Bill Belew has raised 2 bi-cultural kids, now 34 and 30. And he and his wife are now parenting a 3rd, Mia, who is 8.
Japanese
Ken (pronounced like the boy’s name) is Japanese for prefecture which is roughly equivalent to the US word for states. When I lived in Japan, I lived in Niigata-ken, or Niigata Prefecture.
Japanese like to travel overseas. Well, actually they like to travel to Hawaii. In fact, in Japan, Hawaii is often referred to as Hawaii-ken, or Hawaii Prefecture – meaning they jokingly consider Hawaii an extension of their own country.
Business owners in Hawaii welcome the Japanese tourist in Japanese and show them Japanese menus, even accepting Japanese Yen.
I read a report today that Japan sends more than 5 times as many visitors to Hawaii as they do ALL other countries combined!
All total, about 16.5 million Japanese travel overseas each year and spend $26 billion on those trips. The average Japanese traveler will spend about almost $1600 on an overseas trip compared to the average US traveler who spends just over $1000 on an overseas trip.
The second most visited country by Japanese is…..China followed by South Korea and then Thailand.
I once brought a group of students from Japan to the states. When I was buying tickets and making hotel arrangements, there was one girl who particularly cried ‘poor mouth’.
So, I scrimped and scratched to my regret. One day I took her shopping at a mall (this is a 20/21-year-old college kid)…she opened up her wallet and had MORE THAN $4000 in it.
Japanese have money to spend. They like to spend it. And they like to travel.
Are you on their destination list?
Why or why not?
