Abstract
Inbound tourism is steadily growing in Japan, and the balance of payment on tourism is starting to turn positive. Since Japan is aiming for becoming a tourism-oriented country, the country must continue to maintain and further promote this movement. However, Japan's present inbound tourism policy seems to be focused only on the number of tourists visiting Japan from overseas, and thus, details are not being closely examined. This research particularly focuses on VFR (visit friends and relatives) and considers the potential for leveraging VFR in Japan's inbound tourism policy.
