## 3 Improving Reception of Inbound Foreign Tourists

To attain a milestone of 20 million inbound foreign tourists by 2020, it would be of exceptional importance to create an environment for these tourists to be able to move and stay in with comfort and smoothness and to allow them to leave Japan at the end of their tours satisfied, and then come back to Japan in the future as repeat customers.

To this end, multi-language support was improved and enhanced at art galleries, museums, natural parks, tourist resorts, roads, public transportation facilities and so on during FY2013, as by formulating common guidelines from foreigners' viewpoints pursuant to the “Action Program toward the Realization Japan as a Tourism Nation” decided in June. At the 49 locations that have been designated as strategic or regional sites nationwide, the conversion of road signs from Romanized to English notation has been preliminarily pursued, with help from foreign students and the like, to make them more intelligible to visiting foreigners. Other efforts include the acceleration and simplification of the entry and departure routines at airports and ports, enhanced convenience of public transportation to meet a growing number of personal travelers, promotion of voluntary preparing of free public wireless LANs, encouragement of the installation of overseas credit card-ready ATMs and the development of an environment to host Muslim tourists.

Host environment development projects were carried out at 15 of the 49 locations nationwide in FY2013 to develop an advanced local environment for hosting inbound foreign tourists in these regions and expedite its diffusion into other regions.

Other efforts made to allow inbound foreign tourists to visit Japan and enjoy their stays with an ease of mind include the preparation of manuals for lodging and tourist facilities to guide their guests in times of natural disasters in their initial response, the development of a scheme of keeping tourists informed by means of IT (applications) and the preparation of guidelines for local governments to show how to respond to foreign tourists into their local disaster preparedness plans, etc.

As a precise solution to the diversified needs for inbound foreign tourism, improvements and upgrades have been made to the licensed interpreter-guide program, including a widened scope of exemption from the written test of the examination and introduction of examination quasi-sites. In addition, the steady implementation of a special measure has been pursued to allow people other than licensed interpreter-guides to work as a paid guide under the “General Act on Special Districts”, etc.

## 4 Consolidating International Competitiveness in the Field of MICE

MICE $ ^{Note} $ is an essential tool of capturing people and wisdom from the countries abroad into Japan. Promoting the work of attracting and hosting MICE gatherings will help create not only business opportunities and innovations but huge local economic effects as well as, what is of broad significance, augment national and urban competitiveness and power and do more. With such growing significance of MICE and an expanding market in the background, competitive Asian nations carry on vigorous campaigns to attract MICE. As Japan’s MICE suffers a proportionate decline in its international competitiveness in the meantime, it needs to be boosted now.

The “Japan Is Back” strategy decided at a Cabinet meeting in June 2013 set forth a goal of “elevating Japan to hold an established position as the number one Asian nation to host international conventions by 2030.” To achieve this goal, the following new measures have been taken:

a. Selecting and fostering “Global MICE Strategic Cities” capable of winning stiffening rivalry with overseas competitive nations;

b. Appointing those individuals who exert influence at academic conferences, etc. as “MICE Ambassadors” to promote and publicize the value of hosting international meetings; and

c. Hosting conferences and receptions at historic buildings, in public spaces and the like to promote the use of “unique venues” demonstrating a sense of extraordinariness and regional characteristics.