"50 Reasons Why Tokyo Is The Greatest City In The World"

Above, the Tsukiji Fish Market. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Along with the Wako Department Store in Ginza, the National Diet Building, the Yurakucho Mullion complex and other kaiju-related sites featured in The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan, Tokyo has other things for travelers to see and do.

CNN Go.com has a list of "50 Reasons Why Tokyo Is The Greatest City In The World."

Included on the list are the railways, Tokyo Sky Tree, Shibuya Crossing (featured in Godzilla and Gamera movies), Imperial Palace, Yodobashi Akiba (and other Akihabara electronics stores), Tsukiji Fish Market, Mandarake Complex, manga-kissa (or "comics café") and many others.

The Godzilla statue in Hibiya made the list:

34. Behold the least impressive statue of a giant monster

Standing in the shadow of the film company that unleashed Godzilla on the world, this bronze effigy of the giant creature in Hibiya park towers a whopping ... half-meter high. We suppose a life-sized 70-meter version would have been prohibitive, but half a meter? At least the pedestal raises it above eye level.

At least there's the man-sized Godzilla statue at Toho Studios to savor if the one in Hibiya doesn't impress.

To view the list, go here.

6 Must-see Travel Destinations In Japan

Above, the Nagasaki Peace Statue. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Besides the monster movie locations as shown in The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan, there are other things to see in The Land of the Rising Sun.

Six of them are spotlighted in a new article.

CNN Go.com posted an article entitled, "Ultimate Japan: 6 Must-see Travel Destinations."

The article begins with:

When in Japan, make like a local and head straight for these 'pure Japan' spots

One of which I visited in 2007 (photo above).

To view the article, go here.

Japan Tourism: CNN Gets It Right

Above, dusk in Tokyo. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Finally, a news organization got it right.

CNN.com reported on the state of Japan tourism:

Hong Kong (CNN) – More than 10 months after the Fukushima meltdown and Japan is still dealing with the fallout - this time the key industry of tourism is reeling from the catastrophe.

According to government figures released Tuesday, the number of foreign nationals entering Japan dropped 24.4% from a record of 9.45 million in 2010 to 7.14 million in 2011.

New entries of foreign nationals - a figure that excludes working or studying expatriates that may have returned after home leave - made a similarly dismal showing. The Immigration Bureau of the Justice Ministry said new entrants fell from 7.92 million in 2010 to 5.45 million in 2010, slumping 31.2%.

The government says a combination of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and the high level of the Japanese yen were the key factors in the decline.

There's been many articles on the state of Japanese tourism, but their only focus has been on the earthquake, tsunami and radiation problems. They fail to take into account the poor rate of exchange between the U.S. dollar and the Japanese yen.

More Americans would seriously consider a vacation in Japan if the dollar could buy more yen.

A kudos to CNN for getting it right!

To see the full article, go here.