‘Absolute zoo’: Record broken as half a million Aussies visit Japan by August

We are flocking to this destination in record numbers – and it’s going to be absolute madness there this Christmas for one key reason.

It’s going to be an absolute zoo in Japan this Christmas.

Australians are flocking to Japan in record numbers. And not just a record by a small margin.

Planes from Australia are touching down in Tokyo nine times a day and Australians are exploding out of them and surging out all over the country.

Twice in history have we sent half a million Aussies to Japan in one year – last year and in

2019. But in those years we managed it only by the end of the year.

This year we have cracked that number by August.

Twice in history have we sent half a million Aussies to Japan in one year. Last year and in 2019.

The reason?

Our dollar has become very strong against the yen.

At the time of writing, a dollar buys you 102 yen – which means every yen is now worth less than one Australian cent.

When you walk into a Lawson convenience store and buy a hot tin of Boss Coffee for 130 yen, that’s costing you less than $1.30. And when you buy a delicious bowl of ramen for 1000 yen, that’s under $10.

At time of writing, a dollar buys you 102 yen.

Japan still has a reputation for being expensive.

That was true in the 1990s. But since then, they’ve had roughly zero inflation and we have had over 100 per cent inflation, as the next chart shows. So now almost everything in Japan seems cheap compared to at home. (The exception is real estate in Tokyo, which is still very pricey).

A holiday to Japan isn’t Bali-cheap, but it’s not like going to Paris or Los Angeles either. If you get out of Tokyo, accommodation can be pretty affordable.

Now almost everything in Japan seems cheap compared to at home.

But Australians aren’t in Tokyo so much anymore. We’re in Hakuba and Hokkaido, for the snow. It used to be that peak Australian travel to Japan was in spring to see the cherry blossoms. Now we go in January for the powder.

Niseko has been crowded for years – this winter, it is going to be like Shinjuku station at rush hour.

Ski bums

This is the second reason Japan is suddenly so popular – the price of a ski lift ticket in Australia these days. You can pay over $220 a day to experience the dubious joys of muddy brown snow at Mt Buller, Perisher or Mt Hotham.

Australians aren’t in Tokyo so much anymore. We’re in Hakuba and Hokkaido, for the snow. Picture: iStock

Several Australian resorts have been bought out by big companies (for example, Perisher, Mt Hotham and Falls Creek are now owned by Vail Resorts) and it is driving up the prices. Skiing in Japan is far cheaper.

A one-day ski ticket in Niseko costs Y10,500 ($A102), Furano costs Y7,500 ($A73), Zao Onsen costs Y6,300 ($A62) and Kamui Links costs just Y5,300 ($A52). It doesn’t take many days on snow to pay back the cost of the flight.

That last resort, Kamui, is small but you can get a hotel in the nearby town of Asahikawa for around $100 a night and ride the bus there each morning, and it makes for an astonishingly good value ski trip.

The major resorts in Japan have been packed with Aussies for years. Niseko was very busy with Australians a decade ago. But now we are spreading out all over the country, into hitherto unexplored regions.

Aussies are flocking to Japan in record numbers. Picture: iStock

If you are soaking in a quiet onsen in rural Japan, there’s a decent chance the person that strides through the steam and splashes in next to you will be from Sydney, not Sapporo.

In fact, there are so many Aussies in Japan that the cultural exchange is becoming quite one-sided.

They used to come to Australia in huge numbers in the 1990s, but that flow has dried up as their economy has faltered. The peak number of Japanese tourists that visited Australia in a month was about 80,000 in the 1990s, and the average has been more like 40,000 recently.

But well over 100,000 Aussies will hit Japan this January.

And it’s not just Australians who see the value there.

Americans are also finding ski ticket prices getting crazy, and for those on the west coast, Japan is simply not that far away. The rise in Americans hitting Japan is actually even bigger than the increase in Aussies going there.

Almost 1.4 million Americans have visited Japan so far this year, and that number is rising.

Japan still has a reputation for being expensive. That was true in the 1990s. But since then, they’ve had roughly zero inflation. Picture: Richard A. Brooks/AFP

Big money

The good news for anyone worrying about Japan’s slopes getting too crowded is that investor money is following the skier enthusiasm. Billions of yen is being invested in new resorts.

A Singapore-based investment fund called PCG is making one of the biggest investments, to revitalise a big resort near Tokyo called Myoko Kogen.

It is due to open in 2028, with huge new hotels and shiny new chairlifts.

And I bet the hotels will be stocking up on Weetbix and Vegemite, because it won’t be long until it is absolutely brimming with Aussie tourists.

Jason Murphy is an economist | @jasemurphy. He is the author of the book Incentivology