ID :
170622
Thu, 03/24/2011 - 18:26
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/170622
The shortlink copeid
Foreign arrivals at Narita airport dive 60% since quake
TOKYO, March 24 Kyodo -The number of foreigners arriving at Narita International Airport near Tokyo between March 11, when the massive earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, and March 22 plunged about 60 percent from a year earlier to some 67,000, Immigration Bureau officials said Thursday.
In contrast, non-Japanese who left Japan through the country's biggest international gateway during the same period jumped about 20,000 to roughly 190,000, they said.
Of those who left from Narita airport, about 6,000 applied for permits for reentry into Japan at a special counter set up at the airport in Chiba Prefecture, suggesting that their departure may be temporary, according to the officials.
As for Japanese nationals, both departures and arrivals at Narita dropped 100,000 from a year earlier to about 200,000 each way.
The number of foreigners departing from Narita airport peaked at around 40,000 on March 13, a day after Japanese authorities expanded the evacuation zone around a troubled nuclear power station in Fukushima Prefecture to areas within a 20-kilometer radius.
A similar situation was also seen at Kansai International Airport in Osaka Prefecture, where the average number of foreign arrivals per day from March 18 to 23 stood at around 1,700, less than half the approximate daily average of about 4,000 people before the disaster, according to the officials.
Shinichi Fukushima, president of Kansai airport's operator, expressed concern over the development, telling a press conference that people who were planning to visit Japan from other Asian countries such as China have been canceling their trips.
Fukushima said more people than usual have been departing from Kansai airport as well, with about 100,000 people leaving between March 12 and 17, up around 16 percent from the same period a year earlier.
In contrast, non-Japanese who left Japan through the country's biggest international gateway during the same period jumped about 20,000 to roughly 190,000, they said.
Of those who left from Narita airport, about 6,000 applied for permits for reentry into Japan at a special counter set up at the airport in Chiba Prefecture, suggesting that their departure may be temporary, according to the officials.
As for Japanese nationals, both departures and arrivals at Narita dropped 100,000 from a year earlier to about 200,000 each way.
The number of foreigners departing from Narita airport peaked at around 40,000 on March 13, a day after Japanese authorities expanded the evacuation zone around a troubled nuclear power station in Fukushima Prefecture to areas within a 20-kilometer radius.
A similar situation was also seen at Kansai International Airport in Osaka Prefecture, where the average number of foreign arrivals per day from March 18 to 23 stood at around 1,700, less than half the approximate daily average of about 4,000 people before the disaster, according to the officials.
Shinichi Fukushima, president of Kansai airport's operator, expressed concern over the development, telling a press conference that people who were planning to visit Japan from other Asian countries such as China have been canceling their trips.
Fukushima said more people than usual have been departing from Kansai airport as well, with about 100,000 people leaving between March 12 and 17, up around 16 percent from the same period a year earlier.
