at the Hotel Fujiya. For the trip to Hakone and the rest of Japan, foreign tourists can purchase outside the country a one- week rail pass for $210, a bargain when compared to buying rail tickets inside the country.
None of these prices may seem like tremendous deals. But they were almost double five years ago when the yen was trading at 79 to the dollar, as opposed to the current rate of 129.
While a weak yen is a boon for the American tourist in Japan, it is a bust for hotels and tour operators that rely on Japanese tourism to the United States. In 2000, 5 million Japanese visited the United States, spending $11 billion.
Today, Japanese overseas tourism has yet to recover from the double hit of Sept. 11 and a spreading reluctance to spend money in the face of an open- ended recession. Last year the number of Japanese passports issued fell by 26 percent, the biggest fall since 1964, when restrictions were lifted on Japanese overseas travel. During the last quarter of 2001, departures from international airports fell by about one third over the same period in 2000. Six months after the Sept. 11 attack, Japanese visits to the American mainland were still down 50 percent from last year's levels.
The number of flights between the United States and Japan has been slashed, and plunging revenues have forced Japan's second- and third-largest overseas tour operators to postpone a merger.
To win back Japanese tourists, the Hawaii governor, Ben Cayetano, has given press conferences in Tokyo, and Washington has promoted the Cherry Blossom Festival (which began March 23).
Tokyo -- Summer kimonos are going for $22 at Oriental Bazaar, a souvenir store on one of this city's most elegant shopping streets. Near the central fish market, Tsukiji Tamazushi restaurant offers all-you-can-eat sushi for $26 for men, $24.50 for women. On an expressway north of town, the Hatagoya Motel offers lodging and breakfast for a family of four for $92.
Japan, the land of the fabled $100 melon, has not suddenly become cheap. It is, however, approaching reasonable.
The big shift for American visitors has been a welcome 10 percent devaluation of the yen against the dollar over the last six months. Given the shape of the Japanese economy, many economists predict the yen may well lose another 10 percent this year.
In addition, visitors benefit from Japan's deflation. Over the last three years, consumer prices have gradually dropped, at first because of increased competition from imports, now because of collapsing demand from Japanese who worry about their economic future.
Tokyo, which is tied with Osaka as the most expensive city in the world, according to a survey done by The Economist magazine, is still largely seen by Americans as a city to visit only on a business trip, shielded from the pain of a $10 cup of coffee by a generous expense account. But now Starbucks is seemingly on every street corner of Tokyo, selling a latte for about $2.25 a cup.
Despite the yen devaluation, an informal survey of hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions in Tokyo and Kyoto found that very few prices had been raised over the last year. This is partly because foreign tourists are often seen as afterthoughts.
Some prices may briefly spike this summer, when Japan will be co-host, with South Korea, of the World Cup soccer championship. Spread over more than a dozen cities in both countries, the tournament starts May 31 and ends at the end of June.
For a visitor to Tokyo, the stay could start at the Imperial, a luxury downtown hotel ($302 for a double), with a daylong city tour with Sunrise Tour for $73, and a tempura dinner at Daimasu, on the Ginza, for $26. For about $6, an elevator will take a visitor 495 feet up Tokyo Tower to a glassed-in panoramic viewing platform.
A weekend at the hot-spring resort town of Hakone, which offers views of Mount Fuji 60 miles southwest of Tokyo, costs $30 round trip on the express train, then $195 double occupancy at the Hotel Fujiya. For the trip to Hakone and the rest of Japan, foreign tourists can purchase outside the country a one- week rail pass for $210, a bargain when compared to buying rail tickets inside the country.
None of these prices may seem like tremendous deals. But they were almost double five years ago when the yen was trading at 79 to the dollar, as opposed to the current rate of 129.
While a weak yen is a boon for the American tourist in Japan, it is a bust for hotels and tour operators that rely on Japanese tourism to the United States. In 2000, 5 million Japanese visited the United States, spending $11 billion.
Today, Japanese overseas tourism has yet to recover from the double hit of Sept. 11 and a spreading reluctance to spend money in the face of an open- ended recession. Last year the number of Japanese passports issued fell by 26 percent, the biggest fall since 1964, when restrictions were lifted on Japanese overseas travel. During the last quarter of 2001, departures from international airports fell by about one third over the same period in 2000. Six months after the Sept. 11 attack, Japanese visits to the American mainland were still down 50 percent from last year's levels.
The number of flights between the United States and Japan has been slashed, and plunging revenues have forced Japan's second- and third-largest overseas tour operators to postpone a merger.
To win back Japanese tourists, the Hawaii governor, Ben Cayetano, has given press conferences in Tokyo, and Washington has promoted the Cherry Blossom Festival (which began March 23).