Yomiuri: Festival numbers up, but look who's counting
This year's Kanto Festival drew 1.38 million visitors from Aug. 3 to 6, the largest number in 10 years, according to the festival organizer. The head count, which was released by the Akita municipal office, comes with a catch, however. It is nothing but the personal guess of Mitsuhiro Taguchi, manager at the office's commerce and tourism section, and the festival's organizer...He said a lot of "secret know-how" has been handed down in his section to help the manager carry out his task. The official disclosed one secret, though --the previous year's figure is always taken into account...This year, the festival took place in splendid weather so, taking account of this favorable factor, Taguchi added 20,000 to the last year's figure of 1.36 million to reach his rather arbitrary figure..."We think organizers of all festivals customarily overestimate their figures," said an executive of the Japan Travel Bureau's Tohoku branch...more...
