- Japan’s cruise industry is booming as the country continues to see an influx of tourists.
- Most of the country’s cruise passengers are international.
- Cruise lines are expanding their Japanese itineraries, debuting new ships, or launching US sales.
Japan’s vacation-at-sea industry is making a rapid comeback as it accommodates a swell of visitors to the country.
In 2024, Japan welcomed a record of about 37 million tourists — a 47% boost from 2023 and 15% boost from 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. As your social media feed might suggest, Americans have played a small but notable part in this boom, accounting for more than 2.7 million visitors last year — up 33% from 2023 and 58% from 2019, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization.
The surge isn’t over — the country’s tourism board expects to see even more US travelers in 2025.
And when there are American tourists, there are cruises.
In the US, floating resorts have experienced surging demand since pandemic-related restrictions were lifted in 2021. Meanwhile, Japan only began welcoming its first foreign cruise ships in 2023.
As such, the local industry has yet to recover fully, although that could soon change.
International travelers account for most of Japan’s cruise passengers, its tourism board told Business Insider in an email. In 2024, the country saw an estimated 1.44 million international cruisers — a cool 121% increase from 2023 but still down 40% from 2019, according to data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism.
It similarly expects to have accommodated 1,923 international ships in 2024, only nine fewer than in 2019.
Expect this growth to continue — the ministry hopes to welcome 2.5 million international cruisers and more than 2,000 visiting ships in 2025, which would surpass 2019 levels.
Cruise lines want a slice of the castella cake
Tokyo is set to reopen a cruise terminal in June to accommodate the influx of floating resorts, according to trade publication Cruise Industry News.
Good timing — Norwegian Cruise Line has more than doubled its voyages out of the country from 10 in 2024 to 26 in 2025, a spokesperson told BI, citing increasing demand for Asia sailings. Its springtime Japan itineraries have been especially popular, with this year’s cherry blossom sailings now sold out.
Like Norwegian, Princess Cruises’ Diamond Princess is set to expand its Japan season next year, from March 2025 through August 2025 to February 2026 through November 2026. (If the ship sounds familiar, you might remember its marred history as an early COVID-19 superspreader off of the country’s coast.)
If any company is banking on the industry’s long-term success, it’s Disney. The entertainment giant — in partnership with Oriental Land Company, the operator of Tokyo Disney Resort — plans to launch a Japan-based sister ship to its largest Disney Wish in 2029.
US-beloved brands aside, local companies are also hungry to capitalize on their backyard cruise boom.
For NYK Cruises, this means launching a new vessel, Asuka III, in July — the first Japanese-flagged floating resort to be built in about 30 years, according to shipyard Meyer Werft.
Or, do as Mitsui Ocean Cruises has done and go straight to the heart of cruising: North America.
The growing, 1½ -year-old cruise line recently purchased two ships from Seabourn.
In February, it also opened sales in North America in hopes of wooing the many cruise-loving Americans and Canadians with its “true Japanese experiences that only a Japanese company can provide, sailing with Japanese guests and crew,” Anthony Kaufman, the company’s head of commercial strategies, said in a media release.
So, forget the Caribbeans — maybe your next summer vacation at sea includes sipping sake instead of piña coladas, and petting Nara Park deer instead of dolphins.
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