Abstract
Since the early 2000s, Japan′s tourism promotion policy has undergone drastic changes, from being focused on industrial development to more integrated policies that include community development through tourism. Tourism in Japan is extremely important : the value of domestic travel consumption was estimated to be 22.5 trillion yen in 2012 and the number of international visitors reached 13 million in 2014. However, tourism has been criticized for its alleged negative impacts on the environment of destinations as well as on the society and economy. Tourism is by no means a pollution-free industry. This study illustrates the effects of tourism and mitigations describing countermeasures at destinations. In addition, it examines recent trends and transitions in Japan′s tourism policy and promotion, which have been designed to manage the impacts of tourism in order to achieve sustainable tourism development.
