Japan reaches 20mil. tourist mark

NHK -- Sep 22

The number of foreign visitors to Japan continues to grow. The total so far this year has already topped 20 million.

The Japan National Tourism Organization estimates the mark was reached by September 15th. That's one-and-a-half months earlier than last year when the annual figure reached 20 million for the first time.

The number of individual tourists from China rose following a relaxation of visa requirements in May.

Another factor was an increase in the number of flights from South Korea.