TOKYO, April 30 — The government is helping to create a new business model to recover inbound arrivals of foreigners in northern Japan, which was hit hard by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster.
It has been seven years since the disaster struck the northeastern coast and triggered meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
In post-quake reconstruction efforts, the Japanese reconstruction agency chose 10 projects this year that aim to rebuild local economies and boost the number of foreign travelers.
They include seasonal events such as fruit-picking in spring and fireworks festivals in summer, and a variety of tours in footsteps of samurai history in the Tohoku region.
“We inform overseas tourists that local produce in the Tohoku region is safe to eat,” said an official from the reconstruction agency.