Skift Take
There are no shortage of reasons for tourists to want to visit Japan. But using international sports events as a way to signal that Japan is growing more accessible will certainly help broaden its appeal to those less adventurous travelers.
When you think of the sport of rugby, Japan is generally not the first nation that comes to mind. But by serving as the first Asian host nation of a Rugby World Cup tournament, changing perceptions is exactly what Japan aims to do.
The ongoing World Cup, which will culminate in Yokohama on Nov. 2, is the first of a slew of massive world events in the coming months and years — the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the World Masters Games in 2021, and the World Expo 2025 — which are intended to help broaden the appeal of Japan's tourism offering and serve as an invitation to the world. In 2016, the nation set a target to welcome 40 million visitors in 2020, an achievement that would mean Japan doubles its 2015 arrivals level in just five years. In August, before the Rugby World Cup began, Japan had welcomed 22 million visitors thus far in 2019.
Of course, it's not as though there haven't always been travelers keen to v
