A Boom in Foreign Tourism Boosts Japan's Economy

choi

Kirk Spitzer, A Boom in Foreign Tourism Boosts Japan's Economy. USA Today, July 13, 2015 (available now).
www.usatoday.com/story/news/worl ... m-economy/29662135/

Quote:

"A record 13.4 million people visited Japan in 2014, an increase of nearly 30% from a year earlier. Records were set in each of the first five months of this year; arrivals were up 50% in May alone.  Japan had predicted that 15 million foreign tourists would visit this year. At the current pace, arrivals could surpass 18 million.

"Tourism is one of the few bright spots in Japan's economy.

"Foreign visitors spent about $16.8 billion in Japan last year, up 43% from a year earlier.

"Much of the growth in foreign tourism has come from China * * * About 7.6 million Chinese visited Japan last year, nearly triple the number in 2011.

"Chinese tourists and their free-spending ways are especially prized in Japan. Chinese visitors spent an average $1,878 each last year, according to the tourism agency. That's 30% more than two years earlier and the highest per capita spending from any country.  American visitors, by comparison, spent just $1,324 in Japan last year.

" 'This was [note the past tense] a poor country. Few natural resources. Look what they built with just hard work. We have a lot to learn from Japan,' Peng [Jia Wei, 45, an auto industry worker from Shenzhen,] said.

Note:
(a) "Motoshige Itoh, a professor at the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Economics"
(i) 伊藤 元重  ITOH, Motoshige. 東京大学 大学院 経済学研究科・経済学部 Graduate School of Economics, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo, undated
www.e.u-tokyo.ac.jp/fservice/fac ... j/itohmoto01.j.html

His PhD in Economics is in 昭和 54年 (1979) from University of Rochester
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Rochester
(private; nonsectarian; founded in 1850 as a Baptist-sponsored institution)
(ii) "Itoh" is how he spells his surname. Two other ways to transliterate his surname is "Itō" and "Itou"--all means a long vowel of "o."
(iii) The 重 in his given name does not mean "heavy," but rather "several" -- because it is represented in hiragana by "shige."
(iv) Jim Breen's online Japanese dictionary
* dai-gaku-in 大学院 【だいがくいん】 (n): "graduate school"
* shigeru 茂る(P); 繁る; 滋る(oK) 【しげる】 (v): "to grow thickly; to be in full leaf"
* azuma 東; 吾妻; 吾嬬 【あずま】 (n): “(arch[aic]) eastern Japan (esp Kamakura or Edo, from perspective of Kyoto or Nara)”
(v) (大学院) 経済学研究科 = Graduate School of Economics  (compare: undergraduates are in 経済学科)
(vi) faculty
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faculty
(may refer to: "Faculty (division), a division within a university (usage outside of North America)")

choi

(b) "Ichirō TAKAHASHI, director of the Japan Tourism Agency's strategy division 戦略課長の高橋一郎"
(i) Japan Tourism Agency  観光庁
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Tourism_Agency
(2008- )

is different from
(ii) Japan National Tourism Organization  国際観光振興機構
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_National_Tourism_Organization
("promote travel to and in the country")

(2003- ), whose previous incarnations were 国際観光振興会 (1964-2003) and 日本観光協会 (1959-1964).

However, I do not know their difference in function/ purpose (both are government agencies, though).

(c) photo caption: "Foreign tourists take a picture at Sensoji Temple in Tokyo on May 6, 2015. (Photo: Shizuo Kambayashi, AP)"
(i) Sensō-ji  浅草寺
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensō-ji
(located in Asakusa, Tokyo; "Formerly associated with the Tendai sect 天台宗 of Buddhism, it became independent after World War II. Adjacent to the temple is a Shinto shrine, the Asakusa Shrine 浅草神社"/ is dedicated to the Kannon 觀音)
(A) This Wiki page indicates “金龍山浅草寺.”  金龍山 is not a real, physical mountain, but a 山号. See 金龍山
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/金龍山
(寺院の山号)
(B) In Japan, a temple is always, in name, coupled with a mountain. Japanese Wikipedia says the customs originated in China where temples were in real mountains, and that from 六朝 through https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/山号 through 隋 to 唐, 仏教が普及, temples of the same names erupted everywhere, so they (temples) added place names to diffeerntiate among themselves.
(C) The "sensō" and "asakusa" are Chinese and Japanese pronunciations, respectively, of kanji 浅草.
(D) In Japan, 寺 (translated in English as “temple”) denotes Buddhism, whereas 神社 shintō 神道.
(ii) 浅草 is a neighborhood in Taitō 台東(区; which in the low-lying area mentioned in (iii)(A)), Tokyo. Why the name?
(A) English Wikipedia is silent.
(B) Japanese Wikipedia says only, “「吾妻鏡」の1181年（養和元年）の条に浅草の名が見える。”

translation: [An ancient history book called Azuma-kagami] 吾妻鏡 [also known as 東鑑; annals recording 1180-1266] had “浅草” for the year of 1181
(C) The Origin of Asakusa. Asakusa Imahan 浅草 今半, undated
www.asakusaimahan.co.jp/e_origin
("what is the place name ‘Asakusa’ based on? According to the historical materials of Tokyo-fu, ‘the name Asakusa came from little grass, meaning that there were little grass in the area in Musashino region [sic; should be compared with Musashino Terrace to the west] where weeds overrun, This is the common theory[‘] ")
* 今半 Imahan
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/今半
is the name of a chain of five-store eatery (the original (1895- ) and a branch are located at Asakusa.  Origin of the eatery name: At the time of the founding 開業当時, the only officially sanctioned slaughter house 屠畜場 in the entire kantō 関東地方 was located at 芝区白金今里町 (within the present-day Tokyo). So eateries often took the name with 今 in it. As for 半, it was part of the given name of one of the three founders of the eatery.
* The “ima” and “han” are Japanese and Chinese pronunciations, respectively, of kanji 今 and 半.
(iii) Musashino
(A) Kantō Plain  関東平野
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kantō_Plain
("A collection of plateaus constitute a large part of the plain. Among them are the Ōmiya, Musashino, Sagamino, and Jōsō Plateaus. * * * Among the plateaus, the Musashino Plateau has the largest stretch of land, extending from the western edge of Ōme to the eastern edge of Yamanote which borders the alluvial plains of the Arakawa and Sumida Rivers. Its elevation gradually declines from west to east, measuring 190 m at Ōme (東京都) 青梅(市) and 20 m at Yamanote 山の手 [low hills, west of Imperial Palace, where affluent upper class has resided; further east is the low lying area of Tokyo where ordinary people have lived")
(B) Musashino Terrace  武蔵野台地
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musashino_Terrace
(C) 武蔵野 was part of 武蔵国 (theories abound about the latter's name).