The rest of Asia may be in love with Japan, but the Japanese only have eyes for Australia. Japan remains the single largest source of tourists Down Under, making up nearly 20 percent of the total. Most Japanese visitors still come on conventional package tours. But increasing numbers “want to get behind the scenes,” says Bill Calderwood, deputy managing director of the Australian Tourist Commission. Especially since the economic downturn, he says, more and more Japanese are eager to escape their kawaii, or cute, pop culture and sample the back-to-basics Aussie lifestyle. “Australia offers a chance to get out into the fresh air,” he says. “Taking off your shoes and walking in the sand, that is an experience [for the Japanese]. Going to an orchard and picking the fruit off the trees is an experience. It’s a simple form of self-discovery.”
Indeed, Japanese visitors are immersing themselves in Aussie culture. Younger Japanese are going backpacking, cycling and scuba diving. More and more older tourists are asking to stay with Australian families. Some Japanese have even joined Australian lifesaving groups. For many, the best part of such endeavors is that they carry a lot of cachet back home. “To go back and say ‘I saw the opera house’ evokes no envy these days,” says Calderwood. “To say ‘I did a lifesaving course or earned a diving certificate or picked apples’–that gives a degree of satisfaction and bragging rights.” Kind of like catching the perfect wave and riding it all the way in.
