Japan is experiencing a record tourism boom, with 42.7 million foreign visitors in 2025. Popular destinations like Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka are crowded with tourists. However, one of the country's most scenic regions, Tohoku, is not seeing the same influx. Only 2.57 million foreign tourists visited Tohoku last year, accounting for about 6% of the total. Tohoku is located in the northern part of Japan's main island, Honshu. It includes six prefectures: Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata, and Fukushima. The region is known for its mountains, hot springs, ski resorts, festivals, and a slower rural pace of life. Despite these attractions, it remains a tourist outlier. The reasons for the low numbers are not specified in the report, but the contrast with the crowded cities in central and western Japan is clear. Tohoku offers a different experience from the typical tourist trail, but it has yet to draw many international visitors. Local officials may hope to change that in the future, as they seek to spread the benefits of tourism more evenly across the country.