Les than 20% of Japanese hold valid passports

Les than 20% of Japanese hold valid passports

https://www.travelvoice.jp/english/issued-japanese-passports-increased-in-2022-but-valid-passport-holders-decreased

15 comments
  1. There does seem to be a low number of Japanese abroad anywhere considering purchasing power and economy though for sure. Always wondered about this.

  2. Is this somehow surprising? When you consider that a good portion of Japan’s elderly population are no longer really fit for international travel, and then you remember that a good portion of Japan’s population is elderly, it is not surprising that the number of passport holders is low.

  3. Japan is pretty big country with tons of amazing locations for vacation, everything is so clean and safe. If I’m Japanese I probably don’t need a passport and just have fun in my own country.

  4. From what I’ve heard just off hand, people are still wary of traveling abroad because of covid. And there’s still some stigma from your co-workers if you take an international trip. And, like others have said, that some weak ass yen.

  5. A real waste of a powerful ranking passport

    Although perhaps that powerful passport itself is down to the low number of travellers, the shortness of the trips, and the fact hardly any Japanese travelers get into any trouble or overstay situations abroad.

    As always, a lot of the answers here are cope seeking, looking for a reasonable cause for this trend.

    Japan has a wide variety of amazing destinations, why go abroad? Japanese can’t speak English (or other languages). Japan is so safe, everywhere else is comparatively dangerous

    Meh.

    Language barriers don’t dissuade Chinese, Taiwanese or Korean travellers from going abroad. And each of them are also extremely safe too.

    People just don’t want to admit Japan’s faults.

    The people are coddled and lack imagination. They recycle propaganda tropes about the dangers of ‘Gaikoku’. The bastard companies that control the culture, don’t want people taking long holidays abroad. The government don’t want them spending their disposable cash abroad. Attitudes to the world outside Japan are range from misguided ignorance to xenophobic and prejudiced.

    Yes, there are economic reasons for this trend too.

    And also societal pressures. People dare not take a trip longer than 3 or 4 days, lest they be dubbed ‘lazy’ by their senpais. Going anywhere beyond the pre-approved destinations of Korea, Guam, Hawaii or Bali is a sure sign of a rusty, sticking out nail, that needs to be hammered down. And even then, just go to Okinawa.

    But ultimately, the main reason for it, is that Japanese people, in general terms, are closed minded, unadventurous and brain washed by their employers and the government.

  6. Citizens of insular country with strong nationalist sentiments don’t travel abroad much. Colour me surprised.

    But seriously, the older generations that can afford travel abroad aren’t fit enough for it anymore, and they have little interest in Korea or China. The younger generations for the most part just can’t afford it. Business travel is still a thing though, but I guess there’s not many jobs where it’s necessary.

  7. This explains why there’s less Japanese people at USC now as well. There used to be a ton back in the day. Seems like Japanese people are just enjoying Japan because of austerity.

  8. In the 1980s, Japan’s economy was roaring and many Japanese were traveling overseas. Japanese tourists were well known to be big spenders (these days, it’s the Chinese tourists).

    The Japanese tourists in the 80s were well known to travel to Hawaii and Australia just to play golf

    These days, especially with the weak yen, the Japanese are spending most of their times traveling domestically

    I can’t count how many times I’ve seen solo Japanese and families just taking lots of pictures of sights here with their nice Canon and Sony cameras

  9. I think the world has changed so very much people don’t want to travel. The vast majority of highschool students I taught did not want to leave Japan. The most often used reason is violence they see on YouTube or the news in general. I asked what about America, nearly no one wanted to visit the big typical cities like LA or New York, the reasons were shooting and the homeless issue they have seen videos of. Honestly they are not wrong and I can’t blame them. It does seem like because of so much input the world outside Japan seems pretty harsh.

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