A record number of tourists visited Japan in May despite a decrease from Hong Kong, the source of spreading predictions that a major earthquake will hit the country, the Japan National Tourism Organization said.
The inbound tourist figure was 3,693,300, up 21.5 percent year on year and the most ever for the month of May, the JNTO said on June 18.
It was also the eighth consecutive month for Japan to receive more than 3 million visitors from abroad.
From January to May, 18,140,100 tourists made trips to Japan, up 23.9 percent from the same period last year.
In May, South Koreans accounted for the most inbound tourists, with 825,800, up 11.8 percent from the same month last year, followed by China with 789,900, up 44.8 percent, and Taiwan with 538,400, up 15.5 percent.
The number of visitors from Hong Kong was 193,100, down 11.2 percent year on year.
Hong Kong was the only region with a decrease in tourists to Japan.
The rumor sweeping Hong Kong through social media is that a huge earthquake will strike Japan in July. It stems from separate prophecies by a famed local feng shui master and a Japanese manga artist.
The JNTO said it did not know if the rumor led to the drop in visitor numbers from Hong Kong in May.
But demand for flights from Hong Kong to Japan have remained uncharacteristically low since the earthquake prediction started to circulate.
The Japanese government has tried to put the rumor to rest by saying it is impossible to accurately forecast an earthquake.
AloJapan.com