When Japan travels, it doesn’t mind going it alone

A new study found that lost among the swell of inbound tourism, overtourism and the perpetually weakening yen is a strong rip current pulling Japanese travelers into the uncharted waters of solo travel.

According to market research provider Euromonitor International, 19.2% of Japanese tourists prefer to travel alone — more than any of the 39 countries surveyed. Japan not only sits far above the average global preference for solo travel (just 7.2%), but domestic travelers also lean toward individual sojourns much more than those with siblings (8.8%) or parents (6.6%).

This year’s polling marks an increase from 10.4% of travelers going solo in 2019, whereas the global percentage remained stagnant (7.0% in 2019). Japan isn’t just a nation of individual travelers, though — 19.4% prefer to travel with friends, 29% with their children and 48.8% with their spouse or partner.