Japan Travel Safety and Relief Efforts

Japan: Open for Business and Safe

Map: Japan earthquake-tsunami affected areas

Click map to view larger.

© Japan National Tourism Organization

Japan is recovering quickly from the dreadful earthquake/tsunami that struck on March 11, 2011. Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, Hiroshima and many other places were never even affected by the quake/tsunami or by radiation. However, many travelers have cancelled their Japan trips. Needless to say, we have a vested interest in people coming to Japan, but we would not advise people to visit Japan if we did not think it was safe to do so. Here are the facts as they stand almost two months after the quake:

  • Even at the height of the crisis, most tourist regions, including Narita Airport, Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara and Takayama were perfectly safe for travel.
  • Radiation levels in Tokyo (and points west, including Kyoto and Nara) are now within normal annual ranges. See the latest figures.
  • The Fukushima One nuclear power plant is about 240 km (about 150 miles) from Tokyo city and about 530 km (335 miles) from Kyoto city. Check out the following map of Japan to see the areas affected by the tsunami and the distances of tourist attractions from Fukushima.
  • The situation in Tokyo, Kyoto and almost all the other cities/towns that travelers are likely to visit is entirely normal: shops/hotels/restaurants/attractions are all open for business and running as usual.
  • No major government has any travel advisories in effect for Tokyo, Kyoto or other major tourist areas.

Japan Today

Visit the Japan National Tourism Organization site to see videos taken of various sightseeing spots in Japan since the earthquake. You will see that it’s business as usual in Japan and many foreign travelers are enjoying their trips here.

Chris Rowthorn Tours is Donating 5% of Our Profits to Relief Efforts

We want to help the people of northeast Japan get back on their feet as quickly as possible. We have spent a lot of time researching the most effective relief organizations, with the least overhead and the most positive effects. We have decided to give 5% of our profits in Japan to the International Disaster Relief Organization Japan (IDRO Japan: www.idrojapan.org). This Kyoto-based organization has been bringing much-needed supplies (clothing, food, women’s sanitary devices, diapers etc) to communities that were hit by the tsunami. Their long-term goal is to help those who lost their homes build permanent, expandable homes on their original land. Having seen their work first hand, we are confident that every cent we donate to them will produce lasting, positive results.

Comments from one of our guests who visited Tokyo, Kyoto and Nara in early April

“From our perspective everything was busy and people moved and behaved as usual.
The train transfers were efficient and everything was exactly on time.

“Except for the fact that the express train into the city was cancelled there was really no sign to us that there was anything wrong. In fact the cancellation could well have been because of the lack of tourist traffic overall.”