READING GRAPH

TOURISM IN JAPAN

Visitors to Japan surge to record 19.73 million, spend all-time high ¥3.48
trillion
A record 19.73 million people visited Japan in 2015, marking the first time in 45 years that the number
of incoming travelers surpassed the outbound travelers, the tourism ministry said Tuesday. The
announcement confirms once again that the nation is almost sure to achieve its target of attracting 20 million
foreign visitors in a year by 2020. The success hassparked thegovernmenttothink aboutrevising
thetargetupward.
The 19.73 million visitors marked a 47.3 percent increase from 2014, when 13.41 million people
entered Japan, and is nearly four times the 5.21 million who visited in 2003 when the “Visit Japan” campaign began.
Spending by foreign visitors also reached a record
¥3.48 trillion, up 71.5 percent from 2014. This means the size of Japan’s inbound tourism
industry now equals that of its auto parts exports, tourism officials said.

(Source: h ttp: //w ww.japa n times.co. jp/n ews/2016 /01 /19/na tional/ja pa n -sets- n e w-in boun d-tour ism-recor d -2015- comes- just-
short-20-million-target/#.WEYtvMkxXIU)

Exercise 1: Find the definition of these words/phrases:

1. Surge : The rapid increase in the number of visitors

2. Surpass : The number of incoming visitors is more than outgoing tourists

3. Outbound Traveler : Tourist activities for traveling abroad
4. Attracting : Lure foreign tourists within the stipulated time
5. Increase : Escalation of the number of visitors

6. Reach : Number of records attained in visitor spending

7. Inbound tourism : Foreign visitors from other countries to Japan

8. Auto parts : Components used in automotive industries

1
 Reading and Interpreting Graphs

Plummet : A drastic, fast and sudden decline Increase : Growth or improvement in data or numbers from
one point to another
Peak : The peak, highest point, or highest height of Soar : The data or numbers in the graph increased
something significantly in a relatively short period of time
Rocket : A very sharp and rapid increase in a graph or Fluctuate : Irregular or repetitive changes in the data or numbers
diagram displayed in a graph
Level out : The point at wich data or figures at a fixed and constant Drop : The decrease or reduction of data or numbers from
level one point to another
Decrease : Reduction or decline in data and numbers over time Decline : A decrease or reduction in data or numbers from the
previous level
Rise : An increase or gain in data or figures over time Fall : Decrease or reduction from one point to another

Exercise 2
Theverbsintheboxabovecanallbeusedtodescribechangescommonlyrepresentedon linegraphs. Useyour dictionarytolookup
themeaningsoftheverbsandthenanswerthe following questions:

1. Which 5 verbs mean go up? Peak, rocket, rise, increase, and soar
2. Of these, which 3 words mean go up suddenly/ a lot? Rocket, soar, and peak
3. Which 5 verbs mean go down? Plummet, level out, decrease, drop, and decline
4. Which verb means reach its highest level? Peak
5. Which verb means stay thesame? Level out
6. Which verb means go up and down? Fluctuate

Look these two tables for other ways to express amounts:

APPROXIMATION COMPARISONS
Approximately A little/Slightly
Around Far More than
About A lot Less than [+ Uncountable Noun]
Roughly Much Fewerthan[+UncountableNoun]
More or less Considerably
Significantly

2
 Exercise 3: Using the verbs above (the first table on p.2), complete these following sentences using the
information shown on the graphs

1. In July 2010, the Japanese outbound travelers increase.

2. In January 2009, the Japanese inbound tourists increase.
3. From January 2008 to April 2009, the Japanese inbound travelers fluctuate.
4. The departure of Japanese outbound travelers fluctuate between January 2009 and January
2010.
5. The Japanese Outbound travelers decrease in April 2009.
6. Between July 2010 and October 2010, the Japanese Outbound tourists fluctuate.
7. The Japanese inbound travelers moderately increase in August 2010.
8. In January 2009, the Japanese inbound travelers increase up to 400 million.

Change the form of the sentence

1. There was an increase in the number of Japanese outbound travelers in July 2010.
2. There was an increasing number of Japanese inbound travelers in January 2009.
3. There was a fluctuate on the number of Japanese inbound travelers from January 2008 to
April 2009.
4. There was an fluctuating number of Japanese outbound travelers between January 2009 and
January 2010.
5. There was a decline in the number of Japanese outbound travelers in April 2009.
6. There was an fluctuating number of Japanese outbound travelers between July 2010 and
October 2010.
7. There was a moderate increase in the number of Japanese inbound travelers in August
2010.

3
 8. There was an increase of up to 400 million in the number of Japanese inbound
travelers.

The following graph shows data on the number of tourists in Japan: 1.

5,21 Million (2003) = in
2. 13,41 Million (2014) = in
3. 19,73 Million (2015) = in