About ITCJ

Assisting foreign tourists

International Tourism Center of Japan (ITCJ) has been involved in planning and conducting a variety of tourism-related businesses with Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) since 1990 when ITCJ was founded. 

The main businesses of ITCJ are assisting foreign tourists by providing wide-ranging information at the Tourism Information Centers (TICs) we operate at Narita International Airport and Kansai International Airport as well as operating Welcome Inn Reservation Center (WIRC) to support foreign tourists in booking affordable and comfortable accommodations during their stay in Japan.

Established in 1991, WIRC has been maintained with the aim of providing increased opportunities to welcome overseas visitors to Japan.  The service is provided by ITCJ in close cooperation with Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO) and under the supervision of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of the Japanese Government. 

Welcome Inns loading Service

WIRC maintains an official listing of participating establishments that are called Welcome Inns.  To qualify for participation in the Welcome Inn program, lodging establishments must meet several criteria, among which those that specifically relate to the needs of travelers from abroad are:

- They must welcome and be capable of lodging foreign guests.
- Their daily rates must not exceed 8,000 yen per single room or 13,000 yen per double room (excluding tax and service charges) for more than two-thirds of the year.

Reservation Counters

WIRC publishes and makes readily available an English language booklet with a detailed listing of participating establishments named the Directory of Welcome Inns. 

In addition to referring to this booklet for booking information, foreign travelers can also make a reservation through our site and at five reservation counters in Japan.  Please note that booking assistance service is designed to help individual overseas travelers who have difficulty in finding reasonable accommodations in Japan because of the language barrier. 

Since reservations for small groups are not normally handled by travel agents on a commercial basis, WIRC provides the service for parties of up to 10 persons.

To Japanese Viewers

This reservation assistance service has been designed to help individual travelers from abroad find economical accommodations in Japan.  Since their requests are not normally handled by travel agents on a commercial basis, they have considerable difficulty booking reasonably priced accommodations in Japan. 

Accordingly, our agreements in force with the sponsors make it impossible for us to provide this service to Japanese people.  Though we are sorry we cannot handle your requests, you are, of course, welcome to view our site.  Please contact these Inns directly.

For your information, some Inns apply a special discount for overseas travelers.  A higher rate may apply when you book, so please be sure to check the room rate.

Thank you for your understanding and attention.
ITCJ       http://www.itcj.or.jp/en/about/index.html