John W. <worthj1970@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Friday, April 27, 2012 11:14:01 AM UTC-5, Jean-Marc Desperrier wrote:
> > 
> > Good to see many tourists are still coming to Japan, but I wonder what 
> > the fact there was so few japanese means about the economy. Maybe it was 
> > too near from the golden week.

> I rarely encounter hoards of Japanese tourists outside of the national
> holidays, with the exception of the Hanami peak. But those folks
> aren't exactly tourists, except for possibly the main Hanami places
> on a weekend. Most of the Japanese I know rarely use their vacation
> days. Kyoto is a possible exception to this, but even there I have been
> lucky to not have to deal with large crowds.

Well, judging by Yoshino and Izu, they really count on the Hanami crowd
for their money. While everyone was more than happy to deal with 
foreigners, they're clearly set up for Japanese tourists.

> Ditto that spring/fall is a great time to go to Japan. Personally I
> think Fall offers some wonderful festivals.

Yeah, those are definitely Japan's  two best seasons. But, like here in SF,
that's not when the crowds arrive.

Mike