According to official data released on Wednesday, foreign visitors to Japan reached a post-COVID high in March as they went to witness the country's famed cherry blossoms for the first time in four years as travel restrictions were gradually eased.

According to the Japan National Tourism Organisation, there were 1.82 million international tourists who came to Japan for both business and pleasure in March, up from 1.48 million in February.

Arrivals were still down 34% from March 2019 before the implementation of pandemic travel restrictions the following year.