The movement of people for the purpose of pleasure is one of the most noteworthy changes to human society in the past 20 years. this is particularly apparent in Asia where economic well-being and personal freedoms have improved markedly. Until recently the focus of Japanese tourism has been on the outbound market but since 2011 this trend has been reversed. This paper investigates this shift in perspective by examining the changing profile of Japan inbound tourism in a 20-year period (1996~2016). The new profile is likely to set the agenda for the direction of Japan inbound for the next twenty years.
