Kouki Hasegawa and Mayumi Bamyo at Oku Japan Chikatsuyu Branch Office
We’ve gone mad for Japan.
Newly released statistics show that Canadian arrivals surpassed 688,000 in 2025, up 18% over 2024’s 579,445 visitors.
“Canadian travellers have long connected with Japan’s rich cultural experiences and we were thrilled to see such strong enthusiasm from this market,” Yuka Suzuki, Executive Director of the Japanese National Tourism Organization (JNTO) Toronto office said in a news release.
Akira Nakagishi in Chikatsuyu
“We will continue to shine a spotlight on the country’s many rural treasures in the year to come.”
Speaking of rural treasures, Open Jaw has just finished walking one of five Kumano Kodo pilgrimage routes on a self-guided trip organized by Oku Japan. The Kumano Kodo is a UNESCO World Heritage Site like Spain’s famed Camino de Santiago and you can even earn Dual Pilgrim status.
Seiganto-ji Temple and Nachi-no-Taki falls
Oku Japan helps people “explore off-the-beaten-track Japan.”
After visiting an orange farm, we hiked for four days — choosing how long we wanted to walk and how challenging we wanted it to be — and then relaxed at family-run guesthouses or ryokans, traditional inns with tatami mat rooms, futon beds on the floor and yukata robes to wear to elaborate set meals. Many ryokans have indoor/outdoor onsens (hot springs) where women and men can enjoy segregated bathing experiences and where nudity is mandatory and tattoos should be covered.
Whether they hike or not, your cost-conscious clients should consider visiting Japan in winter like we did to beat the crowds and secure hotel deals. The cherry blossoms weren’t out but we dodged the snow and were in a part of the country where temperatures ranged from a chilly but comfortable 0C to 8C.
Walking the Daimon-zaka slope
Flying from YYZ to Tokyo Haneda Airport (HND), we briefly acclimatized in Tokyo and hit up the MEGA Don Quijote Shibuya discount store (nicknamed Donki) before taking the bullet train (called the Shinkansen) to Osaka. The 500-kilometre journey took just 2.5 hours and we splurged on reserved seats in business class.
After the Kumano Kodo adventure from Kii-Tanabe to Kii-Katsuura, we returned to Osaka and spent our last day on a private guided tour of Japan’s fabled convenience stores (known as konbini) with Arigato Travel, a culinary and cultural tourism company.
Ronan Maynard Cancio and Sebastian Venegas of Arigato Travel visit an Osaka Lawson on a convenience store tour
Over 3.5 hours, guide Ronan Maynard Cancio took us to seven konbini, including the big three (7-Eleven, FamilyMart and Lawson) and several independents so we could sample his favourite treats.
Konbini — many of them open 24/7 — are filled with intriguing snacks, hot and cold drinks (including hot canned coffee), baked goods, all kinds of meals and prepared food, frozen fruit smoothie machines and of course the wildly popular egg sandos on super soft and crustless white bread.
Arigato Travel tour guide Ronan Maynard Cancio on a convenience store tour of Osaka
Exploring konbinis “is a big thing right now,” Cancio said, but tourists don’t always know what to eat beyond what they’ve seen on TikTok. Being a tour guide is his side hustle — he also works at the front desk of a Kyoto hotel and has noticed a surge in Canadian visitors.
Canadians aren’t the only ones making Japan a travel priority while the Yen is weakening.
Orange farmers Reiko and Yuji Yamamoto in Kamiakizu
Globally, Japan welcomed about 42.7 million inbound travellers in 2025, a 16% rise over 2024, marking a second consecutive all-time high. It hopes that number will grow to 60 million by 2030.
Visitor spending also reached new heights, exceeding $84 billion CAD, solidifying inbound tourism as Japan’s second-largest export industry after automobiles.
The JNTO says this momentum reflects the success of a national tourism strategy introduced in March 2023 that focuses on three key pillars — sustainable tourism, enhanced accessibility and greater regional dispersal.
Chiyomi Ueyama makes coffee at Toyotei in Kii-Katsuura
We can vouch for Japan’s accessibility. Over 10 days, we took 10 rural buses, seven urban subways, two limited express trains, two taxis, one bullet train and one domestic flight on Air Nippon Airways (ANA) without a hitch.
Canadians also have a new flight to be excited about.
Jennifer Bain at a lookout along the Kumano Kodo trail
Air Canada will launch its first non-stop service to Sapporo, Hokkaido in December so we can ski and snowboard, eat seafood and ramen, and drink the iconic beer that shares the city’s name. The thrice-weekly seasonal service will operate from YVR through March 2027.
AloJapan.com